{"id":277849,"date":"2026-05-20T09:22:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T09:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/277849\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T09:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T09:22:20","slug":"this-is-the-best-place-to-live-in-central-florida-new-ranking-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/277849\/","title":{"rendered":"This is the best place to live in Central Florida, new ranking claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 U.S. News & World Report has issued its latest ranking for the best places to live<\/a> across the U.S. \u2014 including here in the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n

Per the outlet, the study was crafted using factors like housing affordability, the cost of living, education and healthcare quality, crime rates, weather, and much more.<\/p>\n

Nationwide, the top-ranked site for people to live turned out to be Carmel, Indiana, with Fishers, Indiana (No. 2), and Flower Mound, Texas (No. 3), coming in soon after.<\/p>\n

But in the Sunshine State, the top spot instead turned out to be Parkland, with Palm Harbor (No. 2) and Weston (No. 3) following closely behind.<\/p>\n

That said, Alafaya here in Orange County<\/a> managed to crack the top 10, coming in at No. 8 for the state as a whole. The top-ranked city for each Central Florida county includes:<\/p>\n

Brevard County \u2014 Melbourne (No. 42)<\/p>\n

Flagler County \u2014 Palm Coast (No. 35)<\/p>\n

Lake County \u2014 Clermont (No. 17)<\/p>\n

Marion County \u2014 Ocala (No. 62)<\/p>\n

Orange County \u2014 Alafaya (No. 8)<\/p>\n

Osceola County \u2014 Kissimmee (No. 78)<\/p>\n

Polk County \u2014 Lakeland (No. 40)<\/p>\n

Seminole County \u2014 Sanford (No. 47)<\/p>\n

Sumter County \u2014 The Villages (No. 13)<\/p>\n

Volusia County \u2014 Ormond Beach (No. 20)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the full Florida ranking is as follows:<\/p>\n

State RankNat\u2019l RankCityOverall Score (\/10)114Parkland6.9262Palm Harbor6.5370Weston6.4497Riverview6.35115Pensacola6.26121Spring Hill6.27155Kendall6.18159Alafaya6.19161Doral6.110163Crestview6.111170Jupiter6.012178Apopka6.013186The Villages6.014205Homosassa Springs5.915215Naples5.916217Brandon5.917222Clermont5.918226Wellington5.919228Tampa5.820236Ormond Beach5.821246Pembroke Pines5.822248Bonita Springs5.823251Davie5.824260Punta Gorda5.825262Port Orange5.826270Largo5.827287St. Petersburg5.728290Zephyrhills5.729299North Port5.730301Palm Beach Gardens5.731321DeLand5.632326Cape Coral5.633328Port Charlotte5.634336Boca Raton5.635343Palm Coast5.636346Miramar5.637347Clearwater5.638353Deltona5.639357Pinellas Park5.640359Lakeland5.641361Tamarac5.642379Melbourne5.543382Palm Bay5.544389Sebastian5.545–Plantation5.546400Jacksonville5.547417Sanford5.448419Winter Haven5.449422Coral Springs5.450428Panama City5.451432Port St. Lucie5.452471Orlando5.353474Sebring5.354483Miami Beach5.355486Tallahassee5.356509Ft. Lauderdale5.257516Hialeah5.258534Delray Beach5.259553Ft. Myers5.160582Sunrise5.161586Miami5.162592Ocala5.163611Daytona Beach5.064615Homestead5.065638Wildwood5.066651Hollywood4.967657Bradenton4.968661West Palm Beach4.969672Boynton Beach4.970685North Miami Beach4.971702North Miami4.872707Deerfield Beach4.873709Gainesville4.874719Greenacres4.775733Sarasota4.776738Pompano Beach4.777739Lehigh Acres4.778754Kissimmee4.679787Miami Gardens4.580791Ft. Pierce4.581851Lauderhill4.0Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n

Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 U.S. News & World Report has issued its latest ranking for the best places to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[42495,10514,315,6919,4717,28,30,29,785,2174,3833,1335,139,1976,1911,1014,3315,135,3690,2261],"class_list":["post-277849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-alafaya","tag-apopka","tag-brevard-county","tag-features","tag-flagler-county","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-ranked","tag-lake-county","tag-marion-county","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-osceola-county","tag-polk-county","tag-seminole-county","tag-sumter-county","tag-tampa","tag-the-villages","tag-volusia-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}