If you have considered moving to Florida (or any state), there are many determining factors. All of these factors must be considered in making a well informed decision. Cost of living, taxes, employment, education and climate are just a few. There are a lot of resources available to help you with your research. For our research on moving to Florida, we use BestPlaces for a lot of our information. We will be using our city in Minnesota against one in our desired area in Florida. This post is more about numbers, rates, and statistics. So basically, it is pretty boring. But for those of you who need to know cost of living and how your income will perform in another state, this is the meat and potatoes. For everyone else, we’ll throw in some pretty pictures. If you haven’t read Part 1 of our Moving to Florida series, check that out here.
One of the categories that can help determine if moving is beneficial to you is to look at State taxes and revenue. Minnesota has the fifth highest state income tax. Florida is one of the seven states that have no state income tax. This factor could make moving seem enticing. Where does Florida get it’s revenue or money? They rely on sales tax, and their property taxes are above the national average. Interestingly enough for our comparison, Minnesota has a higher property tax than Florida as well as the high income tax. Minnesota also has a higher sales tax. But due to tourism and general population, Florida generates $26 billion per year from sales tax compared to Minnesotas $5.7 billion. According to this information, Florida would be less expensive for us to live in.
Before we get too excited about those numbers, we have to consider employment factors. Florida has a higher unemployment rate which might make finding a job more difficult. If you do find a job, the wages tend to be lower than in other states. The median income in our suburban area is $92,267. A similar Florida suburb is only $35,452. Even with the tax breaks Florida gives, that is a huge discrepancy. Our cost of living is higher in all areas except health care and utilities. This horse race may come down to your specific job pay and how badly you want to escape winters. Keep in mind that Florida is one of the states that has increased minimum wage to $15/ hour.
It seems strange that owning a vehicle could cost more in one state verses another, but it is a fact. Florida drivers pay higher insurance costs than drivers in many other states. Florida has a higher elderly population, which makes for higher incidents. The high amount of tourism also means more drivers unaware of their surroundings, thus leading to more accidents. This increase is unfortunately passed on to state drivers. Because Florida has no state income tax, they must recoup there taxes in other places. One of these is in registration fees. Make sure you are in the know on the cost of owning a vehicle in Florida.
Since we are talking about cars, we might as well talk about traffic and travel expenses. Florida interstates have a lot of congestion for different reasons. You have the usual morning and afternoon rush hour and you have the tourist traffic. Roads like the I-4 can be down right awful much of the time. The average commute in Florida is slightly higher than the National average, which is an added expense. Something else that you might not be used to are toll roads, which will also increase your travel expenses. Here in Minnesota we have exactly zero toll roads so the concept is very foreign to us. While we have no toll roads, we do have paid express lanes that double as a car pool lane. We have our Interstate Highways that travel to, through and around Minneapolis/ St. Paul and traffic can get pretty gnarly. The rest of the state is pretty mild in comparison.
Two factors that are very important to consider with a move to Florida are health care and education. Health care in Minnesota is amazing. Our costs are lower than the national average and we have more doctors per capacity. We are home to nationally ranked Mayo Clinic, Gilette Children’s and Children’s Hospital. Unfortunately, Florida does not always rate very high in these categories depending on where you plan to move. If your job includes health insurance it might not be an issue. For those looking to get coverage on the market, it might be a deal breaker. There are a lot of mixed reviews about education in Florida. Give due diligence when researching education quality in your desired area. Again, this information can be found on BestPlaces and other sites. We are not spending a lot of time on it as it isn’t a factor for us.
In terms of comparisons, sometimes the stats speak volumes and can not be ignored. If you are like us, you want to know as much as you can before you move to another state. One of those stats that we had to put on our cons list is state population in proportion to state in square miles. Minnesota has a population of 5.64 million in relation to a space of 86,943 mi2 . In comparison, Florida has a population of 21.48 million in relation to a space of 65,758 mi2 . So based on this information, we have to decide if we can adjust to living in a smaller state with 75% more people. This piece has been much more difficult to get past than climate, cost of living or any other variable. Population can effect many variables, including unemployment, crime and education.
One very important variable we have not covered yet is the cost of housing. This is a very broad topic that is worthy of it’s own post, which we will be doing later. It includes cost of buying, renting, home owner association fees and more. This is what we can tell you at a quick glance. Housing costs are 25% higher in our current city compared to a similar city in Florida. But we will really dig into housing costs and related expenses later.
Doing your research on a new state or city may not be much fun. But in order to have all the information you need to make the best decision, it is an important part of the moving process. We highly suggest comparing your current city and state against that which you hope to relocate to. Use BestPlaces as a resource and make a list of pros and cons. Even if the move doesn’t look positive based on the results, you will know what you are getting into and be prepared for the impact it will have on your life. There may be sacrifices and compromises to be made in order to move to your happily ever after. It is better to be aware of them upfront and avoid the blindside.
If you are looking for helpful books, we suggest Ranking America’s Fifty States: A Comparison in Graphic Detail and Cities Ranked & Rated: More than 400 Metropolitan Areas Evaluated in the U.S. and Canada. How does your current residence stand against your desired place in Florida? Do you have resource tools others might find useful in their research? We would love to hear all about your decision to move or not move to the Sunshine State. Leave us a comment below or contact us on the “Contact Us” page.