Florida has long been a popular spot for Americans from the Northern states to retire. With its attractive combination of climate, lifestyle and reasonable living costs, it has been especially welcome by retirees on fixed incomes. No that baby boomers are reaching retirement age, Florida is being deluged by a new wave of retired residents.
There are many benefits to living in Florida. But there are also some downfalls. If you decide to move there for retirement some of the key factors will be what part of the state will you live in? And what is your budget?
The most obvious benefit to living in Florida is the great weather. The average temperature can very depending on where you live in the state. In Jacksonville the average temperature is 68.5, Tampa is 72.2, Miami is 75.9 and Key West is 77.8. This may be a factor in deciding which part of the state you wish to retire to.
The beaches are another great feature of Florida. Florida has been blessed with some of the world's most stunning beaches on two coasts. Some are bustling with activity and popular and others are serine and peaceful.
There are also many retirement communities in Florida. Florida retirement communities are great for active adults. Retirement communities can include single family homes, condominiums, villas, manufactured homes and more. These communities are a lot of fun because they are geared for retirees so there are many activities and community events so there will never be a dull moment. It is also a lot of fun to be with your peers and to be able to enjoy a lively retirement.
If you are concerned about moving away from your family, rest assured that they will be eager to come and visit in the winter. Florida is a popular vacation spot for families to come to when the snowflakes start to fall. During the winter, you'll have no problems spending time with you family on their vacations.
There are some downsides to moving to Florida for your retirement. Housing can be very expensive in certain communities. The median home price in the United States in 2005 was $208,700. In Florida it was $235,100. You can find more affordable places in cities like Jacksonville to the north, where the average was $186,300. However, in popular areas around Miami or down in the keys the average house can be much more than that.
Another obvious downfall of living in Florida is hurricanes. In 2004, Florida received more than $5.5 billion in federal disaster assistance which is more than the average federal disaster assistance in a year nation wide.
Homeowner's insurance rates in Florida are the third highest in the country, only behind that of Texas and Louisiana. The obvious factor for the high rates is due to hurricane risk. Due to high population density, high rises on the coasts and more exposed coastline than almost any other state, Florida is especially vulnerable to the damage caused by hurricanes.
Florida also consistently ranks amongst the top of the country for crime rates. In 2000, the state had the 2nd highest total crime index. For violent crime Florida had a reported incident rate of 812.0 per 100,000 people. This led the state to rank the 1st highest occurrence for violent crime among the entire nation.
However, like anywhere you have to take the good with the bad. There certainly are safe and affordable places to live in Florida just as there are areas with high crime rates and staggering cost of living. The key is weighing your options to find what will work best for your current situation.
by Jeff Wend
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