Living in Jacksonville, FL

What is the Cost of Living in Jacksonville?

Sperling’s Best Places offers cost of living data comparing Jacksonville to the rest of Florida and the US.

The site uses a scale where the US average cost of living is 100. Values above 100 on the scale represent higher than average costs of living, while values below 100 on the scale represent lower than average costs of living.

On that scale, the state of Florida has a slightly higher than average cost of living with a rating of 102.8 overall. But Jacksonville has a lower than average cost of living with an overall rating of 93.5.

In fact, the costs for healthcare, groceries and housing are all below average for this city. Most of the savings are in fact for housing.

What is the Cost of Housing in Jacksonville?

On the scale above, where 100 represents the US average cost of housing, the cost of housing in Jacksonville only receives a rating of 78. That means that it costs significantly less to buy a home here than it does on average across the country.

We can also compare the median home costs directly. For the US on average, a home costs $291,700. In Florida, the median home cost rises statewide on average to $294,900. In Jacksonville, the median home cost is only $231,800.

This affordability is one of the reasons Jacksonville has become such a popular place to live.

Employment Opportunities in Jacksonville

Another draw to Jacksonville is employment. In fact, Jacksonville has grown up around its booming economy, helped along by its location where the St. Johns River connects with the Atlantic Ocean.

Imports and exports are a big part of Jacksonville’s industrial landscape; there is a lot of automotive distribution done out of this city.

Other major industries in Jacksonville include dairy, financial services, consumer goods, biomedical technology, manufacturing, tourism, information services, and insurance.

Major companies operating in Jacksonville include Fidelity National Financial, Fidelity National Information Services, CSX Corporation, Southeastern Grocers, Swisher International Group, Firehouse Subs, Florida Blue, and others.

According to the US Census Bureau, the median household income from 2016 through 2020 was $55,531.

Jacksonville Education

Most children in Jacksonville attend Duval County Public Schools. In total, there are hundreds of public and private schools in the city.

Newsweek magazine has recognized several of the city’s high schools as some of the best in the country: Stanton College Preparatory School, Darnell-Cookman School of the Medical Arts and Paxon School for Advanced Studies.

What about options for postsecondary education? Some colleges located in Jacksonville include the University of North Florida, Edward Waters College, Florida State College, Jacksonville University, Jones College, Trinity Baptist College and Florida Coastal School of Law.

So, there are a lot of great options for every stage of education. This makes Jacksonville a fantastic location for bringing up children or for going back to school yourself.

Getting Around Jacksonville

You can get around Jacksonville by automobile. In some cases, you might also be able to make use of the Jacksonville Skyway, which features two lines and eight stops. There is also the JTAFLA bus system.

Sperling’s reports that 80.3% of the population drive their own cars to work, while 9.6% carpool, 4.5% work from home, and 2% use mass transportation.

The average time to commute one-way in Jacksonville is 24.6 minutes. That is significantly shorter than the US average of 26.4 minutes.

How is the Weather in Jacksonville?

If you love sunny days, you will delight in the weather in Jacksonville. You can expect around 221 sunny days per year, which is more than the US average of 205 sunny days. There are around 50 inches of annual rain and no snow.

In summer, temperatures rise to as high as 91 degrees Fahrenheit. In winter, they can drop down to around 44 degrees Fahrenheit. So, winters in this part of the world are quite mild.

Sperling’s has a Comfort Index for rating how pleasant a climate is. On that scale, the US average is 7. The rating for Jacksonville is 7.2., which means that this location is nicer than average to live in weather-wise.

And actually, the rating specifically for winter is 8.5, which is quite good. While people elsewhere in the US are shivering, you will be enjoying pleasant coolness.

Leisure and Entertainment in Jacksonville

As one of the major cities of the South, it is hard to run out of things to see and do living in Jacksonville.

Some popular attractions include the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, the Jacksonville Arboretum & Gardens, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, the Southbank Riverwalk, Kingsley Plantation, and Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve.

Jacksonville also has many spectacular sandy beaches where you can enjoy the sun and surf.

Sports fans can enjoy following the Jacksonville Jaguars along with a few teams in the minor leagues.