Best PlacesCottage Hill, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cottage Hill, 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.
Cottage Hill ranks 26,401st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cottage Hill
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.
Cottage Hill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cottage Hill ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 126 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
Where Cottage Hill ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cottage Hill
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cottage Hill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,952, 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 Cottage Hill's effective rate of 0.62%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Cottage Hill
Cottage Hill runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cottage Hill.
Who works in Cottage Hill, and how
Work in Cottage Hill centers on public administration and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cottage Hill
The coast is about 42 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Cottage Hill, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cottage Hill, month by month
Cottage Hill sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 53° | 45° |
| April | 78° | 69° | 61° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 77° |
| October | 82° | 73° | 64° |
Flying in and out of Cottage Hill
The nearest airport, Pensacola International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 181 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cottage Hill
Schools across Cottage Hill average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Molino Park ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Jim Allen Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ransom Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Ernest Ward Middle SchoolB+ · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- J. M. Tate Senior High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Northview High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cottage Hill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cottage Hill 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 Cottage Hill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cottage Hill
Is Cottage Hill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cottage Hill ranks 26,401st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and fast internet, and lowest on disaster risk and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cottage Hill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $241,438. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $72,952 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Cottage Hill safe?
Yes, Cottage Hill is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $162 per resident a year.
Compare Cottage Hill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cottage Hill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cottage Hill 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.
Cottage Hill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cottage Hill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cottage Hill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cottage Hill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cottage Hill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cottage Hill 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.