Best PlacesSebastian, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Sebastian metro, 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.
Photo by Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via wiki
Sebastian ranks 237th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 10 minutes away. Its strengths are state infrastructure and low taxes. The cost shows up in disaster risk, summer heat, and empty homes.
The best neighborhoods in the Sebastian metro
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 Sebastian
The towns and districts of the Sebastian metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Indian River Shores
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Vero Beach & Gifford
Fewer homes sit empty and more households have young kids.
Florida Ridge & Vero Beach South
Fewer residents vote.
Downtown Sebastian
Homes cost less, though heat risk is higher.
West Vero Corridor
Prices have run up less, though crime runs higher.
Fellsmere
Commutes are longer and health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Sebastian run from about the 6th to the 82nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Sebastian's strengths and weaknesses
Sebastian lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State infrastructure is the standout, in the top 3% of metro areas. Low taxes and low crime follow.
The one real hole is disaster risk, near the bottom of the country. Summer heat and empty homes also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Sebastian ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of metro areas
Where Sebastian ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Sebastian
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sebastian home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,868, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Sebastian's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sebastian
Sebastian runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sebastian.
Who works in Sebastian, and how
Work in Sebastian 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 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sebastian
Sebastian has less parkland per resident than most metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. The coast is about 10 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Sebastian and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Sebastian growing, and who is moving in?
Sebastian has grown about 19% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Tampa, FL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Sebastian go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Sebastian, month by month
Sebastian sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 75, with lows near 52. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 75° | 63° | 52° |
| April | 84° | 74° | 62° |
| July | 92° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 87° | 78° | 70° |
Flying in and out of Sebastian
The nearest airport, Vero Beach Regional, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Orlando International, about 68 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sebastian
Schools across Sebastian average a B, better than 69% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Freedom 7 Elementary School Of International StudiesA+ · 88% proficient
- W. Melbourne Elementary School For ScienceA+ · 85% proficient
- Treasure Coast Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sebastian Charter Junior High SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Herbert C. Hoover Middle SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Storm Grove Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- West Shore Junior/senior High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Sebastian River High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Bayside High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sebastian school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sebastian 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 Sebastian against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Sebastian suits
Retirees
The weather beats 62% of metro areas, health care access beats 88%, and it is quieter than 68%.
Common questions about living in Sebastian
Is Sebastian a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sebastian ranks 237th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and low crime, and lowest on disaster risk and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sebastian expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $399,445. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $81,868 median income, cost of living beats 64% of metro areas.
Is Sebastian safe?
Yes, Sebastian is safer than 90% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $155 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Sebastian?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 75 with lows near 52. That works out to about 104 pleasant days a year, more than 62% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Sebastian?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Indian River Shores, Vero Beach & Gifford, and Florida Ridge & Vero Beach South. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Sebastian good for families?
Schools beat 69% of metro areas, crime safety beats 90%, and childcare runs $796 a month.
Is Sebastian good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 64% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 55% of metro areas. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Sebastian with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sebastian. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sebastian 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.
Sebastian detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sebastian: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sebastian: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sebastian: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sebastian: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sebastian 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.