Celebrities And Regular People Are Both Moving To Florida
Posted: February 23, 2021Celebrities And Regular People Are Moving To Florida
Celebrities who are leaving New York, Massachusetts and California for the Florida sunshine: Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen, Joshua Kushner and Karlie Kloss, Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have recently bought land or homes in Miami Beach. Sylvester Stallone just bought a home in Palm Beach and Kevin James in Delray.
Florida Real Estate News
Almost 1,000 new people move to Florida every day. In addition to year-round good weather and some of the best beaches in the world, no one has to be a celebrity in order to enjoy Florida’s low cost of living, wide choice of affordable homes, no state income or inheritance tax and reasonable sales taxes. Good reasons why Florida’s population has moved ahead of New York and every state except California and Texas.
Florida #1 State For Retirement
According to a study by WalletHub, Florida is the best state in the country to retire. WalletHub looked at 45 variables including affordability, access to medical care, safety and quality of life. According to another report from U.S. News & World Report’s “2020 Best Places to Retire,” nine Florida cities are among the nation’s best cities to retire. The top-ranked city on the list is Fort Myers followed by Sarasota at #2. Port St. Lucie, Jacksonville, Miami, Lakeland, Tampa, Melbourne and Orlando were also ranked in the top 30. Rankings were based on happiness of local residents, housing affordability, tax rates and healthcare quality. In another study from SmartAsset based on housing costs, property taxes and home values, Florida had four towns ranked in the top ten for affordable living including Pensacola, Melbourne, Daytona Beach and Fort Pierce. Deerfield Beach came in at #20, Hallandale Beach #40 and Pompano Beach came in at #45 on the affordable U.S. towns list. In a national ranking from 55Places.com of the most affordable towns for retired people, Florida towns Boynton Beach and Sarasota took the top two spots. Rankings were based on a number of factors including cost, climate, health care, transportation and entertainment options.
Florida Has Very Low Taxes
One of the reasons that so many CEOs, celebrities and sports stars are moving to Florida is due to taxes. People who make Florida their primary home can substantially reduce their property taxes via the Florida homestead exemption. Florida provides a homestead exemption on the first and third $25,000 of the assessed value of an owner-occupied residence. Even better, the Save Our Homes amendment to the Florida constitution limits annual increases in the assessed value of properties with a homestead exemption to three percent or the change in the consumer price index, whichever is lower. So, Florida residents with the homestead exemption will likely see very little increase in future property tax bills. Florida property taxes average about two percent of the appraised value. The tax on a home appraised at $400,000 will run about $8,000 per year, but unlikely to go up much in future years due to the Florida Save Our Homes law.
Almost Everything Is Cheaper In Florida
And it’s not just property taxes. According to LoveMoney.com, Florida offers a wide variety of grocery brand stores ranking #20 in the U.S. for best grocery prices. Even electricity is cheap in Florida – about 30 percent below the U.S. national average. And very reasonable or even low home prices, especially in Central and North Florida where newer condos in Orlando and on the Gulf of Mexico are readily available in the $200s. In South Florida, older oceanfront condos in Pompano Beach are priced from the $300s. The median home price for all of Florida is $298,500 – about the same as the national median home price.
Florida Attracts More Than Just Retired People
According to a 2020 United Van Lines report, almost 40% of movers to Florida cited retirement as their main reason for moving. But Florida also attracts people for lifestyle (21%) and family (17%), and many young workers are relocating to Florida for the rapidly growing tech jobs. The campaign that Miami Mayor Francis Suarez began in late 2020 to recruit more high-paying jobs to South Florida has had tremendous success landing 17 new tech and finance employers with thousands of new jobs. Jacksonville, Orlando, St. Petersburg and Tampa are also seeing an influx of young tech workers.
Future Florida Growth
Florida’s population has more than tripled since 1970, adding more than 3 million people every decade. With warm weather, miles of oceanfront, available land, no state income tax and a cost of living about half of what it is in New York City, Florida is ready to welcome more residents of every age group.