Florida is home to a large and growing older population. The state’s population estimate reached 23,462,518 on July 1, 2025, while residents age 65 and over accounted for 21.8% of the population. Retirement decisions also depend on housing costs, income, health coverage, transportation, and access to care. The figures below come from Census QuickFacts Florida and the Florida Profile of Older Floridians 2021. The two sources use different measurement periods, so their dates and definitions are kept separate.
Table of contents
- Florida’s population and older-adult share
- Housing costs and household finances
- Income, work, and economic context
- Health coverage and disability
- Long-term care and emergency support
- Transportation, community, and daily life
- Projected retirement-age growth
Florida’s population and older-adult share
Census QuickFacts estimated Florida’s population at 23,462,518 on July 1, 2025. That was up from 23,372,215 on July 1, 2024. The same source lists a population base of 21,538,207 on April 1, 2020 and an 8.9% population change between April 1, 2020 and July 1, 2025. These are statewide estimates and a reported change measure, not a forecast of future growth.
For retirement planning, the age distribution is especially important. Census QuickFacts reports that 21.8% of Florida residents were age 65 or older, while 19.3% were under age 18. It also reports that women represented 50.8% of the population, Hispanic or Latino residents represented 28.7%, and foreign-born persons represented 21.9%.
The Florida Profile of Older Floridians 2021 uses a different statewide population total: 21,596,068. In that 2021 profile, 5,893,870 residents were age 60 or older, or 27% of the population. The profile counted 4,422,335 residents age 65 or older, or 20%, and 594,727 residents age 85 or older, or 3%.
| Age group or measure | Count or share | Measurement period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residents age 60+ | 5,893,870; 27% | 2021 profile | Florida Profile of Older Floridians 2021 |
| Residents age 65+ | 4,422,335; 20% | 2021 profile | Florida Profile of Older Floridians 2021 |
| Residents age 85+ | 594,727; 3% | 2021 profile | Florida Profile of Older Floridians 2021 |
| Residents age 65+ | 21.8% | Census QuickFacts | Census QuickFacts Florida |
Housing costs and household finances
Census QuickFacts counted 10,629,918 housing units in Florida on July 1, 2024. The owner-occupied housing unit rate was 67.6%. Among owner-occupied homes, the median value was $359,000. Median monthly owner costs were $1,959 for owners with a mortgage and $673 for owners without a mortgage. The median gross rent was $1,669.
Those figures describe statewide medians rather than the cost of a particular city, neighborhood, or home. They also separate mortgage and non-mortgage owners, which matters when comparing a paid-off home with a home still carrying housing debt. Census QuickFacts counted 8,752,810 households during 2020–2024, and the average household size was 2.51 persons.
The older-adult profile adds a more specific housing-burden measure. It counted 1,087,534 owner-occupied households headed by someone age 65 or older with a high housing cost burden. Within the profile’s measures, 11% of older owner households had a high cost burden, compared with 31% of older renter households. These percentages are from the 2021 profile and should not be treated as current estimates.
Housing choices also intersect with household composition. The profile recorded 420,398 men age 60 or older living alone and 782,880 women age 60 or older living alone. Living alone can affect the practical importance of transportation, emergency planning, home maintenance, and nearby services, although the figures themselves do not measure those outcomes.
Income, work, and economic context
Census QuickFacts reports median household income of $74,568 for 2020–2024 and per capita income of $42,609 in the past 12 months, using the source’s stated reference periods. It reports that 12.0% of people were in poverty. These measures describe Florida overall, not retirees alone, and they should not be read as a typical retirement budget.
The same source reports a 59.3% civilian labor force participation rate for the population age 16 and older. Female civilian labor force participation was 55.2% for the same broad age measure. Educational attainment included an 89.9% high school graduate or higher rate and a 34.1% bachelor’s degree or higher rate among people age 25 and older.
Florida’s wider economic scale is also reflected in business and payroll figures. Census QuickFacts counted 645,575 total employer establishments and 9,988,508 total employment in 2023. Total annual payroll was $599,437,122 thousand in 2023, and total nonemployer establishments numbered 3,117,327. These statistics are not retirement-income measures, but they provide context for the state’s labor market and economic base.
Consumer and care-related activity were substantial in the source’s 2022 measures. Florida retail sales totaled $484,218,148 thousand, including $21,767 in retail sales per capita. Health care and social assistance receipts or revenue totaled $211,744,080 thousand. The dollar figures are reported in thousands where indicated by Census QuickFacts.
Health coverage and disability
Census QuickFacts reports that 13.6% of Floridians under age 65 lacked health insurance. This age restriction is important: the statistic does not describe the insurance status of the entire population or of all retirees.
The 2021 older-adult profile counted 4,086,007 insured people age 65 or older and 50,734 uninsured people in that age group. It also recorded 758,870 people age 65 or older with one type of disability and 812,885 with two or more disabilities. The profile counted 888,475 probable Alzheimer’s cases among Florida’s 65+ population.
For people age 60 and older, the profile counted 794,873 Medicaid-eligible people and 703,864 people eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare. It also reported 3,622,600 residents age 65 or older receiving Social Security benefits and 215,840 receiving Supplemental Security Income. These counts identify people in the profile’s reported categories; they do not state benefit amounts or eligibility rules for an individual resident.
Electricity reliability can be a health and safety concern for some residents. The profile counted 172,193 electricity-dependent Medicare beneficiaries and 67,848 electricity-dependent Medicaid beneficiaries. The statistic describes beneficiaries identified as electricity-dependent in the profile, not every older resident who may be affected by a power outage.
Long-term care and emergency support
Florida’s care infrastructure in the 2021 profile included 3,150 assisted living facilities with 113,756 total assisted-living-facility beds. It also included 716 skilled nursing facilities with 85,731 skilled-nursing-facility beds. Facility and bed counts indicate capacity reported for the profile period; they do not show vacancies, pricing, quality ratings, or local availability.
Emergency shelter capacity was another part of the profile. Florida had 1,913 general shelters and 175 special-needs shelters. Special-needs shelters had capacity for 39,616 people. These counts are statewide and come from the 2021 profile, so they should not be interpreted as a real-time inventory during a particular storm.
Food-support access was measured through 456 SNAP access sites and 14,900 SNAP retailers in the profile. The presence of sites and retailers does not show how close any one household is to a location, how many people use the sites, or whether a specific benefit application would be approved.
The profile also recorded 1,161,466 volunteers and 129,562,895 total volunteer hours. Volunteering is a measurable part of community activity in the source, although these figures do not identify the types of service or the number of older volunteers.
Transportation, community, and daily life
The 2021 profile counted 5,511,719 Florida driver license holders and identified that figure as 31% of the population. It also counted 4,974,432 registered voters, or 35% of the population. The labels and percentages are retained from the profile and refer to its measurement framework.
For a broad geographic frame, Census QuickFacts reports Florida’s 2020 population density as 401.4 people per square mile and its 2020 land area as 53,652.17 square miles. Density is a statewide average; it does not describe how concentrated residents are in a particular retirement community or metropolitan area.
The older-adult profile listed 220 nearby state parks for older adults. That count is a profile measure of nearby state parks, not a ranking of parks or a statement about accessibility, distance, fees, or amenities. Still, it gives a quantified indication of the recreation resources included in the source’s older-adult planning context.
Projected retirement-age growth
The Florida Profile of Older Floridians 2021 included projections for future age groups. It projected a retired-age population, defined there as age 65 and older, of 5,954,154 in 2030 and 6,724,185 in 2040. It also projected a working-age population, defined there as ages 15–64, of 14,409,523 in 2030 and 15,346,739 in 2040.
These are projections from the 2021 profile, not observed counts and not a guarantee of future population levels. Their definitions also differ from the labor-force participation measure reported by Census QuickFacts, which covers the population age 16 and older. For readers considering a Florida retirement move, the projections are best understood as planning context alongside the dated population, housing, health, and care statistics above.