Where to move that’s not Florida

Hurricane Ian has shown just how deadly rising sea levels will be for coastal areas. Western Florida has long been seen as a relatively safe place to live in Florida, and the Tampa Bay - St. Petersburg area boomed during the pandemic. But now many people are rethinking Florida.

Where should you move if you were planning on moving to Florida, but now are rethinking it?

If you wanted Florida’s low taxes, consider moving to Nevada, Tennessee, Texas or Washington instead.

Florida is the most famous state without state income taxes, but did you know that Nevada, Tennessee, Texas and Washington all have no state income tax? (So do New Hampshire, North Dakota, Alaska and a few others, but they’re cold!)

If you wanted Florida’s warm weather, but can’t handle the climate change chaos, try Austin or Dallas.

While really no place is immune to extreme weather at this point, inland cities like Austin and Dallas could be good alternatives to Florida if you really want the warm weather, but don’t want a hurricane or the constant heat of say Arizona. Those cities aren’t quite as warm as Florida in December and January, but get pretty close to Florida temperatures the rest of the year.

If you wanted Florida’s relatively cheap real estate outside its priciest cities, try other states in the south.

States like Arkansas, Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi have a ton of inexpensive real estate, especially compared with other neighbors to Florida like South Carolina, Georgia, and up the coast like North Carolina. These other states deserve a look. We’ve been checking out Little Rock, Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.