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Florida starts in South Florida, in the city George Merrick planned from groves and coral rock: Mediterranean Revival streets, a grand hotel, a quarry turned swimming pool, and a main street drawn for walking. Orlando, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville follow.
One Florida cost runs through every report in the state: insurance. Florida levies no state personal income tax, and the combined sales tax in Coral Gables is 7 percent in 2026. Homeowner and wind insurance runs among the highest in the country, though, and at luxury prices that single line item can outweigh the income tax saving. Price the policy with the house, every time.
Metros
South Florida
Miami-Dade and Broward: planned cities, island neighborhoods, and the mainland streets behind the beach.
Orlando
Lake districts and brick street neighborhoods north of downtown, starting with Winter Park.
Tampa Bay
Historic streetcar suburbs and bayside districts in Tampa and St. Petersburg.
Jacksonville
Riverfront historic districts and beach towns along the First Coast.
Latest Florida Reports
Coral Gables, South Florida
The planned city that kept its plan: George Merrick built a Mediterranean Revival city under a banyan canopy in the 1920s, with plazas, grand entrances, a quarry turned swimming pool and a downtown where every shop sat within a two block walk, about seven miles southwest of downtown Miami.
Median $1,400,000Walk Score 99
Photo: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons