Best PlacesSt. Cloud, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Cloud, 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.
St. Cloud ranks 996th 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 St. Cloud
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 St. Cloud
The parts of St. Cloud, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Majestic Oaks
Indian Lakes
St Cloud Manor Estates
Esprit & Mallard Pond
Birchwood
Anthem Park & Pine Lake Estates
Scores across St. Cloud run from about the 12th to the 89th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
St. Cloud's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Cloud ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 89% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of cities
- QuietBetter than 81% of cities
Where St. Cloud ranks low
- Short commute36.8 minutes each way, better than only 3% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 12% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 13% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 22% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in St. Cloud
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Cloud home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $89,510; 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 St. Cloud's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 St. Cloud
St. Cloud runs younger than the country, 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 St. Cloud.
Who works in St. Cloud, and how
Work in St. Cloud centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in St. Cloud
St. Cloud has more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. The coast is about 53 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of St. Cloud and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. Cloud, month by month
St. Cloud sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 73, with lows near 50. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 73° | 61° | 50° |
| April | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| July | 93° | 83° | 75° |
| October | 86° | 77° | 69° |
Flying in and out of St. Cloud
Orlando International sits about 14 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 28.1 million passengers in 2025, with 223 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around St. Cloud
Schools across St. Cloud average a B+, better than 71% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Freedom 7 Elementary School Of International StudiesA+ · 88% proficient
- Harmony Community SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Canoe Creek K-8A · 64% proficient
Top middle schools
- Narcoossee Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- St. Cloud Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Neptune Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- West Shore Junior/senior High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Harmony High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- St. Cloud High SchoolB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Cloud school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Cloud 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 St. Cloud against the other 2,097 cities.
Who St. Cloud suits
Common questions about living in St. Cloud
Is St. Cloud a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Cloud ranks 996th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on long commutes 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 St. Cloud expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $375,142. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $89,510 median income, cost of living beats 59% of cities.
Is St. Cloud safe?
Yes, St. Cloud is safer than 73% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $173 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in St. Cloud?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 73 with lows near 50. That works out to about 139 pleasant days a year, more than 79% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in St. Cloud?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Majestic Oaks, Indian Lakes, and St Cloud Manor Estates. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare St. Cloud with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Cloud. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Cloud 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.
St. Cloud detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Cloud: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Cloud: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Cloud: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Cloud: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Cloud 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.