Sarasota Among Best U.S. Beach Towns To Live In: WalletHub

SARASOTA, FL — The city of Sarasota ranked high on WalletHub’s 2021 list of "Best Beach Towns to Live in" near the ocean in the United States, coming in at No. 6.

Sarasota also ranked at No. 6 in WalletHub's previous list for best beach towns.

Other Florida cities made the top 10 for 2021 as well, including Naples at No. 1, Boca Raton at No. 8 and Destin at No. 9.

To determine the most livable beachside communities, WalletHub looked at 191 cities across the country — which they divided into two categories, ocean beach towns and lake beach towns — and reviewed 62 key metrics ranging from housing costs to share of for-sale waterfront homes to quality of beach water.

Among the 145 cities on the ocean beach town list, Sarasota ranked No. 1 for nightlife establishments per capita, WalletHub said. It also ranked No. 2 for quality of life.

Other key rankings for Sarasota, according to WalletHub, include:

• Water temperature: No. 15
• Weather: No. 16
• Quality of beach water: No. 32
• Percentage of for-sale waterfront homes: No. 32
• Affordability: No. 38
• Foreclosure rate: No. 48
• Economy: No. 55
• Median annual property taxes: No. 56
• Education and health: No. 70
• Safety: No. 110

This isn’t the first time Sarasota has made a list like this. Earlier this year, the city was named the Best Place to Retire in the U.S. by U.S. News and World Report. It also made the Best Places to Live in the U.S. list, coming in at No. 16.

In November, Sarasota also topped the Florida for Boomers website’s list of the best 25 places to retire in Florida.