Best PlacesWestwood Lakes, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Westwood Lakes, 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.
Westwood Lakes ranks 33,994th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Westwood Lakes
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.
Westwood Lakes' strengths and weaknesses
Where Westwood Lakes ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
Where Westwood Lakes ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Westwood Lakes
A household needs to earn about $134,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Westwood Lakes home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $87,868, 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 Westwood Lakes' effective rate of 0.67%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Westwood Lakes
Westwood Lakes 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 Westwood Lakes.
Who works in Westwood Lakes, and how
Work in Westwood Lakes centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Westwood Lakes
The coast is about 14 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Westwood Lakes, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Westwood Lakes, month by month
Westwood Lakes sees roughly 75 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 Westwood Lakes
Miami International sits about 7 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 Westwood Lakes
Schools across Westwood Lakes average an A−, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pinecrest Cove AcademyA · 71% proficient
- Royal Palm Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Snapper Creek Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Howard D. Mcmillan Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Glades Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Riviera Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Westwood Lakes school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Westwood Lakes 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 Westwood Lakes against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Westwood Lakes
Is Westwood Lakes a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Westwood Lakes ranks 33,994th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, state infrastructure, and transit, and lowest on car insurance costs and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Westwood Lakes expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $522,377. The overall cost of living runs about 21% above the national average. Set against a $87,868 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Westwood Lakes safe?
Westwood Lakes is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $320 per resident a year.
Compare Westwood Lakes with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Westwood Lakes. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Westwood Lakes 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.
Westwood Lakes detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Westwood Lakes: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Westwood Lakes: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Westwood Lakes: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Westwood Lakes: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Westwood Lakes 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.