Monroe County Homes for Sale

Monroe County snapshot (April 2026): typical home value $961K ($845/sqft), median rent $3,383, about 1,389 active listings, a median 99 days on market, and 16.3% of listings cutting price — a buyer's market. Values are -2.3% over the past year and +6.7% over five years.

Monroe's economy is tourism above all — Key West and the Keys draw millions for diving, fishing, and the island lifestyle — plus the U.S. Navy (Naval Air Station Key West), marine industries (charter fishing, diving, boating), and government. With almost no room to build, the services-and-hospitality economy supports a population squeezed by some of the highest housing costs in the country.

The Monroe County School District is small and spread across the island chain, with schools in Key West, Marathon, and the Upper Keys serving a limited year-round student population.

• Key West High School
• Marathon High School
• Coral Shores High School (Tavernier)
• Sigsbee Charter School (Key West)

Schools are spread along the chain (Key West, Marathon, Upper Keys); confirm the assignment for a specific island. See school-zone guides →

A median-priced Monroe County home costs about $6,518/month all-in (mortgage, tax, and insurance, 10% down) against median household income of $82,430. Florida's homestead exemption removes up to $50,000 of assessed value, and Save Our Homes caps annual assessed-value increases at 3% while you keep the homestead.

At about $4,380 a year, Monroe sits on the higher end for Florida, so build insurance into your offer math from day one. Wind-mitigation features earn insurance credits; flood insurance is priced separately by address. Run your own numbers with the true cost calculator.

Builders pulled 279 residential permits last year (-16.5% YoY) — 239 single-family and 40 multifamily, about 3.4 per 1,000 residents. Active master-planned communities include Truman Annex (Key West); Ocean Reef Club (Key Largo); Key West Golf Club; Tavernier-area communities; Duck Key. Builders compete on rate buydowns and closing-cost credits; buyer representation matters even on a new build. See active builders →

Monroe County has about 81,840 residents. On a net domestic basis it saw net domestic out-migration of about 713 people and a net +$178.35M in adjusted gross income in the latest IRS filing year (county-to-county moves within the U.S.; this does not count international migration or births). Domestic arrivals are led by CA, IL, MD. Notably, even where the county loses residents on net, the income arriving outweighs the income leaving — a wealth-migration pattern.

Expect the Keys to stay scarce and pricey over the next 12 months: capped supply and second-home-and-vacation demand keep values resilient, while extreme insurance and affordability define the market. The high end and waterfront stay the most liquid.

Monroe's economy is tourism above all — Key West and the Keys draw millions for diving, fishing, and the island lifestyle — plus the U.S. Navy (Naval Air Station Key West), marine industries (charter fishing, diving, boating), and government. With almost no room to build, the services-and-hospitality economy supports a population squeezed by some of the highest housing costs in the country.

• Naval Air Station Key West (U.S. Navy)
• Monroe County School District
• Historic Tours of America
• Keys Energy Services
• Lower Keys Medical Center / Mariners Hospital
• Monroe County government
• tourism and hospitality operators

Strict state-and-county growth caps (the Rate of Growth Ordinance, 'ROGO') tightly limit new construction across the Keys, making housing supply nearly fixed.

A deep, diversified employer base is what underpins housing demand through national cycles. Talk to a local Monroe County agent →

The Keys are a lifestyle unto themselves: Key West's Old Town, Duval Street, and Mallory Square sunsets; the diving and snorkeling of the only living coral reef in the continental U.S.; the world-class flats and offshore fishing of Islamorada and Marathon; the Seven Mile Bridge; and an unhurried, tropical, anything-goes island culture found nowhere else in Florida.

Monroe carries the most extreme risk profile in the state: direct hurricane and storm-surge exposure across a low-lying island chain (Hurricane Irma in 2017 caused major damage), the highest insurance costs in Florida by a wide margin (flood and wind), evacuation-and-resilience concerns, and capped supply under ROGO. Sea-level rise is a genuine long-term factor. Affordability is severe for the year-round workforce.