The 10 Cheapest Places to Live in Florida in 2026

The median rent in Miami-Dade County is roughly four times what you'd pay in the cheapest county in Florida. We're talking $532 a month versus $2,200-plus, same state, same sunshine. That gap is not a rounding error. It's a different life.

Florida has 67 counties. Most people only know the expensive ones. Here's what the other end looks like.

How We Found These Counties

We pulled median rent and home prices from Movemap's county database, which covers all 3,143 US counties. The figures come from 2020-2021 census data. Prices have shifted since then, but the relative ranking of affordable counties holds. If Lafayette was the cheapest then, it's still near the bottom now.

The 10 Cheapest Counties in Florida

1. Lafayette County sits deep in north-central Florida, and the numbers there are hard to believe. Median rent runs $532 a month, and the median home price is around $110,724. This is rural Florida: cattle farms, the Suwannee River, and one stoplight. If you work remotely and want space, quiet, and low overhead, Lafayette checks every box.

2. Liberty County has the lowest median home price on this list at $79,421, which is cheaper than most used cars. Rent averages $595 a month. Liberty is one of the least populated counties in the entire country, so don't expect amenities. What you get instead is a National Forest on your doorstep and a cost structure that makes saving money almost unavoidable.

3. Calhoun County sits just east of the Florida Panhandle, with rent at $596 and homes around $89,891. Unemployment is 5.2%, which is worth knowing before you move. This is small-town Florida, not a suburb of anywhere. If you're retired, self-employed, or just tired of paying city prices for city problems, Calhoun is the kind of place that makes sense.

4. Hamilton County offers rent at $604 and homes around $84,709. The catch is a 7.6% unemployment rate, the highest on this list. That number matters less if you're bringing income with you, remote or otherwise. Hamilton is near the Georgia border, has airport access, and sits along Interstate 75. It's isolated but not cut off.

5. Dixie County puts you on the Gulf Coast for $631 a month in rent and homes priced around $83,017. That's a coastal county at inland prices. Dixie is small and quiet, and yes, the job market reflects that. But if fishing, kayaking, and low bills sound like your retirement plan, the math works.

6. Gilchrist County is where some people actually move on purpose. Rent is $645 and homes average $111,391. It has decent airport proximity and one of the lower unemployment rates on this list at 4.9%. Gilchrist is close enough to Gainesville to access a real city when you need one. That makes it one of the more practical options here.

7. Jackson County in the Panhandle has rent at $656 and homes around $104,697. No nearby airport, so factor that in if you travel for work. What Jackson does have is mild winters by Florida standards, with highs around 64 degrees in the cold months, and a community where people know each other, for better or worse.

8. Union County comes in at $657 in median rent and $125,213 for a home, the highest home price on the list. Unemployment sits at 4.7% and there's airport access nearby. Union County is small but positioned near Gainesville and Lake City, which gives it more connectivity than most others here. It's not a destination, but it's a reasonable base.

9. Taylor County is on Florida's Nature Coast, with rent at $666 and homes priced around $89,997. Unemployment is 6.2%, and the nearest airport is a drive away. What you're paying for here is access to the Gulf, uncrowded beaches, and a cost of living that most Floridians would consider unrealistic. The tradeoff is limited economic activity.

10. Gadsden County closes the list at $678 in median rent and homes around $102,010. It sits just west of Tallahassee, which means you get a small-county price tag with a capital city nearby. Unemployment is 6.8%, so this is not a job market you're betting on. But the Tallahassee proximity makes Gadsden one of the most strategically located counties on this entire list.

See Every County's Data Yourself

The filters on movemap.io/explore/us let you cross-reference rent against crime rates, school quality, weather, and 40-plus other data points, all in one place. You can sort by what actually matters to your situation instead of guessing from a list. Sign up for full access to the premium filters.

FAQ

Is it actually affordable to live in Florida right now?

In the counties on this list, yes. Statewide, Florida rents have climbed hard since 2021. But places like Lafayette and Liberty County have stayed cheap because not many people are moving there. That's either the problem or the point, depending on what you want.

What's the cheapest place to buy a house in Florida?

Liberty County, at around $79,421 median home price based on census data. That's a starting point, not a guarantee. Prices have moved since 2021, but Liberty remains one of the most affordable counties in the state.

What are the tradeoffs of living in rural Florida?

Jobs are scarce, so remote income or retirement income matters a lot. Healthcare options are limited. Drive times to cities are real. But rent under $700 and homes under $100,000 are rare almost everywhere right now. Florida's rural counties are an outlier worth paying attention to.

The cheapest zip codes in America are often hiding in plain sight. Florida just happens to have a few of them north of I-10.