These Are The 10 Best Suburbs In Florida For 2018


We used science and data to determine the best suburbs in Florida for you to live.

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Are you sick of being a city slicker?

Do you long for life in suburban Florida? Where you can drive your overly-large vehicle to the store for groceries, and schlep the kids around to practices and appointments without worrying about a parking space?

We do too.

Public transportation is…icky at times. When you have to call an Uber to get to urgent care on a Friday night, that gets old after a while.

So, the question is, if you wanted to move out to the suburbs of Tallahassee, where would you go? And how would you decide on the ranking factors to help you pick which Florida suburb was best?

No worries. We got it all figured out here.

These are the 10 best suburbs in the Sunshine State:

  1. Key Biscayne (Photos)
  2. Coral Gables (Photos)
  3. Parkland (Photos)
  4. Surfside (Photos)
  5. Longboat Key (Photos)
  6. Belle Isle (Photos)
  7. Neptune Beach (Photos)
  8. Maitland (Photos)
  9. Lake Mary (Photos)
  10. Weston (Photos)

Key Biscayne is the place to be when it comes to being a soccer mom in suburban Florida.

So if you’re thinking of packing up your mini van and making a move to a quiet place to live in Florida, we’ve got you covered.

Keep on reading for a detailed methodology. Or, check out the best places to live in Florida and the best places to raise a family in Florida.

How do you determine which suburb is the best in Florida anyways?

To give you the best suburbs in Florida, we have to look at a handful of metrics. Of course, we want to measure the type of people who live in each city, and make some assumptions about what’s a “best city” and what isn’t.

So we researched the internet for a database that contains all that information.

How we crunched the suburb numbers for the Sunshine State

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using U.S. Census data produced for the state of Florida, we looked at every town between 5,000 and 200,000 residents, and within 30 miles of a city that’s over 200,000 people (In other words, suburbs).

We paid particular attention to:

  • Median Home Values
  • Median Income
  • Population Density (Higher is Better)
  • Unemployment Rates
  • Commute Time
  • Education Levels
  • Health Insurance Coverage
  • Poverty Rates

We ranked each suburb in Florida across a number of criteria from one to 90, with one being the best.

We then took the average rank across all criteria, with the town posting the lowest overall score being crowned the winner of the title “Best Suburb To Live In Florida”.

The result is some of the safest, quiet, and awesome places to live in Florida

Read on to see why Key Biscayne is the ‘burb with the most, while Homestead is probably not the best place to live in Florida.

1. Key Biscayne

Key Biscayne, Fl

Source: Public domain

Population: 12,935
Median Income: $124,504
Median Home Price: $1,034,800
Key Biscayne is located 6 miles south of Miami.

2. Coral Gables

Coral Gables, Fl

Population: 50,533
Median Income: $91,452
Median Home Price: $696,000
Coral Gables is located 7 miles south of Miami.

3. Parkland

Parkland, Fl

Population: 28,354
Median Income: $128,292
Median Home Price: $490,100
Parkland is located 30 miles north of Hialeah.

4. Surfside

Surfside, Fl

Population: 5,810
Median Income: $72,266
Median Home Price: $561,900
Surfside is located 8 miles north of Miami.

5. Longboat Key

Longboat Key, Fl

Population: 7,158
Median Income: $87,201
Median Home Price: $660,300
Longboat Key is located 25 miles south of St. Petersburg.

6. Belle Isle

Belle Isle, Fl

Population: 6,542
Median Income: $75,135
Median Home Price: $252,000
Belle Isle is located 4 miles west of Orlando.

7. Neptune Beach

Neptune Beach, Fl

Population: 6,817
Median Income: $74,286
Median Home Price: $338,800
Neptune Beach is located 16 miles east of Jacksonville.

8. Maitland

Maitland, Fl

Source: Public domain

Population: 16,911
Median Income: $64,144
Median Home Price: $303,900
Maitland is located 15 miles north of Orlando.

9. Lake Mary

Lake Mary, Fl

Population: 15,478
Median Income: $90,930
Median Home Price: $268,800
Lake Mary is located 23 miles north of Orlando.

10. Weston

Weston, Fl

Population: 68,893
Median Income: $93,883
Median Home Price: $414,100
Weston is located 17 miles north of Hialeah.

There You Have It – The Best Suburbs In Florida

Here’s a look at the worst suburbs in Florida according to the data:

  1. Homestead
  2. Opa-Locka
  3. Lauderdale Lakes

For more Florida reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Best Suburbs In Florida

City Rank Population Median Income Median Home Price
Key Biscayne 1 12,935 $124,504 $1,034,800
Coral Gables 2 50,533 $91,452 $696,000
Parkland 3 28,354 $128,292 $490,100
Surfside 4 5,810 $72,266 $561,900
Longboat Key 5 7,158 $87,201 $660,300
Belle Isle 6 6,542 $75,135 $252,000
Neptune Beach 7 6,817 $74,286 $338,800
Maitland 8 16,911 $64,144 $303,900
Lake Mary 9 15,478 $90,930 $268,800
Weston 10 68,893 $93,883 $414,100
Miami Lakes 11 30,833 $72,225 $326,500
Safety Harbor 12 17,268 $61,603 $216,500
Bay Harbor Islands 13 5,885 $61,225 $312,800
St. Pete Beach 14 9,528 $65,960 $351,800
Winter Park 15 29,543 $62,699 $340,400
Oviedo 16 37,545 $82,402 $241,100
Sunny Isles Beach 17 21,937 $52,060 $316,100
Atlantic Beach 18 13,089 $70,921 $330,400
Treasure Island 19 6,827 $62,660 $347,800
Jacksonville Beach 20 22,519 $64,580 $287,200
Miami Shores 21 10,772 $101,047 $442,000
Palmetto Bay 22 24,522 $105,316 $467,400
Lauderdale-By-The-Sea 23 6,375 $52,540 $417,300
Doral 24 53,426 $74,174 $328,600
Winter Springs 25 34,439 $62,372 $214,800
Southwest Ranches 26 7,745 $90,558 $585,900
Coral Springs 27 127,673 $67,702 $294,300
West Miami 28 6,652 $43,233 $243,700
Pinecrest 29 19,272 $130,900 $840,900
South Pasadena 30 5,040 $33,227 $169,900
Aventura 31 37,515 $55,891 $310,300
Seminole 32 17,906 $48,364 $154,400
Coconut Creek 33 57,731 $55,451 $150,100
Pembroke Pines 34 164,753 $62,702 $225,400
Dunedin 35 35,882 $45,646 $157,200
Miami Springs 36 14,430 $54,750 $297,200
Minneola 37 10,371 $56,787 $145,300
Temple Terrace 38 25,654 $55,770 $174,900
Oldsmar 39 14,023 $54,506 $162,900
Wilton Manors 40 12,270 $53,642 $279,900
Fernandina Beach 41 12,156 $53,622 $275,100
Winter Garden 42 39,219 $60,626 $236,700
Miramar 43 133,741 $64,632 $228,400
Orange Park 44 8,603 $49,869 $157,200
Davie 45 98,717 $61,704 $225,500
Clermont 46 31,171 $56,037 $186,800
Cutler Bay 47 44,002 $66,929 $216,500
Gulfport 48 12,222 $42,924 $144,300
Tamarac 49 63,747 $44,399 $127,700
Altamonte Springs 50 42,557 $49,947 $136,300
Ocoee 51 41,393 $61,766 $181,800
South Miami 52 12,207 $60,519 $398,100
Miami Beach 53 91,784 $47,216 $398,600
Hialeah Gardens 54 23,351 $43,576 $148,000
Clearwater 55 111,747 $44,569 $163,500
Macclenny 56 6,451 $53,491 $115,300
Margate 57 56,245 $42,430 $135,800
Sunrise 58 91,177 $50,297 $150,800
Hollywood 59 148,114 $48,579 $197,100
Tarpon Springs 60 24,244 $45,106 $166,300
St. Cloud 61 44,198 $50,646 $132,900
Pinellas Park 62 50,946 $41,669 $114,500
Largo 63 80,678 $39,636 $97,800
Sarasota 64 54,425 $43,477 $190,500
Longwood 65 14,117 $57,121 $151,800
Fort Lauderdale 66 175,153 $51,648 $273,400
Bradenton 67 52,985 $41,093 $135,900
Oakland Park 68 43,660 $46,447 $163,700
Apopka 69 47,023 $60,273 $167,600
Casselberry 70 26,649 $41,791 $105,300
Palmetto 71 13,138 $42,047 $113,500
Green Cove Springs 72 7,205 $52,927 $133,300
Sweetwater 73 20,718 $33,741 $118,100
North Lauderdale 74 43,087 $42,035 $110,600
Pompano Beach 75 106,004 $42,641 $165,300
Dania Beach 76 31,046 $43,202 $167,300
Zephyrhills 77 14,454 $33,253 $87,400
Hallandale Beach 78 38,951 $34,400 $163,700
Pembroke Park 79 6,259 $35,065 $68,600
Lauderhill 80 70,452 $37,597 $103,700
Miami Gardens 81 112,514 $39,012 $141,600
North Miami Beach 82 43,722 $38,058 $155,500
West Park 83 14,884 $39,657 $128,800
Sanford 84 57,039 $39,989 $105,100
Kissimmee 85 66,840 $38,262 $136,300
New Port Richey 86 15,503 $31,001 $65,000
North Miami 87 62,158 $37,490 $157,900
Lauderdale Lakes 88 34,321 $32,894 $93,400
Opa-Locka 89 16,245 $17,933 $98,900
Homestead 90 65,688 $40,452 $141,300

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.