The 5 Fastest Growing Cities in Florida

Whether you like living in a highly populated city or not, it is no secret that larger cities often times have a lot more to offer. In regards to economic growth of a particular area there is a direct correlation between the growth rate of a city and floridas fastest growing citiessuch things as higher employment rates and better housing markets among many other positive benefits. The nice thing about population growth in a particular area is the hidden driving factors like a new industry or large business moving in or it may be just a desirable cost effective area to live.  Whatever the reason is, just remember that if you want to benefit from a booming city than the earlier you jump on board the better.  Florida has many great cities but here is a list of 5 of Florida’s fastest growing cities.

1. Orlando

First and foremost and probably the largest city in the state, Orlando, known by the locals as “The city beautiful” with a population growth rate of 1.82% and a fantastic unemployment rate of 5.76% which is several points below the national average.

2. Cape Coral

Second is a smaller town of Cape Coral which is direct neighbors to the more well-known town Fort Myers.  The population growth rate of Cape Coral is currently around 2.41% and yet still a low unemployment rate of 6.22%.  Surprisingly this city was one of the hardest hit during the economic housing fall, good to see its coming back.

3. Palm Bay

Next we are brought to Palm Bay, Florida, while on the east coast this is a great beach city having a population increase of around 1.53% and an unemployment rate at 6.6%.  The average income in this town is right above $60,000 which could be greatly supported by such companies like NASA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and soon to be Northrop Grumman.

4. North Port

Coming in at number four would be North Port, Florida a location that piggy backs the more well-known metropolitan area Sarasota.  North Port is in a wonderful area on the west coast with white sand beaches, turquoise colored water and beautiful sunsets.  This town has boasted a 1.42% population growth rate along with a 6% unemployment rate.

5. Windermere

Back to the intercostal geographic area, this small town in Orange County Florida known for its rather large houses and the Arnold Palmer golf tournament Windermere makes the ranking at number five.  With about a 29% population growth since the year 2000 this has been a substantial increase even according the national level.  More known for its original basketball super star Shaquille O’Neal and golf legend Tiger Woods there is no question this is a very desirable city to live in.

Sure, getting on board with a city that is up and coming has its benefits but it wouldn’t be your first priority unless you were looking for purely investment purposes.  On the other hand you may be in a community that is growing with excellent supporting industry and opportunity.  If you are looking for more information on these communities I suggest using the tools offered on www.MoversAtlas.com.

Retiring Soon? Consider Moving to Orlando!

For the majority of people that have made the right decisions, saved money, and carefully planned for their future they will eventually get to a point where they stop going to their “day job” and begin to really start enjoying life and what it has to Orlando Florida Retirement Communitiesoffer.  Retirement is a really good opportunity to start the stuff you have been putting off because you didn’t have enough time.  At this point it is important to plan out your retirement years much like your working years.  A big part of this planning may include downsizing OR even relocating, the following are reasons why living in or relocating to Orlando, Florida would be a really great place to consider for your retirement.

First and foremost Orlando is known for its tropical weather, considering all the northerners have spent many winters shoveling snow, scraping windshields, layering clothing and salting driveways.  All of these things are activities that waste time and energy that would be much better spent playing tennis, golfing, riding bikes, going to movies or anything else you choose to do during retirement.  Of course you don’t have issues with this everywhere in the country but Orlando has other great reasons to be your retirement destination.

Orlando may be known for its weather, but what about our communities designated for 55 years and older?  There are many communities even entire towns that are designed for people that are 55 years and older, these are places designed to have centralized grocery stores, shopping centers, restaurants and other conveniences that enable you to not have to drive around all day wasting time and gas doing your day to day activities.  These communities give you opportunities to be around people with the similar ages that are trying to enjoy life without the hustle and bustle of folks still in their working years.  Many of these communities enable you to even commute in golf carts! Whether you are driving to the grocery store or the ninth green, some of these places you will find it more unusual to see a full size car on the street than a golf cart with a shiatsu riding shotgun.   This leads me to the next point, hobbies.

Even during your working years you probably had hobbies just not enough time to enjoy them as much as you wanted.  One big part of retirement are things like golf, fishing or pleasure boating; this is very convenient considering Orlando is known for its golf courses and waterways.  Orlando has more than 50 golf courses in the greater Orlando area with communities built around them.  The neat thing that most don’t know about the golf course community is that with the course comes the club house, with the club house they typically have tennis courts, restaurants and a pool.  Other options like boating or fishing come to mind with many docks that dump you in fantastic chains of lakes with plenty of site seeing and fishing. With the closeness of communities, weather to support hobbies and outdoor activities, and plenty of parks and recreation you will have no complaints about Orlando being a top spot for your second wind!

If you enjoyed reading this post you will find the main Mover’s Atlas site even more Interesting! There you can discover important information about what surrounds your current or future Florida home, give it a look: Mover’s Atlas.

10 Reasons You Should move to Orlando, Florida

Some people visit exotic places and big cities while on vacation but they would never want to live in these places for reasons like employment, harsh weather, terribly crowded cities or even the cost of living.  Orlando, Florida is not one of those places! Once you visit Orlando you will want to come back and stay.  There are many reasons people love living in Orlando but here are the top 10 reasons Orlando is not only a good place to visit but a great place to live.

1. Weather Reasons to move to Orlando Florida

The weather in Orlando has an average temperature in the 80’s, mild rain and thunderstorms in the summer and cool evenings in the winter with the occasional frost.  The nice thing about this weather is that the most preparation you would need would be an umbrella in your car and or office and a jacket just a few days out of the year.  No need for salt or a snow shovel, no ski jacket or boots, no layering of clothing and finally no emergency car kit for when the weather gets so bad you end up being stranded on the interstate.  Sure we have times when it rains all day, but if you haven’t experienced lying down for a nap while you hear the pitter patter of the rain outside your window you don’t know what you are missing.

2. Housing

The real estate market in Orlando suffered in 2004 much like it did across the rest of the country, but the recovery here has been much faster than other places.  The housing here ranges much like other areas but the average family home here is still very reasonable at $150K.  Even better than that, the way things have been trending with the rental market and vacation market the value seems much more resilient than other places in the country.

3. Cost of living

What good is it to be in a place where you have no choice but to make boat loads of money just to live a reasonable middle class life?  California anyone?  There are 9 states with no state income tax, Florida happens to be one of them and the cost of living is much less than other cities throughout the united states.

4. Recreation

Here in Orlando we don’t have to plan sports around the seasons, convertibles and motorcycles can be enjoyed year around and that tan you worked so hard building over the summer gets to stick around almost 10 months out of the year.  Recreation activities such as fishing, Barbequing, golfing, boating or bike riding is something that can be enjoyed any time in Orlando.

5. Employment

People love to visit the mountains for some rest and relaxation or Las Vegas for well…we can leave that one up to the imagination BUT there is little to no diverse industry and employment in these places.  Orlando is known for its excellent industry for both large business and small business whether its technology based like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Siemens or the diverse service based industries.  This maybe what helps push Florida into the 7.1% unemployment rate.

6. Restaurants

Dinning out in Orlando is about as diverse as you can get, with the support of over 5,000 restaurants and diners, you could be entertained with knights-in-shining armor at a medieval times dinner show or treated like royalty at Cinderella’s Royal table.  Even famous cooks like Emeril Lagasse have locations in Orlando.

7. Retirement

Retirement is a time in your life where you quit your career work and begin to do things you really always wanted to do like golf, play tennis or finally restore that ’57 Chevy your dad once drove.  Orlando is perfect for that, especially with communities specifically oriented to 55 and up age groups.  These places showcase this highly sought after lifestyle with all the careful planning so you have anything you need in close vicinity. There are even some places where the primary mode of transportation is a tricked out golf cart!

8. Commute

The amount of traffic can’t really compare to that of Sioux Falls South Dakota BUT for the size of the city and amount of visitors Orlando receives every year from tourism the traffic is really not too bad; in fact with the recent addition of the SunRail and other mass commuter trains it is only going to get better!

9. Schools

Looking at primarily the higher education programs Orlando offers great public and private colleges from one of the largest public Colleges, The University of Central Florida to one of the most prestigious private liberal arts schools, Rollins College and not to mention the college known for having alumni that have received both Oscar and Grammy awards, Full Sail University.

10. Year around celebration

I do not know if it’s the weather or just the industry here but it seems like almost every weekend there is some kind of event going on whether is an annual wine and food festival, sidewalk art shows, flower festival, beer and wine festival, BBQ and bands, Chili cook-off, film festivals and even ones that are friendly to the “four legged” ones Pints n’ Paws.

No matter what you are in to Orlando, Florida most likely has it and this is one of the main reasons Orlando is not just a great place to visit on vacation but also an awesome city to live in!

Share your thoughts about Orlando in the comments below. Or if you have another city you think tops the list of great cities to live in feel free to share that as well!

If you enjoyed reading this post you will find the main Mover’s Atlas site even more Interesting! There you can discover important information about what surrounds your current or future Florida home, give it a look: Mover’s Atlas.