Best PlacesWildwood, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Wildwood metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Wildwood ranks 204th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on health care access and state infrastructure. The weaker spots are walkability, summer heat, and empty homes.
The best neighborhoods in the Wildwood metro
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 Wildwood
The towns and districts of the Wildwood metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
The Villages
More residents vote, more adults hold degrees, and local pay stretches further.
Oxford
Fewer households have young kids and tree cover is thinner.
Lady Lake
Biking is better and health care is easier to reach.
Orange Home
Heat risk is lower, though crime runs higher.
Bushnell, Webster & Lake Panasoffkee
Homes cost less, though incomes run lower.
Downtown Wildwood
Fewer homes sit empty, though it is noisier.
Scores across Wildwood run from about the 3rd to the 80th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Wildwood's strengths and weaknesses
Wildwood lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Health care access is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. State infrastructure and civic engagement follow.
The one real hole is walkability, near the bottom of the country. Summer heat and empty homes also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Wildwood ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than 83% of metro areas
Where Wildwood ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Short commute28.9 minutes each way, better than only 8% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 12% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Wildwood
A household needs to earn about $99,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wildwood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,317, 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 Wildwood's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wildwood
Wildwood 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 Wildwood.
Who works in Wildwood, and how
Work in Wildwood centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Wildwood
Wildwood has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wildwood and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wildwood growing, and who is moving in?
Wildwood has grown about 38% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Orlando, FL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wildwood go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wildwood, month by month
Wildwood sees roughly 132 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 48. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 59° | 48° |
| April | 85° | 73° | 61° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 87° | 76° | 67° |
Flying in and out of Wildwood
The nearest airport, Orlando Sanford International, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Orlando International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wildwood
Schools across Wildwood average a B−, better than 61% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Panasoffkee Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Webster Elementary SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Wildwood Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Sumter Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Carver Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Oak Park Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- South Sumter High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Wildwood Middle/ High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Leesburg High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wildwood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wildwood 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 Wildwood against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Wildwood suits
Retirees
The weather beats 80% of metro areas, health care access beats 100%, and it is quieter than 79%.
Common questions about living in Wildwood
Is Wildwood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wildwood ranks 204th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on health care access, state infrastructure, and civic engagement, and lowest on walkability and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wildwood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $382,897. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $78,317 median income, cost of living beats 66% of metro areas.
Is Wildwood safe?
Yes, Wildwood is safer than 83% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $171 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wildwood?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 72 with lows near 48. That works out to about 132 pleasant days a year, more than 80% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wildwood?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are The Villages, Oxford, and Lady Lake. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Wildwood good for families?
Schools beat 61% of metro areas, crime safety beats 83%, and childcare runs $940 a month.
Is Wildwood good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 66% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 20% of metro areas. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Wildwood with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wildwood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wildwood 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.
Wildwood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wildwood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wildwood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wildwood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wildwood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wildwood 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.