Miami vs Orlando: which should you move to?
Miami or Orlando? Housing, rent, crime, climate, income, taxes and transit, side by side, from each city's own published figures. Written for someone deciding where to live, not for a ranking.
Money says Orlando and almost nothing else does. A typical home cost $582,621 in Miami in June 2026 and $375,175 in Orlando, and once tax and insurance are added Miami runs roughly $19,900 a year more to own, on a city median household income $11,260 lower. What Miami buys with that is a transit system carrying 80.8 million trips a year, a January that averages 20.3 C, and a place in Latin American business. Orlando is the answer for most households, especially with children and one earner. Miami is the answer if your work, your language or your commute needs it to be.
| Measure | Miami | Orlando | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| City population | 489,812 (2025) | 333,888 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Metro population | 6,391,072 (2025) | 2,957,672 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Five-year growth Growth is pressure on rents and roads as much as it is opportunity, so it is reported without a winner. | 10.8% (2020-2025) | 8.3% (2020-2025) | Not directly comparable |
What a home costs in each
The figures the two cities' rent-versus-buy and mortgage calculators run on, read from the same tables.
| Measure | Miami | Orlando | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark home price MLS® HPI or equivalent benchmark. Lower is treated as the advantage, which is the buyer's view rather than the owner's. | $582,621 (June 2026) | $375,175 (June 2026) | Orlando |
| Detached house benchmark Miami and Orlando publish a single house index rather than a composite, so the two rows repeat. | $582,621 | $375,175 | Orlando |
| Apartment or condominium benchmark | Not published | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent | $3,004/mo (median, June 2026) | $1,904/mo (median, June 2026) | Orlando |
| One-bedroom rent | $2,583/mo | $1,637/mo | Orlando |
| Two-bedroom rent against median income A year of two-bedroom rent as a share of the median household income below. A household paying the median rent out of the median income is a fiction, but it is the same fiction in both columns and it crosses currencies. | 54.3% of a year's income | 29.4% of a year's income | Orlando |
| Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down 30-year amortization on American monthly compounding, the convention in both. | $2,998/mo at 6.67% | $1,931/mo at 6.67% | Orlando |
| Price to household income Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not. | 8.8× | 4.8× | Orlando |
| Property tax on the benchmark home The effective rate on market value, which is what the two rates have in common and what the Advantage column is decided on; the bills are in each city's own dollars. | $10,808/yr (1.855%, 2025) | $6,043/yr (1.611%, 2025) | Orlando |
| Transfer tax on the benchmark home Compared as a share of the price. Where the seller pays it, it is a cost of leaving rather than arriving. | $3,496 (seller pays) | $2,626 (seller pays) | Miami |
| Rent control A cap protects a sitting tenant and does nothing for the next lease, so neither column is simply better. | Forbidden by state law | Forbidden by state law | Not directly comparable |
Miami: About 1.86% of what you pay for the house, which is lower than the 19.9878 mills charged here, and the difference is Florida's homestead exemption rather than any assessment lag. The state assesses at full market value and a purchase resets the assessment to the price. What there is instead is an exemption: $25,000 of taxable value comes off for every taxing authority and a second slice comes off for all of them except the school district, which levies 6.4990 of the 19.9878. That second slice was $25,000 through the 2024 tax roll and has been adjusted for inflation every 1 January since, under the 2024 amendment to Article VII section 6 of the state constitution, so it is now somewhat more than $25,000. The figures here use the base amount, because the Department of Revenue sends the adjusted figure to the county property appraisers rather than publishing it. The difference is worth a few dollars a year on a bill, and the county property appraiser can tell you the amount in force. A homesteaded buyer's first-year bill is therefore about $10,808 on the $582,621 typical home value here. Miami runs its own fire department, so it pays none of the county's 2.3965-mill Fire Rescue district levy. One of only five municipalities in Miami-Dade in that position, and worth more than most municipal rates on this table. The exemption is not automatic: you file for it with the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy. The seller's tax bill is not a guide to yours. Save Our Homes caps a homesteaded property's assessed value at 3% growth a year, and that cap resets to full market value the January after the sale, so a long-tenured owner can be taxed on a fraction of what you will be taxed on for the same house. Ask the property appraiser what the assessment would be at your purchase price, not what the current bill is. Orlando: About 1.61% of what you pay for the house, which is lower than the 18.0878 mills Orlando is taxed at, and the difference is the homestead exemption rather than any assessment lag. Florida assesses at full market value and a purchase resets the assessment to the price, so there is no gap to correct for. What there is instead is an exemption: $25,000 of taxable value comes off for every taxing authority and a second slice comes off for all of them except the Orange County school district, which levies 6.4490 of the 18.0878. That second slice was $25,000 through the 2024 tax roll and has been adjusted for inflation every 1 January since, under the 2024 amendment to Article VII section 6 of the state constitution, so it is now somewhat more than $25,000. The figures here use the base amount, because the Department of Revenue sends the adjusted figure to the county property appraisers rather than publishing it. The difference is worth a few dollars a year on a bill, and the county property appraiser can tell you the amount in force. So a homesteaded buyer's first-year bill is the school millage on the price less $25,000 plus everything else on the price less $50,000, about $6,043 a year on the $375,175 typical home value here. The exemption is not automatic: you file for it with the county property appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy, and until you do the rate is the full 1.81%. The seller's tax bill is not a guide to yours. Save Our Homes caps a homesteaded property's assessed value at 3% growth a year, and that cap resets to full market value the January after the sale, so a long-tenured owner can be taxed on a fraction of what you will be taxed on for the same house. Ask the property appraiser what the assessment would be at your purchase price, not what the current bill is.
How safe each city is, by the numbers it publishes
Police-reported figures for the most recent year each force or statistics agency has released. Rates describe a whole city or metro area, and the spread between neighbourhoods inside one city is usually wider than the gap between the two cities.
| Measure | Miami | Orlando | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Severity Index Statistics Canada's weighted index for the metropolitan area, where 100 is Canada in 2006. American cities have no equivalent series. | Not published | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Violent crime per 100,000 | 359 (2025) | 836 (2022) | Miami |
| Property crime per 100,000 | 2,241 (2025) | 4,036 (2022) | Miami |
| Homicides Counts, not rates, and a single year in a small city moves a long way on chance alone. What each figure covers is under the table. | 26 (2025) | 10 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
FBI CDE counts for Miami PD show violent offenses falling from 2,245 in 2023 to 2,225 in 2024 and 1,787 in 2025 (a 20 percent one-year drop), property offenses from 13,928 to 11,178, and homicides from 61 in 2020 to 26 in 2025. Mid-2025 the department reported robberies down 17 percent and auto thefts down 37 percent against the first half of 2024.
What the rates cover: Miami Police Department (ORI FL0130600), FBI Crime Data Explorer NIBRS summarized data, 1,787 violent offenses in calendar 2025 against a CDE agency population of 498,792. 2024: 2,225 offenses, 483.1 per 100k. Miami PD moved to NIBRS mid 2022, so 2021 is blank and 2022 is a partial year in the CDE.
Homicides: Miami PD, FBI CDE: 26 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2025, 5.2 per 100k. 2024: 29 (6.4 per 100k), 2023: 32 (7.1), 2020: 61 (12.8). Miami PD said in July 2025 the city might beat its record low of 24 set in 1946.
Orlando PD reports overall crime down 18% in 2024 and another 19% in 2025, violent crime down 10% in 2024 and 9% in 2025, and shootings with victims down 41% from 2023 to 2025. Homicides fell from 31 in 2023 to 10 in 2025. The FBI's public feed has no usable Orlando data after 2022, so these are the department's own figures.
What the rates cover: FBI Crime Data Explorer, Orlando Police Department (ORI FL0480400), 2022: 2,597 violent offenses, 835.8 per 100k. 2022 is the last year with twelve complete months in the FBI feed; 2023 through 2025 show zeros for this agency, so no FBI rate exists for those years. Orlando PD's own count of violent crime incidents (a broader in-house definition) was 6,754 in 2023 and 5,928 in 2025, which would be about 1,775 per 100k on the 2025 population.
Homicides: Orlando Police Department: 10 homicides in 2025, the lowest since 1971, down from 23 in 2024 and 31 in 2023 (OPD's 2023 figure was reported as 38 in a January 2025 release and 31 in the February 2026 release). About 3.0 per 100k on the 2025 city population. FBI CDE 2022: 32 homicides, 10.3 per 100k.
Winters, summers and what the weather can do to a house
| Measure | Miami | Orlando | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| January mean | 20.3 °C | 15.9 °C | Not directly comparable |
| July mean | 28.9 °C | 28.1 °C | Not directly comparable |
| Precipitation a year | 1,712 mm | 1,307 mm | Not directly comparable |
| Snowfall a year | 0 cm | 0 cm | Not directly comparable |
| Sunshine a year | 3,154 hours | Not published | Not directly comparable |
NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals at Miami International Airport (USW00012839): January mean 68.6 F, July 84.1 F (August is warmest at 84.2 F), annual mean 77.4 F, annual precipitation 67.41 in, snow 0. Sunshine about 3,154 hours a year comes from NOAA Comparative Climatic Data (older period), not the 1991-2020 normals. Hazards: hurricanes and storm surge, seasonal king tide and rainfall flooding, heat and humidity from May to October, frequent thunderstorms (roughly 80 thunder days a year).
Hazards: Hurricanes and storm surge every June to November, with chronic tidal and rain flooding; windstorm and separate NFIP or private flood cover are a real carrying cost and coastal home premiums commonly run $4,000 to $7,000 a year or more.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals at Orlando International Airport (USW00012815): January mean 60.6F, July mean 82.6F, annual precipitation 51.45 in, annual snowfall 0.0 in, annual mean 73.0F. June through September each average 6.4 to 8.1 in of rain. Sunshine hours are not part of the NOAA normals product and were not verified.
Hazards: Hurricanes are the main hazard: Charley (2004), Irma (2017), Ian (2022, 14 in of rain and 74 mph gusts at MCO) and Milton (2024, over 15 in of rain in parts of Central Florida plus a record one-day tornado outbreak) all damaged the area. The city sits about 100 ft above sea level and 42 mi inland, so storm surge is not a concern but inland flooding, wind damage and long power outages are. Summer heat and daily thunderstorms with lightning are routine.
What people earn and what the government takes
| Measure | Miami | Orlando | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $66,337 USD (2024) | $77,597 USD (2024) | Orlando |
| Unemployment rate | 3.0% (June 2026) | 4.6% (June 2026) | Miami |
| Sales tax | 7% | 6.5% | Orlando |
| Top marginal income tax Federal plus provincial or state. The American figure leaves out payroll taxes and the cost of health insurance, both of which a Canadian household covers through the tax it pays here. | 37% | 37% | Even |
| Income tax on $100,000, single filer Miami and Orlando sit under one province's or state's income tax, so the two cells describe the same tax and any difference between them is one of method rather than of tax. Florida levies no income tax, so both cells are the federal bill on $100,000 and they agree to the dollar. The Advantage column is Even for that reason, and the essay below says the same thing. | $13,449 USD | $13,449 USD | Even |
Nonfarm employment in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metropolitan division was 1,351,000 in June 2026, up 8,800 (0.7 percent) over the year, led by education and health services (+6,100) and professional and business services (+4,800); Broward shed 5,000 jobs over the same period. MIA handled nearly 3.5 million tons of cargo in 2025, the most of any US airport.
Main sectors: Trade, transportation and logistics (port and airport), Tourism and hospitality, Finance and professional services, Health care and education, Real estate and construction.
No state or local income tax. Property tax and insurance are the taxes and costs that bite in Miami: homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes 3 percent assessment cap favour long-time owners over new buyers.
Leisure and hospitality employed 305,500 of 1,506,600 nonfarm jobs in the MSA in June 2026 (BLS CES, not seasonally adjusted, preliminary), about 20%, roughly double the national share, and those jobs pay below the private-sector average, which is why household income trails the US median despite fast job growth. Disney is the largest employer at about 77,000 in the region; AdventHealth employs about 37,700 and Lockheed Martin more than 14,000.
Main sectors: Tourism and hospitality (Disney, Universal, convention centre), Health care (AdventHealth, Orlando Health), Aerospace, defence and simulation (Lockheed Martin, Central Florida Research Park), Construction and real estate, Professional and business services.
No state or city income tax. Property tax runs around 1% of assessed value with a homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes 3% cap for owner-occupiers; not verified here.
Whether you need a car
| Measure | Miami | Orlando | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| System | Miami-Dade Transit (Metrorail, Metromover, Metrobus); Brightline and Tri-Rail regional rail | LYNX (bus, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties), SunRail (commuter rail, 16 stations DeLand to Poinciana), Brightline (intercity rail from MCO to South Florida) | Not directly comparable |
| Commute by public transit | 7.7% (2024) | 1.5% (2024) | Miami |
| Walk or cycle to work | 5.7% (2024) | 1.7% (2024) | Miami |
| Airport | Miami International Airport, MIA, 55.3 million passengers in 2025 (about 1 percent below 2024's record 55.9 million), per Miami-Dade Aviation Department release of May 4 2026 | Orlando International Airport (MCO), 57,675,573 passengers in 2025, up 0.8% on 2024, seventh busiest in the US (GOAA press release, July 28, 2026). | Not directly comparable |
Miami-Dade Transit carried 80,797,500 unlinked trips in 2025 (APTA ridership report, as cited on Wikipedia): Metrorail 14,971,300, Metromover 7,683,800, the rest on Metrobus. Q4 2025 weekday averages: Metrorail 50,300, Metromover 25,600, system 259,400.
LYNX carried 21,476,203 passenger trips in FY2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), more than 67,000 per weekday, on 62 routes (LYNX Facts at a Glance). SunRail passed 1.2 million riders in calendar 2024, up 12% on 2023 (SunRail press release, January 2025); APTA puts 2025 at about 1.32 million. SunRail runs weekdays only.
Health care, schools and what each city is like
Health care
Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, and Florida has not expanded Medicaid, so the uninsured share runs above the national rate and emergency rooms carry the gap. Jackson Memorial, the public safety-net hospital with more than 1,500 licensed beds, is the teaching hospital of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Baptist Health South Florida, Mount Sinai Medical Center and the Miami VA are the other large systems.
Education
Miami-Dade County Public Schools is the third largest district in the country but enrolled 313,220 students in 2025-26, down about 13,000 in a year as charters and vouchers grew, and the board approved school closures and consolidations in 2026. Florida International University enrolls roughly 50,000 students and the private University of Miami about 20,000; magnet programs such as Design and Architecture Senior High and the choice-heavy system mean school assignment is something families actively manage.
Living there
The city proper is dense, young and majority Hispanic, with Spanish as common as English in daily business, and it has grown almost 11 percent since 2020 on finance and tech arrivals who pushed rents and condo prices up fast. Summers are long, wet and hot, winters are the reason people stay, and every household budgets for hurricane season, windstorm insurance and flooded streets at king tide. Driving is the default outside the Metrorail and Metromover corridors, and traffic is the complaint residents raise most.
Health care
Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare and Medicaid; Florida did not expand Medicaid under the ACA, so a larger share of working adults is uninsured than in most states, and hospitality jobs often come with thin coverage. Two large non-profit systems dominate: AdventHealth Orlando (one of the biggest hospitals in the country) and Orlando Health with Orlando Regional Medical Center, the region's Level I trauma centre, plus Nemours Children's Hospital at Lake Nona and the UCF Lake Nona Hospital.
Education
The University of Central Florida enrols about 70,000 students, among the largest campuses in the US, and anchors the Central Florida Research Park; Rollins College in Winter Park and Valencia College (a two-year college with a national Aspen Prize) are the other main institutions. Orange County Public Schools is the eighth largest district in the US with roughly 200,000 students, and Florida's universal school-choice vouchers, charter schools and magnet programmes mean many families do not attend their zoned school.
Living there
Orlando is a sprawling, car-first region of master-planned subdivisions, toll roads and strip centres, with a small walkable core around Lake Eola, Thornton Park, Mills 50 and College Park, and the theme parks 15 miles southwest in a separate world of their own. Summers are long, humid and stormy, winters mild, and the population skews young and Latino, with the largest Puerto Rican community in Florida. Housing and insurance costs have risen faster than the tourism-weighted wages, and hurricane season shapes the calendar every year.
Where each city wins, and where it loses
The gap is large and it widens after the mortgage. A typical home was $582,621 in Miami in June 2026 against $375,175 in Orlando, both USD, and at 6.67 percent with 20 percent down the payments are $2,998 and $1,931 a month. A homesteaded buyer's first-year property tax is about $10,808 in Miami and $6,043 in Orlando, insurance is budgeted at $505 a month against $310, and condo fees run $850 against $450. Put the tax and insurance together and Miami costs about $16,900 a year to hold against $9,763 in Orlando, before a dollar of principal. Renters face the same ratio: median rent in June 2026 was $2,583 for one bedroom in Miami and $1,637 in Orlando, $3,004 against $1,904 for two, and $3,725 against $2,361 for three. Florida bars its cities from capping rent and closed the last exception in 2023, so renewals are set by the market in both.
Comparing the two on crime is difficult, and the reason is on Orlando's side of the table. The FBI's public feed carries no complete Orlando Police data after 2022, so its last published rates are 835.8 violent and 4,035.6 property offences per 100,000 for that year. Miami has current numbers from the same source. It recorded 1,787 violent offences in 2025, or 358.6 per 100,000 against the FBI's agency population of 498,792, down from 483.1 the year before, plus 11,178 property offences at 2,240.8 per 100,000. Orlando's own 2025 count of violent incidents uses a broader definition than the FBI's and comes to 5,928, roughly 1,775 per 100,000, which cannot be set against Miami's number. Homicides are the one clean line. Orlando recorded 10 in 2025, about 3.0 per 100,000 and its lowest since 1971. Miami recorded 26, or 5.2 per 100,000, down from 61 in 2020.
Miami is the warmer and wetter of the two by a clear margin: a January mean of 20.3 C against Orlando's 15.9 C, a July mean of 28.9 C against 28.1 C, 1,712 mm of rain a year against 1,307 mm, and about 3,154 hours of sunshine, a figure Orlando's station does not publish. Both are hurricane cities, but only one is coastal. Miami carries storm surge, king tide flooding every autumn and windstorm premiums that commonly run $4,000 to $7,000 a year, which is why its insurance line is $195 a month above Orlando's. Orlando sits 42 miles inland at roughly 100 feet, so surge is not part of its risk. What it gets instead is wind, inland flooding and long outages: Ian brought 14 inches of rain and 74 mph gusts to the airport in 2022, and Milton dropped over 15 inches on parts of Central Florida in 2024 alongside a record one-day tornado outbreak.
Neither city pays a state income tax, so a single filer on $100,000 owes about $13,449 in federal tax and nothing to Tallahassee, and sales tax is 7 percent in Miami-Dade against 6.5 percent in Orange County. The real tax difference is the $4,765 a year that Miami's dearer house adds to the property bill. Incomes do not make up for it. The City of Miami's median household income was $66,337 in 2024 against Orlando's $77,597, though the metros are close, $80,625 for greater Miami and $81,044 for greater Orlando. Miami's labour market is tighter, with Miami-Dade unemployment at 3.0 percent in June 2026 against 4.6 percent for the Orlando metro, and its nonfarm employment grew by 8,800 over the year on education, health and professional services. Orlando's weakness is concentration: leisure and hospitality held 305,500 of 1,506,600 jobs in June 2026, about a fifth of the market, at below-average pay.
Of the Florida cities covered here, Miami is the one where a household might get by without a second car, and only if it lives on a line. Miami-Dade Transit carried 80,797,500 trips in 2025, with Metrorail at 14,971,300 and Metromover at 7,683,800, and 7.7 percent of city workers commuted by transit in 2024 with another 5.7 percent walking or cycling. Brightline and Tri-Rail add regional rail. Orlando's LYNX carried 21,476,203 trips in fiscal 2025, SunRail runs weekdays only across 16 stations, and Brightline reaches South Florida from the airport, but the mode shares are 1.5 percent for transit and 1.7 percent for walking and cycling. Traffic is the complaint Miami residents raise most often, so driving is not easy in either. The airports invert the size ranking: MCO handled 57,675,573 passengers in 2025, seventh busiest in the country, against 55.3 million at MIA, though MIA is the Latin American hub and moved nearly 3.5 million tons of cargo.
Health care in both runs on employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, and Florida has not expanded Medicaid, so the uninsured share sits above the national rate. Miami's anchor is Jackson Memorial, the public safety-net hospital with more than 1,500 licensed beds and the teaching hospital of the University of Miami medical school, with Baptist Health, Mount Sinai and the Miami VA alongside. Orlando has AdventHealth Orlando, one of the largest hospitals in the country, and Orlando Health, whose Orlando Regional Medical Center is the Level I trauma centre, plus Nemours Children's at Lake Nona. Both school districts are large and shrinking at the edges. Miami-Dade's roll was 313,220 in 2025-26, some 13,000 fewer than a year earlier, and its board signed off on closures in 2026; Orange County, eighth largest in the country, holds roughly 200,000. Miami is denser and majority Hispanic; Orlando is subdivisions, toll roads and the largest Puerto Rican community in Florida.
The underrated part is what the difference does to a household budget over a year rather than a month. Miami's mortgage runs $1,067 a month above Orlando's, its property tax $397 a month more and its insurance $195, which is about $19,900 a year before condo fees, and the city's median household income is lower, not higher. A move from Orlando to Miami needs a raise in that range simply to hold position. One piece of paperwork works the same way in both and is easy to miss. The exemption has to be claimed at the county property appraiser's office, by 1 March of the year after the purchase. Save Our Homes then resets the assessment to what you paid, which is why a seller's current bill is no guide. Ask the appraiser what the assessment would be at your price.
Better here
- Transit carried 7.7 percent of city workers in 2024 against Orlando's 1.5 percent, on a county system that logged 80,797,500 trips in 2025.
- The county's June 2026 unemployment rate of 3.0 percent ran 1.6 points under the Orlando metro's, and nonfarm employment grew by 8,800 over the year.
- The January mean of 20.3 C runs 4.4 degrees above Orlando's, and the station records about 3,154 sunshine hours a year where Orlando's publishes none.
- Violent offences went from 2,225 in 2024 to 1,787 in 2025, a fall of about 20 percent, and homicides are down from 61 in 2020 to 26.
- MIA moved nearly 3.5 million tons of cargo in 2025, the most of any US airport, and anchors trade and finance links across Latin America.
- Jackson Memorial has more than 1,500 licensed beds and teaches the University of Miami medical school, and Spanish is an everyday working language.
Worse here
- A typical home cost $582,621 in June 2026 against $375,175 in Orlando, a mortgage $1,067 a month higher.
- First-year property tax of about $10,808 and insurance budgeted at $505 a month make the annual carrying cost roughly $16,900 against $9,763.
- Median rents of $2,583, $3,004 and $3,725 for one, two and three bedrooms are about 58 percent above Orlando's, with no rent control permitted in Florida.
- The city median household income was $66,337 in 2024, $11,260 below Orlando's.
- Storm surge, king tide flooding each autumn and coastal windstorm premiums of $4,000 to $7,000 a year are permanent features, not events.
- Condo fees average $850 a month against $450, and Miami-Dade sales tax is 7 percent against Orange County's 6.5 percent.
Choose Miami if
- you can live along the Metrorail or Metromover and want to drop a car
- your work is tied to Latin American trade, finance, the port or the airport
- you want a January that averages above 20 C and will insure a coastal house for it
- you use Spanish daily or want your children to grow up speaking it
The Miami guide · Neighborhoods · Miami rent vs buy · Miami mortgage calculator
Better here
- A typical home cost $375,175 in June 2026 with a mortgage of $1,931 a month, $1,067 less than Miami's.
- First-year property tax of about $6,043 and insurance at $310 a month leave the carrying cost near $9,763 a year, about $7,100 under Miami's.
- Median rents of $1,637, $1,904 and $2,361 are about 37 percent below Miami's at every size.
- Sitting 42 miles inland at about 100 feet takes storm surge and king tide flooding out of the picture.
- The city median household income was $77,597 in 2024, above Miami's $66,337, on housing that costs $207,446 less.
- Orlando International handled 57,675,573 passengers in 2025, seventh busiest in the United States and more than MIA.
Worse here
- Leisure and hospitality held 305,500 of 1,506,600 metro jobs in June 2026, about a fifth of the market at below-average pay.
- Transit carries 1.5 percent of city commuters and walking and cycling 1.7 percent, against 7.7 and 5.7 percent in Miami.
- The FBI's feed has no complete Orlando Police data after 2022, so there is no current independent crime rate to compare.
- Unemployment was 4.6 percent in June 2026 against 3.0 percent in Miami-Dade.
- January averages 15.9 C, more than four degrees cooler than Miami, and the station publishes no sunshine normal.
- Hurricanes still bring wind, inland flooding and multi-day outages, as Ian did in 2022 and Milton's tornado outbreak did in 2024.
Choose Orlando if
- you want the lowest monthly carrying cost and will drive everywhere for it
- you want hurricane risk without storm surge or king tide flooding
- you work in health care, aerospace, simulation or remotely rather than in hospitality
- you are buying with one income and need the payment to stay near $1,931
The Orlando guide · Neighborhoods · Orlando rent vs buy · Orlando mortgage calculator
Miami or Orlando, in short
Is Miami or Orlando cheaper to live in?
Orlando, and not by a small margin. A typical home was $375,175 in Orlando in June 2026 and $582,621 in Miami, so the mortgage at 6.67 percent with 20 percent down is $1,931 a month against $2,998. Add a first-year property tax of about $6,043 against $10,808 and insurance of $310 a month against $505, and Miami costs roughly $7,100 more a year to hold before the loan. Median rents are about 37 percent lower in Orlando at every size, $1,904 for a two-bedroom against $3,004. Sales tax is 6.5 percent in Orange County and 7 percent in Miami-Dade.
Is Miami or Orlando safer?
The honest answer is that nobody can say precisely, because Orlando has no current published rate. The FBI's last complete Orlando figures are from 2022, at 835.8 violent and 4,035.6 property offences per 100,000. Miami's 2025 figures from the same source are 358.6 violent and 2,240.8 property offences per 100,000, both well down on 2024. Orlando's own 2025 count of violent incidents uses a wider definition and works out near 1,775 per 100,000, which is not comparable. Homicides can be compared: 10 in Orlando in 2025, about 3.0 per 100,000 and the fewest since 1971, against 26 in Miami, or 5.2 per 100,000.
Which has the better climate, Miami or Orlando?
Miami if you want warmth, Orlando if you want a smaller insurance bill. Miami averages 20.3 C in January against Orlando's 15.9 C, and July is 28.9 C against 28.1 C. Miami is wetter, 1,712 mm a year against 1,307 mm, and records about 3,154 hours of sunshine, which Orlando's station does not publish. The trade is exposure. Miami sits on the coast with storm surge and autumn king tides, and Orlando sits 42 miles inland at about 100 feet, where hurricanes mean wind, inland flooding and long power outages rather than water coming up the street.
How much of a raise does a move from Orlando to Miami need?
On the typical home, about $19,900 a year before condo fees. Miami's mortgage runs $1,067 a month above Orlando's, its first-year property tax about $397 a month more, and its budgeted insurance $195 a month more. Renters see a similar figure: a two-bedroom at the June 2026 median costs $1,100 a month more in Miami, or $13,200 a year. Working against you, the City of Miami's median household income was $66,337 in 2024 against $77,597 in Orlando, so the local pay scale does not close the gap on its own. Miami-Dade's 3.0 percent unemployment rate does give a job seeker more leverage.
Where the figures come from
Housing figures are the ones behind each city's calculators, dated on those pages. The rest are listed here with the date they were retrieved. See the methodology for how facts, estimates and opinion are kept apart.
- Miami, FL Population (2025) · Every City in the USA (republishing Census Bureau PEP Vintage 2025) · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Miami city, Florida · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: population.city (page returned 403 on fetch; figure confirmed via search snippet and secondary republisher)
- Largest U.S. Metro Areas by Population 2026 (Vintage 2025 estimates) · statranker.org · retrieved Supports: Metro population
- Florida MSA population estimates, April 1 2025 · Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research · retrieved Supports: population.metro (alternative state estimate)
- Miami, FL Metro Area and Miami city profiles, ACS 2024 1-year · Census Reporter · retrieved Supports: Median household income, population.metro (ACS)
- ACS 2024 1-year table B08301 Means of Transportation to Work · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau data) · retrieved Supports: Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Crime Data Explorer summarized agency data, Miami Police Department (FL0130600) · FBI · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
- Miami Police Report 20% Decrease in Homicides for 1st Half of 2025 · Officer.com · retrieved Supports: Crime trend, Homicides
- U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly and annual, station USW00012839 Miami International Airport · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- Comparative Climatic Data · NOAA NCEI · retrieved Supports: climate.sunshineHours (approximate; figure taken from search summaries of CCD, not the table itself)
- Climate of Miami · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: climate.hazards (thunderstorm days, hurricane exposure)
- Broward County June 2026 Unemployment Data · CareerSource Broward (FloridaCommerce data) · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate, Labour market
- Discretionary Sales Surtax Information (DR-15DSS) 2026 · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- IRS releases tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2025 · Internal Revenue Service · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, taxes.incomeTaxAt100k (brackets)
- FAQ: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act Tax Changes · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: taxes.incomeTaxAt100k ($15,750 standard deduction)
- Miami-Dade Transit · Wikipedia (citing APTA Ridership Report) · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- Soaring cargo growth lifts MIA to #1 in the U.S., #3 in the world · Miami International Airport · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers, Labour market
- Miami (MIA) Airport & Passenger Statistics · RoadGenius · retrieved Supports: transit.airport (2024 comparison)
- A Guide to Florida Flood Insurance (2026) · Insurify · retrieved Supports: climate.hazards (insurance costs)
- Enrollment in Miami-Dade schools is lower at the start of this year. Why? · WLRN · retrieved Supports: Education
- FIU enrollment approaches 50,000 as fall semester nears · Miami Today · retrieved Supports: Education
- Jackson Memorial Hospital · Jackson Health System · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in Florida: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth, crime.homicides rate
- Annual Resident Population Estimates for Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (CBSA-EST2025-ALLDATA) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth
- Proactive policing in Orlando yields significant crime reductions · WFTV · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend, crime notes
- Police say crimes, including homicides, declining in Orlando · Spectrum News 13 · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- Orlando Police: 2025 violent crime down 9 percent in the City Beautiful · Headline Surfer · retrieved Supports: Crime trend, crime.homicides 2024
- Orlando Police Department releases 2024 crime statistics · WFTV via Yahoo News · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00012815 (Orlando International Airport), monthly and annual · NOAA NCEI · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- Orlando, Florida (climate and hurricane history) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, character
- Hurricane Milton · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- ACS 2024 1-year, tables B19013 and B08301, Orlando city and Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford MSA · US Census Bureau via Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Local Area Unemployment Statistics, series LAUMT123674000000003 (Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford MSA unemployment rate) · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Current Employment Statistics, series SMU12367400000000001 and SMU12367407000000001 (Orlando MSA total nonfarm and leisure and hospitality) · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Top employers and talent report search results (Disney, AdventHealth, Lockheed Martin employment) · Orlando Economic Partnership · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- Orange County, Florida sales tax rate 2026 · Avalara · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- 2025 Tax Brackets · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Facts at a Glance · LYNX (Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority) · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership
- SunRail Ridership Grows to 1.2 Million Riders in 2024 · SunRail · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- Orlando International Moves Up In 2025 National Rankings for Busiest Airport · Greater Orlando Aviation Authority · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), all homes, mid-tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted: city file, June 2026 · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical home value for the 35th to 65th percentile of each municipality's market, computed on one method across all twenty-four, The same series and month the Charlotte, Orlando and Palm Beach pages use, so all four American layers can be read against each other, Year-over-year change to June 2026
- Table 1: Comparison of Taxes Levied, county and municipal governments, fiscal years 2024-25 and 2025-26: Miami-Dade · Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight · retrieved Supports: The adopted 2025-26 millage rate for Miami-Dade County and every municipality in it, The county's own components: countywide 4.5740, Fire/Rescue 2.3965, Library 0.2812 and the Unincorporated Municipal Service Area at 1.9090, Municipal rates from Sunny Isles Beach's 1.7000 to Biscayne Park's 9.3000
- 2025 millage rates and taxing authorities, Miami-Dade County · Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: A published combined rate for unincorporated Miami-Dade of 16.9317 mills, Its components: school district 6.4990, countywide 5.7361, regional water districts 0.3911, Fire Rescue 2.3965 and UMSA 1.9090, which this layer's stack reproduces exactly, Millage code 0100, the City of Miami, at 19.9878 mills for 2025: 7.1080 of city operating levy and 0.2536 of city debt service on the countywide 12.6262, Opa-locka's municipal operating levy of 8.9797, and a 2025 total of 24.0024 for millage code 0800, A city debt service column, which nine of the twenty-four municipalities here carry: Miami 0.2536, Miami Beach 0.2779, North Bay Village 1.1666, Golden Beach 0.6000, Miami Shores 0.1331, North Miami Beach 0.2000, Miami Gardens 0.4331, Doral 0.4810 and Homestead 0.2446, A blank library district column for Hialeah, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Homestead, Miami Shores, Bal Harbour and Surfside, which are outside the county library district, A blank Fire Rescue column for Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah and Key Biscayne, which is the five this layer flags
- About Fire Rescue · Miami-Dade Fire Rescue · retrieved Supports: The Fire Rescue district covering the unincorporated county and twenty-nine municipalities, Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah and Key Biscayne operating their own fire departments and lying outside the district
- Documentary stamp tax · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A Miami-Dade deed rate of 60 cents per $100 rather than the 70 cents charged in every other county, A Miami-Dade surtax of 45 cents per $100, not due on a document transferring only a single-family dwelling, 35 cents per $100 on a promissory note, statewide
- Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2024 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved Supports: 2020 census counts and 2024 estimates for each municipality, Miami at 487,014 and Hialeah at 235,388; Golden Beach at 1,034
- Average cost of home insurance in Florida, 2026 · MoneyGeek · retrieved Supports: A Miami-Dade County average of about $6,045 a year: below Palm Beach County's $6,614, A Florida average of about $3,815 and a national average of about $2,543
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 6.67%
- Governmental leasehold intangible personal property tax and the non-recurring intangible tax on mortgages · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A non-recurring intangible tax of 2 mills: 0.2%, on the obligation secured by a mortgage on Florida real property
- Property tax exemptions and additional benefits · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A $25,000 homestead exemption applying to all taxing authorities and a second slice, $25,000 in the 2024 base year and adjusted for inflation each 1 January since, applying to all but the school district, The Save Our Homes assessment limitation of 3% or the change in CPI, whichever is lower, Portability of up to $500,000 of accrued Save Our Homes benefit to a new homestead, The 1 March filing deadline
- Chapter 2023-17, Laws of Florida: preemption of rent control · The Florida Senate · retrieved Supports: The repeal of the referendum exception that had allowed a local rent control ordinance in a declared housing emergency
- 2025 Final Millage Rates · Orange County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Orange County general at 4.4347 mills, the library district at 0.3748 and the St Johns River Water Management District at 0.1793, School state and local levies totalling 6.449 mills, Municipal rates from Windermere's 3.7425 to Eatonville's 7.2938, A published total against every mill code, including Winter Park's 15.3615 on codes 2, 4 and 6, Maitland's 16.3055 on code 6, and Windermere's 15.2311 on code 35 and 15.4839 on code 75, A blank library column on every Winter Park and Maitland code, which is what puts both municipalities outside the district
- Special taxing district information: the Orange County Library District's boundary · Orange County Library System · retrieved Supports: The district's boundary is Orange County exclusive of Winter Park and Maitland, each of which operates its own library, Laws of Florida chapter 99-486 as the enabling act behind it
- Final 2025 Millage Rates, fiscal year 2025-26 · Seminole County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Total millage by taxing authority for every Seminole municipality, from Lake Mary's 14.3929 to Casselberry's 18.1808, School required local and discretionary levies totalling 5.2490 mills, The county fire and road MSTUs, which apply in the unincorporated area and in some cities but not others
- 2025 Final Millage Rates · Osceola County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Kissimmee at 17.4114 mills and Saint Cloud at 17.8989, School levies totalling 5.3060 mills across required local, discretionary and capital, Dozens of separate municipal service taxing units in the unincorporated county, from 0.13 to 12.42 mills, which is why an unincorporated Osceola address cannot be given one rate
- 2025 Final Millage Rates by district, and the 2025 Final Millage Rates and Values Comparison Sheet · Lake County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Total millage for every Lake municipality, from Leesburg's 15.9477 to Eustis's 19.8623, Leesburg's own adopted rate of 3.4752 mills, on the district sheet and again as the 2025 adopted rate on the comparison sheet, School board state and local levies totalling 6.0850 mills, The county fire, ambulance and stormwater MSTUs and which municipalities are subject to them, including that an incorporated city pays neither the fire nor the stormwater MSTU
- Conforming loan limit values for 2026 · Federal Housing Finance Agency · retrieved Supports: A baseline one-unit conforming loan limit of $832,750 for 2026, which applies in every county in this metro