Best PlacesSt. Joseph, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Joseph, 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.
St. Joseph ranks 8,524th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in St. Joseph
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.
St. Joseph's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Joseph ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
Where St. Joseph ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Short commute37.0 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. Joseph
A household needs to earn about $120,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Joseph home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $106,179, 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 St. Joseph'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 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.
Who lives in St. Joseph
St. Joseph runs older 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. Joseph.
Who works in St. Joseph, and how
Work in St. Joseph centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in St. Joseph
The coast is about 40 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across St. Joseph, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. Joseph, month by month
St. Joseph sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 47. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 58° | 47° |
| April | 85° | 71° | 59° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 86° | 74° | 66° |
Flying in and out of St. Joseph
Tampa International sits about 32 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 St. Joseph
Schools across St. Joseph average a B, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- San Antonio Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Eastside Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- D. S. Parrott Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Pasco Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Pasco High SchoolB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Joseph school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Joseph 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. Joseph against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. Joseph
Is St. Joseph a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Joseph ranks 8,524th of 50,333 towns. 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 St. Joseph expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $460,931. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $106,179 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is St. Joseph safe?
Yes, St. Joseph is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $101 per resident a year.
Compare St. Joseph with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Joseph. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Joseph 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. Joseph detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Joseph: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Joseph: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Joseph: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Joseph: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Joseph 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.