If access to A-rated schools is one of your non-negotiable criteria in looking for a Tampa home, you will be happy to know that A-rated and B-rated schools are fairly distributed around Tampa and across Hillsborough County.
Using the lists of schools in the 8 geographical areas set by the Hillsborough School District and the 2010-2014 school grades issued by the Florida Department of Education, we counted the A-rated and B-rated elementary schools, middle schools and high schools in each geographical area, and found that highly schools are fairly distributed across the county.
See the number of A-rated and B-rated schools in each geographical area across the Hillsborough School District:
| Area | School | Number of A-Rated and B-Rated |
| No. | Area | Schools |
| Area 1 | South Tampa/Downtown | 28 schools |
| Area 2 | Westchase/Odessa/Lutz | 29 schools |
| Area 3 | New Tampa | 29 schools |
| Area 4 | North Tampa | 22 schools |
| Area 5 | Riverview/Lithia/Valrico/Brandon | 22 schools |
| Area 6 | Plant City/Dover/Valrico | 25 schools |
| Area 7 | Brandon/Seffner/Thonotosassa | 15 schools |
| Area 8 | Apollo Beach/Ruskin/Wimauma | 18 schools |
You can see that the first three areas have the most number of highly rated schools, but the other areas are not far behind. Considering that Areas 7 and 8 are less populated than the other areas, then we can say that a great majority of residents of Hillsborough County, if not all, have access to great schools.
For those who want to know the best-performing schools over the years, here’s a list of elementary schools that have achieved a grade of A from the Florida Department of Education for the past 4 consecutive school years:
Area 1 — South Tampa/Downtown
Ballast Point
2802 Ballast Point Boulevard
Tampa, FL 33611
Gorrie
705 W De Leon St.
Tampa, FL 33606
Grady
3910 Morrison Avenue
Tampa, FL 33629
MacFarlane Park
1721 North MacDill Avenue
Tampa, FL 33607
Area 2 — Westchase/Odessa/Lutz
Alexander
5602 North Lois Avenue
Tampa, FL 33614
Bryant
13910 Nine Eagles Road
Tampa, FL 33626
Deer Park
11605 Citrus Park Drive
Tampa, FL 33626
Hammond
8008 N. Mobley Road
Odessa, FL 33556
Lowry
11505 Country Hollow Drive
Tampa, FL 33635
Northwest
16438 Hutchison Road
Tampa, FL 33625
Schwarzkopf
18333 Calusa Trace Boulevard
Lutz, FL 33548
Westchase
9517 West Linebaugh Avenue
Tampa, FL 33626
Area 3 — New Tampa
Chiles
16541 Tampa Palms Boulevard W.
Tampa, FL 33647
Maniscalco
939 DeBuel Road
Lutz, FL 33549
Pride
10310 Lion’s Den Drive
Tampa, FL 33647
Tampa Palms
6100 Tampa Palms Boulevard
Tampa, FL 33647
Turner/Bartels
9020 Imperial Oak Boulevard
Tampa, FL 33647
Lutz Elementary School
202 5th Ave SE
Lutz, FL 33549
Area 4 — North Tampa
Carrollwood
3516 Mc Farland Road
Tampa, FL 33618
Area 5 — Riverview/Lithia/Valrico/Brandon
Bevis
5720 Osprey Ridge Drive
Lithia, FL 33547
Cimino
4329 Culbreath Road
Valrico, FL 33594
Fishhawk Creek
16815 Dorman Road
Lithia, FL 33547
Lithia Springs
4332 Lynx Paw Trail
Valrico, FL 33596
Stowers
13915 Barrington Stowers Dr
Lithia, FL 33547
Area 7 — Brandon/Seffner/Thonotosassa
Cahoon
2312 East Yukon St.
Tampa, FL 33604
Limona
1115 Telfair
Brandon, FL 33510
Area 8 — Apollo Beach/Ruskin/Wimauma
Collins
12424 Summerfield Blvd.
Riverview, FL 33569
Sessums
11525 Ramble Creek Drive
Riverview, FL 33569