Lot’s of people who move to Florida, especially those of retirement age, have planned and saved for the move for years, if not decades.
So its no surprise that some are reluctant to pull the trigger until they have a more complete understanding of what their cost of living will be.
Things like housing costs, real estate taxes and the like are easy enough to get a handle on. And the fact that Florida has no state income tax makes that particular figure an easy calculation.
What most people struggle to get an accurate fix on though are their everyday expenses like groceries, eating out, shopping, entertainment and so on.
Most people turn to the web to do this.
But the problem with many “cost of living” websites is that they get a lot of their data from local government sources that have a vested interest in showing their cities and towns in the best light.
Enter Numbeo.com
Founded in 2009 by a former Google engineer, Numbeo.com is a “user-generated” cost-of-living database.
Meaning, they get their data from actual people living in the 4,000+ cities that they report data for.
But Numbeo’s data is not limited to cost of living. They also collect data on property prices, crime, health care, pollution, traffic, quality of life, and travel.
One of the most useful features is the ability to compare any of these metrics between two cities.
Say for instance you’re considering a move from Boston, MA to Jacksonville, FL, home of our newest master-planned community, Tamaya.
Plug those two cities into the cost of living comparison tool and you’ll find that rent prices in Jacksonville are 49.54% lower than in Boston, restaurant prices are 14.74% lower, and grocery prices are 17.36% lower.
Compare property prices between the two cities and you’ll find that the home price to income ratio in Jacksonville is 63% lower than it is in Boston, which equates to more house for the dollar down here.
A Perfect Solution?
No. The drawback to all sites like this is that they aren’t able to account for your individual habits, tastes and preferences.
So your actual numbers may vary from what they show you.
But if you use it as intended, which is as a general “rule of thumb”, Numbeo should prove to be a big help in figuring out what your cost of living will be like across various Florida cities.