Best Cities to Live in Florida

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With over 1,300 miles of coastline, sunny, warm weather all year round, and lots of professional sports teams, who wouldn’t want to live in Florida? Turns out a lot of people do, as The Sunshine State’s population of over 21 million makes it the 3rd most populous state in the nation.

From Tallahassee to Miami, Florida is home to myriad cities, all with their own unique character, but which are among the best? Let’s have a glance at our ranking of Florida’s top five cities to live in.

1. Palm Beach Gardens

Florida’s best city to live in is Palm Beach Gardens, a community of around 55,000 in the Miami metropolitan area. Palm Beach Gardens is as nice as it sounds, with lush gated communities and a whopping 12 golf courses.

2. Venice

Venice, an idyllic city of around 22,000 in Sarasota County, is Florida’s 2nd most livable city. The city has a thriving arts district, with the largest community theater in the country and a long stretch of beautiful coastline.

3. Ponte Vedra Beach

The third best city in Florida is Ponte Vedra Beach, a coastal community in St. Johns County, which is the wealthiest county in the state. Ponte Vedra is packed with fancy resorts, golf courses, and beaches where watersports are very popular. A great place to live if you can afford it.

4. Saint Johns

Neighboring St. Johns ranks #4 on the list. The city has a similar character to Ponte Vedra Beach, with golf courses and pleasant gated communities. Due to its status as an in-demand place to live, the population has exploded in the past two decades.

5. Miami Beach

We head back south for #5 Miami Beach, one of the choicest resort cities in the country located on several islands separating the city from Miami proper. Miami Beach’s Art Deco district is a wonderful throwback to the architecture style of the early 1940s.

Rank	City
1	Palm Beach Gardens
2	Venice
3	Ponte Vedra Beach
4	Saint Johns
5	Miami Beach
6	The Villages
7	Lake Mary
8	Palm City
9	Rockledge
10	Englewood
11	Satellite Beach
12	Altamonte Springs
13	Longwood
14	Winter Springs
15	Jupiter
16	Dunedin
17	Saint Augustine
18	Windermere
19	Boca Raton
20	Niceville
21	Melbourne
22	Stuart
23	Wellington
24	Port Orange
25	Casselberry
26	Gulf Breeze
27	Oviedo
28	North Miami Beach
29	Ormond Beach
30	Cantonment
31	Merritt Island
32	Fleming Island
33	Palm Coast
34	Jacksonville Beach
35	Lady Lake
36	Pinellas Park
37	Sanford
38	Seminole
39	Winter Park
40	Delray Beach
41	Winter Garden
42	Fort Walton Beach
43	Milton
44	Tarpon Springs
45	Pembroke Pines
46	Wildwood
47	Titusville
48	Bonita Springs
49	North Port
50	Clearwater
51	Deerfield Beach
52	Largo
53	Fernandina Beach
54	Sebastian
55	North Fort Myers
56	New Smyrna Beach
57	Fort Myers
58	Deland
59	Mount Dora
60	Valrico
61	Palm Harbor
62	Bradenton
63	Vero Beach
64	Palmetto
65	Brandon
66	Ocoee
67	Saint Petersburg
68	Punta Gorda
69	Homosassa
70	Summerfield
71	Pensacola
72	Inverness
73	Edgewater
74	Hallandale
75	Crestview
76	Seffner
77	Port Charlotte
78	Sarasota
79	Boynton Beach
80	Apopka
81	Sebring
82	Navarre
83	Gainesville
84	Tallahassee
85	West Palm Beach
86	Leesburg
87	Palm Bay
88	Key West
89	Cape Coral
90	Daytona Beach
91	Lake Worth
92	Orlando
93	Lutz
94	Riverview
95	Wesley Chapel
96	Pompano Beach
97	Dunnellon
98	Deltona
99	Port Saint Lucie
100	Loxahatchee

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Methodology

We ranked a total of 2,509 qualified cities (those with populations above 25,000 and enough data for analysis) by five factors: employment (number of establishments, median earnings); housing (owner-occupied housing with a mortgage, monthly housing costs); quality of life (work commute, poverty levels); education (percentage with a bachelor’s degree or higher); and health (obesity ratios).