Venice, FL 55+ Active Adult Retirement Communities

Venice is an in-demand coastal town in Southwest Florida, offering a wide variety of beaches, outdoor spaces, and artistic opportunities. With a mostly warm, humid climate, it is a popular destination for retirees because of the abundance of community activities in a town with old-world charm. Homebuyers looking for 55+ communities in Venice should seriously consider this beautiful coastal town.

Venice Climate & Geography

Located on the western coast of Florida, Venice experiences hot and humid summers and mild winters that almost never reach freezing temperatures. Its tropical climate causes a wet season between June and October, where thunderstorms lead Venice to experience higher-than-average rainfall. The remaining months are part of the dry season, where residents can experience mostly sunny days and cloudless skies.

Recreation, Culture & Entertainment in Venice

Venice is named one of the Top 10 Happiest Seaside Towns and has no shortage of recreational activities and entertainment. Historic Downtown Venice boasts over 130 shops, boutiques, art galleries, cafes, and restaurants in architecture modeled after Northern Italy.
Residents also have plenty of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Several beaches, including Caspersen Beach, Venice Beach, Venice Fishing Pier, and Brohard Paw Park for dogs, are open the majority of the year. There are also several parks and nature preserves, including the Venice Area Audubon Rookery for bird lovers and nature photographers. As the Shark Tooth Capital of the World, Venice hosts one of the most popular festivals in Florida, the Shark Tooth Festival, to celebrate the abundance of fossilized shark teeth that can be found on the shores.

There are also several homes and hotels that have been added to the National Register of Historic Places, and Venice is also home to the Ideal Classic Cars Museum & Showroom and the Venice Theater.

Venice Cost of Living & Taxes

As a popular seaside destination, Venice’s cost of living is higher than the national average, mostly due to the cost of housing. Other indexes, like health, grocery, and transportation are all similar to the national average, trending just above it.

Florida is desirable for retirees as it does not tax income, pensions, Social Security, or other forms of retirement income. The combined sales tax rate in Venice is 7 percent. Property taxes for Sarasota County are higher than the national average. However there is a homestead exemption for those who claim their Florida property as their primary residence.

Health Care in Venice

Venice 55+ communities are part of the Sarasota Metropolitan Area which generally ranks well on Gallup’s Well-Being Index. The area has received high scores for the past few years and topped the index in 2015.

Venice has one hospital within its city limits, the Venice Regional Bayfront Hospital, which is ranked high-performing by U.S. News in both Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Heart Failure. Two more high-performing hospitals are just outside Venice, the Bayfront Health Port Charlotte and Fawcett Memorial Hospital. In metropolitan Sarasota, U.S. News ranks the Sarasota Memorial Hospital as the best hospital in Southern Florida and the 8th best hospital in the entire state.