This is the middle of Florida’s Atlantic coast: Ormond Beach and Daytona in the north, New Smyrna and the Canaveral National Seashore, then seventy miles of Space Coast through Titusville, Cocoa, Melbourne and Palm Bay. Wide beaches, an inland side of lakes and old Florida towns, and rockets going up over the water often enough that people stop putting down their coffee.
On cost, it lands squarely in the middle of the state, and that’s the honest pitch. Taxes and insurance together run about $9,600 a year in both counties — several thousand less than anywhere on the Southeast coast, a bit more than Northeast Florida or the Panhandle. Winters are warmer than Jacksonville and cooler than Fort Lauderdale. Orlando is an hour inland when you need an airport or a specialist.
If the Atlantic is what you want but Palm Beach prices aren’t, this stretch is the compromise that actually works.
The short version
Best for: beach buyers priced out of South Florida, space and aviation enthusiasts, military retirees, and anyone who wants Orlando close but not too close.
Think twice if: you want the warmest winters in the state, or you’re nervous about beach erosion and oceanfront exposure.
Counties covered: Volusia and Brevard.
- 55+ communities on the East Coast
- How the two counties compare
- Cities and towns
- What it costs to live here
- What it costs to carry a home
- Storms, flooding, and insurance
- Weather
- Healthcare
- Is this region right for you?
- How it compares to neighboring regions
- Common questions
Featured Communities
Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach is a 55+ community inspired by the lifestyle and music of Jimmy Buffett.
Amenities include a fully outfitted gym / Spin Room, aerobics room with virtual personal trainer, indoor whirlpool spa and lap pool, Latitude Town Square where you’ll find the Bandshell with live music, The Last Mango Theater includes a banquet hall with stage for performances and dancing, Barkaritaville Pet Spa, Coconut Telegraph Business Center, Latitude Bar & Chill Restaurant, Changes in Attitude Bar, Paradise Pool with beach entry, cabanas, and tiki huts, plus, an amenity that you don’t see every day…your very own private beach club! Home prices start in the $300k’s.
See the full list of 55+ communities in Florida →
How the Two Counties Compare
| Volusia | Brevard | |
|---|---|---|
| Key towns | Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Port Orange, DeLand, Deltona | Melbourne, Viera, Titusville, Cocoa, Rockledge, Palm Bay, Cocoa Beach |
| Monthly cost, couple | $2,963 | $3,186 |
| Monthly cost, single | $1,975 | $2,082 |
| Property tax, $400K homesteaded | $6,096 (13th of 67) | $4,818 (56th of 67) |
| Insurance, median filed rate | $3,528 | $4,926 |
| Insurance range | $2,010–$8,464 | $2,498–$9,624 |
| Combined tax + insurance | ~$9,624 | ~$9,744 |
| January high / low | 69°F / 49°F | 72°F / 51°F |
| August high / low | 90°F / 74°F | 91°F / 73°F |
| Annual rainfall | 51.3 in. | 55.3 in. |
| Airports | Daytona Beach (DAB), Orlando (MCO) 1 hr | Melbourne Orlando (MLB), Orlando (MCO) 1 hr |
Property tax is the estimated annual bill on a $400,000 homesteaded home. Insurance is the median rate filed with the state for the CHOICES sample home: a masonry home built in 2005 with a $300,000 replacement value, a 2% hurricane deductible, no recent claims, limited wind-mitigation features and no hip roof. Monthly figures are for a retired couple who own their home outright; the Florida average is $3,034 and the U.S. average is $3,244. Climate figures are 1991–2020 normals for the Daytona Beach and Melbourne stations. Sources: Elder Index (Gerontology Institute, UMass Boston), Florida TaxWatch, Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Florida Climate Center.
The two counties cost almost exactly the same to own in — for opposite reasons
Volusia has the 13th-highest property tax rate in Florida but noticeably cheaper insurance. Brevard has one of the lower tax rates in the state, 56th of 67, and insurance that runs about $1,400 more. Add them up and they land within $120 a year of each other. Whichever county you pick, budget roughly the same — then choose on the towns, not the tax bill.
Cities and Towns
Volusia County: Daytona and the inland towns
Wide beaches in the east, lakes and old Florida in the west.
Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach
Daytona is best known for the racing and the beach you can drive on, but for retirees the draw is simpler: a lot of coastline at prices well below South Florida. Ormond Beach, just north, is the quieter and generally more residential half of the pair, with the Loop drive and a long-standing retiree population.
Volusia County is also home to Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach, the first Jimmy Buffett-branded 55+ community and still one of the best-known active adult developments in the country.
Read more: Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach · Daytona Beach Retirement Guide · Ormond Beach Retirement Guide
New Smyrna Beach and Port Orange
New Smyrna is the one my readers ask about most in this county — a low-rise beach town with a walkable Flagler Avenue, an arts scene, and the Canaveral National Seashore just south of it. Port Orange is the practical suburban middle, close to the beach without the beach-town pricing.
Read more: New Smyrna Beach Retirement Guide · Port Orange Retirement Guide
DeLand and Deltona
Inland Volusia is a different world from the beach side: Stetson University, a genuinely charming DeLand downtown, and the St. Johns River. It’s also the cheaper half of the county, and about 40 minutes from Orlando’s northern suburbs.
Brevard County: the Space Coast
Seventy miles of barrier island and mainland, with Kennedy Space Center at the north end.
Melbourne and Viera
Melbourne is the population and business center of the Space Coast, with an aerospace and defense employment base that gives it a different feel from most Florida beach towns. Viera, just north, is the master-planned community that’s absorbed much of the county’s newer residential growth, and it’s where most of Brevard’s 55+ inventory sits.
Brevard’s day-to-day costs run $3,186 a month for a couple, the higher of the two counties, with health care a notable line item at $956.
Read more: Melbourne Retirement Guide
Titusville, Cocoa, and Rockledge
Titusville sits directly across the Indian River from Kennedy Space Center, which makes it the best free launch-viewing in the country and one of the more affordable places on this coast. Cocoa Village is a small historic downtown worth a look, and Rockledge is the older residential town alongside it.
Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, and Indialantic
The barrier island towns — smaller, older, and lower-rise than their equivalents further south, with Patrick Space Force Base in the middle of the strip. Popular with military retirees for the base services, and with surfers, which is not a sentence you can write about most of Florida’s Atlantic coast.
Read more: 48 Hours in Cocoa Beach
Palm Bay
The south end of the county and its largest city by population, built out across a very large grid of lots platted decades ago. It’s generally the most affordable place to buy in Brevard, and it’s grown quickly as a result.
What It Costs to Live Here
For a retired couple who owns their home outright, covering the basics runs $2,963 a month in Volusia County and $3,186 in Brevard. The Florida average is $3,034 and the national average is $3,244.
Volusia comes in under the Florida average; Brevard runs above it but still below the national figure. The $223 gap between them is mostly housing and health care.
Brevard’s health care costs are worth budgeting for
The Elder Index puts health care at $956 a month for a couple in Brevard, among the highest figures of any county in Florida and well above Volusia. That’s unusual for a county with a large population and an established hospital system. If you’re comparing Melbourne or Viera against Daytona or New Smyrna, factor it in alongside the home price.
See my full cost of living in Florida breakdown for how these figures are calculated.
What It Costs to Carry a Home
| County | Property tax | Insurance (median) | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volusia | $6,096 | $3,528 | ~$9,624 |
| Brevard | $4,818 | $4,926 | ~$9,744 |
Property tax is the estimated annual bill on a $400,000 homesteaded home. Insurance is the median rate filed with the state for the CHOICES sample home described above. These are two different example homes, so use the combined figure to compare counties rather than as a quote for a specific house.
This region is the middle of Florida, and that’s its whole argument. At roughly $9,600 a year, both counties cost about $2,000 less than the cheapest Southeast Florida county and about $6,500 less than Miami-Dade — on the same ocean. They also run about $1,000 more than Northeast Florida and $2,500 more than Sumter County inland. Warmer than Jacksonville, cheaper than Vero Beach, closer to a major airport than either.
Volusia is the pattern-breaker on insurance. Its $3,528 median is the cheapest of any Atlantic coastal county in Florida outside the Jacksonville area, and about $3,100 less than Indian River next door and $6,200 less than Miami-Dade. Brevard’s $4,926 is higher, likely reflecting its long barrier island exposure, but still well under everything from Vero south.
Shop it anyway. Volusia’s filed rates run from $2,010 to $8,464 for the same house, and Brevard’s from $2,498 to $9,624. The spread is larger than the difference between the two counties.
One caveat on the insurance figures. The state’s sample home is a masonry house built in 2005 with limited wind-mitigation features. A newer home with impact glass and a hip roof will price below it. Use these to compare counties, then get real quotes on a specific address.
For the full statewide rankings, see Florida property tax rates by county, and don’t overlook the homestead exemption if this will be your primary residence.
Storms, Flooding, and Insurance
This coast has had a hard run, and two of the risks here are specific enough to name.
Beach erosion. Nicole came ashore in November 2022 and did severe damage to the dune line in Volusia County, undermining oceanfront buildings in Daytona Beach Shores and forcing a few condemnations. If you’re shopping anything on the ocean side, ask about the dune, recent renourishment projects, and what the county has scheduled. This is the single most location-specific risk on this stretch of coast.
Inland freshwater flooding. Ian in 2022 caused record flooding well inland in Volusia County, along the St. Johns River and through parts of Daytona and Ormond, days after the storm made landfall on the Gulf side. A home can be nowhere near the ocean and still flood here.
Beyond that, the ordinary Florida checks apply. Check the FEMA flood zone for the specific address. My guide to Florida flood zones explains how to read it. Ask when the home was built and whether the roof and windows meet current code. And get quotes from several carriers, because the spread within each county is wide.
Worth remembering that in 2004 Charley, Frances and Jeanne all crossed this part of Florida within six weeks. That’s unusual, but it happened.
For the statewide view, see where to live in Florida to avoid hurricanes.
Weather
This is the temperature midpoint of Florida’s Atlantic coast, and the numbers show it cleanly.
| Daytona Beach | Melbourne | Jacksonville | Fort Lauderdale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January high / low | 69° / 49° | 72° / 51° | 66° / 43° | 76° / 58° |
| August high / low | 90° / 74° | 91° / 73° | 91° / 73° | 91° / 76° |
| Annual rainfall | 51.3 in. | 55.3 in. | 53.4 in. | 68.8 in. |
1991–2020 normals from the Florida Climate Center, Office of the State Climatologist. Daytona Beach International Airport and Melbourne stations, with Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale shown for comparison.
January is the whole story. Daytona averages a 49°F low and Melbourne 51°. That’s six to eight degrees warmer at night than Jacksonville, and seven to nine degrees cooler than Fort Lauderdale. You’ll want a jacket on winter mornings, and you won’t need one by lunch. Frost is uncommon but not unheard of on the coldest mornings, particularly inland around DeLand.
Melbourne runs warmer than Daytona, about three degrees in the January daytime, which is roughly what you’d expect across seventy miles of latitude. If winter warmth is the deciding factor, the south end of Brevard is the warmer choice.
Rainfall is moderate by Florida standards. Daytona is one of the drier stations in the state, and both counties get far less than Fort Lauderdale’s 69 inches. Summers are hot and stormy, with near-daily afternoon thunderstorms from June through September.
Healthcare
Volusia County is served by AdventHealth Daytona Beach and Halifax Health, with AdventHealth facilities inland in DeLand and Orange City. Brevard County is anchored by Health First, which operates Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne and facilities in Viera and Palm Bay, along with Parrish Medical Center up in Titusville.
The bigger advantage is proximity: Orlando’s medical centers, including AdventHealth Orlando, Orlando Health, the VA Medical Center in Lake Nona and the Lake Nona Medical City cluster, are about an hour from most of this region. For anything highly specialized, that’s a manageable drive rather than a relocation.
Worth noting for veterans: Patrick Space Force Base sits on the barrier island in Brevard, and the region has a substantial military and aerospace retiree population with the base services that come with it.
Is This Region Right for You?
Reasons people love it
- Atlantic beaches at roughly two-thirds of South Florida’s carrying cost
- Rocket launches from your own backyard
- Orlando an hour away for flights and specialists
- Volusia’s insurance is among the cheapest on the Atlantic coast
- Real small towns — New Smyrna, DeLand, Cocoa Village
- Milder winters than North Florida
Reasons people hesitate
- Beach erosion, particularly in Volusia
- Volusia’s tax rate, 13th-highest in the state
- Brevard’s health care costs
- River flooding well inland after big storms
- Cooler winter nights than South Florida
- Fewer large 55+ communities than Central or Southeast Florida
How This Region Compares to Its Neighbors
Northeast Florida — St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Amelia Island — continues up the same coast, costs about $1,000 a year less to own in, and runs noticeably colder in winter.
Southeast Florida and the Treasure Coast starts just south at Vero Beach, with warmer winters and carrying costs $2,000 to $6,500 a year higher.
Central Florida is an hour inland, with the lowest carrying costs in the state and no coastal exposure at all.
Common Questions
Is Florida’s East Coast a good place to retire?
It’s the middle option on the Atlantic, and that’s the appeal. Taxes and insurance run about $9,600 a year in both Volusia and Brevard — roughly $2,000 less than the cheapest Southeast Florida county and $6,500 less than Miami-Dade, on the same ocean. Winters are warmer than Jacksonville and cooler than Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando is an hour inland.
Daytona Beach or Melbourne?
They cost almost exactly the same to own a home in, within $120 a year, though they get there differently: Volusia has a high tax rate and cheap insurance, Brevard the reverse. Daytona has lower day-to-day costs and cheaper housing; Melbourne is warmer, has a stronger employment base, and sits closer to the newer 55+ inventory around Viera. Brevard’s health care costs run higher.
What’s the cheapest place to retire on Florida’s East Coast?
Inland Volusia — DeLand and Deltona — is generally the most affordable, and Palm Bay is the value option in Brevard. Volusia County as a whole runs $2,963 a month for a couple, below the Florida average.
Can you really see rocket launches from home?
Yes, across much of Brevard and Volusia. Titusville sits directly across the Indian River from Kennedy Space Center and has the best free viewing anywhere. Launches happen frequently enough now that residents mostly watch from the driveway.
How bad is beach erosion in Daytona?
It’s a real and current issue. Hurricane Nicole in November 2022 undermined the dune line in Volusia County and led to condemnations of oceanfront buildings in Daytona Beach Shores. If you’re looking at anything on the ocean side, ask about the dune, recent renourishment work and what the county has planned before you make an offer.
How cold does it get on the Space Coast?
January lows average 49°F in Daytona and 51°F in Melbourne, with highs of 69°F and 72°F. That’s six to eight degrees warmer at night than Jacksonville and seven to nine cooler than Fort Lauderdale. Frost is uncommon but possible on the coldest mornings, especially inland.
Where are the 55+ communities on Florida’s East Coast?
In Volusia County the biggest is Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach, with more around Ormond Beach, Port Orange and DeLand. In Brevard, most of the newer inventory is around Viera and Melbourne, with options in Palm Bay and Titusville.
Updated: September 2026