Pros and Cons of Living in Pembroke Pines
Pembroke Pines' pros and cons trace back to its identity as a large, diverse-by-community-type Broward suburb: real strengths in safety, schools, and housing variety, alongside real tradeoffs in cost and car-dependent layout.
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Learn morePro: an unusually strong safety profile and multiple genuinely strong school options
Pembroke Pines posted a citywide 'Very Safe (Grade A)' rating and an FBI-data-based #1 ranking among 71 Florida cities compared, alongside a 10/10 GreatSchools rating at Somerset Academy Elementary and the city's own municipal charter school system (see healthcare-safety and schools-families) -- both genuine, sourced advantages.
Pro: real housing variety across life stages, from Century Village to family subdivisions
Few Broward suburbs offer both large master-planned family subdivisions (Pembroke Falls, Chapel Trail, Encantada) and a major, well-established age-55+ community (Century Village, 7,700 units) inside the same city limits -- a genuine breadth of housing options for buyers at different life stages (see housing and retiring).
Con: cost of living runs meaningfully above the national average
Every cost-of-living figure gathered this session -- the overall index (roughly 21%-22% above national), average rent (roughly 25% above national) -- points to Pembroke Pines costing more than a typical U.S. city, even before accounting for Broward County's above-average property tax and insurance costs (see cost-of-living and taxes-insurance).
Con: car-dependent layout, no direct beach access, and standard South Florida hurricane exposure
Pembroke Pines' master-planned-community layout is car-dependent rather than walkable, and the city has no beach access within its own limits, unlike Hollywood elsewhere in this South Florida batch. Standard Florida hurricane-season wind and rainfall risk applies, even though the city's inland position reduces direct storm-surge exposure (see climate and taxes-insurance).
Key takeaways
- Pro: an unusually strong, well-documented safety profile (FBI data ranks it #1 of 71 Florida cities compared) and genuinely strong school options, including a 10/10 GreatSchools elementary campus.
- Pro: real housing variety within one city -- large family subdivisions alongside Century Village, a major age-55+ community -- a genuine breadth other Broward suburbs don't match.
- Con: cost of living runs roughly 21%-25% above national averages across every metric checked this session, before Broward County's above-average property tax and insurance costs.
- Con: car-dependent layout, no in-city beach access, and standard Florida hurricane wind/rain exposure, even with reduced storm-surge risk given the inland location.
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