Compare cities and metro areas ranked by the 2024 BEA cost-of-living index in Florida. 22 metro areas are available.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Wildwood-The Villages, FL has the lowest overall Regional Price Parity in this Florida ranking at 85.4. The national average is 100, so this comparison identifies the lowest relative price level among the metro areas BEA reports; it does not estimate a household budget or citywide inflation.
A data-shaped reading
The sequence below follows the strongest decision signal in this state's component mix, metro spread, retained-release movement, and national-benchmark coverage.
Component driver
Wildwood-The Villages, FL's rents index is 51.7, compared with 96.2 for goods and 89.0 for services. That places housing 33.7 points below the metro's overall index. This is a deep housing-led discount, so renters capture much more of the headline advantage than owners with a fixed mortgage.
Latest retained release
From 2023 to 2024, Wildwood-The Villages, FL's overall RPP fell by 9.1 points. The largest component move was rents, which changed by -28.5 points. Because RPP is relative to the national price level, this describes movement against the U.S. benchmark, not literal deflation or inflation in a household's bills.
National benchmark coverage
The ranking is split: 13 of 22 listed metros are below 100 and the rest are at or above it. Wildwood-The Villages, FL anchors the lower side, but the state average of 98.6 masks that internal divide. Metro-level rows are the decision unit here.
Strength of the lead
Wildwood-The Villages, FL leads Sebring, FL by 7.0 points. That is large enough to distinguish the first row from the immediate alternative, while the 28.7-point statewide range still leaves room for a different metro to fit a job or housing search better.
| # | Metro | Overall |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wildwood-The Villages, FL | 85.4 |
| 2 | Sebring, FL | 92.5 |
| 3 | Homosassa Springs, FL | 93.5 |
| 4 | Tallahassee, FL | 93.9 |
| 5 | Ocala, FL | 95.2 |
| 6 | Gainesville, FL | 96.7 |
| 7 | Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL | 97.0 |
| 8 | Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL | 97.1 |
| 9 | Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL | 97.3 |
| 10 | Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL | 97.7 |
| 11 | Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, FL | 98.3 |
| 12 | Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL | 99.4 |
| 13 | Jacksonville, FL | 99.5 |
| 14 | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL | 100.0 |
| 15 | Port St. Lucie, FL | 100.2 |
| 16 | Punta Gorda, FL | 100.5 |
| 17 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 100.9 |
| 18 | Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | 101.4 |
| 19 | Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL | 102.3 |
| 20 | North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL | 102.4 |
| 21 | Naples-Marco Island, FL | 103.2 |
| 22 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 114.2 |
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities Index where national average = 100
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure on PlainCost is rendered directly from BEA Regional Price Parity source data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-11. Rankings measure the published cost-of-living index only; we don't recommend where to live or rate any metro's quality of life.