Moving to
Brandon.

All Brandon data Compare Brandon

119,767people live here $79,685median household incomeNear US average $1,784median rent per month▲ 26% above US $339,000median home valueNear US average

Brandon is an unincorporated community in Hillsborough County, FL. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.

What it's like to live in Brandon

Brandon is a large unincorporated community in Florida. The numbers below lay out what daily life there actually looks like.

The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Brandon deals with rent well above the national average, commute times longer than most cities, air quality that falls short of national benchmarks, and larger class sizes than the national average.

The not so good

Rent well above the national average
Above-average commute times
Air quality concerns
High student-teacher ratio
High rent burden for renters
Hot summers

How Brandon compares

Median household income

Brandon$79,685

Florida avg$74,568

US$80,734

Median rent (per month)

Brandon$1,784

Florida avg$1,669

US$1,413

Median home value

Brandon$339,000

Florida avg$359,000

US$332,700

What it takes to move to Brandon

Based on Brandon's median rent, home value and household income

To rent

$3,568

up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit

Income to keep rent under 30%: $71,360 a year
54% of Brandon renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent

To buy

$67,800

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $33,900
Homes cost 4.3× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Cost of living▲ 26% above US

$1,784/mo median rent

Rent runs on the higher side, at $1,784 a month median. Whether that premium makes sense usually comes down to the local job market and what it pays. Home prices run above average, with a median around $339,000. Buyers should expect to stretch their budget here.

Median home value $339,000 · 54% of renters cost-burdened

Job market

4.0% county unemployment

Unemployment in Hillsborough County is 4.0%, close to the national average of 4.3%. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

Hillsborough County (county-wide)

Safety

126 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

Brandon doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction as a whole, which runs below the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.

Property crime 436/100k · Policed by Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2025 data

Getting aroundNear US average

28 min average commute

Commutes run about average, at 28.4 minutes. Fine day to day, but it adds up over a year, and where someone lives relative to where they work starts to matter. 8 in 10 workers drive to work; 18% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

72%

Work from home

18%

Carpool

6.4%

Other

2.7%

Walk

0.7%

Public transit

0.2%

Climate

Summers are hot and humid, with highs regularly hitting 93°F, and winters are mild, with lows rarely dropping below 52°F. It's a wet climate overall.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Healthcare

1 hospital

There's one Medicare-certified hospital inside city limits, rated 3.0 out of 5 by Medicare. Hospitals in neighboring towns aren't counted here.

Medicare-certified hospitals

Education & workforceNear US average

34% bachelor's degree or higher

Education levels run about average, with 34% college-educated. It's a mix of white-collar and blue-collar work, which can be an asset or a limitation depending on the field.

Schools

20 public schools inside the boundary

There are 20 public schools inside the boundary and 7 private schools. The student-to-teacher ratio is 19:1, slightly above the national average of 16:1.

Parks & recreation

The nearest national park or historic site is De Soto National Memorial (36 miles away).

Bottom line

Nothing in Brandon's numbers stands out as a clear strength, and the main tradeoffs are rent well above the national average and commute times longer than most cities. A year of median rent ($1,784/mo) equals 27% of the median household income here, more than the 21% typical nationwide. It tends to suit remote workers (18% of workers here already work from home). It may be a harder fit for renters on a tight budget.

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