Moving to Palm Beach Gardens, FL

How the city is laid out

Palm Beach Gardens is a city of 60,959 people stretching west from the coast toward the Florida Turnpike and beyond. PGA Boulevard is the main east-west spine, lined with The Gardens Mall, Downtown at the Gardens and most of the city's restaurants and offices. I-95 and Florida's Turnpike both run north and south through the city, which makes commuting to West Palm Beach, Jupiter and further south straightforward by Florida standards. Palm Beach International Airport is roughly a 20 to 30 minute drive.

Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center is in the city, and the beaches are a short drive east in Juno Beach, Jupiter and on Singer Island. Growth is now mostly in the west, where large master-planned communities such as Avenir and Alton have added a large number of new homes in recent years.

Newer homes, more single-family than its neighbors

The Census data describes a younger housing stock than most of coastal Palm Beach County. The median home was built in 1995, compared with 1969 in Lake Worth Beach and 1972 in North Palm Beach. About 47.4% of units are single-family detached and only 16.9% are in buildings with 10 or more units. Mobile homes make up 1.7%.

Newer homes bring practical advantages: roofs and systems built to more recent codes, better wind mitigation scores and usually lower insurance than a 1960s house. The trade-off is that almost every home sits in an HOA, often with a master association and a sub-association, and newer western communities may carry a CDD assessment on the property tax bill. Read both before you fall for a model home.

What housing costs, from condo to club estate

The typical single-family house is worth about $790,250, up 4.7% over the past year. Condos are far cheaper at about $315,671 and barely moved, up 0.8%. By size, a two-bedroom runs about $356,751, a three-bedroom about $697,545 and a four-bedroom about $1,150,309. The lower third of the market ends near $376,997 and the upper third starts near $1,580,691.

Zillow tracks 27 neighborhoods here, and the range is enormous: from Sandalwood Estates at about $316,356 to Old Palm at about $6,116,080. Sample price points:

• Under $500,000: Sandalwood Estates $316,356, Lake Catherine $345,643, Garden Lakes $371,593, Westwood Gardens $381,416, Palm Beach Square $454,054, The Oaks $474,055.
• $500,000 to $1 million: PGA National $528,212 (1.2%, 28.1%), Garden Oaks $567,673, Siena Oaks $651,575, Paloma $814,550, Evergrene $867,200, Shady Lakes $944,369.
• Over $1.5 million: BallenIsles $1,782,559, Mirasol $1,917,993, Steeplechase $2,274,376, San Michele $2,367,911, Frenchmans Reserve $2,788,199, Frenchmans Creek $3,322,329, Old Palm $6,116,080.

The top end has run fastest: BallenIsles rose 22.7% over the year and Mirasol 12.9%, while several neighborhoods under $400,000 slipped slightly.

Against its neighbors, the Gardens is priced almost level with Jupiter ($704,524) and above Wellington ($661,404), Royal Palm Beach ($488,691) and West Palm Beach ($404,711). Buyers priced out of single-family homes here often look at Royal Palm Beach or Riviera Beach ($409,986), while those who want a condo will find the Gardens' $315,671 condo figure lower than Jupiter's on the same index.

Who lives here

The median age is 51.8 and 32.5% of residents are 65 or older, but only 8.8% of homes are seasonal. That is a different profile from the coastal towns: a large retired population, but one that mostly lives here year-round. North Palm Beach has 16.7% seasonal homes and the Town of Palm Beach 39.0%, so the Gardens feels much less empty in summer. For a buyer, a year-round city usually means steadier HOA participation and businesses that stay open in August.

Golf clubs and what they really cost

Golf is a big part of the city's identity. PGA National hosts the PGA Tour's Cognizant Classic each year, and the city has several private country clubs. In a club community, the purchase price is only the first line. Ask whether membership is mandatory or optional, what the initiation or equity fee is and whether any of it is refunded when you sell, what annual dues and food minimums run, and whether the club has a capital assessment planned. Those numbers can add tens of thousands of dollars a year, and they belong in your budget the same way a mortgage does.

Taxes, insurance and newcomer mistakes

Florida has no state income tax. If the home is your permanent residence, the homestead exemption takes up to $51,411 off the assessed value in 2026 and the Save Our Homes cap limits increases to 3% or CPI. Budget from your purchase price, since the assessed value resets after a sale, and add any CDD line on the tax bill.

Insurance is still a major cost even on newer homes. Get a wind mitigation report, check the FEMA flood zone (many communities are built around stormwater lakes) and get real quotes during your inspection period. The most common mistake I see is comparing two homes on price without comparing HOA, club and CDD costs. A shortlist built on full monthly cost makes the comparison honest.