Best PlacesRiverside Heights, Tampa, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Riverside Heights, Tampa, 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.
Riverside Heights, Tampa ranks 1,692nd of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Riverside Heights, Tampa
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.
Riverside Heights, Tampa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Riverside Heights, Tampa ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of neighborhoods
- QuietBetter than 87% of neighborhoods
Where Riverside Heights, Tampa ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of neighborhoods
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of neighborhoods
- Heat safetyBetter than only 12% of neighborhoods
- Low vacancyBetter than only 43% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Riverside Heights, Tampa
A household needs to earn about $124,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Riverside Heights, Tampa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $95,500, 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 Riverside Heights, Tampa's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 Riverside Heights, Tampa
Riverside Heights, Tampa'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 Riverside Heights, Tampa.
Who works in Riverside Heights, Tampa, and how
Work in Riverside Heights, Tampa 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 64%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Riverside Heights, Tampa
The coast is about 7 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Riverside Heights, Tampa, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Riverside Heights, Tampa, month by month
Riverside Heights, Tampa sees roughly 131 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 Riverside Heights, Tampa
Tampa International sits about 4 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 Riverside Heights, Tampa
Schools across Riverside Heights, Tampa average a B, better than 75% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Patricia Sullivan Metropolitan Ministries Partnership SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stewart Middle Magnet SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Madison Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Hillsborough High SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Jefferson High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Riverside Heights, Tampa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Riverside Heights, Tampa 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 Riverside Heights, Tampa against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Riverside Heights, Tampa
Is Riverside Heights, Tampa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Riverside Heights, Tampa ranks 1,692nd of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and cell coverage, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Riverside Heights, Tampa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $485,202. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $95,500 median income, cost of living beats 77% of neighborhoods.
Is Riverside Heights, Tampa safe?
Riverside Heights, Tampa is safer than 47% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
Compare Riverside Heights, Tampa with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Riverside Heights, Tampa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Riverside Heights, Tampa 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.
Riverside Heights, Tampa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Riverside Heights, Tampa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Riverside Heights, Tampa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Riverside Heights, Tampa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Riverside Heights, Tampa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Riverside Heights, Tampa 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.