Best PlacesHernando County, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Hernando County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hernando County ranks 1,363rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 22 minutes away. Its strengths are state infrastructure and low crime. The cost shows up in summer heat, disaster risk, and car insurance costs.
The best neighborhoods in Hernando County
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.
The best areas in Hernando County
The parts of Hernando County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Brookridge & High Point
Crime runs lower, more residents vote, and prices have run up less.
Ridge Manor & South Brooksville
Tree cover is thicker, though more homes sit empty.
Spring Hill
More households have young kids and advertised internet is faster.
Brooksville
Homes cost less, though local pay stretches less far.
North Weeki Wachee
Biking is worse and heat risk is higher.
Hernando County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 10%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Hernando County's strengths and weaknesses
Hernando County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State infrastructure is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Low crime and fast internet follow.
The one real hole is summer heat, near the bottom of the country. Disaster risk and car insurance costs also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Hernando County ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 144 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of counties
Where Hernando County ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of counties
- Short commute31.4 minutes each way, better than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Hernando County
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hernando County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $71,579; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Hernando County's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hernando County
Hernando County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hernando County.
Who works in Hernando County, and how
Work in Hernando County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Hernando County
Hernando County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. The coast is about 22 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hernando County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Hernando County growing, and who is moving in?
Hernando County has grown about 24% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Tampa, FL metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Hernando County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Hernando County, month by month
Hernando County sees roughly 144 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 73, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 73° | 58° | 45° |
| April | 86° | 72° | 57° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 88° | 74° | 63° |
Flying in and out of Hernando County
Tampa International sits about 37 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 Hernando County
Schools across Hernando County average a B, better than 73% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Challenger K-8 School Of Science And MathA+ · 81% proficient
- Southside Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Phillippi Shores Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gulf Coast Academy Of Science And TechnologyA+ · 76% proficient
- Venice Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Brookside Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Venice Senior High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Sarasota High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Nature Coast Technical HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hernando County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hernando County 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 Hernando County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Hernando County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 15% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 90% of counties and health care access beats 56%.
Common questions about living in Hernando County
Is Hernando County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hernando County ranks 1,363rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low crime, and fast internet, 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 Hernando County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $277,306. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $71,579 median income, cost of living beats 57% of counties.
Is Hernando County safe?
Yes, Hernando County is safer than 96% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $142 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hernando County?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 73 with lows near 45. That works out to about 144 pleasant days a year, more than 90% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Hernando County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Brookridge & High Point, Ridge Manor & South Brooksville, and Spring Hill. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Hernando County good for families?
Schools beat 73% of counties, crime safety beats 96%, and childcare runs $651 a month.
Is Hernando County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 57% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 95% of counties. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Hernando County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hernando County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hernando County 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.
Hernando County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hernando County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hernando County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hernando County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hernando County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hernando County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.