Best PlacesRuskin, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ruskin, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ruskin ranks 1,668th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ruskin
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.
Ruskin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ruskin ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 78% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 77% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 76% of cities
Where Ruskin ranks low
- Short commute35.2 minutes each way, better than only 5% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 11% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Ruskin
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ruskin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $76,582; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Ruskin's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Ruskin
Ruskin's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ruskin.
Who works in Ruskin, and how
Work in Ruskin centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Ruskin
Ruskin has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of cities. The coast is about 12 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Ruskin and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ruskin, month by month
Ruskin sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 50. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 60° | 50° |
| April | 85° | 74° | 63° |
| July | 92° | 83° | 75° |
| October | 87° | 77° | 68° |
Flying in and out of Ruskin
Tampa International sits about 19 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.1 million passengers in 2025, with 135 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Ruskin
Schools across Ruskin average a C, better than 30% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Virgil Mills Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Patricia Sullivan Metropolitan Ministries Partnership SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Literacy/leadership/technology AcademyB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- Buffalo Creek Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Shields Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Dowdell Middle Magnet SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Lennard High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Palmetto High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- East Bay High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ruskin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ruskin 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 Ruskin against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Ruskin suits
Families
Schools land around the 30th percentile and crime safety beats 76%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Ruskin
Is Ruskin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ruskin ranks 1,668th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on long commutes and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ruskin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $286,758. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $76,582 median income, cost of living beats 42% of cities.
Is Ruskin safe?
Yes, Ruskin is safer than 76% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $157 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ruskin?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 72 with lows near 50. That works out to about 117 pleasant days a year, more than 69% of cities.
Is Ruskin good for families?
Schools beat 30% of cities, crime safety beats 76%, and childcare runs $973 a month.
Compare Ruskin with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ruskin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ruskin 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.
Ruskin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ruskin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ruskin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ruskin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ruskin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ruskin 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.