The 10 Best Counties To Live In Florida For 2023


The best counties in Florida are St. Johns County and Sarasota County for 2023 based on Saturday Night Science.

Some of you might be asking yourself, at this very moment, is Florida a good place?

The answer is unequivocally yes… if you know where to locate the best counties to live in Florida.

Lucky for you, we’re here to help you identify the best counties to live in the Sunshine State based on the most recently available data from the Census. And this isn’t our first rodeo — we’ve been using Saturday Night Science to rank places for years.

The question becomes if you wanted to relocate to the best part of Florida, where would you go? To answer that, we looked at crime, cost of living, and demographic data for all 67 counties in the state.

After the analytic dust settled, we identified the 10 best counties to live in Sunshine State for 2023.

St. Johns County is the county to be when it comes to living the good life in Florida. And you should avoid Glades County if you can — at least according to the data.

Now you know exactly where to move in Florida. Keep on reading for more about the top ten and a detailed methodology.

Or, check out the best places to live in Florida and the cheapest places to live in Florida.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The Best Counties To Live In Florida For 2023

1. St. Johns County

St. Augustine, FL

Source: Public domain

Biggest Place: Fruit Cove
Population: 265,724
Median Income: $88,794 (best)
Median Home Price: $348,100 (3rd best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.7% (19th best)
More on St. Johns CountyData

2. Sarasota County

Longboat Key, FL

Source: Wikipedia User Ebyabe | GFDL

Biggest Place: North Port
Population: 429,336
Median Income: $69,490 (10th best)
Median Home Price: $286,000 (8th best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.6% (4th best)
More on Sarasota CountyData

3. Seminole County

Altamonte Springs, FL

Source: Wikipedia User Xavier6984 | GFDL

Biggest Place: Sanford
Population: 467,382
Median Income: $73,002 (7th best)
Median Home Price: $280,100 (9th best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.5% (14th best)
More on Seminole CountyData

4. Nassau County

Fernandina Beach, FL

Source: Wikipedia User bubba73 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Biggest Place: Yulee
Population: 88,492
Median Income: $77,504 (2nd best)
Median Home Price: $264,100 (14th best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.8% (20th best)
More on Nassau CountyData

5. Martin County

Stuart, FL

Source: Wikipedia User Daniel Di Palma | CC BY-SA 4.0

Biggest Place: Palm City
Population: 158,323
Median Income: $69,769 (9th best)
Median Home Price: $306,700 (6th best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.6% (15th best)
More on Martin CountyData

6. Wakulla County

Biggest Place: Crawfordville
Population: 33,144
Median Income: $72,941 (8th best)
Median Home Price: $182,400 (36th best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.3% (best)
More on Wakulla CountyData

7. Clay County

Green Cove Springs, FL

Source: Wikipedia User Excel23 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Biggest Place: Lakeside
Population: 216,308
Median Income: $74,059 (5th best)
Median Home Price: $212,200 (29th best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.8% (23rd best)
More on Clay CountyData

8. Okaloosa County

Crestview, FL

Source: Wikipedia User Ebyabe | GFDL

Biggest Place: Crestview
Population: 209,230
Median Income: $67,390 (13th best)
Median Home Price: $248,400 (16th best)
Unemployment Rate: 3.9% (7th best)
More on Okaloosa CountyData

9. Santa Rosa County

Gulf Breeze, FL

Source: Wikipedia User Sunpowerpack | CC BY-SA 3.0

Biggest Place: Navarre
Population: 184,345
Median Income: $77,260 (3rd best)
Median Home Price: $231,800 (23rd best)
Unemployment Rate: 4.9% (26th best)
More on Santa Rosa CountyData

10. Sumter County

Bushnell, FL

Source: Wikipedia User Ebyabe | GFDL

Biggest Place: The Villages
Population: 127,335
Median Income: $63,323 (20th best)
Median Home Price: $280,100 (9th best)
Unemployment Rate: 5.5% (4best)
More on Sumter CountyData

Methodology: How do you determine which Florida county is the best?

To give you the best county in Florida, we have to look at a handful of metrics that signal the quality of a place. To do that, we made assumptions about what’s in a “best county” and what isn’t. For reference, we are trying to make the kind of argument you’d make at a bar using facts, Saturday Night Science.

With that in mind, we went to two of the best data sources on the internet. Namely, the American Community Survey data and FBI Crime data for the most recent period.

We paid particular attention to:

  • Violent Crime Rates
  • Property Crime Rates
  • Median Home Values
  • Median Income
  • Unemployment Rates
  • Adult Education Levels
  • Health Insurance Coverage
  • Poverty Rates

We then ranked each county in Florida across each of the criteria from one to 67, with one being the best.

Taking the average rank across all criteria, we created a quality of life score with the county posting the lowest overall score being the “Best County To Live In Florida.”

The result is some of the safest, quietest, and best counties to raise a family in the Sunshine State.

We updated this article for 2023. This report is our tenth time ranking the best counties to live in Florida.

Read on to see why St. Johns County is the best county, while Glades County is probably in contention for being the worst county in Florida.

Summary: The Best Counties In Florida To Call Home For 2023

Living in Florida can vary from one part of the state to the next — who woulda thought?

But now you know the outstanding parts and the parts to avoid, and that’s why you came here to learn at the end of the day.

You are welcome.

Here’s a look at the worst counties in Florida according to the data:

  1. Glades County
  2. Hamilton County
  3. Desoto County

For more Florida reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Best Counties In Florida

Rank County Population Median Income Median Home Price
1 St. Johns County 265,724 $88,794 $348,100
2 Sarasota County 429,336 $69,490 $286,000
3 Seminole County 467,382 $73,002 $280,100
4 Nassau County 88,492 $77,504 $264,100
5 Martin County 158,323 $69,769 $306,700
6 Wakulla County 33,144 $72,941 $182,400
7 Clay County 216,308 $74,059 $212,200
8 Okaloosa County 209,230 $67,390 $248,400
9 Santa Rosa County 184,345 $77,260 $231,800
10 Sumter County 127,335 $63,323 $280,100
11 Monroe County 82,244 $73,153 $613,400
12 Collier County 372,797 $75,543 $374,700
13 Brevard County 601,573 $63,632 $235,500
14 Flagler County 113,888 $62,305 $247,000
15 Charlotte County 184,837 $57,887 $226,700
16 Pinellas County 957,989 $60,451 $238,400
17 Walton County 73,456 $68,111 $274,500
18 Manatee County 394,824 $64,964 $267,300
19 Indian River County 158,002 $61,594 $242,100
20 Gulf County 15,205 $53,812 $190,700
21 Volusia County 548,783 $56,786 $212,900
22 Lee County 752,251 $63,235 $248,300
23 Lake County 375,059 $60,013 $223,000
24 Hillsborough County 1,444,359 $64,164 $251,200
25 Palm Beach County 1,481,233 $68,874 $316,600
26 Alachua County 276,171 $53,314 $210,800
27 Broward County 1,934,551 $64,522 $299,700
28 Duval County 983,153 $59,541 $211,200
29 Pasco County 551,598 $58,084 $193,000
30 Baker County 28,003 $63,860 $172,300
31 Leon County 290,965 $57,359 $223,400
32 Bay County 181,384 $60,473 $209,900
33 Orange County 1,409,949 $65,784 $276,900
34 St. Lucie County 324,599 $59,807 $231,000
35 Osceola County 380,331 $58,513 $238,700
36 Union County 16,141 $55,463 $122,000
37 Escambia County 318,828 $56,605 $171,900
38 Miami-Dade County 2,690,113 $57,815 $332,800
39 Polk County 713,148 $55,099 $177,900
40 Gilchrist County 17,759 $50,983 $137,900
41 Hernando County 192,128 $53,301 $173,700
42 Citrus County 151,888 $48,664 $158,800
43 Marion County 370,372 $50,808 $160,300
44 Jefferson County 14,405 $53,080 $153,400
45 Bradford County 27,928 $48,803 $127,400
46 Jackson County 48,067 $43,416 $104,800
47 Suwannee County 43,514 $47,218 $118,100
48 Highlands County 101,174 $46,895 $131,900
49 Columbia County 69,265 $47,750 $151,400
50 Levy County 42,392 $43,029 $130,200
51 Lafayette County 8,343 $56,458 $102,400
52 Taylor County 21,762 $43,563 $80,200
53 Madison County 18,051 $39,503 $89,000
54 Gadsden County 44,233 $42,661 $105,600
55 Dixie County 16,701 $44,287 $84,600
56 Okeechobee County 39,716 $47,020 $125,700
57 Calhoun County 13,863 $38,098 $103,100
58 Washington County 24,906 $41,806 $124,900
59 Holmes County 19,622 $41,809 $85,000
60 Franklin County 12,232 $52,679 $198,500
61 Liberty County 7,987 $42,438 $102,500
62 Putnam County 73,147 $39,975 $111,200
63 Hardee County 25,632 $41,395 $101,100
64 Hendry County 39,439 $38,843 $116,900
65 Desoto County 34,027 $39,945 $112,600
66 Hamilton County 13,973 $39,346 $87,000
67 Glades County 12,183 $38,088 $79,000
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.