Florida City · the Redland · Homestead

Living in Florida City, and why people keep moving up from the Keys

Florida City is a line on a map and not much else. It is 4 miles past Homestead, it is the last exit before the Keys, and it is quietly where a lot of people who work down on the islands have ended up living.

Where it actually is

Florida City is 4 miles past Homestead. That is the whole distance, and it is the last city before the road turns into the drive down to the Keys. Key Largo is 20 minutes from the light on Palm Drive. Islamorada is under an hour.

On a map it reads as the end of Miami-Dade. In practice it is the front door to two places at once.

Who keeps moving here

People who work down in the Keys. Ocean Reef, Key Largo, Islamorada, the marinas and the resorts and the trades that keep all of it running.

They are not leaving the job. They are making the same drive in the other direction, because a house on the islands stopped adding up and a house up here still does. Twenty minutes each way buys a yard, a garage, and a payment that does not take the whole check.

What is being built

Most of the new construction in South Dade is on this end, between Homestead and Florida City. Three bedrooms up to five, townhomes up to houses on their own lot, and enough of it going up at once that you can actually compare instead of taking the first one.

The one thing worth checking before you fall for a house is the city line. Florida City, the City of Homestead and the part that is not inside any city all bill differently, and the difference is real money every year. Same street, different number.