Florida

How Florida ranks among the states

Florida’s poverty rate matches the nation’s, 12.1% in 2024, yet Florida is the 3rd most distressed of the 50 states and D.C., behind only Nevada and Louisiana. No other state has a larger share of renters paying half or more of their income in rent, and rising unemployment has pushed its score up since early 2025. The poverty rate doesn’t capture rent: the official poverty line is the same across the country, so it doesn’t reflect what housing costs in Florida (Census Bureau).

How its rank has changed

The poorest and most distressed counties in Florida

Hamilton County, on the Georgia line, is the poorest county in Florida: 25.3% of its residents lived in poverty in 2024, and its typical household earned $48,859, the least in the state (Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates). Sites that use the Census Bureau’s other survey, the American Community Survey, averaged over five years, name Gadsden instead. The richest county is St. Johns, around St. Augustine, where the typical household earned $117,178, followed by Collier ($97,022) and Monroe ($94,752). On our County Distress Index, Gadsden County, west of Tallahassee, is the most distressed, and St. Johns is the least.

Every county, by score

Most of Florida’s 67 counties score 70 or higher: 29 score 80 or more, and only St. Johns scores below 30.

All 67 Florida counties, ranked →

Is Florida expensive to live in?

For renters, yes: more of them are stretched by rent than in any other state. In 2024, 32.1% of Florida renter households spent half or more of their income on rent and utilities, the highest share of any state, against 26.1% nationwide (Census Bureau). Day-to-day costs sit closer to the middle: MIT’s estimate of what a single adult needs to get by ranks 24th of the 50 states and D.C. overall. Homeowners face a different squeeze: Florida was the only state where home prices fell in 2025, and only one state has a larger share of mortgages where the owner owes nearly as much as the home is worth. We don’t measure the prices of food, gas or insurance.

How is Florida’s economy doing?

Florida is still adding jobs and people, but more Floridians are out of work. The unemployment rate rose from 3.5% at the end of 2024 to 4.8% in April and May 2026, and averaged 4.6% from June to August 2026, above the U.S. rate of 4.1% (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Is Florida a poor state?

No. In 2024, 12.1% of Floridians lived in poverty, the same share as the nation, and the typical household earned $77,687 a year, a little below the U.S. figure of $81,604 (Census Bureau). Florida’s strain shows up in housing costs and late payments, not in its poverty rate.

What changed in Florida in the past year

1. Coming: Nov. 3, 2026

   A vote on property taxes

   Florida voters will decide Amendment 3, which the Legislature put on the ballot in June. It needs 60% to pass. It would raise the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes, the part of a home’s value those taxes don’t reach, from $50,000 to $150,000 on Jan. 1, 2027, and to $250,000 a year later, rising with inflation after that. People who move to Florida from 2027 would start at $50,000 and get the larger amount after four years with a homestead exemption. For other property, the limit on how much its taxed value can rise each year would fall from 10% to 5%. School taxes wouldn’t change.

   FOX 35 Orlando; Volusia County Property Appraiser

2. Sept. 30, 2026

   Minimum wage reaches $15

   Florida’s minimum wage rose to $15.00 an hour, and to $11.98 for tipped workers, the last of the yearly $1 steps set by an amendment to the state constitution. About 1.29 million Floridians earned less than $15 before the change, the Florida Policy Institute, a research group, estimated. From 2028, the wage is set to rise with inflation.

   Florida Phoenix, via Florida Trend; Lowndes law firm

3. July 1, 2026

   Home insurance: the state insurer cuts rates

   Citizens Property Insurance, the state-created insurer for homeowners who can’t get private coverage, began cutting rates for new policies and at renewal: an average 8.8% for homeowners policies and 5.5% for wind-only policies, and at least 2% for every personal policy. Regulators approved the cuts in March, when Citizens had 336,000 policies, down 76% from 1.41 million in October 2023, as private insurers took policies back.

   Citizens Property Insurance Corp., March 4, 2026

4. Apr. 20, 2026

   Food assistance rules

   In Florida, SNAP food benefits (once called food stamps) can no longer buy soda, energy drinks, candy or prepared desserts, under a federal pilot that runs to April 2028. Earlier, the budget law Congress passed in July 2025 extended SNAP work rules to adults aged 55 to 64 and to parents of children 14 and older, and ended exemptions for veterans, people without homes and young people leaving foster care. Fewer Floridians now get SNAP (see Is Florida a poor state?).

   News4JAX; Florida Phoenix, via WLRN

5. Jan. 1, 2026

   Health insurance

   Larger federal tax credits for health plans bought through HealthCare.gov expired after Congress didn’t extend them. About 4.5 million Floridians signed up for 2026 plans, more than 260,000 fewer than a year earlier (down 5.5%), the largest drop in number of any state.

   Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, via WUSF

6. Jan. 1, 2026

   Electric bills

   Florida Power & Light’s bill for a typical home using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month rose $2.50, from $134.14 to $136.64, under a four-year rate agreement the Public Service Commission approved on Nov. 20, 2025.

   WGCU

How many Floridians are behind on their bills?

More than in most states. In early 2025, 15.8% of Floridians with a credit card had one 90 or more days late, against 13.5% nationwide, and 14.5% of Floridians had a debt in collections, against 13.2% (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia). Measured in dollars, a larger share of Floridians’ card balances is 90 or more days late than in any state but Nevada (Federal Reserve Bank of New York, end of 2025). This is household debt, not state government debt.

More Floridians are behind on cards, mortgages and car loans than the U.S. average

Share of borrowers 90 or more days past due, and share of people with a debt in collections, early 2025

Card borrowers 90+ days late

Fla. 15.8% U.S. 13.5%

People with a debt in collections

Fla. 14.5% U.S. 13.2%

Mortgage borrowers 90+ days late

Fla. 1.5% U.S. 1.2%

Auto borrowers 90+ days late

Fla. 9.6% U.S. 8.5%

Ranks among the 50 states and D.C., highest first: card 11th, collections 18th, mortgage tied for 6th, auto tied for 14th. The U.S. figure is the population-weighted average of the states, our calculation.

At the end of 2019, 22.7% of Floridians had a debt in collections. Much of the drop since came when the credit bureaus stopped reporting many medical debts in 2022 and 2023. The share of Americans with a medical debt on their credit report fell from about 14% to about 5% (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau). So the drop mostly shows what the reports count, not fewer people struggling.

Other signs of strain

How does foreclosure work in Florida?

Every Florida foreclosure goes through a court. The lender files a lawsuit, the homeowner has 20 days after being served to answer it, and if the judge rules for the lender, the home is usually sold at auction 20 to 35 days after the judgment. No law sets how long the court case itself takes (Florida Statutes). Until the clerk files the certificate of sale, the homeowner can still stop the sale by paying the full amount the judgment sets. Florida had the highest foreclosure rate of any state in the first half of 2026: filings on 27,494 properties, about one in every 373 homes, against one in 632 nationwide (ATTOM, a property data company, via News4JAX).

Florida’s share of the federal Homeowner Assistance Fund assisted 68,843 homeowners, a count that includes housing counseling, and paid out $669.2 million of its $676.1 million (U.S. Treasury, through early 2026). The state’s program is now closed.

Mortgage complaints

Floridians have sent 48,335 mortgage complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since 2012. The most common were about loan modification, collection or foreclosure (12,735), trouble during the payment process (12,543), and loan servicing, payments or escrow (7,362).

What to watch before the next edition

Four things will show up in Florida household budgets over the next year, the nearest first.

1. From Nov. 1, 2026

   Health plan sign-ups for 2027

   Open enrollment for 2027 HealthCare.gov plans runs from Nov. 1 to Jan. 15; plans chosen by Dec. 15 start on Jan. 1. About 4.5 million Floridians signed up for 2026 plans, after the larger federal tax credits expired (see what changed).

   HealthCare.gov, dates and deadlines

2. Nov. 3, 2026

   The property tax vote

   Voters decide Amendment 3, which needs 60% to pass. If it does, the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes rises from $50,000 to $150,000 on Jan. 1, 2027 (see what changed).

   FOX 35 Orlando; Volusia County Property Appraiser

3. Nov. 10, 2026

   New figures on household debt

   The Federal Reserve Bank of New York publishes its quarterly report on household debt and credit, covering July to September 2026. It will show how much Americans owe and how much of it is 90 or more days late. This page’s Florida figures come from the bank’s yearly state data, through the end of 2025.

   Federal Reserve Bank of New York, release calendar

4. Sept. 30, 2027

   The minimum wage starts rising with inflation

   Florida calculates its first minimum wage adjusted for inflation, raising the $15.00 hourly rate by the rise in prices over the year to Sept. 1. The new rate takes effect on Jan. 1, 2028.

   Lowndes law firm

Where Florida ranks highest and lowest