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RE413

Berkshire County · 24.36 square miles

Florida

The town record: taxes, homes, schools, water, flood, commute and the market, every figure from a named public source.

LATESTSources checked 2026-11-02 · 21 named public bodies · each figure above states its own period

The Record in Brief

Florida's residential property tax rate is $8.28 per $1,000 of assessed value for fiscal 2026, a municipal-tax illustration of $1,764 a year on the town's median single-family assessment, assessed at $213,000. Rates are set by the town and reported to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.

The median recorded single-family sale in Florida was $312,500 in 2024, across 16 recorded arm's-length deeds, from the Massachusetts standardized assessors' parcel layer published by MassGIS.

Florida had a population of 694 at the 2020 decennial census, published by the U.S. Census Bureau, down 7.7% on 2010.

Florida has no current digital flood map. The older Federal Emergency Management Agency paper map was digitised and it does show special flood hazard areas here, which is a reason to check an address rather than a boundary to rely on.

Every figure below states the period it covers and the body that publishes it. Full sourcing: sources and method.

What Does It Cost to Live Here?

$1,764/year in estimated municipal tax on the median assessment

At $8.28 per $1,000 of assessed value (fiscal 2026). This applies that rate to the median single-family assessment from FY2025; it is a comparison scenario, not a current bill. Separate fire, water or other district levies, special assessments and individual exemptions are excluded. Confirm the property's full bill with the assessor. The tax rate year by year, with the bill history and every town in the county, is on its own page. The full worked figure, mortgage at this week's rate, heating, the lot, is on the cost page, and the calculator takes any price.

Florida $1,764
Region middle $4,650
$769 Hancock$9,966 Longmeadow
Each dot is a town. Florida sits at $1,764, below the region's middle of $4,650. Across the 101 towns that report a bill on their median home, the figure runs from $769 in Hancock to $9,966 in Longmeadow.

Median household income, survey by survey

$86,8755-year estimate ending 2024 · overlapping windows, not annual readings

to 2009to 2024

The average single-family tax bill, FY1989 to FY2026

$2,006FY2026 average · the figure above is the median home, this line is the DLS average

FY1989FY2026

What Does It Cost to Heat?

Heating oil is the most common heating fuel here, used by 44% of homes. No Gas Main serves the town, heating follows the delivered-fuel market. This week's prices and the season maths are on the heating page.

What Kind of Homes Are Here?

719 parcels; the median single-family home here was built in 1969, surviving stock, not construction history.362 housing units at the 2020 count (296 in 2000). 88.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.

88.6% of homes here are single-family detached houses, and 5.4% of the housing stock predates 1940 while 4.5% went up in 2010 or later. Survey shares (2024), not counts.

9.1% of Homes Vacant at the Last Count

About 1 in 11 homes here stood empty at the April 2020 count, and 45.5% of those are seasonal or vacation homes.

≈13 sales a year

About 1 qualifying dwelling deed per 26 dwelling parcels is recorded in a year (2022–2024 average of recorded arm's-length deeds), at that pace, a property comes up roughly every 26 years. Steady-state arithmetic, not a measured wait, both counts cover dwelling property, and a deed can cover several parcels. The latest complete year's median sale: $312,500 (2024).

New homes permitted, year by year, since 1980

0units permitted in 2025, 0 months reported · permission to build, not completions

19802025

0 new homes were permitted in 2025 (the Bureau's estimate; the town filed no monthly reports that year). County-wide, house prices moved up 1.06% in 2025 (Berkshire County index, a county figure, not this town's).

Where Do Kids Go to School?

Younger Grades Local, Older Grades by Arrangement

The town's own schooling (Florida (PK–08)) stops before grade 12; older students attend North Adams (grades 9-12) under a tuition arrangement the town pays for. Every grade has a school, the question is where the bus goes.

The schools page carries every district serving Florida, where the buildings are, and what each district spends per pupil.

The district spends $22,127 per student. That is total spending per pupil, an input the state publishes, not a rating or a ranking of the schools.

Vocational option: Northern Berkshire RVT (grades 9–12), admission has its own application, and member towns differ on transport.

Charter schools whose region includes this town: Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School. Eligibility to apply, not a placement, admission is by lottery.

1 school building stands in town. Which building a child attends is set by the district, not by the address alone.

  • Abbott Memorial School · PK, K, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08 · public elementary

How's the Internet?

Cable Internet: Spectrum

Cable internet serves this town. Franchise areas can stop at village edges, so confirm service at the specific address, not the town line.

89% of households here subscribe to broadband, per the Census Bureau's rolling five-year survey, the ground truth against any coverage map.

Water, Sewer, or Septic?

No community water system is registered in this town, homes are on private wells. No municipal sewer treatment is registered here, homes are on septic systems, which state law has inspected at sale. Bedrock well yield potential in town is rated "average specific yield".

Will It Flood? Anything Nasty Nearby?

Mapped Flood Zones on the Older Map

This town has no current digital flood map, but the older FEMA paper map was digitised and it does show special flood hazard areas here. Treat it as a warning to check, not as a boundary: the paper map is less precise, carries no base flood elevations, and may be decades old. The town's floodplain administrator and the FEMA Map Service Center hold the answer for a specific address.

The flood page carries the mapping status, wetlands, dams and cleanup sites for Florida, with every town in the county.

3 dams in town. No sites appear in the state's cleanup registry for this town, a registry fact, not a clean bill of health. Address-level detail, this parcel, this street, is on the address check.

Solar in the State's Record. 13 solar installations here have been through the Commonwealth's incentive programmes, rated 98 kW between them. 100% are on houses. The register runs to 2022: the older programmes closed to new applications and their successor only opened in 2025, so a gap after that is the incentive record ending, not the installing. 1 more is approved but not yet generating. Capacity is what an array is rated at, never what it produced.

Radon Potential: Zone 2. The rock under this town is rated zone 2, the middle of the three the survey uses. The rock underneath is the Western Connecticut Valley Belt. That is a rating of geology, not a reading from any building: houses above the action level turn up in every zone, and houses in zone 1 routinely test clean. Radon is invisible, a test kit is the only thing that answers the question for a particular house, and it is worth doing whatever this map says.

The USGS runs 1 stream gauge in town with live river levels: COLD RIVER AT FLORIDA.

What's the Commute Like?

2.4% of the recorded Massachusetts jobs held by town residents are in this town. Other leading Massachusetts job destinations are Pittsfield, North adams, Adams. The record includes 46 jobs in this town held by Massachusetts residents. These are 2022 job records, not a count of distinct workers. Interstate jobs are excluded, including commutes to or from Connecticut, New York and Vermont.

Recorded job destinations and nearby work centres: living near Monroe (19 min), living near North Adams (67 Massachusetts job records (2022), 23 min), living near Clarksburg (6 Massachusetts job records (2022), 27 min), living near Charlemont (29 min), living near Adams (40 Massachusetts job records (2022), 29 min), living near Rowe (32 min), living near Williamstown (22 Massachusetts job records (2022), 33 min).

The average commute from here runs 26.1 minutes one way (working residents who leave home for work, 2024 5-year estimate). Walkability, where people live, scores 4.5 out of 20 on the EPA's index (least walkable).

No fixed-route bus stops in town. All three regional transit authorities' schedules were checked; dial-a-ride and paratransit services do not appear in them.

What Do Rentals Go For?

$1,763/Month: HUD's Two-Bedroom Standard

HUD's fair-rent standard for a two-bedroom here is $1,763 a month, the figure housing vouchers are built on for the Berkshire County, MA (part) HUD Metro FMR Area, not what landlords ask. It assumes rent plus most utilities, so it is not comparable to an advertised rent that excludes heat.

What tenants here actually pay, survey by survey

$867/monthmedian gross rent, 5-year estimate ending 2024 · rent plus utilities, what sitting tenants pay, not asking rents

to 2009to 2024

36.9% of households here fall below 80% of the area's median family income, the federal housing-programme measure of need, not a poverty rate. 0% of the town's year-round homes count toward the state's subsidized-housing inventory (the state threshold where override rules change is 10%).

16.7% of renters here spend a third or more of their income on housing (0% spend half or more); for owners it is 14.2%. The federal "cost-burdened" line is 30% of income; these are 5-year survey estimates (2024), not a headcount.

What Are the Winters Like?

Winters average 22.8°F, summers 63.9°F, and about 85″ of snow a year

Thirty-year normals (1991–2020), not this year's weather. The year averages 43.6°F with 53.15″ of precipitation. Readings come from the nearest long-record weather station to each measure, so a hilltown reading a valley station will see less snow here than falls on its own ridges.

Temperature: ROWE 3NE, MA US (7.4 mi). Snow: ASHFIELD, MA US (14.1 mi).

Growing or Shrinking?

Between the 1960 and 2020 censuses, population grew 22%. Between 1971 and 1999, about 28 acres were developed. About 24.3% of adults here hold a bachelor's degree or higher (2024 survey). The deep story, the town's oldest surviving houses and what they're built in, is in the Old House Atlas.

People in Florida, every published figure

7002025 estimate · hover the line for any year

19602025 est.

Everything taxable in town, at full value, since 1970

$203M2024 equalized valuation, the Commissioner's biennial full-value figure

19702024

The town's certified reserves, year by year, since 2003

$152,594certified free cash as of 1 July 2023 · audited spendable reserves, not a budget

20032023

Free cash is what the state certifies a town may actually spend from its reserves once receivables and deficits are taken out. It is the closest public measure of municipal cushion, and it is why one town absorbs a bad winter or a failed roof without an override while its neighbour cannot.

State aid, net of what the state charges back, since 2010

$749,517net cherry sheet aid, fiscal 2027, the Commonwealth's published estimate for a year not yet settled

20102027

The cherry sheet is the Commonwealth's annual notice of what it will send the town and what it will charge back. In fiscal 2027 that is $948,301 in aid against $198,784 in assessments, of which $759,613 of the aid is school aid. It is the half of a town's budget the property tax does not explain, which is why two towns with the same rate can be in very different shape.

Next door different? Put Florida beside any of the other 100 towns.

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Cite this page: RE413, “Florida Town Record,” https://www.re413.com/towns/florida-ma/.

From the Desk

Reporting on Florida and the wider region.

Nearby Towns

The same record for each, with its own residential rate.

Or put two side by side in the Florida comparison tool, see what the tax bill would be in every town, or read the state of housing across all 101.

Sources

"Figures through" is the period the publisher's data describes; "checked" is only when we last asked. The full sourcing: sources and method.

Page Last Updated : What This Date Means

The date the content of this page last changed. It moves only when the figures or text on the page actually change, not on every rebuild. Each figure also names its own source and the period it covers, which can be older: agencies publish on their own schedules. See when each source was last checked.