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With its near perfect weather, top-notch beaches, and world-renowned theme parks, living in the Sunshine State is worth every penny. But which places in Florida are the most expensive to live in?
It turns out that the priciest places in Florida are in one of two places: the Florida Keys and around Miami. If you're willing to break the bank for a year-round tropical vibe, head to Key West or Marathon. For those who are more interested in a vibrant community with out-of-this-world Cuban cuisine, stick to the Magic City and it's surrounding cities. In either case, you're paying a premium to live near some of the country's best beaches. Hey, Florida is already one of America's most expensive states, so why not pay a little extra to really live the high life?
How much money should you earn to live comfortably in one of the most expensive cities in Florida? The data shows that you need to earn at least $43,181/year to live in these highly desirable locations. Florida is home to about 10% of the Forbes 400 wealthiest list, so it should come as no surprise that you need a hefty salary to compete. To live in these cities, you'll have to pay a higher proportion of your salary on housing, and considering Florida has one of the highest average rents in America, you may want to earn even more to cover that expense.
If you're ready to brave hurricanes and alligators, and pay a high price for the privilege, read on to find out the most expensive places to live in Florida.
Here are the 10 most expensive places to live in Florida for 2023:
What's the most expensive place to live in Florida? Well, HomeSnacks crunched the numbers and discovered that Key West is the most expensive place to live in Florida.
So hopefully DeFuniak Springs (the cheapest place to live in Florida) can show these guys how to live on a budget in the coming years. Read on for how these places had costs rise faster than inflation.
And if you already knew these places were expensive, check out some more reading about Florida and the most expensive cities in the country:
The 10 Most Expensive Places To Live In Florida For 2023
1. Key West
/10
Population: 26,776
Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 9.6x (most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 39.0x (42nd most expensive)
More on Key West: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Key West comes in at $75,638 and the median home value is $728,500 for 2023.
2. Surfside
/10
Population: 5,665
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 2)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 9.3x (2nd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 39.9x (48th most expensive)
More on Surfside: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Surfside comes in at $67,544 and the median home value is $628,800 for 2023.
3. Sunny Isles Beach
/10
Population: 22,234
Rank Last Year: 4 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 7.0x (14th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 29.5x (2nd most expensive)
More on Sunny Isles Beach: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Sunny Isles Beach comes in at $51,760 and the median home value is $363,400 for 2023.
4. Miami
/10
Population: 440,807
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 2)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 7.7x (7th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 35.2x (18th most expensive)
More on Miami: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Miami comes in at $47,860 and the median home value is $369,100 for 2023.
5. Miami Beach
/10
Population: 83,469
Rank Last Year: 6 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 7.6x (9th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 38.6x (37th most expensive)
More on Miami Beach: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Miami Beach comes in at $59,162 and the median home value is $450,700 for 2023.
6. West Miami
/10
Population: 7,090
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 4)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 6.1x (2most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 30.3x (5th most expensive)
More on West Miami: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in West Miami comes in at $59,436 and the median home value is $363,700 for 2023.
7. Doral
/10
Population: 73,126
Rank Last Year: 8 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.4x (32nd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 35.4x (23rd most expensive)
More on Doral: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Doral comes in at $77,774 and the median home value is $420,300 for 2023.
8. Marathon
/10
Population: 9,622
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 4)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 9.3x (3rd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 46.0x (90th most expensive)
More on Marathon: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Marathon comes in at $63,375 and the median home value is $586,500 for 2023.
9. Hialeah
/10
Population: 224,362
Rank Last Year: 10 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 6.5x (18th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 32.9x (10th most expensive)
More on Hialeah: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Hialeah comes in at $43,181 and the median home value is $280,000 for 2023.
10. South Miami
/10
Population: 11,997
Rank Last Year: 11 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 8.6x (5th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 46.4x (94th most expensive)
More on South Miami: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in South Miami comes in at $67,110 and the median home value is $577,500 for 2023.
Methodology: How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Sunshine State For 2023
The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:
- How much do money do I make?
- How much do I have spend to live there?
You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.
For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it's actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.
With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2017-2021 around incomes and costs. They are:
- Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
- Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
- Median Home Price
We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).
You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Florida to figure out which is the most expensive.
What you are left with is a "Cost of Living Index" by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.
So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 217 places in Florida that have more than 5,000 people.
The place with the highest cost of living in Florida according to the data is Key West. You can download the data here.
Summary: Taking A Chunk Out Of Your Paycheck In Florida For 2023
Well there you have it, the places in Florida that have the highest cost of living, with Key West ranking as the most expensive city in the Sunshine State.
Here's a look at the most affordable cities in Florida according to the data:
- DeFuniak Springs
- Live Oak
- Perry
For more Florida reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Florida
- Cheapest Places To Live In Florida
- Most Dangerous Places In Florida
- Best Places To Raise A Family In Florida
- Safest Places In Florida
- Worst Places To Live In Florida
