Moving to Florida from New Jersey

Property taxes: New Jersey vs Florida, mechanically

New Jersey buyers arrive used to some of the highest property tax bills in the country, set by one municipal rate on an assessed value. Florida's bill is built differently, and the protections for a full-time resident are stronger:

• Several taxing bodies: county, city, school board and special districts each levy millage on the taxable value. One mill equals $1 per $1,000.
• Homestead: $25,000 off all levies plus up to $26,411 off non-school levies in 2026, for your permanent Florida residence.
• Save Our Homes: once homesteaded, the assessed value can rise only 3% a year or CPI, whichever is lower, no matter what the market does.
• Reset on sale: the assessment goes to market value after you buy. Ask the property appraiser's office for an estimate based on your price, since the seller's bill may reflect decades of capped growth.

Florida also has senior exemptions that some counties and cities offer to low-income residents 65 and older. Ask the property appraiser what applies in your county. A property tax measure, Amendment 3, appears on the November 3, 2026 ballot and needs 60%; its result was pending when this was written.

Income, inheritance and the year you leave

Florida has no state income tax and no inheritance or estate tax. New Jersey has an income tax and still has an inheritance tax on transfers to some beneficiaries. Leaving changes both, but only if you actually leave.

• Make the move clear: Florida driver's license, voter registration, homestead filing, and moving doctors, banks and your mailing address.
• Selling the New Jersey house: New Jersey has rules on estimated tax at closing for sellers who are nonresidents when they sell. Your New Jersey attorney will tell you which form applies and whether the sale is exempt.
• Update your estate plan: have a Florida attorney review wills, trusts, powers of attorney and health care directives after the move.
• Keeping a shore house in New Jersey is possible, but it is a tie the state can point to. Plan it with your CPA.

This isn't legal or tax advice. Talk with a tax professional who works with New Jersey part-year returns.

How Florida 55+ communities work

New Jersey has its own adult communities, so the idea is familiar. In Florida the rules come from the federal Housing for Older Persons Act: a 55+ community must have at least 80% of occupied units with one resident 55 or older, and must publish and follow age policies. Several forms exist:

• Single-family active-adult communities: you own the house and lot, pay an HOA, and sometimes a CDD assessment on the tax bill.
• 55+ condos: often older buildings, with fees that include building insurance and reserves.
• Manufactured-home communities: some sell the lot with the home, others lease the land. On a land lease the lot fee can rise every year, and the home is titled differently.

Ask every community for the HOA budget, amenity or club fees, CDD debt, and the rules on guests, grandchildren's stays and pets.

Where retirees are concentrated, by the numbers

Census data shows how much of each city is 65 or older. A few markets with high shares, and Zillow's all-homes value for each:

• The Villages: 85.2% aged 65+, $392,424.
• Palm Coast: 29.5%, $343,894.
• Largo: 28.0%, $335,649.
• North Port: 27.7%, $303,227.
• Cape Coral: 25.0%, $334,660.
• Boca Raton: 24.6%, $580,267.
• Boynton Beach: 22.5%, $404,476.

South Florida's Palm Beach County ($475,754) and Broward County ($422,344) cost more than the Gulf coast and Nature Coast. Statewide values are down 0.9% from a year ago and up 18.6% over five years.

Condo rules that came after Surfside

A lot of New Jersey retirees want a condo with an elevator. Florida's 2022 condo law changed what that means:

• Buildings with three or more habitable stories need a milestone inspection by December 31 of the year they turn 30 (or 25 where the local building official says so), then every 10 years.
• Associations must complete a Structural Integrity Reserve Study every 10 years and fund the reserves it calls for.
• For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, those reserves cannot be waived or reduced.

In practice, some older buildings have raised fees or approved special assessments. The statewide condo value of $262,592 fell 3.9% in a year. A low price in an older tower can be fair once the repairs are funded, or expensive if they are not. Read the inspection report, the SIRS and the board minutes during your 7-day review period.

Insurance for a fixed-income budget

• Get quotes early. Premiums depend on roof age, construction, the FEMA flood zone and distance from the coast.
• Hurricane deductible: 2%, 5% or 10% of dwelling coverage, once per calendar year. Keep that amount in savings.
• Wind mitigation report for credits; 4-point inspection on older homes.
• Flood insurance is separate, and lenders require it in A and V zones.
• Citizens Property Insurance is the state-backed fallback if private carriers decline.

For a retiree, the total of tax, HOA, CDD and insurance is the number that decides affordability. Build the budget from all four.

Sequencing the New Jersey sale and the Florida purchase

Most New Jersey retirees have to sell one house to buy the other, and the order matters more than people expect.

• Selling first gives you cash and a clean offer in Florida, which sellers like. You may need a short-term place to stay, and many buyers spend a winter in the area before committing.
• Buying first lets you pick without time pressure, but you carry two homes, two insurance policies and two tax bills for a while. A cash purchase or a bridge loan makes this possible.
• Homestead timing: the exemption depends on owning and living in the Florida home on January 1. Closing in December and moving in before the new year can save a full year of non-homestead taxes, while closing on January 3 pushes the benefit out twelve months.
• Moving dates: hurricane season runs June through November. Many buyers prefer to close and move in late fall or winter, when they can see the house and the neighborhood in normal conditions.

Build the timeline backward from the January 1 date and from the date you want to stop paying New Jersey tax.

Getting started

If you know the general area, a shortlist of three or four communities with their fees side by side makes the comparison concrete.