I am at that age where I am losing friends. No, thankfully, knock on wood, they are all still very much with us. They are just not in New Jersey anymore.

One by one, couple by couple, my friends have been migrating south. I have people up and down the Gulf Coast now — Clearwater, Cape Coral, Naples, Marco Island. A solid cluster in Southwest Florida has become my unofficial social calendar, and they have given me an open invitation I really need to take advantage of. And yes, I even have friends who have taken the full plunge into the land of eternal senior spring break. They live in The Villages. They are having the time of their lives and they are not sorry about it.

My wife and I have decided to stay. The house where we raised our kids, the memories in every room, the friends who have not left yet. This is home. But after the winter we just had in New Jersey, and after a few too many conversations with friends sitting poolside in February telling me my money goes a lot further down here, I started doing the math.

And the math is interesting.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ASSOCIATED PRESSWhat $400,000 buys you at the Jersey Shore

I know that to most people in the rest of the country $400,000 is a significant amount of money. It absolutely is. But in New Jersey, and especially at the Jersey Shore, it barely starts the conversation about what you can afford.

In Avalon, Stone Harbor, Spring Lake or Mantoloking, $400,000 does not buy you a home. The median home value in those towns runs well north of a million dollars, with Avalon and Stone Harbor pushing two million and beyond. Even in Ocean City and Cape May you are approaching that million dollar threshold before you get anywhere near the water.

Where does $400,000 actually work at the Shore? Wildwood, North Wildwood, Keansburg, parts of Seaside Park. You are looking at a modest home or a condo, nothing waterfront, limited square footage. You are buying the zip code, not the space.

READ ALSO: Most affordable Jersey Shore towns for families in 2026 

Gulf coast sunset | photo by EJ

Gulf coast sunset | photo by EJWhat $400,000 buys you in Florida

Here is where it gets genuinely hard to look at if you love New Jersey.

In the Gulf Coast communities where most of my friends have landed — around Venice, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Naples — $400,000 in 2026 buys you a brand new construction home. Three or four bedrooms, two car garage, community pool, resort style amenities, walking trails. Some builders are currently offering $20,000 to $50,000 in upgrade incentives just to get deals closed. The beach is ten to fifteen minutes away by car.

In Florida’s more affordable beach markets like Fort Pierce or Panama City Beach, $400,000 can put you directly on or adjacent to the water.

And then there is the tax picture. Florida has no state income tax. For a New Jersey family paying anywhere from 5.5% to nearly 11% in state income taxes, that difference alone is significant money every single year. Property taxes in Florida generally run lower than New Jersey as well. My friends are not just buying more house. They are keeping more of what they earn.

The honest fine print on Florida

My friends will tell you it is not all perfect. Flood insurance in coastal Florida is not the few hundred dollars a year that people assume coming from New Jersey. Depending on your flood zone and elevation, annual flood insurance quotes can run $4,000 to $5,000 or more. Homeowners insurance has risen sharply across coastal Florida due to hurricane risk. The heat and humidity in summer is real and it is not for everyone.

And The Villages? My friends there will tell you it is its own universe. Golf carts everywhere, entertainment every night, a social calendar that would exhaust someone half their age. Not for everyone. Clearly for some people exactly right.

Why I am staying — for now

This is home. The memories, the people, the specific unreplicable feeling of a summer here. I am not ready to trade that for a community pool and a lower tax bill.

But after this winter, with friends sending photos from their lanais in February, I understand the math better than I ever did. And I can see why so many people are running it.

Stunning Jersey Shore rentals, steps from the beach

Here are 10 houses along New Jersey’s coastline for an Insta-ready beachfront staycation.

Gallery Credit: Erin Vogt

 

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