Is Sanford, Florida A Good Place to Live?

Is Sanford, Florida a good place to live? What about Sanford? These are questions I’m often asked when people consider moving to the Orlando area. So today I’ll be answering the question “Is Sanford, Florida a good place to live?” While I AM a fan of Sanford, I will acknowledge some Sanford’s warts today, so stick around until the end as I try to give a more complete perspective of this suburb of Orlando, Florida.

Where is Sanford?

Let’s start off with just where Sanford, Florida IS. Sanford is about 30 minutes north of Orlando, 35 minutes east of Mount Dora, and 50 minutes southwest of Daytona Beach. Being up on the north side of Orlando, Sanford sits at the junction of I-4 and the 417/Wekiva Parkway, which is part of the beltway around Orlando. Sanford has around 63,000 people as I record this today and is located in Seminole County, Florida.

It’s important to note that Sanford is NOT the same city it was, say, 25 years ago. I used to work near downtown and I’d drive by the waterfront and, let’s just say it wasn’t the city that it is today. There were plenty of shady characters walking around. Most of the downtown buildings were vacant and had broken windows. There was a lot of trash laying around, and I tried to avoid this area whenever I could. Today, downtown Sanford is vibrant. Numerous restaurants, breweries, coffee shops, and all sorts of shopping options are available.

They’ve completely revitalized this place. They’ve given a facelift to the north side of town, the Riverwalk, which is now a great place to walk, run, cycle, or just take a seat and look across Lake Monroe. So, what else is there to do here in Sanford other than eat, drink, and shop? Well, Lake Monroe, which I spoke of a minute ago, is part of the St. John’s River, which runs from down in southeast Florida up, through Sanford, and dumps out up around Jacksonville. The St. Johns is great for fishing, water skiing, jet skiing, or just cruising.

Sanford has a great zoo, numerous parks, a splash pad, Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium, where Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays played baseball, pickleball courts, farmers markets, dining cruises, and all sorts of downtown events, and…I could go on and on here. The point is, Sanford has a lot to do, as do the cities surrounding Sanford.

Out west of Sanford is the Wekiva River, and the Ocala National Forest is about an hour north of here. Of course, the beaches are close by, too. I spoke of Daytona Beach before, but New Smyrna Beach, my favorite beach, is just 45 minutes away.

Now you might think this distance to the beach is undesirable, but if you consider that this distance is enough to slow these hurricanes that come our way, you might rethink that. While it may be just 30 miles as a crow flies, it’s enough dry land to take a good bit of the punch out of a hurricane.

The Cost of Living in Sanford

Seminole County’s sales tax is 7% and the millage rate is quite low, being the lower than 40 of 67 Florida Counties. Taxes are on the rise here in Florida, but Florida still has no state income tax. As I record this today, Seminole County is just slightly above the national average for overall cost of living. Of course, if you live inside the city limits, your taxes may be higher than outside the city limits.

In the last full month since this recording, the median sale price of a single-family residential home cost $375,000. That may seem like a lot of dough, but it’s still slightly less than all of Sanford’s neighbors in every direction, except for Lake Mary, which came in at $515,000, and Deltona up to the north, at $315,000.

Speaking about homes, Sanford has everything from old rundown shacks to these beautiful, restored historic homes, to zero lot line neighborhoods to horse farms and estate homes. It has nearly 23 square miles of land and 3.5 square miles of water, most of which is Lake Monroe and the St. Johns River.

Sanford is an old town with an abundance of old homes, so termites are often an issue here. Bats are quite prevalent too, which is a cool thing until they’re living in your attic. Also, we’ve got these little…midges that can swarm, it seems like they’re worse down by the lakeside.

Employment

As a whole, there are plenty of jobs here in the Sanford area. Orlando is the biggest city in the area, and likely the largest provider of nearby jobs. Of course, there are an abundance of jobs down south of Orlando at the Mouse and all the other attractions.

But Lake Mary, Sanford’s neighbor to the southwest, has all sorts of tech, financial and administrative type jobs. This entire area is loaded with all sorts of businesses, including Seminole State College and the Orlando Sanford International Airport, right here in Sanford.

Schools

While my children are all grown up and don’t attend schools in Sanford, Seminole County Public Schools’ website says that they have an “A” rating and that they’re the top ranked schools when compared to Central Florida Districts, and 11^th overall when compared to all of Florida’s 67 Districts. Again, I cannot speak personally, but these claims surely make them sound like good schools.

Weather

The weather in Sanford is pretty good in my eyes as a whole. The winters here are VERY nice. In the winter, average temperatures run from the low 50’s to the mid 80’s, and humidity isn’t much of an issue. However, in the summer, say from June through September, when you wake up in the morning its usually in the low 70’s and the highs are in the mid to upper 90’s.

But it’s not the just heat, its often the humidity that’s what makes it so miserable here. Yes, we’ve got the beaches, and so many homeowners and complexes have swimming pools, but when I leave work and go out to fire up my truck, I’m often in a full-on sweat well before my AC kicks in.

Sanford’s Warts

Before I get to some of those “warts” that I spoke of earlier, If you’re thinking about moving to the Sanford area, or are thinking of leaving and have real estate needs, please send me a message or just pick up the phone and give me a call.

So I could preach all day on the benefits of Sanford, but I’m not a preacher, and I’m not going to tell you that Sanford is all rainbows and unicorns, because it’s not. Some areas of Sanford have some very old homes. Yes, some of these homes, especially around the downtown district are VERY nice, but let’s just say that some areas of Sanford may not be so desirable.

Some of these homes are dilapidated and not well cared for at all. I was at one just last week that had bats in the fascia and bees living in it. There was literally a layer of dirt on the roof and all sorts of green stuff was growing out of that. It was not a safe situation for sure.

When I drive down through Sanford along 17-92 at night, it seems like there are always blue lights flashing somewhere. Panhandlers, yup, Sanford has plenty of those. I won’t speak on crime statistics here, but there are numerous websites you can use to help determine if Sanford is a good place to live FOR YOU.

I noted earlier that Sanford was right at the junction of some highways, and this IS a GOOD thing; however, this seems to just make it easier for people live here in Sanford and work, in…say…Kissimmee. As such, traffic here can be a real issue. While I wouldn’t say it’s as bad here as it is down in Orlando, I-4 still stacks up regularly, but getting around town during the morning or afternoon rush hours can be a pain in the neck.

So, yes, I do believe Sanford, Florida IS a good place to live. Is it perfect? No, it’s not, but if I knew of somewhere that was perfect, I’d be buying that place up and surely wouldn’t be telling anyone else about it!