Best PlacesCocoa, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cocoa, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cocoa ranks 1,415th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cocoa
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.
Cocoa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cocoa ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 87% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 80% of cities
Where Cocoa ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Cocoa
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cocoa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,654, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Cocoa's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cocoa
Cocoa runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cocoa.
Who works in Cocoa, and how
Work in Cocoa centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cocoa
Cocoa has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. The coast is about 16 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cocoa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cocoa, month by month
Cocoa sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 73, with lows near 54. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 73° | 65° | 54° |
| April | 84° | 77° | 66° |
| July | 93° | 87° | 78° |
| October | 86° | 81° | 73° |
Flying in and out of Cocoa
The nearest airport, Melbourne Orlando International, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Orlando International, about 32 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cocoa
Schools across Cocoa average an A+, better than 99% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Freedom 7 Elementary School Of International StudiesA+ · 88% proficient
- Columbia ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Harmony Community SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- John F. Kennedy Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Narcoossee Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Andrew Jackson Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- West Shore Junior/senior High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Edgewood Jr/sr High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Space Coast Junior/senior High SchoolB · 49% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cocoa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cocoa 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 Cocoa against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Cocoa suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Cocoa
Is Cocoa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cocoa ranks 1,415th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on good schools, state infrastructure, and low taxes, and lowest on summer heat and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cocoa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $275,286. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $77,654 median income, cost of living beats 39% of cities.
Is Cocoa safe?
Cocoa is safer than 48% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $220 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cocoa?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 73 with lows near 54. That works out to about 89 pleasant days a year, more than 53% of cities.
Is Cocoa good for families?
Schools beat 100% of cities, crime safety beats 48%, and childcare runs $839 a month.
Compare Cocoa with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cocoa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cocoa 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.
Cocoa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cocoa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cocoa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cocoa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cocoa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cocoa 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.