Best PlacesSt. Petersburg, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Petersburg, 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. Petersburg ranks 209th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 5 minutes away. Its strengths are state infrastructure and low taxes. The cost shows up in empty homes, summer heat, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in St. Petersburg
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. Petersburg
The parts of St. Petersburg, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Historic Old Northeast, Downtown St Petersburg & Historic Uptown
More adults hold degrees, streets are more walkable, and incomes run higher.
Riviera Bay, Northeast Park & Bay Breeze Cove
Crime runs lower and prices have run up less.
Jungle Terrace
Fewer homes sit empty and homes cost less.
Meadowlawn, Euclid-St Paul & Oakwood Gardens
Heat risk is lower, though it is noisier.
Central Oak Park, Disston Heights & Holiday Park
Advertised internet is slower.
Coquina Key, Harbordale & Bartlett Park
Fewer households have young kids.
Childs Park, Westminster Heights & Pasadena Bear Creek Estates
Health care is easier to reach.
Methodist Town, North Kenwood & Historic Kenwood
Biking is better.
Pinellas Point, Melrose Mercy & Highland Oaks
Local pay stretches less far and health outcomes score lower.
St. Petersburg shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
St. Petersburg's strengths and weaknesses
St. Petersburg lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State infrastructure, low taxes, and biking carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Empty homes, summer heat, and an overheated housing market hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where St. Petersburg ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- BikingBetter than 82% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 81% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 79% of cities
Where St. Petersburg ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 7% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in St. Petersburg
A household needs to earn about $112,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Petersburg home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $84,741, 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. Petersburg's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. Petersburg.
Who works in St. Petersburg, and how
Work in St. Petersburg centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of cities and more parkland per resident than 87% of cities. The coast is about 5 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of St. Petersburg and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. Petersburg, month by month
St. Petersburg sees roughly 158 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 54. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 61° | 54° |
| April | 83° | 75° | 68° |
| July | 91° | 84° | 78° |
| October | 86° | 78° | 73° |
Flying in and out of St. Petersburg
The nearest airport, St Pete-Clearwater International, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Tampa International, about 16 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. Petersburg
Schools across St. Petersburg average a C+, better than 48% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Pasadena Fundamental Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Orange Grove Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Gulf Beaches Elementary Magnet SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thurgood Marshall FundamentalA · 66% proficient
- Seminole Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Fitzgerald Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- St. Petersburg Collegiate High SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Richard O Jacobson Technical High School At SeminoleA− · 64% proficient
- St. Petersburg High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Petersburg school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Petersburg 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. Petersburg against the other 444 cities.
Who St. Petersburg suits
Families
Schools land around the 48th percentile and crime safety beats 57%.
Retirees
The weather beats 75% of cities, health care access beats 81%, and it is quieter than 64%.
Common questions about living in St. Petersburg
Is St. Petersburg a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Petersburg ranks 209th of 445 cities. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and biking, and lowest on empty homes 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. Petersburg expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $435,801. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $84,741 median income, cost of living beats 58% of cities.
Is St. Petersburg safe?
Yes, St. Petersburg is safer than 57% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in St. Petersburg?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 71 with lows near 54. That works out to about 158 pleasant days a year, more than 75% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in St. Petersburg?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Historic Old Northeast, Downtown St Petersburg & Historic Uptown, Riviera Bay, Northeast Park & Bay Breeze Cove, and Jungle Terrace. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is St. Petersburg good for families?
Schools beat 48% of cities, crime safety beats 57%, and childcare runs $1,048 a month.
Is St. Petersburg good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 58% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 53% of cities. About 22% of workers already work from home.
Compare St. Petersburg with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Petersburg. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Petersburg 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. Petersburg detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Petersburg: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Petersburg: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Petersburg: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Petersburg: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Petersburg 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.