The economy and cost of living in Florida is top of mind for almost all full-time residents. We’ve seen housing and rental prices sky rocket after Hurricane Ian. And that is just one area of the economy. You might be surprised to see how places like Fort Myers and Cape Coral show up on this latest list. It ranks Florida’s cheapest (and most expensive) cities to live.
The stats come from FloridaRentals.com. They used cost of living data from Numbeo which looks at everything from the costs of eggs to the price of joining a gym to how expensive it is to get a taxi. All of that data was classified into six categories; accommodation, leisure, groceries, clothing, transportation, utilities and bills. Next, each category was assigned a score. Income levels were also factored into the equation. Finally, the scores were tallied for an overall score.
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We are ranking Florida’s cheapest (and most expensive) cities to live. Where do you think Southwest Florida cities will fall?
Here are the results of Florida’s cheapest cities.
Hollywood is the cheapest city to live. It scored well in transportation and clothing costs. For example, the average cost of a pair of jeans like Levi’s 501 or similar, is $35. Fort Myers comes in second. The city scores high in the low cost of utilities and clothing. Here is an interesting side note. Fort Myers also ranks as one of the warmest cities in Florida so the need for air conditioning is high.
The list includes 29 cities. Naples did not show up in this survey. However, we know other reports rank the city as one of the highest rental markets in the state.