Best PlacesSweetwater, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sweetwater, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Sweetwater ranks 40,104th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sweetwater
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.
Sweetwater's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sweetwater ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
Where Sweetwater ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sweetwater
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sweetwater home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $53,650, 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 Sweetwater's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sweetwater
Sweetwater 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 Sweetwater.
Who works in Sweetwater, and how
Work in Sweetwater centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Sweetwater
Sweetwater has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns. The coast is about 16 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Sweetwater and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sweetwater, month by month
Sweetwater sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 79, with lows near 60. The comfortable stretch runs December through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 79° | 69° | 60° |
| April | 86° | 78° | 70° |
| July | 92° | 85° | 78° |
| October | 88° | 81° | 75° |
Flying in and out of Sweetwater
Miami International sits about 6 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 26.2 million passengers in 2025, with 233 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Sweetwater
Schools across Sweetwater average a B+, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dr. Carlos J. Finlay ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Sweetwater Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Paul W. Bell Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Ruben Dario Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sweetwater school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sweetwater 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 Sweetwater against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sweetwater
Is Sweetwater a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sweetwater ranks 40,104th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and biking, and lowest on car insurance costs and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sweetwater expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $283,877. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $53,650 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Sweetwater safe?
Sweetwater is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $312 per resident a year.
Compare Sweetwater with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sweetwater. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sweetwater 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.
Sweetwater detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sweetwater: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sweetwater: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sweetwater: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sweetwater: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sweetwater 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.