10 Feet of Snow or 10 Feet of Sand: The Choice Is Yours

Oct 9

Quick answer: Here's the trade. Up north: four or five feet of snow a year in Boston or Hartford, eight feet in Buffalo, a shovel, a snow blower, a plow guy, a heating bill, and a January you spend indoors. On the Treasure Coast: January highs in the mid 70s, an ocean around 72 to 76 degrees all winter, no state income tax, a homestead exemption that caps how fast your property taxes can rise, and a beach you can walk every morning of the year. The honest other side: hurricane season, higher insurance, a hot wet summer, and traffic when the snowbirds land. Most people I work with have already done this math. They just want someone to confirm it.

Every January my phone fills up with the same photo. Somebody's driveway, a foot of snow on it, a shovel stuck in the pile, and a text that says some version of "I'm done." I've gotten that text from New Jersey, from Connecticut, from Buffalo, from a guy in Minnesota who sent it at 5:40 in the morning because that's when he'd been out there. They don't all move. But the ones who do say the same thing a year later: I should have done it sooner.

So this is the post I send back. It's the case for living near the ocean in Florida, from someone who sells houses here and would rather you move for the right reasons than the brochure ones. The good parts are better than you think. The bad parts are real. The choice, as the title says, is yours.

Start with the number that actually matters

Average annual snowfall, from the government's own 30-year climate records: Boston, 49 inches. Hartford, 52. Minneapolis, 51. Cleveland, 64. Buffalo, 95. Rochester, 102. That's eight and a half feet of snow in Rochester, every year, on average. New York City gets 30 and Philadelphia 23, which sounds mild until you're the one moving it.

Port St. Lucie's number rounds to zero. The last time flakes fell on this coast was January 1977, and they melted on the way down. In January, the coldest month here, the average high is in the mid 70s and the average low is in the mid 50s. A cold front comes through every week or two, the humidity drops, people put on a sweatshirt for two mornings and talk about it like it's news, and then it's 76 again. The ocean stays in the low to mid 70s all winter because the Gulf Stream runs not far off our beach. You can swim at Christmas. People do.

The shovel is worse for you than you think

This is the part I didn't know until I read the warning the American Heart Association puts out every winter. It says hundreds of people in this country die every year during or right after shoveling snow. Two minutes of shoveling pushes the average heart rate past 85 percent of its maximum, which is the range of a treadmill stress test, while cold air is squeezing your blood vessels at the same time. The people most at risk are the ones who sit at a desk all week and then go move 400 pounds of wet snow on a Saturday because the plow guy didn't show. The AHA's advice for anyone with heart disease is not to shovel at all.

Down here, the equivalent chore is walking to the mailbox in flip-flops. The exercise you get instead is the kind that keeps you alive: a walk on the beach, a bike ride, a swim, and you get it in January, when your friends up north have been inside for six weeks.

What the water does to your head

People who live near the ocean will tell you it changes how they feel, and the research has started to back them up. A University of Exeter study of nearly 26,000 people in England found that living near the coast was associated with better mental health, and the effect was strongest for households with the least money, the people who can't buy their way to a vacation. It's an association, not a guarantee, and it's an English study, but anyone who's walked Jensen Beach at 7 in the morning in February already believes it. The light here in winter is the thing people from up north can't get over. It's not the heat they talk about after a year. It's that it's bright out.

The money, honestly

Florida has no state income tax. For a couple drawing pensions, Social Security and retirement account withdrawals, that alone can be a five-figure difference every year compared to New York, New Jersey, Connecticut or Minnesota. Then there's the homestead exemption, which knocks up to about $50,000 off the assessed value of your primary home for tax purposes, and the Save Our Homes cap, which limits how much that assessed value can rise each year to 3 percent or the inflation rate, whichever is lower (it's 2.7 percent for 2026). Hold a house here ten years and your tax bill falls well behind your neighbor who just bought. And when you move within Florida you can carry up to $500,000 of that benefit to the next house.

Subtract the things you stop paying for: the heating bill, the snow blower, the plow contract, the snow tires, the ice melt, the roof rake, the winter coat budget. Then add the things you start paying for, because I'm not going to pretend they don't exist: property insurance here costs more than it did five years ago and more than it does up north, flood insurance if you buy near the water, and the air conditioner runs from May to October. For most of the people I work with the math still comes out well ahead, but it comes out ahead because of the income tax and the homestead cap, not because Florida is cheap. It isn't anymore.

What a year actually looks like

You use your yard twelve months. You grill on New Year's Day. You take the boat out, or the club's boat, on a Tuesday in February. The manatees show up in November, the sea turtles nest from spring through October, the citrus stands open for Thanksgiving, and the sailfish run off Stuart all winter. You get back the hour a day you spent scraping the windshield and layering up the kids. Your grandkids visit in February instead of you visiting them in August. And every time someone from your old life sends you the shovel photo, you send back a picture of your feet.

The summer is the trade. June through September is our winter, the season we hide from. It's hot, it's wet in the afternoons, the humidity is real, and the smart move is to do everything before 10 or after 6 and spend the middle of the day in the pool or the AC. People who move here and hate the summer usually came down in July to look at houses and thought that was the whole year. It's a third of it. The other two thirds are why you're reading this.

The part nobody up north warns you about

Hurricane season runs June through November. Most years nothing hits us. Some years something does, and you'll have a week of watching the cone, putting up shutters and filling the tank. Insurance is the other thing: it's gone up a lot across Florida, it's higher on the barrier island than on the mainland, and the age of a roof matters more here than anywhere you've lived. When the snowbirds land in November the restaurants fill and US 1 slows down until April. And a house built in 1985 with a 2005 roof and no shutters is a different purchase from a 2020 house with impact glass, which is why I spend as much time on roofs and windows as I do on kitchens.

None of that is a reason not to come. It's the reason to buy the right house, in the right spot, with eyes open.

Near the ocean doesn't have to mean on it

The 10 feet of sand in the title is a real option. Hutchinson Island, from Harbour Isle at the Fort Pierce Inlet down to Sailfish Point at the St. Lucie Inlet, is 20-some miles of barrier island with condos and houses where the beach is the backyard. Vero's barrier island has The Moorings, John's Island and Windsor. Hobe Sound has its own stretch of beach and Loblolly with a boat that takes you to it.

But here's what a lot of my buyers figure out: ten minutes from the ocean is usually the sweet spot. Stuart, Jensen Beach's mainland side, Palm City, Port St. Lucie's east side and Vero's mainland put you at the beach in the time it takes to find parking at one up north, with lower insurance, less flood risk, bigger lots and more house for the money. Most of the gated communities on this coast are in that ring. You still get the morning walk. You just drive to it, with the windows down, in January.

So which is it

I'm not going to tell you Florida is for everyone. If you love a real autumn, if your whole family is in one zip code up north, if the idea of a hurricane week sounds worse than a snow week, then stay, and come see us in February. But if you've sent the shovel photo more than once, if you've done the income tax math on a napkin, if you've stood on a beach here in the winter and felt your shoulders drop, you already know. Ten feet of snow or ten feet of sand. I know which one I'm standing on.

Questions people ask me before they make the switch

Does Florida really have no state income tax?

Yes. Florida has no state income tax on wages, pensions, Social Security or retirement account withdrawals. You still pay federal income tax, property tax and sales tax. For retirees moving from states like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut or Minnesota, the income tax savings alone are often the biggest line in the moving math.

What is the Florida homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes cap?

If a Florida home is your primary residence, the homestead exemption removes up to about $50,000 of assessed value from your property tax calculation. Save Our Homes then limits how much the assessed value can rise each year to 3 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower (2.7 percent for 2026). When you move within Florida you can transfer up to $500,000 of that accumulated benefit to the new home. Confirm the current figures with the county property appraiser.

How cold does it get on the Treasure Coast in winter?

January is the coldest month, with average highs in the mid 70s and average lows in the mid 50s in Port St. Lucie. Cold fronts come through every week or two and can drop a morning into the 40s for a day, then it warms back up. It does not snow. The ocean stays in the low to mid 70s all winter because of the Gulf Stream.

Is living near the ocean actually good for your health?

There's reasonable evidence that it helps. A University of Exeter study of nearly 26,000 people found living near the coast was associated with better mental health, especially for lower-income households. Separately, the American Heart Association warns that snow shoveling in cold weather is a serious heart risk and that people with heart disease shouldn't do it at all. Trading the shovel for a daily walk on the beach is a real change, not just a nicer one.

What are the downsides of living in Florida near the ocean?

Hurricane season from June through November, property and flood insurance that cost more than up north and more on the barrier island than inland, a hot and humid summer from roughly June through September, and heavy traffic during the winter season. Roof age and impact windows matter a lot to both insurance and safety, so they're a big part of choosing the right house.

Should I buy on the beach or near it?

Both work. Beachfront on Hutchinson Island, Vero's barrier island or Hobe Sound gives you the ocean as a backyard at a higher price and higher insurance. Ten minutes inland in Stuart, Palm City, Port St. Lucie or mainland Vero gets you more house, lower insurance and less flood risk with the beach still minutes away. Most of my buyers end up in that ten-minute ring; the ones who want the sand under the house know it going in.

Talk with William. Send me the shovel photo. I'll send you three neighborhoods that are 76 degrees today. Call or text (772) 800-2274 or send a message.

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Tax figures are for 2026 and change; confirm with your county property appraiser and a tax professional. William Merchant, REALTOR®, RE/MAX Gold. Each RE/MAX office is independently owned and operated.

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William Merchant