There’s no way around Florida being a beacon for all pending retirees. It is one of the top retirement destinations in the United States for many reasons — the warm climate, tax advantages and a variety of active adult communities. That being said, whether or not you can afford to retire in Florida is a completely different matter altogether.
GOBankingRates recently conducted a study to determine the average cost of utility bills and expenses in some of Florida’s biggest cities. From that, a good amount of popular cities to retire in also jumped off the page — all of which had a range of affordability if you are considering moving or retiring there.
Whether it’s the weather, the beaches or the abundance of access to retirement communities that has you putting Florida down as your retirement destination, it’s good to know you have options. It’s also important to compare your current budget with the expenses of your desired city to see whether you can afford to live in any of these 20 popular retirement cities in Florida.
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The Villages
Retirement-aged percentage of people 65 and over: 85.9%
Retirement-aged percentage of people 65 and over: 14.4%
Average monthly mortgage payment: $1,823
Average monthly cost of expenditures: $2,024
Average annual cost of living: $46,166
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Tampa
Retirement-aged percentage of people 65 and over: 13%
Average monthly mortgage payment: $2,347
Average monthly cost of expenditures: $2,091
Average annual cost of living: $53,254
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Orlando
Retirement-aged percentage of people 65 and over: 10.8%
Average monthly mortgage payment: $2,452
Average monthly cost of expenditures: $2,098
Average annual cost of living: $54,601
Methodology: For this study, GOBankingRates found data for cities in Florida including total population, population ages 65 and over, total households and household median income, all sourced from the U.S. Census American Community Survey. For each city, a number of factors were found, including cost-of-living indexes as sourced from Sperling’s BestPlaces, livability index as sourced from AreaVibes, the average single-family home value as sourced from Zillow Home Value Index from June 2024. By assuming a 10% down payment and using the national average 30-year fixed mortgage rate, as sourced from the Federal Reserve Economic Data, the average mortgage cost was calculated. The cost-of-living indexes were used with the national average expenditure costs for all residents, as sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, to find the average expenditure costs in each city. All data was collected on and is up to date as of July 31, 2024.
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