The Westchase and FishHawk masterplanned communities in the Tampa Bay area have topped Niche.com’s List of Best Places to Raise a Family in Florida for 2016. Niche.com, founded in 2002 by Carnegie Mellon University students, used metrics that include:
- cost of living
- family amenities
- higher education institutions
- diversity
- crime and safety
- public schools
- real estate grade
Here are the Tampa Bay places that were ranked high in the List of 100 Best Places to Raise a Family in Florida for 2016:
Hillsborough County:
1 Westchase
2 FishHawk
4 Pebble Creek
7 Ruskin
15 Riverview
25 Progress Village
26 Gibsonton
35 Town ‘n’ Country
45 Lutz
46 Keystone
47 Northdale
50 Carrollwood
52 Lake Magdalene
53 Bloomingdale
63 Brandon
75 Valrico
81 Plant City
84 Seffner
86 Temple Terrace
100 Citrus Park
Pasco County
27 Key Vista
38 Wesley Chapel
70 Odessa
Hernando County
93 North Brooksville
Sarasota County
49 North Sarasota
80 South Gate Ridge
Westchase, located in the northwestern part of Tampa, consists of 29 distinct neighborhoods in more than 2,000 acres of land. Around 3,500 homes are built around preserved lands, nature trails, sports facilities, playgrounds, pavilions and several parks. Within Westchase is the 18-hole Westchase Golf Course and two highly-rated schools Westchase Elementary and Davidsen Middle School. The community has easy access to the Tampa International Airport, the Gulf beaches, the Westshore Business District and three major malls, namely Westfield Citrus Park, Westfield Westhore Plaza and International Plaza. Westchase has been recognized by Travel + Leisure as one of the Coolest Suburbs Worth a Visit in the U.S.
FishHawk Ranch, located east of Tampa, in Lithia, currently has around 5,000 homes spread out on more than 3,000 acres of land, with residents enjoying 25 miles of nature trails, and large spaces of nature parks, sports facilities, highly-rated schools, clubs, shops. It has received more than 10 major awards statewide and nationwide and owns the distinction of being the first and largest green community in Hillsborough County.
Note that in the list above, out of the 26 Tampa Bay places chosen, 20 are in Hillsborough County, 3 are in Pasco County, 2 in Sarasota County and one in Hernando County.