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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 $38,471/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 2022:
What's the most expensive place to live in Florida? Well, HomeSnacks crunched the numbers and discovered that Surfside is the most expensive place to live in Florida.
So hopefully Live Oak (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 2022
1. Surfside
/10
Population: 5,665
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 10.7x (most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 35.4x (2most expensive)
More on Surfside: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Surfside comes in at $57,775 and the median home value is $619,300 for 2022.
2. Key West
/10
Population: 24,495
Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 9.4x (2nd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 38.9x (38th most expensive)
More on Key West: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Key West comes in at $73,029 and the median home value is $686,700 for 2022.
3. West Miami
/10
Population: 8,152
Rank Last Year: 3 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 7.1x (14th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 28.8x (2nd most expensive)
More on West Miami: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in West Miami comes in at $49,212 and the median home value is $347,700 for 2022.
4. Sunny Isles Beach
/10
Population: 21,853
Rank Last Year: 6 (Up 2)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 6.9x (15th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 31.0x (4th most expensive)
More on Sunny Isles Beach: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Sunny Isles Beach comes in at $50,617 and the median home value is $347,700 for 2022.
5. Marathon
/10
Population: 8,746
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 5)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 9.2x (3rd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 42.0x (62nd most expensive)
More on Marathon: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Marathon comes in at $56,008 and the median home value is $517,200 for 2022.
6. Miami Beach
/10
Population: 89,439
Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 2)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 7.7x (10th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 40.0x (48th most expensive)
More on Miami Beach: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Miami Beach comes in at $57,211 and the median home value is $441,300 for 2022.
7. Miami
/10
Population: 461,080
Rank Last Year: 7 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 7.8x (9th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 35.6x (25th most expensive)
More on Miami: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Miami comes in at $44,268 and the median home value is $344,300 for 2022.
8. Doral
/10
Population: 62,367
Rank Last Year: 12 (Up 4)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.5x (30th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 36.1x (27th most expensive)
More on Doral: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Doral comes in at $75,138 and the median home value is $412,500 for 2022.
9. Aventura
/10
Population: 37,151
Rank Last Year: 8 (Down 1)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.4x (35th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 34.5x (17th most expensive)
More on Aventura: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Aventura comes in at $65,893 and the median home value is $354,100 for 2022.
10. Hialeah
/10
Population: 233,876
Rank Last Year: 11 (Up 1)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 6.7x (17th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 31.8x (6th most expensive)
More on Hialeah: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Hialeah comes in at $38,471 and the median home value is $256,900 for 2022.
Methodology: How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Sunshine State For 2022
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 2016-2020 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 219 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 Surfside. You can download the data here.
Summary: Taking A Chunk Out Of Your Paycheck In Florida For 2022
Well there you have it, the places in Florida that have the highest cost of living, with Surfside 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:
- Live Oak
- DeFuniak Springs
- Quincy
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
