Best PlacesPort Orange, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Port Orange, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Port Orange ranks 1,049th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Port Orange
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Port Orange
The parts of Port Orange, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Craig Farms
Town Park & Crystal Lake-Daytona Beach
Allandale
Scores across Port Orange run from about the 16th to the 97th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Port Orange's strengths and weaknesses
Where Port Orange ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of cities
- School gradeA−, better than 82% of cities
- Cheap childcare$820 a month, better than 79% of cities
Where Port Orange ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 17% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 18% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 18% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 21% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Port Orange
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Port Orange home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,110, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Port Orange's effective rate of 0.76%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Port Orange
Port Orange runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Port Orange.
Who works in Port Orange, and how
Work in Port Orange centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Port Orange
Port Orange has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 9 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Port Orange and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Port Orange, month by month
Port Orange sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 48. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 59° | 48° |
| April | 83° | 71° | 60° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 85° | 76° | 68° |
Flying in and out of Port Orange
The nearest airport, Daytona Beach International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Orlando International, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Port Orange
Schools across Port Orange average an A−, better than 82% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Sweetwater Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Chisholm Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Port Orange Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Creekside Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Silver Sands Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- New Smyrna Beach Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Spruce Creek High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- New Smyrna Beach High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Atlantic High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Port Orange school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Port Orange measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Port Orange against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Port Orange suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 79% of cities and health care access beats 62%.
Common questions about living in Port Orange
Is Port Orange a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Port Orange ranks 1,049th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and low crime, and lowest on summer heat and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Port Orange expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $307,112. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $81,110 median income, cost of living beats 44% of cities.
Is Port Orange safe?
Yes, Port Orange is safer than 89% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $135 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Port Orange?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 72 with lows near 48. That works out to about 138 pleasant days a year, more than 79% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Port Orange?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Craig Farms, Town Park & Crystal Lake-Daytona Beach, and Allandale. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Port Orange with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Port Orange. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Port Orange represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Port Orange detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Port Orange: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Port Orange: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Port Orange: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Port Orange: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Port Orange detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.