Best PlacesSan Jose Forest, Jacksonville, FL Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around San Jose Forest, Jacksonville, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

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San Jose Forest, Jacksonville ranks 488th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.

#488
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
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of 5,983 neighborhoods
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The best neighborhoods in San Jose Forest, Jacksonville

Map of the best neighborhoods in the San Jose Forest, Jacksonville area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
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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.

San Jose Forest, Jacksonville's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%What local pay buys
Top 3%Quiet
Top 5%Low crime
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare San Jose Forest, Jacksonville with other neighborhoods.

Where San Jose Forest, Jacksonville ranks high

  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
  • QuietBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
  • Crime safetyBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
  • State infrastructureBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of neighborhoods

Where San Jose Forest, Jacksonville ranks low

  • Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods
  • Heat safetyBetter than only 12% of neighborhoods
  • WalkabilityBetter than only 17% of neighborhoods
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 18% of neighborhoods
  • Big-city accessBetter than only 21% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in San Jose Forest, Jacksonville

A household needs to earn about $127,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Jose Forest, Jacksonville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $143,588, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$127,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,962
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $488,612 home
Median rent
$1,073
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,491
Property tax$308
Homeowners insurance$163

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 San Jose Forest, Jacksonville'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 and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in San Jose Forest, Jacksonville

San Jose Forest, Jacksonville's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
40
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
23%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.6
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1818%
18 to 3423%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6416%
65 and older23%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for San Jose Forest, Jacksonville.


Who works in San Jose Forest, Jacksonville, and how

Work in San Jose Forest, Jacksonville centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
27%
above the national average
Unemployment
2.1%
below the national average
Job growth
−4.2%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical17%
Health care & social17%
Education12%
Retail trade12%
Construction10%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 71%
  • Work from home 27%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in San Jose Forest, Jacksonville

The coast is about 19 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across San Jose Forest, Jacksonville, which the map shows.

To the coast
19 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in San Jose Forest, Jacksonville, month by month

San Jose Forest, Jacksonville sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January69°57°46°
April84°72°62°
July94°83°76°
October84°75°67°

Flying in and out of San Jose Forest, Jacksonville

Jacksonville International sits about 18 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.7 million passengers in 2025, with 86 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
JAX
Jacksonville International, about 18 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
52nd-busiest in the US, 86 nonstop destinations
Average drive
25 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around San Jose Forest, Jacksonville

Schools across San Jose Forest, Jacksonville average a C, better than 32% of neighborhoods.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every San Jose Forest, Jacksonville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


San Jose Forest, Jacksonville 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 San Jose Forest, Jacksonville against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Common questions about living in San Jose Forest, Jacksonville

Is San Jose Forest, Jacksonville a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, San Jose Forest, Jacksonville ranks 488th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on what local pay buys, quiet, and low crime, and lowest on cell coverage and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is San Jose Forest, Jacksonville expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $488,612. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $143,588 median income, cost of living beats 99% of neighborhoods.

Is San Jose Forest, Jacksonville safe?

Yes, San Jose Forest, Jacksonville is safer than 96% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $124 per resident a year.


Compare San Jose Forest, Jacksonville with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Jose Forest, Jacksonville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Jose Forest, Jacksonville 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.

San Jose Forest, Jacksonville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for San Jose Forest, Jacksonville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in San Jose Forest, Jacksonville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of San Jose Forest, Jacksonville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in San Jose Forest, Jacksonville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

San Jose Forest, Jacksonville detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.