Best PlacesCocoa West, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cocoa West, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cocoa West ranks 35,310th of 50,333 U.S. towns 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 West
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 West's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cocoa West ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
Where Cocoa West ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cocoa West
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cocoa West home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $52,135, 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 West's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 4 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 West
Cocoa West's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 West.
Who works in Cocoa West, and how
Work in Cocoa West centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Cocoa West
The coast is about 14 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Cocoa West, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cocoa West, month by month
Cocoa West sees roughly 87 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 West
The nearest airport, Melbourne Orlando International, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Orlando International, about 33 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cocoa West
Schools across Cocoa West average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Freedom 7 Elementary School Of International StudiesA+ · 88% proficient
- Saturn Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- John F. Kennedy Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Ronald Mcnair Magnet Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- West Shore Junior/senior High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Edgewood Jr/sr High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cocoa West school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cocoa West 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 West against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cocoa West
Is Cocoa West a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cocoa West ranks 35,310th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state infrastructure, and cell coverage, and lowest on summer heat and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cocoa West expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $196,329. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $52,135 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Cocoa West safe?
Cocoa West is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $308 per resident a year.
Compare Cocoa West with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cocoa West. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cocoa West 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 West detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cocoa West: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cocoa West: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cocoa West: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cocoa West: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cocoa West 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.