The suburbs of Miami call to all types of people looking to escape city live. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Miami to avoid all the hustle and bustle.
So the question arises, do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?
Today, we’ll use science and data to determine which Miami ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Miami area if you will. Realistically, you can’t expect all the suburbs to live up to Miami proper, although Key Biscayne certainly tries.
Of course, not all suburbs of Miami are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones..
We examined the 48 biggest suburbs of Miami to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t necessarily find them on the worst places to live in Florida lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Miami in terms of quality of life.
Here are the 10 worst suburbs around Miami for 2023:
What’s the worst suburb of Miami? Florida City ranks as the worst suburb of Miami for 2023 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Miami that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger.
Or, if you’re thinking of moving to elsewhere in Florida check out the best places in Florida overall or the worst.
And remember, there are some good places to live around Miami too.
Article Table Of Contents
For more Florida reading, check out:
The 10 Worst Miami Suburbs To Live For 2023
/10
We’ll get the ball rolling with Florida City, the absolute worst place to live around Miami according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Florida City beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 6th worst in the Miami area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 3rd worst when it comes to home values.
But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Florida City.
You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area, there aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.
/10
Welcome to Opa Locka. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 9.1 miles to Miami. Income levels here are the lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $27,734 a year, which doesn’t go a long ways even on a shoestring budget.
But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.
/10
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Miami suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Pembroke Park on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.
In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school drop out rate is poor compared to other Miami suburbs.
But at least there are nice parks to bring the kids during the day.
/10
If you live in Homestead, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 15th lowest Miami suburb when it comes to residents making money.
Not only that, but this is the 17th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Miami. Remember, we looked at 48 cities for this study.
Homestead is about 25.9 miles to downtown.
/10
Lauderdale Lakes has the distinction of being a Miami suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Lauderdale Lakes has the lowest home values in the metro Miami area, where the median price is $160,300. To put that into perspective, in Key Biscayne, the median income is $167,990, which is the best in the area.
Lauderdale Lakes has an unemployment rate of 7.76% which ranks 9th worst.
/10
West Park has 15,074 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)
Incomes are towards the bottom and the poverty rate sits at 18.07100512888829%.
/10
Ah, Dania Beach. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Miami.
It’s the place with the 7th most out of work residents in the Miami metro area (8.43%).
/10
North Miami is a city about 9.0 miles from Miami, but Miami probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.
You’d be hard pressed to find a worse place to live. North Miami has the 3rd most uninsured people, 7th worst incomes, and has the 13th highest unemployment rate (6.68%) in the entire Miami metro area.
Homes only cost $250,200 for a reason. That’s cheap for Miami standards.
/10
If you absolutely have to live near Miami, then Miami Gardens might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Miami suburb.
About 8.52% of residents are out of work.
/10
Rounding out the ten worst Miami suburbs to call home is Lauderhill.
Located 26.7 miles outside the city, Lauderhills is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 8th highest unemployment rate (7.96%), and poverty is far above the area average.
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Miami for 2023
To figure out how bad a Miami suburb is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what suburbs have the least amount of those things.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2017-2021, this is the criteria we used:
- High unemployment rate
- Low median household incomes
- Low population density (no things to do)
- Low home values
- A lot of high school drop outs
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
FYI: We defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of Miami.
Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 1,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 48 suburbs to evaluate around Miami.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 48 in each category, where 1 was the “worst”.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality of life index.
And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index the “Worst Suburb near Miami.” We’re lookin’ at you, Florida City.
Read on below to learn more about what it’s like to live in the worst of the worst. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the suburbs ranked from worst to best.
Summary: The areas around Miami where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2023
Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Miami with Florida City casting itself ahead of the pack.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Miami aren’t all bad. Key Biscayne takes the cake as the best place to live around Miami.
- Key Biscayne
- El Portal
- Coral Gables
For more Florida reading, check out:
- Best Places To Retire In Florida
- Richest Cities In Florida
- Safest Places In Florida
- Worst Places To Live In Florida
Detailed List Of The Worst Miami Suburbs
Rank | City | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | Florida City | 12,844 |
2 | Opa Locka | 16,310 |
3 | Pembroke Park | 6,269 |
4 | Homestead | 78,885 |
5 | Lauderdale Lakes | 35,898 |
6 | West Park | 15,074 |
7 | Dania Beach | 31,703 |
8 | North Miami | 60,449 |
9 | Miami Gardens | 111,706 |
10 | Lauderhill | 73,935 |
11 | Hallandale Beach | 41,004 |
12 | Sweetwater | 19,426 |
13 | Oakland Park | 44,092 |
14 | North Miami Beach | 43,357 |
15 | Hialeah | 224,362 |
16 | Hollywood | 152,597 |
17 | Fort Lauderdale | 182,247 |
18 | Tamarac | 71,140 |
19 | Sunrise | 96,220 |
20 | Hialeah Gardens | 22,917 |
21 | Cutler Bay | 44,865 |
22 | Davie | 104,782 |
23 | Virginia Gardens | 2,229 |
24 | Miami Beach | 83,469 |
25 | Doral | 73,126 |
26 | West Miami | 7,090 |
27 | Miramar | 134,306 |
28 | Pembroke Pines | 170,346 |
29 | Bal Harbour | 3,037 |
30 | South Miami | 11,997 |
31 | Biscayne Park | 3,117 |
32 | Florida | 2,921 |
33 | Sunny Isles Beach | 22,234 |
34 | Miami Springs | 13,880 |
35 | Aventura | 39,734 |
36 | Miami Lakes | 30,582 |
37 | Islandia | 3,541 |
38 | Miami Shores | 11,551 |
39 | Wilton Manors | 11,525 |
40 | Surfside | 5,665 |
41 | Weston | 68,148 |
42 | Southwest Ranches | 7,613 |
43 | Palmetto Bay | 24,327 |
44 | Bay Harbor Islands | 5,880 |
45 | Pinecrest | 18,405 |
46 | Coral Gables | 49,269 |
47 | El Portal | 1,756 |
48 | Key Biscayne | 14,530 |
The post The 10 Worst Miami Suburbs For 2023 appeared first on RoadSnacks.