Cost of Living in Venice Florida

Venice is located just south of Sarasota, which puts it in a sweet spot along Florida's Gulf Coast. It's the perfect destination for retirees looking to make the most of a laid-back Florida lifestyle and 14 miles of stunning white sand beaches.

But how affordable is Venice for retirement?

Let's take a closer look!

Home Prices

The price you pay to buy a home will be one of the biggest expenses you have when moving to Florida, so we like to look at home prices first when doing our cost of living assessments.

According to data from FloridaRealtors.org, the average sales price for a home in Florida in 2023 was $527,324. That was up from $513,131 in 2022.

If you plan on buying a home in the North Port – Sarasota – Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area that Venice is a part of, on average you'll be paying about $150k more than the state average:

The average sale price here in 2022 was $681,218 and in 2023 it was slightly higher at $685,319.

As you'll see below, there are plenty of communities with new homes priced less than that, but we are just looking at averages for now.

Property Taxes

The next big expense you'll have while living the Florida retirement dream will be your property taxes.

While we just learned that the average home price in this part of Florida is higher than the average of the rest of the state, retirees like the fact that the property tax rates in Venice are actually lower than most other places in Florida.

Sarasota County where Venice is located has a property tax rate of about 13.5 mils per thousand.

I go over the entire Florida property tax formula in my book, but to keep things simple here, this means that for every $1,000 of assessed value, you'll be paying about $13.50.

So let's say your home is assessed for $500,000 the math would be 500 x $13.50 = $6,750 per year, or about $562.50 a month.

If you are planning to live here full-time or at least long enough to claim residency, you should know that Florida has some pretty generous homestead exemptions that can reduce your property taxes and keep yearly increases in check.

Again, that's a topic for another day, but you can read more about it in The Florida Retirement Handbook.

Property Insurance

The cost of homeowner's insurance is particularly hard to pin down and give an estimate for, in large part because rates vary widely between insurance companies.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation maintains a rate comparison tool in which you can select the type of property, the county, and view average rates that several insurance companies have reported for that type of property in that area.

For our purposes, I chose a $300,000 (the maximum price it lets you select) new construction home in Sarasota County.

Look at this WIDE range of rates:

You might have heard horror stories about Florida insurance rates in the news or on social media, and no, it's not as cheap as it used to be. But if this list is any indication, reasonable rates are available, you just need to shop around a bit to find them.

Other Costs

The website BestPlaces.net is one of my favorite go-to resources for in-depth data about various places, and they've looked at the overall cost of living in Venice to include other costs like healthcare, groceries, transportation, utilities, and other necessities.

They found that overall Venice is about 2.1% more expensive than the state average cost of living, and about 5.3% higher than the national average cost of living.

I suspect home prices are the main reason for the higher cost of living estimates, but even so, living here is not that much more expensive than other places in Florida.

Where to Retire in Venice

Grand Palm in Venice is a beautiful, amenity-rich, nature-focused community.

Residents enjoy easy access to downtown Venice and beaches (20 minutes away) and a multitude of activities right in their own backyard with an on-site activities coordinator, state-of-the-art fitness facility, pickleball and tennis courts, and a large resort-style pool with water slide.

Single-family homes and villas are available starting in the $400k's, which is about $200k less than the average home price for this area.