What is the Florida Cost of Living like?

Question

I really want to move to Florida, but it seems housing prices are too damn expensive. I like the cenrtal florida area, lakeland, orlando, but want to know about cost of living there.

Housing Taxes
Gas
Pest Control
Auto Insurance
Health Care
Telephone
Heating/Cooling
What is Florida homestead exemption
Jobs pay for Customer Service/Sales?Publix
Cable Tv
Water
Garbage

Thank you

Answer 1

My husband and I moved to Lakeland from Metro Atlanta last year. For a house 100 sq ft larger on a lot 3/4 acres smaller we paid $80k more in Lakeland, so housing is higher here. Right now you might find a little better deal when we were looking construction on new homes was behind construction work was focusing on repairing damage from '04 hurricane season so there were a lot less houses on the market for example summer '05 27 houses not under contract on the market on any given day this summer over 900 homes on any given day.Property taxes first year in house was $1900 this year after county can take into account sale of house at new value over what previous buyer paid our taxes went up to $3200 this year. I don't expect that to happen again it should just be settling out due to new assesment based on sales price we paid. (Home was originally built for $117k there have been three owners before us we purchased at $215k. Gas here was rumored to be more expensive than Atlanta but we've had our share of times here where we're paying 10-15¢ less per gallon than family in Atl. Pest control year contract on house $85 first visit $40 every other month. Yard spray for weeds and pests $75-85 one time spray. Auto Ins - '01 Ford 2dr explorer sport and '05 honda civic $155 a month, safe driver discounts and all. Health care don't know what to tell you we have good plan from employer. Phone we have triple deal from brighthouse digital phone unlimited long distance, cable modem, cable television with HBO/SHO/Cinemax/The Movie Channel less than $200. Living in Lakeland and having Lakeland Electric as provider is higher than friends that have TECO (Tampa Electric CO) ours is as much as $300+ in heat of summer AC set at 74, friends on Teco claim to of never had a bill over $150. Our homestead exemption is $25k might be higher if your a senior citizen not sure though. Sorry don't know about the pay scales on what your asking but here's as much as I do know a little sales flyer (mailer) claims sales reps can earn to $50k. Water $20-25. Garbage included in property tax.
It is a lovely area I like living between Orlando and Tampa, great access to shopping, could be more restaurants but I think that's improving. I don't know your status but it does get crowded with an older crowd in winter, to be expected.

One more comment to add if you make the move something I learned a lot of the homes I saw before buying have tile throughout and little carpet. I did not understand it before I purchased so I have a bit more carpet than I saw in other homes. The vast amounts of tile it helps with giving the house a cooler feel. Carpet keeps the cool from radiating in through the cool earth under the floor (slab built homes.) If I had a choice now I'd have more tile but I don't know that I have the patience to live in the house while changing that fact.

Another tid bit, no state tax on wages.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What is the Florida Cost of Living like?
I really want to move to Florida, but it seems housing prices are too damn expensive. I like the cenrtal florida area, lakeland, orlando, but want to know about cost of living there.

Housing Taxes
Gas
Pest Control
Auto Insurance
Health Care
Telephone
Heating/Cooling
What is Florida...

Answer 3

Orlando Cost Of Living

Answer 4

I wish I knew where you are from to tell you a comparison. I moved to Floriday from New York City and the cost of living is a lot cheaper.

I'll comment on the lines that I am most familiar with.

Housing Taxes are depending on where you live. If you want to live on a Coastal city in the pan handle, then you will pay more than the rest of the state because of the recent hurricanes. Its about $22 per mil in the Orlando area.

Florida Homestea Exemption is $25,000 right now. The recent elected governor promised to raise it to $50,000 once elected.

Customer Service and Sales jobs in Florida are plentiful. 2 very different fields but the unemployement rate in Florida is very low (about 3.5%). Companies can't find enough help, especially if you are qualified.

Cable, Garbage, Water, Phone, are about the same here as they have been for me when I lived in other states (NY, VA, TN, NC, etc) not much change.

Heating and cooling can be different based upon where you live now. You will need to run the AC more in Florida than you do in most states (because it gets hot) but the heat you won't (because it doesn't get that cold).

Auto Insurance for me was WAY cheaper, but New York City is VERY expensive for insurance.

Orlando can have a bit of a commute and home pricing increase compared to other cities becuase of how the city has been designed.

I would still recommend moving to Florida. Its a great state and very profitable to live here long term.

Best of luck to you in your search!

Answer 5

i think it depends where you want to go in florida the touristy places are always more expensive and florida is behind the times (we just got a starbuks for crying out loud). but you cant beat the weather as far as utilies go cable and phone are the same pretty much everywhere.taxes are high in the county i live in but lower in most other counties (except the tourist areas) i live a few blocks from the gulf of mexiaco and its worth every penny of the 900.00 dollars a month i rarely have to use my heat in the winter and i usuall have the air on from middle of june (usually you only need heat in january the lowest degree i have encountered while living here(5 years) is about 45 degrees but the sun still shines so it feels warmer. all in all my bills adverage about 1350 to 1500 dollars a month ,grocerys gas included. two things you need to think about besides money hurricanes they wear on you after awile and evacuations are usually costly unless you go to a shelter. if your a yankee (you might not know your one untill u move here) it takes a little time to get usto the slower pace the heavy accents and the southern expressions(which will have you calling home laughing you butt off at what you just heard) the dixie flag and tons of tranisents. if you can handle all of that i would look into it its nice to see the sun all the time florida gets about 337 days of sunshine each year unlike my hometown of pittsburgh which gets about 190 days per year.just one more thing i recently went home to pgh for a visit and i forgot how up tight it is up there ,people a nicer ,friendler and more caring down south just be prepaired for a little culture shock the first couple of months.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

i just moved from central florida (melbourne on the east coast) after 16 years due to rising cost of living and lowered quality of life. the middle clas are being priced out, an average condo is $300, 000 , and florida is one of the lowest paying states. many jobs pay under $10 an hour, electric will run you from $100-400 a month in the summer depending on the size of the apt. you pay tourist (higher) prices for most things, the average male will not earn enough to pay all his expenses without a rommmate. the beaches are also being ruined by condo developement and the access is greatly diminished.........its a damn shame it used to be paradise.

Answer 8

Not at all good. Coastal OR interior. You're generally suggested to go to the Florida western coast but when people are saying that to you you know it's stand by subterfuge. It's exactly like California. I wouldn't recommend it to you under any circumstances at all. I'd like to say it's worse the further south you go all the way through the keys but that's inaccurate. It's a consistently bad place. No thanks.

Answer 9

Florida sucks now. Move to somewhere like New York or Virginia where the pay is good.

Answer 10

why the fudge are you moving to Florida? Be bold! Move to Europe. Enjoy a bit of the old civilization. Get to know intelligent people, easy to find in EUR, not so much in USA... just kidding...

:)