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The Best Places to Live in Florida
By Paul Reynolds MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
With Florida still in recovery from Hurricane Ian, it’s probably easier right now to decide where not to live in Florida than where you should set down roots.
Devastating as Ian was, though, its impact across the state was uneven. The hardest-hit areas will require months or even years more before basic infrastructure and services are restored. Yet plenty of places in Florida retain their allure.
This report identifies 10 such places, based on their continuing appeal and comparative affordability.
The emphasis on finances was partly due to the unusual stresses to Florida’s economy in recent years. In addition to the gut punch delivered by Ian, Florida is among the states most affected by inflation, according to a 2022 analysis by the website Merchant Maverick.
Here are the 10 best places to live in Florida, according to our analysis.
- Altamonte Springs
- Oakleaf Plantation
- Orlando
- Winter Garden
- Sarasota
- Tampa
- West Palm
- Plantation
- St. Petersburg
- Jacksonville
Picking your place in Florida
Ultimately, of course, you’ll choose a home base in Florida by juggling a host of factors, financial and otherwise.
For example, you may want to consider smaller communities away from the hubbub of Miami and other big cities. Or perhaps you favor the activities and amenities of a bigger center – like the ability to regularly see Bucs, Rays and Lightning games in Tampa? Alternatively, for you, Sarasota’s beaches, botanical garden and famed Ringling Museum may compensate for housing prices that are on the high side compared to the other places on our list.
Fortunately, Florida’s size and diversity facilitate multiple options for almost anyone moving to or within the state.
Some good choices are even close to one another. We supplemented most of our main picks with a list of nearby places (reachable within a half hour or so’s drive) that also ranked well in our analysis. Some of those cities and towns may have less expensive housing than our main pick, yet still promise to have appeal.
The 10 best places to live in Florida
Here’s more detail about the 10 communities we’ve identified as the best places to live in the Sunshine State. They’re listed in order of their combination of economic opportunity and relatively low cost of living.
In all but one place, for instance, the median home price was no more than about $400,000 — which was the 2022 median for all the Florida communities we analyzed. (The pricey outlier is Winter Garden, which boasts the highest median household income of all best cities on our list by far at $94,852.) That wealth promises to make the city at least as affordable to would-be homebuyers as are the other places to their residents.
One caveat to the home price data: it’s subject to change within Florida’s dynamic housing markets – and not just downward, due to higher interest rates and Hurricane Ian.
Case in point: home prices in our top pick, Altamonte Springs, have been on the rise, increasing by 16.1% in the year that ended in September 2022. Because of timing, some of that surge isn’t fully reflected in the modest average home price we cite for the city.
For the three communities that also ranked among Money’s 50 Best Places to Live in 2022 across the country, we’ve linked to the city profile within that report.
Altamonte Springs
| Population | Median household income | Median home price | Unemployment |
| 44,383 | $62,762 | $210,105 | 2.7 |
See the Money profile of Altamonte Springs, which came in at #33 in the national ranking of best places to live in 2022.
Nearby and also worth considering:
* Sanford
Oakleaf Plantation
| Population | Median household income | Median home price | Unemployment |
| 29,054 | $83,973 | $307,198 | 2.6 |
Orlando
| Population | Median household income | Median home price | Unemployment |
| 295,112 | $65,183 | $319,211 | 3 |
Nearby and also worth considering:
* Alafaya
Winter Garden
| Population | Median household income | Median home price | Unemployment |
| 57,288 | $94,852 | $525,000 | 3 |
Sarasota
| Population | Median household income | Median home price | Unemployment |
| 56,115 | $64,142 | $368,733 | 2.6 |
See the Money profile of Sarasota, which came in at #43 in the ranking of best places to live in the U.S. in 2022.
Tampa
| Population | Median household income | Median home price | Unemployment |
| 379,742 | $70,145 | $381,352 | 2.7 |
See the Money profile of Tampa, which came in at #9 in the ranking of best places to live in the U.S. in 2022.
Nearby and also worth considering:
* Northdale
* Citrus Park
* Carrollwood
West Palm
| Population | Median household income | Median home price | Unemployment |
| 29,054 | $83,973 | $307,198 | 2.6 |
Nearby and also worth considering:
* Royal Palm
* Town ‘n’ Country
* Wellington
Plantation
| Population | Median household income | Median home price | Unemployment |
| 90,251 | $80,011 | $274,056 | 2.9 |
Nearby and also worth considering:
* Davie
* Sunrise
* Hollywood
* Coconut Creek
* Pembroke Pines
St. Petersburg
| Population | Median household income | Median home price | Unemployment |
| 262,518 | $66,135 | $370,905 | 2.5 |
Jacksonville
| Population | Median household income | Median home price | Unemployment |
| 948,290 | $62,841 | $256,447 | 3.1 |
Methodology
We arrived at our selections through a two-step process. All the Florida picks ranked within the top half of the 1,300 locations considered in the Money’s analysis of Best Places to Live across the country. Indeed, three of the 10 — Altamonte Springs, Sarasota and Tampa — rank among Money’s 50 best U.S. places to live. Another, Jacksonville, got Money’s nod as one of the 10 best big cities to live in the country.
That national analysis considered community attributes ranging from home prices and employment through educational standing and crime to amenities like sports teams and cultural facilities. The choices in our Florida ranking were chosen for having an especially strong combination of high economic opportunity — plentiful job opportunities at decent or better wages — and relatively low cost of living.
This story is sponsored by Amerisave, but the methodology, selection of places and content was created independently by the Money Research Collective.
Data sources: Population and median household income provided by Synergos Technologies Inc.; unemployment rate (by county) provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics; and median home price provided by ATTOM Data Solutions.
FAQs for the best places to live in Florida
What to know before moving to Florida?
Naturally, any briefing about the Sunshine State begins with a head-up about its weather. Florida is indeed sunny year-round. It ranks in the top 10 states for hours of sunshine per year. It's also considered the hottest state in the U.S., as well as the second most humid (after Alaska).
Yet Florida is also the most hurricane-prone state. Almost twice as many hurricanes have struck the state since 1851 (120) as the next two most hurricane-prone states – Texas and North Carolina – put together.
Florida has no personal income tax. It ranks in the middle of the pack (23rd of 50 states) for both its average property tax rates and combined state and local sales taxes.
A relatively modest tax burden helps make Florida among the least expensive states to live. But the state's modest median income and below-average assistance to disadvantaged households, makes it among the worst states for low-income individuals and families according to the financial insights website RewardExpert.
As far as moving goes, you'll find a plethora of service choices, whether you're moving from another state or within Florida. If you're coming from out of state, choices include our national picks for best moving companies and best long-distance moving companies.
If your move is within the state, you can choose one of the best moving companies in Florida. For a more local analysis, consider the best moving companies in Orlando, best moving companies in St. Petersburg, best moving companies in Jacksonville, best moving companies in Melbourne, and best moving companies in Tampa.
Those selections include both traditional movers who take care of all aspects of the move, as well as those that provide a moving container that you pack yourself, after which the company transports it to your new home for you to unpack.
What are the best places in Florida for families?
The iconic family-friendly location in Florida is Orlando – even if Disneyworld is actually more than an hour away, in Lake Buena Vista/Kissimmee. But the places most often mentioned as the best places in the state to raise kids tend to other centers.
For instance, many neighborhoods and suburban communities in both Tampa and Jacksonville are recommended as family friendly by Niche, a website that specializes in the best places to live. For urbanites, Tampa neighborhoods such as Harbour Island, Palma Ceia West and Hyde Park got high marks from Niche, who noted their combination of excellent public schools and ample kid-friendly activities and attractions. In Jacksonville, the website mostly flagged suburbs, including Nocatee, Palm Valley and Fruit Cove.
What are the best places in Florida for retirees?
Sunny and relatively inexpensive, Florida is the most popular state to move in retirement. A number of Florida communities specialize in accommodating retirees, and those tend to top the lists of the best places in the state for seniors to settle.
Sarasota, one of our overall picks in the state, offers a relaxed feel that suits many retirees with a host of facilities and activities. These attractions include an unusual array of cultural facilities for a city of its modest size, along with fine beaches and golf courses. And while there are more affordable places to retire, the median home price in Sarasota is still about 10% below the price in all the Florida areas in our best-places-to-live ranking.
Another plus for Sarasota is that it has many retirement communities for seniors who want to live among others of their age.
The Villages is another senior-centric place in Central Florida; in fact, it's a retirement community unto itself. Located an hour or so north of Orlando — and so close enough to make that city's attractions easily accessible if they appeal to you — The Villages is home to more than 100,000 people 20,000 of them veterans, by one estimate. While its all-seniors (and, some say, party-hearty) lifestyle isn't for everyone, amenities at The Villages include the likes of 700-plus golf holes, 100 courts each in tennis and pickleball and more than 100 restaurants. Home prices begin at $200,000.
Other communities that often appear on lists of the best places to retire in Florida include Ocala – a mecca for horse lovers, thanks to the World Equestrian Center – Port Ste. Lucie and Tampa. Naples has been a retirement mecca as well, although the Gulf Coast community was hit fairly hard by Hurricane Ian, and some attractions, including the famed Naples Pier, were damaged or destroyed.
