Best Schools in Brandon, Florida

Brandon sits in Hillsborough County, southeast of Tampa, with 10 ranked public schools spread across elementary and middle grade levels. The citywide average score is 5.5 out of 10 — squarely at the midpoint of the rating scale — and the school mix reflects that: a small group of strong performers at the top, a larger cluster hovering near average.

Performance skews toward the elementary level. Only two schools in Brandon — 20% of the ranked total — score 7 or higher, and both are elementary schools. Brooker Elementary leads the city at 8.1, the highest score on the roster by a clear margin. Limona Elementary follows at 7.1. Together these two give families with younger children the strongest academic footholds the city offers. The remaining elementary schools drop into the mid-range: Schmidt Elementary at 6.1 and Mintz Elementary at 5.6 both sit below the citywide average but above the lowest tier.

The middle school picture is thinner. Burns Middle School is the only ranked middle school in the data, and it scores 5.5 — exactly at the city average. Parents relocating with children already past elementary age have a single public benchmark to evaluate here, which makes direct school-level research and a conversation with Hillsborough County Schools about enrollment options more important than it would be in a city with a broader middle school spread.

The practical takeaway for parents: Brandon rewards deliberate school-zone targeting. The gap between Brooker Elementary and the city average is more than 2.5 points — wide enough that attendance zone matters as much as neighborhood amenities when choosing where to live. Families who can access Brooker or Limona's zones get the strongest scores in the city. For everyone else, the 5.5 average is workable but suggests supplementing with a close look at individual school growth data and Hillsborough County's broader district options before finalizing a decision.