Moving to Florida from Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania vs Florida taxes, line by line

• Income tax: Pennsylvania has a flat state income tax, and many municipalities and school districts add a local earned income tax. Florida has neither. Pennsylvania does not tax most retirement income such as pensions and Social Security for eligible retirees, so a retiree's saving here depends on how much investment income or wages remain. A working household saves on every paycheck.
• Inheritance tax: Pennsylvania taxes inheritances at rates that depend on who inherits. Florida has no inheritance or estate tax. For many families this is the larger long-run difference.
• Property tax: both states tax real estate locally. Florida adds a homestead exemption and an assessment cap for full-time residents, covered below.

This isn't legal or tax advice. Ask a CPA and an estate attorney to compare your own numbers before and after the move.

Florida homestead in plain numbers

For your permanent Florida residence, the 2026 homestead exemption removes $25,000 of assessed value from all property taxes and up to another $26,411 from the non-school portion. Taken together, that is up to $51,411. Then Save Our Homes keeps the assessed value from rising more than 3% a year or CPI, whichever is lower, for as long as you own and live in the home.

Take a house assessed at $342,346, Brevard County's typical value. With full homestead, school taxes apply to $317,346 and other taxes to $290,935. Multiply each by the local millage (one mill is $1 per $1,000) to estimate the bill.

• Own and live in the home on January 1, then apply with the property appraiser by March 1.
• The assessment resets to market value the year after a purchase.
• If you claim a residency-based tax break in Pennsylvania, you cannot also claim Florida homestead.

Note that Amendment 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot would alter homestead and non-homestead taxation if 60% of voters approve; the result was not known at writing.

PA to Florida retirement: Atlantic or Gulf

From eastern Pennsylvania the Atlantic side is a straight drive down I-95, which matters if you plan to drive back for summers and holidays. The Gulf side has its own draw. Using Zillow's all-homes values and Census shares of residents 65 and older:

• Palm Coast: $343,894, with 29.5% aged 65+.
• Volusia County: $324,665, including Deltona at $297,684.
• Brevard County: $342,346, with Melbourne at $357,832 (22.5% aged 65+) and Palm Bay at $303,347.
• Port St. Lucie: $384,099, with 21.8% aged 65+.
• Gulf side for comparison: Clearwater at $340,654 (24.1% aged 65+) and Cape Coral at $334,660 (25.0%).
• The Villages, inland: $392,424, with 85.2% aged 65+.

Statewide, values are down 0.9% over the year and up 18.6% over five years, so recent buyers have had more room to negotiate than in 2021 and 2022.

From a Pennsylvania house to a Florida house

A Pennsylvania buyer is used to brick or frame homes with basements, oil or gas heat and snow. A Florida house is a different machine:

• Slab foundation, no basement: the water table is too high in most places. Storage moves to the garage.
• Block and stucco walls are common, especially from Central Florida south.
• The roof decides insurance. Ask for the roof permit date, and expect carriers to balk at older roofs.
• Wind mitigation and 4-point inspections are standard for insurance, on top of the general inspection.
• Cooling, not heating, is the energy cost. A heat pump handles the few cold days.

Yard work changes too. There is no snow to clear, but grass grows most of the year, irrigation systems need upkeep, and many HOAs set rules on lawn care, paint colors and fences. If you want to do things your own way, look at older neighborhoods without an association, and if you want less work, a villa where the HOA cuts the grass may suit you better than a house with a large lot.

55+ communities and condos

A 55+ community in Florida is legal under the federal Housing for Older Persons Act if at least 80% of occupied units have a resident 55 or older. The forms range from new single-family active-adult neighborhoods with HOA and sometimes CDD fees, to older condo buildings, to manufactured-home parks where the land may be owned or leased.

In condos, the 2022 safety law requires milestone inspections for buildings of three or more habitable stories and a Structural Integrity Reserve Study every 10 years, with reserves that owners can no longer waive for budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024. Statewide condo values are $262,592, down 3.9% in a year. Read the reserve study before you compare monthly fees across buildings.

Insurance and storms

• Hurricane deductible: 2%, 5% or 10% of dwelling coverage, applied once each calendar year by Florida law.
• Flood insurance: separate from the homeowners policy and required by lenders in FEMA A and V zones. Inland buyers should still price it.
• Citizens Property Insurance: the state-backed insurer of last resort if private carriers decline.
• Timing: get quotes during the inspection period on the actual address.

For a retiree, keep the hurricane deductible in cash. On a $342,346 dwelling limit, 2% is about $6,850.

Selling in Pennsylvania and buying in Florida

Pennsylvania charges realty transfer tax when you sell, often split between buyer and seller, and local rates vary. In Florida, the seller usually pays the deed stamp tax of $0.70 per $100, and a buyer with a mortgage pays $0.35 per $100 on the note plus 0.2% intangible tax. The owner's title policy has a state-set premium; who pays depends on county custom. Florida closings are usually handled by a title company.

Plan the homestead date first. Owning and living in the Florida home on January 1 is what starts the exemption, so a December closing can be worth a full year of tax savings.

Residency paperwork

Get a Florida driver's license, register your car and register to vote. Consider a Declaration of Domicile with the county clerk. File a part-year Pennsylvania return for the move year and, if your local tax collector expects one, a final local return. When you have narrowed the coast and the budget, a shortlist of a few communities with fees and estimated taxes side by side is the most useful next step.