Westchase and FishHawk Top List of Best Places to Raise a Family in Florida

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 School 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.

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