Center Hill's housing stock reflects its rural, small-town character: a mix of older frame and ranch-style homes on in-town lots, alongside manufactured and modular housing, and scattered single-family houses on larger acreage at the city's edges. Most residents own their homes, and the community skews toward modest, low-density properties rather than large subdivisions. The surrounding countryside offers parcels suited to small farms, pasture, and rural homesteads. As growth has spread outward from The Villages and the Wildwood interchange, newer residential construction has begun to appear on the city's outskirts, but Center Hill retains a distinctly simpler housing landscape than the master-planned communities nearby. This makes it a draw for buyers seeking a small-town setting, larger lots, and room to spread out at a pace distinct from the region's planned developments.

Center Hill is small enough that it reads as a single community rather than a set of named neighborhoods. The historic core sits near the old railroad alignment through the center of town, with a handful of churches, civic buildings, and older homes; residential streets radiate outward into a mix of in-town lots and larger parcels. The city's edges blend gradually into farmland and pasture, with rural roads connecting to Webster, Bushnell, and surrounding hamlets. Because the city is not built around subdivisions, addresses tend to be identified by street and the surrounding countryside rather than by planned-community names. Residents often describe the town by its landmarks — the railroad heritage, the civic center, and the nearby swamps and forestland — rather than by formal neighborhoods.

Center Hill offers a distinctly rural pace within Central Florida. It is a place of small churches, community gatherings, and a local government that serves a compact population, with no commercial core to speak of; residents shop, dine, and seek entertainment in nearby Bushnell, Webster, and Wildwood. The Sumter County School District holds community events, and the city's identity is tied to its agricultural surroundings and its history — including the Black Seminole settlement that predates the town. The proximity of The Villages, a short drive to the northeast, brings large-scale shopping, dining, and entertainment within easy reach while Center Hill itself stays quiet. For residents, the draw is space, privacy, and a lower-key way of life than in the region's urbanizing corridors.

Center Hill is served by the Sumter County School District, which is headquartered in Bushnell and operates a compact system of five elementary schools, one middle school, one middle-high school, one high school, and an alternative education center across the county. Students from Center Hill attend district campuses, with bus routes connecting the city to schools in the wider Sumter County area. The district's small size means families are part of a countywide educational community rather than a single town-based system. Higher education options are available within commuting distance in the broader Central Florida region for residents pursuing postsecondary study.

Center Hill is reached by county roads that tie it to the regional network. County Road 48 connects the city to Webster in about seven miles and Bushnell in around eight miles, while County Road 469 intersects State Route 50 to the southeast, linking the area to Orlando roughly 45 miles away. Florida's Turnpike and Interstate 75 are both nearby, with the I-75/State Route 44 interchange at Wildwood providing fast access north toward Ocala and south toward Tampa. Orlando International Airport lies nearly 55 miles to the southeast via the Turnpike corridor. Because the town itself has no transit service, personal vehicles are the norm, and most daily travel follows the county roads toward Bushnell, Wildwood, and the region's employment centers.

Recreation around Center Hill leans toward the outdoors. The Withlacoochee State Forest, one of Florida's largest state forests, lies nearby and offers hiking, hunting, horseback riding, and wildlife viewing across tens of thousands of acres of pine flatwoods and cypress swamps. The Florida Trail passes through the area, drawing hikers and backpackers. Lakes and rivers in the region — including Lake Panasoffkee and the Withlacoochee River — support fishing, paddling, and boating within a short drive. Community life centers on local churches, school events, and county gatherings, while the larger entertainment and recreation amenities of The Villages and Wildwood are close at hand. For residents, the appeal is direct access to natural Florida rather than an urban recreation calendar.