The Retirees Who Left Florida for Good Say the First Year Was the Only Good One
Florida's no-income-tax promise looks different after the first insurance renewal and condo reserve assessment arrive. Before you plan a second move, find out what portfolio size you actually need to make it work.
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Retirees who move to Florida pay no state income tax, but insurance renewals and condo reserve assessments can raise housing costs after they get. A lot of those families eventually move again, usually to a neighboring state. If you’re thinking about the same exit, you need to know what the second move costs and how big a portfolio it takes to make it work.
Where Florida Leavers Actually Go
On net, Florida still gains people, as recent IRS migration data shows 605,238 people moving in and 493,496 moving out. The top destinations for those leaving were Georgia (50,483 people), Texas (41,655), and North Carolina (34,859). These counts include taxpayers of all ages and show where people are going.
In reality, each of those states is cheaper than Florida, especially when you look at its cost-of-living index: 103.414, compared with 96.293 for Georgia and 94.326 for North Carolina. However, Florida’s lack of an income tax is a real advantage, as it ties for first nationally on individual income tax.
The trouble is that housing-related costs keep going up after you get. Condo buildings three or more stories tall must finish structural reserve studies done alongside milestone inspections by December 31, 2026, and associations pass that funding on to owners. Over five years, home prices rose 58.74% in the West Palm Beach area and 49.02% in Naples, pushing insurance replacement values up as well.
Pricing a Georgia Exit Against Staying Put
A useful starting point is the BLS figure for average families’ spending, $78,535 a year. That number already covers housing, food, utilities, transportation, healthcare, and insurance. Adjusted to Florida’s price level, it comes to about $81,200. Adjusted to Georgia’s price level, it’s about $75,600. Medicare Part B costs $202.90 per person per month, and retiree inflation is running at 3.6% a year. Plan for both of those to keep going up.
On the income side, the average aged couple where both spouses collect Social Security gets $3,355 a month after the latest COLA, or $40,260 a year. That leaves a gap of $40,956 a year in Florida and $35,364 a year in Georgia. Divide each gap by a 4% withdrawal rate, which fits a 30-year retirement starting around 67. Florida needs about $1,023,900. Georgia needs about $884,100, roughly $140,000 less.
Under Georgia’s tax rules, the state doesn’t tax Social Security, according to a 2026 state tax summary. Taxpayers 65 and older can also exclude up to $65,000 of retirement income each, including pensions, interest, dividends, capital gains, and up to $5,000 of earned income. A couple withdrawing $35,000 a year falls well inside the combined exclusion.
When you claim Social Security, the target changes too. If both spouses wait from 67 to 70, delayed credits raise the couple’s benefit to about $49,900, and the Georgia target falls to about $642,500.
A Medicare Bill That Shows Up Two Years After the Sale
A married couple selling a primary home can exclude up to $500,000 of gain. In a market that has risen more than half in five years, a long-held home can exceed that limit. Any gain above that amount is added to modified adjusted gross income for that year. Georgia’s exclusion covers only $65,000 of capital gains per spouse. Medicare sets IRMAA surcharges using income from two years earlier.
A joint return over $218,000 adds $81.20 a month to Part B and $14.50 to Part D for each spouse, about $2,300 a year for the couple. Over $274,000, the surcharge comes to about $5,770. Selling a home doesn’t count as a life-changing event that would let you appeal the surcharge. Some couples keep other income low in the sale year by skipping Roth conversions, taking available capital losses, and drawing cash from a treasury ladder.
What Makes the Second Move Pay Off
A couple getting average Social Security needs about $884,100 to live in Georgia on a 4% withdrawal. If both delay benefits to 70, that falls to about $642,500. Staying in Florida takes more than $1 million. A balanced mix of stock and bond index funds can support a 4% withdrawal.
Holding Treasury bonds that mature in stages over the first few years of withdrawals can reduce the need to sell assets during an early market decline. The highest one-time cost of leaving Florida may come from the house sale itself. A large gain above the exclusion can push income over the IRMAA thresholds, and Medicare premiums can rise two years after you move (we detailed the IRMAA surcharges and other Medicare traps in a free guide here).
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David Beren has been a Flywheel Publishing contributor since 2022. Writing for 24/7 Wall St. since 2023, David loves to write about topics of all shapes and sizes. As a technology expert, David focuses heavily on consumer electronics brands, automobiles, and general technology. He has previously written for LifeWire, formerly About.com. As a part-time freelance writer, David’s “day job” has been working on and leading social media for multiple Fortune 100 brands. David loves the flexibility of this field and its ability to reach customers exactly where they like to spend their time. Additionally, David previously published his own blog, TmoNews.com, which reached 3 million readers in its first year. In addition to freelance and social media work, David loves to spend time with his family and children and relive the glory days of video game consoles by playing any retro game console he can get his hands on.
