Life’s truly a beach if you check out the cheapest places to live in the world on the beach. The final list of places was named based on those expert assessments and on editorial input. Further, a collection of old-school neighborhoods with small-scale homes (not to mention a heralded collection of midcentury modern architecture) makes day-to-day life sweet , easy, and an aesthetic joy. Alys Beach’s explicitly green design features narrow streets of permeable pavers to reduce storm water runoff and that run perpendicular to the Gulf to invite cooling breezes inland, and is landscaped with largely drought-resistant plants to reduce water consumption. Find Out: How Much a Home Is Worth in Every State. Credit: Rent, in particular, is low. Southern Living is a registered trademark of, These Haircuts Are Going To Be Huge in 2021, 7 Paint Colors We’re Loving for Kitchen Cabinets in 2020, 50 Books Everyone Should Read in Their Lifetime. Many of the offers appearing on this site are from advertisers from which this website receives compensation for being listed here. Daytona Beach has a reputation for having one of the best beaches in the U.S. and for getting a bit crazy during spring break, but the rest of the year, the city’s residents enjoy the second-lowest median home prices and the lowest overall rents in the entire list of gorgeous, affordable beach cities. The architecturally diverse homes make assured aesthetic piece with the hillsides, creating a sense of space and privacy (which may be why professional athletes are your neighbors), and a gorgeous farm on the property is both a center for community gardening and farm dinners under the trees. Learn More: 60% of the Best Beaches Are in This State. Related: Best Hidden Beaches to Visit for All Budgets. As of the most recent census in 2010, the city’s population was just 3,752, which might appeal to those looking for a small beach community. Located along the state’s Atlantic Coast, home prices aren’t the lowest in the state, but rent is more affordable. Alex Robinson/Getty Images. Where weâve been offers clues to where weâre going. Founded in the 1800s by a renowned angler, Captain Leonard Destin, this place lures you offshore. One of the America’s great historic cities really does offer the perfect variety of lifestyles – from an active urban core with stunning civic buildings, iconic sites (Old North Church, anyone?) Check out the best cities to live in Florida. Carved out along the spectacular Pacific coast of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, this 11-year-old New Urbanism community has quickly evolved into a place with substantial character and low-key sophistication. Established in 1711, Beaufort blends a dramatic beachside location with numerous historical sites, all in an affordable package. The city is just minutes away from the Kennedy Space Center and also boasts plenty of its own attractions, from the Brevard Community College Planetarium & Observatory to the Brevard Zoo and numerous golf courses and parks. These remarkable towns, cities, islands, communities, and exotic destinations make it the dream of a lifetime. Embodying a “just right” balance worthy of Goldilocks, this 8,000-acre island caught like a pearl between the pincers of Long Island’s North and South Forks has sophisticated style and old-fashioned island authenticity in equal measure. Richard Leo Johnson, Credit: In fact, Cocoa Beach is famous for, among other things, being the beach where John Glenn and other astronauts hung out while training for space flight. The city’s charms aren’t lost on homebuyers, as the city has the highest median list price in the top 20. Whether strolling its historic cottage-lined streets or paddling its freshwater lakes, life is active, rich, and varied in this corner of the country. Atlantic City is the home of the famous Boardwalk and some extremely affordable housing. Both median home prices and rent are affordable, particularly for a city right on the beach. The cost of living is nearly 10% below the U.S. average. This is a city of surprises. Along with the charming commerce of food, drink, and shopping in Wilson Village, the Montage Palmetto Bluff (opened in 2016) has added a shimmering new center to this best-kept secret on the Southern coast. In fact, Atlantic City has the lowest median list price for homes by far, along with low median rent. Advertiser Disclosure: Many of the offers appearing on this site are from advertisers from which this website receives compensation for being listed here. Just south of Cancun, this town is easy and affordable to get to and it has become genuinely international—lots of digital nomads have figured this out and are making Playa del Carmen their base. Long a center of Hawaiian life and culture (known as the playground of Hawaiian royalty), the third-largest island in the archipelago has never been hotter, thanks to Honolulu’s true renaissance and the North Shore’s enduring draw as a center of the bohemian life. Moving to the coast is living the dream. For more information on how we rank, read the Best Places to Live methodology. And with good reason: The beaches along this stretch of coast are gorgeous—from Playa del Carmen all the way south to Tulum. Largo is large compared with some of the other cities on the list, with a population exceeding 83,000. Want to live the Pacific Northwest dream in a beach-town setting? This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). The cost of living is nearly 10% below the U.S. average. Palm Coast is the quintessential Florida city, boasting beaches, golf courses and nearby access to estuaries and marshland. © Copyright 2020 Meredith Corporation. If you’ve ever imagined a tropical island with everything you’d ever want—from a buzzing, cosmopolitan city to the purest surf towns, from rugged verdant ridges to cerulean waters, from roadside shrimp shacks to the leading edge of restaurants—then welcome to Oahu. Learn more about the Mahogany Bay Village + Coastal Living experience, here. So does a food and drink scene fueled by innovative chefs, not to mention proximity to rich farms and wine country. However, low rents make New Bedford one of the most affordable beach towns. Nestled on the sharp blue waters of Tampa Bay, this cosmopolitan Gulf city just keeps getting better and better, with a downtown arts and culture scene that may best be exemplified by the recent (and spectacular) Dalí Museum anchoring the waterfront. Mary Esther is one of the small towns in Florida with a community of around 4,000; it’s nestled next to its more famous neighbor, Destin, one of the best beach towns in Florida. Daytona Beach has a reputation for having one of the best beaches in the U.S. and for getting a bit crazy during spring break, but the rest of the year, the city’s residents enjoy the second-lowest median home prices and the lowest overall rents in the entire list of gorgeous, affordable beach cities. Fort Pierce is part of the Treasure Coast and is known as the Sunrise City.