Episode 1 · Neighborhood Overview & Local Vibe
Living in Cooper City, FL Real Estate: Parks, Commute, Weather, Flood
Cooper City is a Broward County suburb of city-run sports fields, small parks and shopping plazas strung along a handful of main roads. This guide shows what the place is like day to day: the parks and shops, the weather, how you get around, how schools are assigned, and what to check about flooding before you buy.
💡 Key Insights & Takeaways
- The city runs the Suellen H. Fardelmann Sports Complex, Flamingo West Park and the Pool & Tennis Center, and Broward County runs Brian Piccolo Sports Park & Velodrome inside Cooper City.
- Weather normals show 105.1 days a year with a high of at least 90°F at Hollywood North Perry Airport and 67.9 days at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport, and both stations sit outside the city.
- Broward County Public Schools assigns students by home address and takes separate school-choice applications, so a named school nearby does not mean your address is assigned to it.
- Broward County Transit Route 16 follows Stirling Road and Route 2 follows University Drive, and no current bus frequencies or travel times were found to rely on.
- Monterra has its own Community Development District, so a charge from that district can apply to a Monterra address and not to other Cooper City addresses.
The flood map that covers Cooper City took effect on July 31, 2024, so each address needs its own zone check. Walk Score classes errands here as car dependent: as of 22 October 2026 the citywide score is 27, and the Tri-Rail gateway sits in Dania Beach, outside the city.
At a glance
These five figures describe Cooper City: the three scores are citywide readings from October 2026, the temperature count is a 1991 to 2020 station normal, and the flood map date is the day the current map took effect.
| Measure | Value | As of or window |
|---|---|---|
| Walk Score, citywide | 27 | October 2026 |
| Transit Score, citywide | 16 | October 2026 |
| Bike Score, citywide | 39 | October 2026 |
| Days a year with a high of at least 90°F, Hollywood North Perry Airport station | 105.1 days per year | 1991 to 2020 normals |
| FEMA flood map in effect since | July 31, 2024 | Effective date |
What is Cooper City actually like?
Cooper City is a city in Broward County where the sports fields, small parks and shops sit along a few main roads. The table below lists the parks and sports places that city and county listings name.
The table lists the parks and sports places that city and county listings named in October 2026, and a name identifies a place, not a walking distance from any home.
| Place | What the listing describes |
|---|---|
| Suellen H. Fardelmann Sports Complex | Baseball and softball fields, multipurpose fields, basketball, pickleball and volleyball courts, and a walking trail |
| Flamingo West Park | Sports fields, walking paths along a lake and wetland, and a fishing pier |
| Bill Lips Sports Complex | A sports facility named in city reports |
| Brian Piccolo Sports Park & Velodrome | A county-run sports park and velodrome inside Cooper City |
| Memorial Park | A gazebo and a remembrance walkway |
| Cooper City Pool & Tennis Center | A public recreation and fitness facility |
| Community Center Tot Lot | A playground |
The city's smaller parks include Forest Lake Park, Christie Schafale Park, Dawn Park, Ted Ferone Park, Chase Park, Colony Park and Jerry Morgan Park, which sits on Palm Avenue. In September 2026 the city announced approved playground work at Forest Lake, Christie Schafale, Dawn and Ted Ferone parks. That work is planned, and we found no confirmation that it has started.
City Hall is where the City Commission meets, and the Cooper City Community Center is a separate building. In 2026 the city held Founders Day, with a run, a parade and evening entertainment, and Eat to the Beat, an evening of food trucks and music at the Suellen complex.
Countryside Shops is the retail plaza where Flamingo Road meets Stirling Road, and Publix is listed among its tenants. Sicilian Oven, a wood-fired Italian restaurant, is on Flamingo Road, and Cali Coffee, a drive-through coffee shop, is on Griffin Road. The directory we read dates from October 2026 and tenant lists change, so confirm that a store is open before you plan around it.
Neighborhood names in use here include Embassy Lakes, Rock Creek, Monterra, Flamingo Gardens, Cooper Colony Estates, Forest Lake, Country Glen and Timberlake. We have not mapped their borders, so ask which one an address falls in. Monterra has its own Community Development District, a special district with its own finances, so a charge from that district can apply to a Monterra address and not to other Cooper City addresses.
What is the weather like in Cooper City?
The long-term weather numbers on this page come from two airport stations outside Cooper City. A normal is a 30-year average, and the 1991 to 2020 normals at Hollywood North Perry Airport show 105.1 days a year with a high of at least 90°F. Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport, a second station, shows 67.9 days.
The table shows days a year with a high of at least 90°F in the 1991 to 2020 normals at two airport stations outside Cooper City.
| Station | Days a year with a high of at least 90°F |
|---|---|
| Hollywood North Perry Airport | 105.1 |
| Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport | 67.9 |
The gap is a difference between two airports, not a measured difference for any Cooper City street. The count is days with a high of at least 90°F, so it is not a count of days above 90°F. The same North Perry normals show 61.98 inches of rain a year. If you plan to use the fields and walking paths in summer, we read that heat count as a reason to think about shade and time of day.
How does flood mapping affect a Cooper City address?
Rain totals do not tell you a flood zone. FEMA, the federal agency that publishes flood maps, put the current flood map into effect on July 31, 2024. The city's staff report on that change describes changes to A-family flood-zone designations in one area of the city, not parcel by parcel. An A-family zone is one of FEMA's mapped flood-hazard zone types. The exact zone, the map panel (the numbered map sheet) and the base flood elevation (the flood height the map shows for that spot) have to be checked for each property.
What does Citizens flood insurance require?
Citizens, a Florida property insurer, publishes a flood requirement for its policies. It uses a $400,000 Coverage A threshold in 2026 and reaches the remaining covered personal residential policies in 2027, with stated exceptions. Coverage A is the dwelling coverage on a policy, not the price of a home. Requirements vary by policy type, coverage, flood-zone location and renewal date, so read the policy itself. This page gives no premium or coverage advice.
How long does it take to get anywhere from Cooper City?
We have no travel times to publish for Cooper City. A time means little without a starting street, a departure hour and that day's traffic, and we did not find one that holds up, so test each trip from your own address.
Broward County Transit runs Route 16 along Stirling Road and Route 2 along University Drive. Its current service notice lists a change to Route 2 in late September 2026, so check the timetable before you rely on it. We did not find current headways, the minutes between buses, or on-time figures for either route.
We found no rail service inside Cooper City. Tri-Rail, the commuter rail line run by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, stops at Fort Lauderdale Airport Station in Dania Beach, and the station page lists an airport shuttle. We did not time the trip from Cooper City to that station. The main roads are Stirling Road, Flamingo Road, Griffin Road, Palm Avenue and University Drive, and we did not measure ramp times, rush-hour trips or parking.
Walk Score is a commercial 0 to 100 measure of how many errands you can do on foot, and Transit Score and Bike Score work the same way for buses and bikes. Walk Score classes citywide errands in Cooper City as car dependent. The table sets the citywide scores beside three nearby Broward cities, and a missing score is not a zero.
The table shows citywide Walk, Transit and Bike Scores for Cooper City and three nearby Broward cities from October 2026 readings.
| City | Walk Score | Transit Score | Bike Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooper City | 27 | 16 | 39 |
| Davie | 27 | 17 | 43 |
| Pembroke Pines | 32 | 25 | 41 |
| Weston | 15 | Not published | 39 |
Four destinations are worth timing from your own address: downtown Fort Lauderdale, the Nova Southeastern University campus in Davie, Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport and Memorial Hospital West. We chose them as tests, and we do not rank them by how many people travel there.
Which schools serve Cooper City, and how are they assigned?
Broward County Public Schools assigns students by primary home address and school level, and it takes separate school-choice applications during set windows. No single set of schools covers every Cooper City address.
The district's map for Cooper City Elementary labels Stirling Road, University Drive and a lake edge, so zone lines may follow them. We have not tested pairs of addresses, so we cannot say which side of any street is assigned where.
The district's maps name five Cooper City campuses as landmarks: Cooper City Elementary, Embassy Creek Elementary, Griffin Elementary, Pioneer Middle and Cooper City High. They are places on the map, not a promise that your address is assigned to any of them. The high school map also shows a choice area, where an address may be assigned to a different high school with an option to apply to Cooper City High. The district's maps are conceptual, not legal boundary decisions, and exact address results were not available to us.
Where can I check schools and crime information for Cooper City?
Big Data Realty does not rate schools. Ratings and reviews are on GreatSchools. The Broward County Public Schools Find My School tool confirms which school an address is assigned to, and the state publishes official school reports at Florida School Accountability Reports. Check them for the most recent information, because boundaries and reports change every school year.
For crime information, check the most recent reports directly with the Broward Sheriff's Office, which serves Cooper City under contract, at its BSO Crimes Map.
Who does Cooper City suit?
That depends on your priorities, so here are four trade-offs.
- If you want ball fields, courts and parks nearby, check how far a specific address sits from the places in the table above, because we did not measure distances.
- If walking to errands matters most to you, test the street on foot first, since the citywide scores are not scores for one address.
- If rail matters most, plan the trip to the Tri-Rail gateway in Dania Beach, because we found no rail service inside the city.
- If a flood zone or a district charge would change your budget, check the flood map and the Monterra district for the exact address before you decide.
- If walking to errands matters most to you, test the street on foot first, since the citywide scores are not scores for one address.
- If rail matters most, plan the trip to the Tri-Rail gateway in Dania Beach, because we found no rail service inside the city.
- If a flood zone or a district charge would change your budget, check the flood map and the Monterra district for the exact address before you decide.
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