Best PlacesCheval, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cheval, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cheval ranks 1,425th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cheval
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Cheval's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cheval ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
Where Cheval ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cheval
A household needs to earn about $144,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cheval home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $128,264, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Cheval's effective rate of 1.01%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cheval
Cheval's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cheval.
Who works in Cheval, and how
Work in Cheval centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cheval
The coast is about 17 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Cheval, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cheval, month by month
Cheval sees roughly 133 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 73, with lows near 52. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 73° | 62° | 52° |
| April | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| July | 93° | 84° | 77° |
| October | 88° | 78° | 70° |
Flying in and out of Cheval
Tampa International sits about 12 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.1 million passengers in 2025, with 135 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Cheval
Schools across Cheval average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mckitrick Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Schwarzkopf Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Patricia Sullivan Metropolitan Ministries Partnership SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Martinez Middle SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
Top high schools
- Steinbrenner High SchoolA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cheval school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cheval measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Cheval against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cheval
Is Cheval a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cheval ranks 1,425th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, few empty homes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on car insurance costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cheval expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $535,126. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $128,264 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Cheval safe?
Yes, Cheval is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $130 per resident a year.
Compare Cheval with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cheval. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cheval represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Cheval detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cheval: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cheval: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cheval: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cheval: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cheval detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.