Moon LakeFL
Population 4,638: a town in Florida.
Is Moon Lake a good place to live?
Easy on the wallet, harder on other counts. Its lowest grade is for health: residents are less healthy than 95% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Where it does best is cost of living — a typical home costs about , years of the Tampa metro’s $74K median household income. It is strong on walkability as well: it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 90% of U.S. towns. Put together, the subjects come to a B− overall, better than 46% of U.S. towns. In the ranking it comes 187th of 634 in Florida. Incomes are weaker too: the median household income is $49K, and 31% of residents live below the poverty line. The biggest park or preserve is J. B. Starkey Wilderness Park, at 667 acres.
Figures: home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · health, CDC PLACES · OpenStreetMap.
What makes Moon Lake stand out
Where Moon Lake beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| Widest gap | Moon Lake | FL |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 28.5% | 12.7% |
98% of working residents leave Moon Lake for work
Where Moon Lake’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Moon Lake grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Florida), ordered by how far Moon Lake is from typical.
Its grades run from A for cost of living (better than 93% of comparable towns) to D− for health (better than 5%), so the B− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Moon Lake: who provides what
Moon Lake is unincorporated, so Pasco County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 17, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Moon Lake.
Moon Lake has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns and has property taxes about half the Florida norm, but it has poverty well above the Florida rate.
Compared with most of Florida and the rest of the country, more of Moon Lake’s adults report frequent mental distress
The share of adults in Moon Lake who report frequent physical distress is 21%, where Florida’s towns sit at 15% and U.S. towns at 14%. For adults locally, the share who say their health is fair or poor is 30%. Among 636 Florida towns, just 2 have a higher share of adults who smoke cigarettes than Moon Lake.
| Moon Lake | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 16% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 15% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 20% | 19% |
| What stands out | Moon Lake | FL |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 28.5% | 12.7% |
| More smokers | 25.5% | 12.4% |
| More adults with COPD | 14% | 7.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Conserved land covers 16.1% of Moon Lake
3.7 miles of trail wind through 1 park or preserve. Moon Lake’s concentration of trails comes in at 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. J. B. Starkey Wilderness Park | — | 667 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Moon Lake has 0.3 jobs per working resident, so most workers leave town for work
1.5% of working residents work locally in Moon Lake. Jobs in Moon Lake grew by 575 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 743. For Moon Lake, the average commute is 29 minutes. The top destinations are Tampa (11%), New Port Richey (3%) and St. Petersburg (3%).
| Moon Lake | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 31% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $49,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.5% | 5% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The biggest natural risk in Moon Lake is inland flooding, at a high overall level
Moon Lake’s FEMA risk score is 69 of 100, below the Florida town median (73 of 100) but above the median of U.S. towns (44 of 100). Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 38% come from inland flooding and 35% from hurricanes. Paid flood insurance claims here since 1985: 6.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Moon Lake: mild winters and hot summers
January nights average 48°, milder than in 98% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 90.5°.
The peak summer temperature in Moon Lake is 91°F. Snow is a rarity.
| Moon Lake | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 48°F | 51°F | 22°F |
| July high | 91°F | 91°F | 85°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Homes in Moon Lake sell for about $295K
The median property tax bill is $457, against $2,730 across Florida, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Moon Lake’s going rate for rent is $1,043 a month. The share of households in Moon Lake who are owner-occupiers: 79%.
| Moon Lake | Florida towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,043 a month | $1,647 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 79% | 72% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Tropicana Field and 43 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Moon Lake. Close and well known come first.
Big draw37 mi Stadium & arenaTropicana Field
Big draw23 mi Stadium & arenaRaymond James Stadium
26 mi Stadium & arenaBenchmark International Arena
21 mi Theme parkBusch Gardens Tampa4.0M visitors a year
21 mi Stadium & arenaYuengling Center
15 mi State parkWeeki Wachee SpringsPhoto credits
Tropicana Field: EaglesFanInTampa, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Raymond James Stadium: NASA, Public domain · Benchmark International Arena: Miosotis Jade, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Busch Gardens Tampa: Wolle8ball, CC BY 3.0 · Yuengling Center: User:TheCustomOfLife, Public domain · Weeki Wachee Springs: Leonard J. DeFrancisci, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Everything we know about Moon Lake
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Moon Lake
About 3 of every 100 Moon Lake residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Florida.
About Moon Lake
CDP in Florida, United States
Moon Lake is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,817 as of the 2020 census. Moon Lake Road passes through the area. Moon Lake was once home to the Moon Lake Gardens Dude Ranch, built between 1933 and 1937 by the owner of Clearwater, Florida's Fort Harrison Hotel, Ed Haley. The tourist resort included cottages, a casino, and gardens. Moon Lake's elementary school scored an A on state evaluations. At 4,458, it has 75% of its population from lower income homes. The ZIP Code for Moon Lake is 34654.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 5.8 sq mi
Moon Lake’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Moon Lake.
| Town | FL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moon Lake | #187 | B− | A | — | B | D− |
| River Ridge | #171 | B− | C | — | B | B− |
Moon Lake and River Ridge report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Moon Lake with a neighbor →
Questions about Moon Lake
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Moon Lake, FL a good place to live?
Moon Lake grades B− overall, better than 46% of U.S. towns and #187 of 634 in Florida. It grades D− for health and B for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D−.