4 Fla. Neighborhoods ‘Best Places to Live’ in U.S.
Using national and local data, a company that helps parents connect with high schools and colleges named Tampa and Orlando areas to its top 25 “best places to live.”
TAMPA, Fla. – Four neighborhoods in Florida were named among the best places to live in the United States in a new study.
Niche, a platform that connects parents and students with schools and colleges, analyzes cities and communities around the United States using federal and local government data. It then compares its findings to resident ratings.
And what the analysis for 2023 showed is that two communities in Tampa and two in Orlando were among the top 25 neighborhoods in the country. No Miami-Dade or other South Florida cities were mentioned.
Tampa
The study, which examines metrics in the areas of public schools, housing, crime and safety, nightlife, diversity and whether the neighborhoods are family-friendly, highlighted the waterfront neighborhood of Hyde Park-Spanishtown Creek near downtown Tampa (No. 4) and nearby Harbour Island (11).
The median home price in Hyde Park is $469,284, and the median rent is $1,673, while the median home price in Harbour Island is $498,990 and average rent is $2,348. This beachfront Florida town was just voted one of the best small towns in the U.S.
Orlando
In Orlando, Niche praised the more affordable North Quarter community (8), where the median home price is $171,100 and median rent is $1,423 and Audubon Park (20), which has a median home price of $342,693 and a median rent of $1,644.
The best neighborhood in the country, Niche reports, is the Philadelphia suburb of Chesterbrook.
Niche also broke down the top 25 cities to live in, calling Cambridge, Massachusetts, the best city in the country. No Florida cities made the list.
The study also listed the best places to live in South Florida, and Pinecrest was named the best neighborhood in Miami, up from No. 2 last year. Brickell, 2022’s best neighborhood, dropped to No. 4, after Coral Gables (2) and Coconut Grove (3).
Pinecrest scored highly in the areas of public schools, diversity, being good for families and nightlife (yes, we’re a bit puzzled by that one as well). It earned good ratings regarding crime and safety and only faltered in the area of housing. Niche reports the median cost of a home in Pinecrest is $937,600. This is not exactly easy affordable living.
The rest of the top 10 cities in the Miami area include a few Broward neighborhoods: Palmetto Bay (5); Highland Beach (6); Weston (7); Parkland (8); Rio Vista in Fort Lauderdale (9); and Key Biscayne (10).
These Florida spots, one in the Keys, made the best beaches list. Miami was snubbed.
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