Florida's "Best" Small Town Has Also Previously Been Ranked Its Most "Neighborly"

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Although Florida's population is growing, there are places in the Sunshine State that still feel a bit like small towns. Examples are Micanopy, Mount Dora, and Cedar Key. However, none of those were recently named Florida's "best" small town by a national publication. However, the city that was - Sarasota - has been previously ranked as the most "neighborly."

The Recent Study And What It Measured: In the fall of 2024, the website WalletHub published what it felt were the "best" small towns in the United States. To do so, it looked at towns across the nation with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 looking at factors like affordability, education, health, quality of life, and safety.

Florida's "Best" Small Town - Sarasota: Florida did not have any cities that made it into the top spots. But Sarasota was Florida's highest-ranking city and it ranked very highly for quality of life.

Other Florida cities that ranked well on the list were Oveido, Winter Park, Boca Raton, and Dunedin.

What's So Special About Sarasota?: WalletHub is not the only national publication that has sung Sarasota's praises. US News + World Report has ranked it as number 11 for the best place to live and number 18 for the best place to retire.

Sarasota has beautiful beaches and is known as the "culture capital of Florida."

Sarasota earns an A livability score on Niche. Residents give the town 4 out of 5 stars on the site. One current resident wrote, in part:

"Sarasota has it all - every store or restaurant you could imagine. We have lots of fun things to do - beautiful parks, amazing beaches, and so many walking paths. The legacy trail connects Sarasota all the way to Venice and is great for biking...I don’t have many complaints for the area. I will say the public schools are awful, but that seems to be a theme in Florida."

Sarasota Has Also Been Named Among The Most "Neighborly" In The USA: In late 2023, Neighbor.com ranked the most "neighborly" cities in the nation. In that survey, Sarasota came in fourth place and first in Florida. (In fact, it was the only Florida city to make the list.)