Goodbye, Florida: How the Sunshine State has become too expensive for many retirees

Amid the pages of an old Virginia newspaper from 1958 lies an article heralding what has been an enduring sentiment for decades: Florida is the place to retire.

The article highlights the state’s lack of income tax (there were no property taxes at the time, either), its balmy climate, and this observation about its real estate prices: “Besides the climate, many older people planning retirement have found the prices of homes attractive in Florida. For example: Two bedroom homes cost between 20 and 40 per cent less than homes in most of the rest of the country.”

Skip ahead to 2026. The days of Florida real estate being more affordable than the rest of the country have passed, leaving retirees to wonder if Florida's higher cost of living has caused it to lose its standing as the premier retirement destination.

Here is the situation in Florida and what retirees face if they move to the Sunshine State:

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It took a pandemic to push Florida real estate prices to unprecedented levels. The number of people relocating exploded from 2020 to 2022, with more than half a million people moving to the Sunshine State, according to data from the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council and the American Institute for Economic Research.

The massive influx of new residents during the pandemic meant more people were buying homes and, as a result, prices rose 51 percent compared to the 41 percent national average, according to the think tank American Institute for Economic Research.

Once a bastion of affordable housing for retirees, Florida’s home prices rose more between 2000 and 2024 than any other state in the nation, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index, which tracks how the prices of individual homes change over time.

Additionally, St. Petersburg and Fort Lauderdale rank first and third, respectively, among cities with the fastest-growing sales prices in the country, according to housing listing site Redfin.

Sumter County is a good example of the trend of rising real estate prices. The county has the highest average age in the state - 68.4 years old for the average resident - due in large part to being home to The Villages, a sprawling retirement community of more than 150,000 people.

Sumter County’s median home price is $446,381, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s more than $35,000 higher than the national median home price of $410,800, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

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In fact, five of the state’s 10 oldest counties have median home prices that are higher than the national median home price, according to data from real estate research firm ATTOM Data Solutions (for Flagler County data) and the National Association of Realtors (for the nine other counties):

Florida’s statewide median home price was $411,500 at the end of 2025, which ranked 30th in the country, according to Redfin.

The state’s escalating real estate prices in counties with high average ages are part of a larger affordability issue plaguing the state.

Florida ranked 31st in cost of living from July to September 2025, according to The Council for Community and Economic Research’s Cost of Living Index, which provides scores based on the cost of groceries, housing, utilities, health and other everyday costs.

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Florida’s real estate boom and its rising cost of living likely play a part in a significant slowdown in the migration of households that earn $75,000 or less to the state, according to a study by The Wall Street Journal published in January.

Using census data, the Journal found that the net migration (households moving into the state minus those moving out) of households making $75,000 or less fell 44 percent from 2013 to 2023. In households headed by someone aged 55 to 64, the net migration rate fell by 17 percent.

Florida’s business leaders have noted the impact that its housing market and cost of living are having on the rate of retirees moving to Florida.

“As Florida attracts new residents, the rapid population growth also contributes to higher prices,” the Florida Chamber of Commerce wrote in early 2024. “The low cost of living that Florida used to boast has waned, and those who moved here in pursuit of more affordable living could be looking elsewhere.”

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Net migration data shows that the state lost the most households to North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama in 2023. Why? Other states offer tax benefits or competitive cost-of-living that make them more appealing, the Chamber said. Florida was once known for not having a state income tax, but other states have followed that model now.

The migration loss is a trend that not only appeared in 2023, but in a five-year period from 2018 to 2023, too.

“We expect to see a continued outflow of people to those and other similar states in 2024 – but we also see that there is clearly an opportunity to right the ship as affordability increasingly reveals itself to be the big pressure point here,” the Chamber said.