Cost of Living in Southwest Florida

If you’ve ever had to make a big cross-country move, you’ve likely done your homework on the city to which you are relocating. After all, knowing how far your paycheck will stretch—the cost of living—in your new city is an important consideration for any family or individual.

What does it cost for housing, groceries, health care, and all of the other items that make up our monthly budgets? In some metropolitan areas, your paycheck may go farther than in other regions. One of the biggest monthly expenditures is the cost of rent or mortgage—and housing costs are high in both Collier and Lee counties compared to the rest of the Sunshine State, according to Florida Realtor’s 2020 analysis. The median price for a single-family home in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro was $285,000. In the Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island metro area, it was $490,000—the highest price in the state. The median single-family home price statewide was $288,500 in 2020.

Sperling’s BestPlaces tracks information about cities and zip codes in the United States including climate, economy, population, demographics, education, cost of living, and employment. The index measures differences between areas in the cost of consumer goods and services, minus taxes and non-consumer expenditures.

The charts on the opposite pages show how Collier and Lee counties rank against other large metro areas. You’ll notice that it’s more expensive to live in Collier County due to the high cost of housing compared to Lee County.