Moving here
A lot of people come down for a week, fall in love, and start running the math on whether they could live here. Sometimes the math works. Here's the stuff the vacation brochure doesn't put on the front page.
Where the year-round people actually live
Almost nobody lives on Perdido Key Drive year-round. The towers are tourist economy, and most of the units are rentals or second homes. The full-time community lives inland or off the gulf-front:
- Sorrento / Bauer Road area (FL): single-family neighborhoods inland on the FL side. Where the grocery store is. Year-round residential.
- Innerarity Point (FL): bay-side, mostly single-family, real neighborhood feel. Some second homes.
- Bear Point / Ono Island area (AL): bay-side residential, gated and non-gated. Ono itself is private gated.
- Foley and inland Baldwin County (AL): not a beach town, but where you live when the beach is your weekend, not your front yard.
- Gulf Shores, west of OB: more residential than tourist on the western end, off the boulevard.
Living on the gulf side of either road is technically possible but expensive, loud in season, and you'll move to the inland side in about three years.
Insurance, the long story short
The honest answer: insurance is harder and more expensive on the Gulf Coast than almost anywhere else in the US, and it's only getting more so. This is the single biggest financial reality for anyone considering year-round residency.
- Homeowners — many private carriers won't write new policies in coastal Escambia or Baldwin. Citizens Property (FL state insurer of last resort) writes a lot of the gulf-front stuff. Premiums shock people who've moved from inland.
- Wind — often a separate policy with its own deductible (often 5% of the dwelling value), separate from your "homeowners" policy.
- Flood — separate from wind. FEMA NFIP for most policies; rates rising under Risk Rating 2.0.
- Auto — also higher than the national average because of weather events.
Get insurance quotes before you sign a contract on a house. A house that pencils out on the mortgage may not pencil out on insurance.
The grocery situation
Publix is the king. There's a Publix on the FL side at Sorrento (the locals' Publix) and another at the entrance to the Key. Winn-Dixie is the other big chain. Walmart in Foley for bulk. No Costco closer than Pensacola. Trader Joe's is two hours away. Whole Foods doesn't exist here. Plan accordingly.
Farmers markets: seasonal, mostly weekly during the warmer months. The Perdido Key Farmers Market and the Foley market are both worth doing.
The state-line stuff
- Car registration / driver's license: you'll need to choose your state. Florida has no state income tax. Alabama does. This decides for a lot of people.
- Property taxes: both states have homestead exemptions that make a big difference for primary residences. Apply for them.
- Fishing license: you'll need the state where you live, and you'll buy the other state's nonresident license if you fish across the line a lot.
- School districts: Escambia County (FL) and Baldwin County (AL) are both county systems. Each has its own schools, sports, calendars.
Seasonality is real
The Key has two populations. From mid-March through Labor Day, the tourist population is several times the year-round population. From October through February, you have the place to yourself, restaurants close early, and "what should we do tonight" gets harder.
The locals who love it here love both seasons. The locals who burn out are the ones who can't enjoy the slow side. If you do best when there's a lot going on every weekend, year-round Gulf Coast life will frustrate you.
Hurricane season is real, too
See the hurricane prep page. New residents underestimate this. The locals who've been through Sally don't.
What we love about it anyway
None of that is meant to talk you out of it. We live here. We love it. The point is: the brochure version of Gulf Coast life is the Saturday in May. The whole year is a different deal, and the people who do best are the ones who knew what they were signing up for.