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Florida’s housing affordability crisis has been exacerbated by skyrocketing property taxes in the past five years, according to a recent Redfin study, which found that three of the five metropolitan areas reporting the biggest hikes since 2019 were in the Sunshine State.
In Jacksonville, the median monthly property tax payment climbed by 59.6 percent between 2019 and 2025, the third-highest increase of any of the U.S.’s most populous metropolitan areas after Indianapolis (66.7 percent) and Atlanta (65.8 percent).
As of August, Jacksonville homeowners were paying a median monthly property tax of $228 and a median monthly housing payment of $2,735, up 99.0 percent since 2019.
In Tampa, property tax payments have increased nearly as much. Homeowners now pay an average of $250 in property tax every month, up 56.7 percent from five years earlier. The median total cost of housing in the city is $2,797, higher than in Jacksonville and up 112.4 percent from what homeowners in Tampa paid in 2019.
Miami had the fifth-highest property tax hike in the past five years, having faced an increase of 48.1 percent since 2019. Homeowners in the city now pay $367 in median monthly property tax and a median total monthly housing payment of $4,401, up 125.7 percent since 2019. Of these five metropolitan areas, Miami was the city with the biggest increase in monthly housing payments for homeowners.
The increase in property tax is only one piece in Florida’s unfolding housing crisis. Rising home values, which have skyrocketed over the past five years before slowing down after the pandemic, have contributed to pushing property tax up in the Sunshine State. The state’s growing population has also increased the demand for government services.
“Florida was alluring for remote workers during the pandemic because of its relatively affordable housing,” said Elijah de la Campa, a senior economist at Redfin, commenting on the report’s finding.
“Somewhat ironically, the state’s population boom has driven up home prices and property taxes along with it. The cost of owning a home has gone from affordable to unaffordable for a lot of local Florida residents and out-of-towners.”
At the same time, more frequent and more severe natural disasters have raised home insurance premiums and driven insurance companies to either cut coverage in the state’s most vulnerable areas or withdraw from Florida entirely.
While the Florida legislature has made efforts to stabilize the fragile home insurance market in the state, the damage caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which swept through Florida’s Gulf Coast in less than two weeks between late September and early October, is still being assessed.
De la Campa is concerned about the impact that this combination of factors and higher property taxes could have on Florida residents.
“Home prices that are much higher than in pre-pandemic times and the disaster-driven surge in HOA and insurance costs are now pricing homebuyers out of the market,” he said.
“The increase in property taxes is the last straw for some prospective buyers. Homebuyers have realized they may save money by paying no income tax, but their property tax bill will increase.”
Because Florida is not the affordable haven it used to be, Redfin expects the state’s housing market to slow down in the coming years as fewer people move into it and younger generations reconsider whether they want to live in a place that’s so exposed to natural disasters.
A Redfin-Ipsos survey released in early October found that 32 percent of U.S. residents aged 18 to 34 reconsider where they want to move after seeing or hearing about the damage caused by Helene.
FRESNO BEE