the cost of living is way up in 2022 due to many factors but did you know that florida
has been named the most expensive state to live in according to these numerous recent articles
so in this video we will talk about the true cost of living in florida to get you prepared
in case you're planning to live here my name is katrin pfitzenreiter i'm a local real estate
agent here in sarasota county and this channel is all about florida insights destinations and real
estate information so if you haven't subscribed subscribe and let's get right into this video
with inflation up cost of living is up in florida and that has been exacerbated with people moving
to florida in order to take advantage of the no income tax remote work opportunities and just
a major supply and demand imbalance if you're coming from expensive places such as san francisco
and new york city most of the locations in florida will probably still be much more affordable to you
to live in but for many of you from other areas that's just not going to be the case anymore
before we talk about actual expenses let's talk about salaries and wages first because you're
going to need to take that in consideration determine what your wage will be if you're
going to move to florida for some of you it may stay the same for many of you it may be higher
or lower if you're a remote worker with a company that is stationed outside of florida check with
your company and tax person to determine if you can take advantage of the no income tax
in florida in some cases you may end up with more disposable income but there are some exceptions
including if the office is in a convenience state which may mean that you owe taxes in that state
now to get a general idea of going salaries in florida refer to glassdoor.com and type
in the job type in the city you're interested in and you're going to get a very good idea of
what the general rate is or the salary let's talk about minimum wages so florida minimum wage is 10
per hour which is actually above the federal minimum wage which is 7.25 per hour in september
of 2022 they're planning to increase the wage to 11 per hour and there's an initiative to raise
the minimum wage by one dollar each year up until 15 per hour by 2026. but i've also noticed that
many essential jobs are paying way more than the minimum wage in order to attract workers due to
the shortage of labor we're experiencing here in florida. so that's actually good news for you if
you're an essential worker you have negotiation power. let's start off with rent which just as
the real estate prices is at an all-time high in florida. in february of 2022 miami was designated
as america's least affordable place to live per realtor.com. miami's average rental price is about
nine hundred and thirty dollars which is on par with san francisco which is crazy. here's a chart
from cbs news that shows you the rental price increases since the pandemic with florida clearly
leading the way. but of course the average rental price will differ depending on the location in
florida so you're going to want to check the local rental market situation for exact prices and no
just like there are multiple office situations with real estate properties here in florida
the same holds true with rentals with both rental and real estate prices up in florida
it may still make sense for many of you to purchase versus rent especially if you anticipate
living in florida for many years to come meaning that if we do have a real estate crash in 2022 or
even next year which i personally don't believe we will have instead we're probably going to have
a correction in the near future you have time to ride it out but the best thing to do is to speak
to a financial advisor in order to determine what makes sense for you rent or buy if you are looking
for a rental by the way i suggest you look at apartments.com zillow or airbnb versus working
with a rental management company which will likely charge you one month rent and quite honestly all
the information is online at your fingertips so you can find the information yourself and save
some money so at one point florida was known to have really affordable real estate prices i
remember back in new york city people would say with five hundred thousand dollars in florida
you can get a mansion well that's just not the case anymore per realtor.com data the u.s median
real estate list price as of march was 404,000 dollars while the florida median price was 411,000
so very closely aligned with the u.s average but for the more desirable places in florida
such as miami or sarasota, tampa these prices will be way way higher here are the top five
most expensive counties and the top five least expensive counties if you're in the market you
can use this as a starting guide for either luxury or affordable living options think about it this
way in general it will be more expensive to live coastal especially on the south and southwest
side of florida if you're interested in other counties i can send you an excel spreadsheet
with all florida counties and average median list price as of march 2022 all you have to do is get
in touch with me and i'll send it over to you all right let's look at this chart here from cbs
news based on zillow.com's data and as you can tell popular locations in florida are trending
well over the u.s average home prices with miami leading the way but to get a more specific sense
of real estate prices in the location of your choice i recommend that you visit realtor.com
and see what the average list price is for the type of home that you're looking for
so home insurance is somewhat of a touchy discussion point right now in florida
because the premiums have gone up dramatically over a short period of time and actually
insurance will be even higher if you're in a flood zone i personally had to shop for
a new insurance company a year ago because my old insurance company dropped coverage in the sarasota
county region and since then my insurance costs actually doubled if you're mortgaging a home in
florida more likely than not the mortgage company will demand home insurance and home insurance
companies are becoming a lot lot pickier as to what homes they're willing to insure
so for example homes with roofs that are older than 15 years are not being insured by progressive
insurance anymore that's just an example but there's other examples as well according to a
february 2022 article from cbs12 entitled "rising costs of home insurance in florida" the average
florida homeowner's insurance cost in 2021 was $3, 600 which was also the highest in the u.s
where the u.s average was actually $1,398 so why are premiums getting more expensive in florida
well one of the main reasons is that florida is susceptible to natural disasters including
hurricanes and thunderstorms right we've talked about it in several of my other videos and we had
a few in the recent past come through such as hurricane irma which caused substantial damage
if you own a home there are expensive you will need to factor in such as property taxes which
is close to one percent on average here in florida of the assessed value of the property so if you
buy a house that is worth say six hundred thousand dollars expect to pay roughly six thousand dollars
a year on property taxes now florida has pretty reasonable property taxes especially when you
compare it to new york property taxes and also don't forget about homestead exemption
which can lower the assessed value by up to fifty thousand dollars so you get tax less let's talk
about utilities cost the monthly average in florida is about five hundred dollars and can
include electric natural gas water internet and trash removal you're gonna have to factor in the
maintenance of your house right so if you have a pool or many of you are going to purchase a house
with a pool here weekly pool cleaning service could cost you an average 90 a month and weekly
lawn mowing about 120 to 200 a month naturally it will depend on how much property you have and
of course where you live now if you own a single family house or a county with an hoa and or cdd
fees the maintenance of your property may actually be included in those fees already now knowing
what the hoa and cds cover will also give you a good idea if those fees are actually fair when
you understand what in general maintenance of the house otherwise would cost you if you had to take
care of it yourself so in most places in florida you're going to want a car unless you live in a
big city such as miami or tampa you're the kind of person that's not going to venture out much
now car insurance in florida is higher than the national average according to wallet hub $3,200 is
the average per year in florida for full coverage or about $800 per year for minimum coverage where
the national average is around $2,000 annually for full coverage and about $700 for minimum
coverage there's a few reasons why car insurance tends to be higher here a lot of it has to do
with claims that come in due to weather events and approximately 20% of floridians actually
don't have insurance right so they're driving uninsured because of that the cost is passed on
through higher premiums all right let's talk about health insurance when you look to live in florida
and you're someone that needs to have access to good health care make sure you review the local
health care option florida is not known to have an above par health care system in the u.s but
you need to know that many places in florida such as sarasota will have very good access to health
care but again that's not true for all places in florida for the cost of health care visit
healthcare.gov to get an idea of healthcare plans options and costs in the zip code of your choice
now for many of you with children childcare is going to be one of the biggest expenses you're
going to need to consider according to the latest available data from the economic policy institute
the average annual cost of infant care in florida is about $9,200 dollars a year now
if you're currently living in new york massachusetts or dc this is probably
not going to sound too bad as the cost of child care in those states is probably close to double
but depending on where you're coming from nine thousand two hundred dollars may be quite steep
now a lot of us are going to be doing a lot of driving especially here in florida where
everything seems to be spaced out quite a bit but to determine how much you're going
to spend a month on gas you're going to need to approximate how many miles you're going to drive
right and what the local prices are in general the florida gas prices are on par with the u.s average
but you can get more information by referring to gasbuddy.com to get an idea of what the average
prices are and you can compare the gas prices in florida to the rest of the u.s states you
can drill down even further and check average gas prices by different locations in florida
permuth.org the average cost for groceries in the us is close to $356 per person per month and this
is based on a 2021 analysis where move.org looked at estimated monthly food costs in each state's
most populous city and the most expensive state is hawaii honolulu at $556 dollars per month per
person and jacksonville florida came out at about $364 dollars per month per person so slightly
above the u.s average most likely when you go shopping in florida you're going to buy
your primary groceries at publix which is a grocery chain headquartered here in florida
and they're all over the place let's just check prices for milk and water okay just as an example
for a half gallon horizon organic milk you're gonna be paying $5 and
sixty cents for 24 bottles of publix brand spring water it's going to cost you $3.69.
those that live in florida tend to be very active right and that's probably one of the reasons why
they're moving here because they'll have plenty of choices of outdoor activities which they can enjoy
pretty much all year round because of the warm weather but some of us also like to couple outdoor
activities with indoor strength training or weight training options especially during the hot and
humid summer months according to statista florida has one of the most health clubs in all of america
which also means that health cup costs can be very competitive so for example i go to three different
clubs planet fitness is my primary club and it's costing me just $10 a month i also go to pilates
in yoga at other locations which is really supplemental to my fitness program and because my
primary gym is so affordable it adds to my fitness expenses but really when i consider how much it's
costing me it's not that much especially when i remember the days in new york city where i spent
easily over a hundred dollars for just one gym membership what i'm trying to say is that the gym
memberships here can be very affordable or can cost you easily over a hundred dollars a month
depending on the type you're seeking out when it comes to going out and how much it will cost you
it really does depend on your food preference and the budget right how much you're willing to spend
naturally dining out in bigger metropolitan cities such as orlando miami and tampa
will be more expensive than if you're in a smaller remote town but i find that in
general there are many affordable options right and there are less affordable options especially
if you like fine dining there's lots of fine dining options in florida best thing you do is
go on tripadvisor.com and review the restaurant choices and browse the menu options and prices
for the restaurants you like in the location that you're looking to move to if you enjoyed
this video if you learned something new please like this video also think about subscribing
to this channel for florida related information destinations in real estate if you're looking to
purchase here in sarasota county and that includes sarasota bradenton lakewood ranch and venice
i would love to team up with you and help you find your next home thank you so much for watching
today and sticking around until the very end with me i always appreciate it when you do take care