Lower Florida Keys Google Maps:

The Lower Keys:

Big Pine through Sugarloaf Key, These are great residential areas- small and more like flat versions of New England or Caribbean seaside towns—shopping is available and Key West and all the restaurants and nightlife are 30 to 45 minutes away.

Key West:

A destination point for millions of tourists, cruise ships and Florida residents looking for something different. This town definitely has a relaxed feel about it. Eve though I lived 23 miles from there, going in on week ends still felt like going on vacation.

General Information Florida Keys

Located in the southern tip of Florida. The keys border the Everglades and the waters of the gulf of Mexicoand the Atlantic..
2000 square miles
Average Temperature 77.8°F
Average Annual Precipitation 39 in
Average Rain Days 109
Population projection 2005 -80,000
Key West population-34,000 plus
Average home cost-June 2005-$600,000 in the Keys
Cost of Living-almost 112-1st in the state
Median age-43.
Major Employment and jobs by Industry in order of numbers

Management, professional
Service occupations
Sales and office
Fishing
Construction
Natural resources
Production and transportation
In conclusion, the Keys are expensive but are like no where else you’ve ever been. If you like the water and are an avid boater, fisherman, diver, you should consider the Keys. You’ll never regret it.

The only cautions are the usual suspects in waterside Florida: first, the possibility of hurricanes in the late summer and fall months, and, since you are literally at sea level, and since evacuation is only towards Miami some hours away (3 ½ from Key West), a fair amount of stress around that issue. (Unless, of course, you adopt Jimmy Buffet’s attitude and just lie back and enjoy the waiting.) And second, for real shopping variety, you really do have to go to Miami, and at 45 mph in tight traffic for several hours, that gets old. (Which is why I and other Keys residents learned to provision ourselves in advance, and otherwise take a page from Buffet’s song and just enjoy hamburgers in paradise.) And finally, insurance rates are on their way through the roof. (But aren’t they everywhere?)

Perhaps all that, and a generally very high cost of living, is why more and more people are looking at the Keys not so much as a primary home for retirement, but rather as a second or vacation home – and most people who have ever been there, or like us who have ever lived there, would have to say that there is no place quite like it or quite so wonderful. I think the Keys will always have a unique draw for folks old and young alike. As I said, we spend only a small part of our lifetimes outdoors, so why not make the most of it – in the Florida Keys!