Best PlacesRio Grande, PR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rio Grande, 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.
Rio Grande is unranked among cities under the default weighting. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rio Grande
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 Rio Grande
The parts of Rio Grande, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Villa de Rio Grande & Jardines de Rio Grande
Villa de Loiza & Urbanizacion Santiago
Urbanizacion Rio Grande Estates
Alturas de Rio Grande, Parcelas La Dolores & Urbanizacion Pedregales
Urbanizacion Galateo
Scores across Rio Grande run from about the 1st to the 3rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Rio Grande's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rio Grande ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of cities
- Cheap childcare$413 a month, better than 99% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 68% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 65% of cities
Where Rio Grande ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 0 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Household income$29,373 median, better than only 1% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Rio Grande
A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rio Grande home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $29,373, 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 Rio Grande's effective rate of 0.03%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rio Grande
Rio Grande runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rio Grande.
Who works in Rio Grande, and how
Work in Rio Grande centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Rio Grande
Rio Grande has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities. The coast is about 5 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Rio Grande and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rio Grande, month by month
Rio Grande sees roughly 0 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 85, with lows near 73. No month averages between 55 and 75 degrees.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 85° | 78° | 73° |
| April | 87° | 79° | 74° |
| July | 90° | 83° | 78° |
| October | 90° | 83° | 78° |
Flying in and out of Rio Grande
Luis Munoz Marin International sits about 11 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.7 million passengers in 2025, with 88 nonstop destinations.
Rio Grande 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 Rio Grande against cities nationally.
Who Rio Grande suits
Families
Weigh schools and safety yourself on the map to find the right neighborhoods.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Rio Grande
Is Rio Grande a good place to live?
It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and clean air, and lowest on the weather and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rio Grande expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $125,647. Set against a $29,373 median income, cost of living beats 50% of cities.
Is Rio Grande safe?
Rio Grande is safer than 1% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $698 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rio Grande?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 85 with lows near 73. That works out to about 0 pleasant days a year, more than 0% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Rio Grande?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Villa de Rio Grande & Jardines de Rio Grande, Villa de Loiza & Urbanizacion Santiago, and Urbanizacion Rio Grande Estates. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Rio Grande with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rio Grande. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rio Grande 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.
Rio Grande detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rio Grande: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rio Grande: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rio Grande: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rio Grande: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rio Grande 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.