Photo: Elisa.rolle · CC BY-SA 4.0Even on the area’s higher pay, Lake Worth Beach costs more to live in than 95% of U.S. towns
It ranks #509 of 637 in Florida for affordability. Up 1.4% in a year, 18% above the Florida typical home.
Census 2020–24 home values, rents, tax bills and cost burden, measured against the median household income of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL metro area ($77K). How TownRatings grades cost of living
The grade measures what housing costs against what households in the area earn. Lake Worth Beach’s area earns well above the typical U.S. town ($77K against $74K), but homes, rent and taxes here run higher still. Owners keep up better than renters: 35% of owners pay 30% or more of income for housing (typical U.S. town: 20%), against 66% of renters.
In dollars
- $442Ktypical home, 18% above the Florida typical homeZillow, September 2026
- $2,090a month for a two-bedroom, utilities includedHUD Fair Market Rent, 2026
- 114prices across the Miami metro, where the U.S. is 100 (housing 156)BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024
In paychecks the grade
- 5.2 yrsof area income buys the typical home; the typical U.S. town: 3.3$77K, Miami-area income
- 24%of area income goes to the median rent; the typical U.S. town: 18%Census 2020–24
- 66%of renters pay 30%+ of income for housing; across Florida: 60%Census 2020–24
- 35%of owners do; the typical U.S. town: 20%Census 2020–24
What Lake Worth Beach’s housing numbers say
About half of Lake Worth Beach rents
54% of households rent their home, 8,237 in all, against 32% across Florida. Renting ↓
2026 has already passed 2025
Through August, Lake Worth Beach had permitted 224 new homes in 2026, more than the 108 in all of 2025. New homes ↓
Prices vary a lot across the town lines
Typical values in the towns next door run from $405K in West Palm Beach to $2.14M in Palm Beach. At $442K, Lake Worth Beach is the 3rd most expensive of the 4. Vs. neighbors ↓
A burst of building in 2021
Lake Worth Beach permitted 272 new homes in 2021, 93% of them in buildings with two or more homes, against about 92 in a typical year of the past decade. 2025 came in at 108. New homes ↓
Written from the data on this page. Home values are the Zillow Home Value Index, through September 2026; sales and supply are Redfin’s for May 2026; permits are Census figures through 2025; incomes, rents paid, taxes and ownership come from the Census American Community Survey.
What’s behind Lake Worth Beach’s grade
Measured against what households in the area earn, Lake Worth Beach is more affordable than 5% of U.S. towns, #509 of 637 in Florida. The share of households paying 30%+ for housing pulls the grade down most; property tax holds it up.
Values have outpaced Florida: the typical Lake Worth Beach home is up 29.6% in five years, against 18.6% statewide (Zillow).
Up 29.6% in five years
Faster than Florida (18.6%).
Show as a table
| January | Lake Worth Beach | Florida |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | $199,000 | $209,000 |
| 2018 | $228,000 | $226,000 |
| 2019 | $251,000 | $241,000 |
| 2020 | $268,000 | $252,000 |
| 2021 | $298,000 | $276,000 |
| 2022 | $364,000 | $339,000 |
| 2023 | $433,000 | $392,000 |
| 2024 | $457,000 | $402,000 |
| 2025 | $459,000 | $396,000 |
| 2026 | $435,000 | $377,000 |
| September 2026 | $442,000 | $375,000 |
A typical Lake Worth Beach home worth $193K in October 2016 is worth about $442K today.
Zillow Home Value Index: the typical value of all homes (middle third), smoothed and seasonally adjusted, through September 2026.
A balanced market
About 5.1 months of supply: neither buyers nor sellers have a clear edge.
Under ~4 months of supply favors sellers; over ~6 favors buyers.
Redfin Data Center, all residential sales, May 2026.
A typical home costs 5.2 years of area income
The calculator starts from the area income the grade uses. Switch to Lake Worth Beach’s own median, or type yours.
That’s $140K short of a typical Lake Worth Beach home.
A two-bedroom rents for about $2,090 a month here, $540 less than owning.
An estimate, not a loan offer: payments of up to 28% of income, a 30-year fixed loan, Lake Worth Beach’s typical property tax (0.86% of value a year, from the Census) and insurance of about 0.35%. Mortgage insurance, HOA fees and other debts aren’t included.
A two-bedroom rents for about $2,090
Renters already here pay a median of $1,545, so moving in tends to cost more than staying put.
Fair Market Rent a month, utilities included
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents by ZIP code (West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL HUD Metro FMR Area): the 40th-percentile rent plus utilities for a standard unit. Median rent and renters: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey.
108 new homes permitted in 2025
Builders were permitted 108 new homes in Lake Worth Beach in 2025: 9 single-family houses and 99 in buildings with two or more homes, worth about $14.9 million to build. That's 2.5 per 1,000 residents, slower than across Florida (8.3). Over the past 10 years, Lake Worth Beach has permitted 1,099 homes in all.
Every year as a table
| Year | New homes | Single-family | 2+ per building | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (Jan–Aug) | 224 | 7 | 217 | $13 million |
| 2025 | 108 | 9 | 99 | $14.9 million |
| 2024 | 43 | 9 | 34 | $10.3 million |
| 2023 | 23 | 18 | 5 | $7.9 million |
| 2022 | 46 | 33 | 13 | $10.6 million |
| 2021 | 272 | 19 | 253 | $30 million |
| 2020 | 264 | 23 | 241 | $29.3 million |
| 2019 | 126 | 76 | 50 | $19.4 million |
| 2018 | 135 | 38 | 97 | $22.4 million |
| 2017 | 43 | 43 | 0 | $6.8 million |
| 2016 | 39 | 39 | 0 | $6.4 million |
| 2015 | 39 | 39 | 0 | $5.7 million |
| 2014 | 17 | 17 | 0 | $4.5 million |
| 2013 | 324 | 31 | 293 | $32.7 million |
| 2012 | 46 | 24 | 22 | $9.6 million |
| 2011 | 70 | 5 | 65 | $8.8 million |
| 2010 | 38 | 5 | 33 | $4.7 million |
| 2009 | 55 | 12 | 43 | $7.2 million |
| 2008 | 86 | 16 | 70 | $10.5 million |
| 2007 | 93 | 24 | 69 | $11.3 million |
| 2006 | 134 | 40 | 94 | $17 million |
| 2005 | 111 | 35 | 76 | $15.5 million |
| 2004 | 257 | 44 | 213 | $29.1 million |
| 2003 | 43 | 37 | 6 | $4.5 million |
| 2002 | 56 | 54 | 2 | $7 million |
| 2001 | 24 | 24 | 0 | $2.5 million |
| 2000 | 16 | 16 | 0 | $5.8 million |
Homes authorized by building permits, counted in the year the permit was issued. U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey.
Property tax runs above the Florida norm
The median bill is $3,439 (Florida: $2,730), 0.86% of a home’s value a year, against 0.76% statewide.
Census American Community Survey 2020–24: the median real-estate tax bill homeowners report, and that bill ÷ the median home value. Bills include town, school and county taxes. The Census reports bills over $10,000 only as “$10,000+”.
The rest of a budget near Lake Worth Beach
Only figures published free for the whole country, each labeled with the area it covers: the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL metro area, or Florida. Groceries follow the goods price level; nobody publishes them town by town.
| Cost | Here | Compared with | Area | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prices overall U.S. = 100 | 114 | FL 103 | metro | BEA, 2024 |
| Goods (groceries, clothing, cars…) U.S. = 100 | 104 | FL 98 | metro | BEA, 2024 |
| Utilities U.S. = 100 | 97 | FL 90 | metro | BEA, 2024 |
| Other services U.S. = 100 | 109 | FL 101 | metro | BEA, 2024 |
Price levels: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities 2024 (metro area and state). Electricity: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, table 5.6.A.
Lake Worth Beach vs. its neighbors
Of the 4 towns here with a Zillow value, Lake Worth Beach has the 2nd-lowest. Lantana has no Zillow value, so it is in the table only.
Cost next door · one source per column
| Town | Cost | Typical home Zillow, September 2026 | Median value Census 2020–24 | Tax rate bill ÷ value | 2-bed rent HUD 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Worth Beach | D | $442K | $401K | 0.86% | $2,090 |
| Lake Clarke Shores | C− | $669K | $574K | 0.84% | $2,060 |
| Lantana | D | — | $396K | 0.62% | $2,040 |
| Palm Beach | D− | $2.1M | $2.0M | 0.50%+ | $2,410 |
| West Palm Beach | D− | $405K | $414K | 0.93% | $2,330 |
“—” under Zillow: Zillow publishes no value for that town, so it’s left blank rather than mixed with Census figures. “+”: the Census reports the tax bill only as $10,000 or more, so the rate is at least that.
Questions about the cost of living in Lake Worth Beach
Is Lake Worth Beach expensive to live in?
Measured against what households in the area earn, Lake Worth Beach costs more than 95% of U.S. towns: a D for cost of living, #509 of 637 in Florida. The typical home costs 5.2 years of the median household income of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL metro area ($77K).
How much does a house cost in Lake Worth Beach?
About $442K, Zillow’s typical value for September 2026, up 1.4% in a year. The Florida typical home is $375K.
What salary do you need to live in Lake Worth Beach?
To buy the typical home with 20% down at 6.3%, about $113,000 a year, keeping the payment (about $2,630 a month with tax and insurance) at 28% of income. To rent a two-bedroom at 30% of income, about $84,000.
How much is rent in Lake Worth Beach?
HUD puts a two-bedroom at about $2,090 a month with utilities, the going rate for someone moving in. Renters already here pay a median of $1,545 (Census 2020–24).
What are property taxes in Lake Worth Beach?
The median bill is $3,439 a year, 0.86% of the median home value (Florida: $2,730, 0.76%), from the Census 2020–24.
Are home prices in Lake Worth Beach going up?
Yes: up 1.4% in the past year and 29.6% in five years, against 18.6% across Florida (Zillow).
Neighbors talk housing
What Lake Worth Beach buyers, sellers and renters are saying.
Home values: Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), Zillow Research, September 2026. Sales, days on market and supply: Redfin Data Center, May 2026. Income, ownership, taxes and rent: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. New homes: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey. Fair Market Rents: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The calculator is an estimate, not a loan offer. Regional price levels: BEA; electricity: EIA. How TownRatings grades cost of living.