Market Analysis
Feb 27, 2020

Winter Garden is Top 10 in new report

The city is among the best to live in, according to a survey conducted by Money.com

Winter Garden is Top 10 in new report

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Introduction

A "winter garden" at Sunshine State? It's true - and that's where 54,371 residents of Metro Orlando call it home.

But don't let the name confuse you: like the rest of Florida, Winter Garden has a warm subtropical climate and an average of 236 sunny days per year. And yet time is far from being the only reason to live here.

The county has had a 28.2% growth in jobs in the last decade and Winter Garden has a thriving business community. The average household income is $76,269, almost $24,000 above the average reported for Florida in 2017.

Looking for something to do in your spare time? The Historic Downtown Winter Garden is full of restaurants, shops, cafes and two museums. Once an extinct cinema, the Garden Theatre was revitalized by the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation in a scenic arts venue that houses plays, concerts and films. If you want even more entertainment, Walt Disney World and Universal Studios are less than 25 minutes away by car. - Olivia Raimonde

Winter Garden Data
  • Population - 54,371
  • Average Family Income - $76,269
  • Average Property Price - $310,402
  • Projected Employment Growth - 10.1%
  • Commute Travel Time - 29 min
  • Sunny Days per Year - 236

Methodology

To create the ranking of the best places to live, we [Money.com] analyzed only places with populations of 50,000 or more. Places with 300,000 or more people were divided into neighborhoods and from there we considered only neighborhoods with an estimated population between 5,000 and 200,000 people. We eliminate any place that has more than twice the national risk of crime, less than 85% of the median income of families in the state or lack of ethnic diversity. That gave us 1,796 places.

We then collected nearly 160,000 different data points to narrow down the list. We considered data on each place’s economic health, cost of living, ethnic and economic diversity, public education, income, health and safety, ease of living, and amenities, all provided by research partner Witlytic. We put the greatest weight on economic factors, housing, health and safety, diversity and cost of living. Quality of life, education and local amenities were also critical components.

Finally, reporters researched each location, interviewing residents and searching for the kinds of intangible factors that are not revealed by statistics. To ensure a geographically diverse set, we limit the list of best places to live to no more than four places per state and one per county. States were only represented once per every 25 places. Places that made the list last year were not included in this year’s ranking.

Rankings derived from more than 80 separate types of data in the following categories:

Economy - based on local unemployment rate, historical job growth, projected job growth and the level of employment opportunities available, among other factors.

Cost of living - based on tax burden, insurance costs, commuting costs, medical spending and income adjusted for cost of living.

Diversity - based on racial makeup, racial integration, and economic diversity within a place’s population.

Education - based on math and reading test scores and local and county level high school graduation rates.

Housing - based on measures indicating affordability, supply and distress, including median home sale price in 2018, properties sold in 2018, utility and home cost of living indexes, and the property foreclosure rate, among other factors.

Health and safety - based on the number of hospitals and clinics, the number of mental health providers, dentists, doctors and primary care physicians, property and violent crime risk and homicide and drug overdose rates.

Amenities - based on the number of leisure activities in the town and surrounding area, including bars, restaurants, museums, sports complexes, and green spaces.

Ease of living - based on commute times, weather, and other factors.

The original article was published by Money.com, which you can check in the link below.

Access the source of this article here.

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Andrea Pointon

Andrea Pointon

CEO - Broker

Entrepreneur from an early age, Andrea conquered her space as an immigrant and today leads one of the most recognized real estate agencies in Orlando. She has received numerous awards and never tires of learning and improving professionally, serving entrepreneurs, investors, and families who trust in her professionalism and success for these very important decisions.