Best PlacesWard Ridge, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ward Ridge, 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.
Ward Ridge ranks 34,106th 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 Ward Ridge
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.
Ward Ridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ward Ridge ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
Where Ward Ridge ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ward Ridge
A household needs to earn about $128,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ward Ridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,524, 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 Ward Ridge's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Ward Ridge
Ward Ridge 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 Ward Ridge.
Who works in Ward Ridge, and how
Work in Ward Ridge centers on hospitality & food and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ward Ridge
The coast is about 2 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Ward Ridge, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ward Ridge, month by month
Ward Ridge sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 54° | 43° |
| April | 79° | 69° | 57° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 75° |
| October | 83° | 73° | 63° |
Flying in and out of Ward Ridge
The nearest airport, Northwest Florida Beaches International, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Tampa International, about 207 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ward Ridge
Schools across Ward Ridge average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Port St. Joe Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Port St. Joe High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ward Ridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ward Ridge 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 Ward Ridge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ward Ridge
Is Ward Ridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ward Ridge ranks 34,106th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and civic engagement, 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 Ward Ridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $507,258. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $74,524 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Ward Ridge safe?
Ward Ridge is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $337 per resident a year.
Compare Ward Ridge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ward Ridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ward Ridge 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.
Ward Ridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ward Ridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ward Ridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ward Ridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ward Ridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ward Ridge 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.