The Real Cost of Living on Anastasia Island, Florida

Property Tax: Three Governments, Three Different Bills

St. Johns County's own certified 2025 total millage for unincorporated land ran roughly 13.4686 mills, and the county's own operating-fund portion of that was tentatively set at 4.465 mills for FY2026 -- slightly below the prior year's 4.6537 mills. Every parcel on Anastasia Island pays some version of that county base rate (county operating, county school district -- roughly 6.20 mills of the total funds schools -- and any relevant special-district assessments), but what gets layered on top of it depends entirely on jurisdiction. A home in unincorporated Crescent Beach or Butler Beach pays that county rate directly, with no separate city millage added. A home inside the City of St. Augustine Beach pays the county rate plus that city's own FY2026 operating and debt-service millage (roughly 2.58 mills combined, per the city's own adopted budget). A home inside the City of St. Augustine's Davis Shores or Lighthouse Park sections pays the county rate plus that older city's own separate municipal millage, which this research did not independently pull for this page -- confirm it directly with the St. Johns County Property Appraiser for any specific Davis Shores or Lighthouse Park parcel.

Applying just the unincorporated county rate directly to round numbers: a $500,000 assessed unincorporated-island home carries a tax bill of roughly $6,730/year at the 13.4686-mill certified 2025 total; a $700,000 home, roughly $9,430/year; and the $575,000 island-wide median sale price cited below would land near $7,745/year. Those are straightforward rate-times-assessed-value calculations, not actual county bills -- Florida's Save Our Homes assessment cap can hold a longtime owner's assessed value well below current market value, while a freshly purchased parcel is typically reassessed close to its sale price, so the same market value can produce very different actual bills depending on ownership history. Only the St. Johns County Property Appraiser's office can confirm a specific parcel's current assessed value and full combined millage.

Home Prices: A Real Island-Wide Figure, With a Real Caveat

A real-estate aggregator (Homes.com) puts Anastasia Island's trailing-12-month median sale price at $575,000, up roughly 1% from the prior 12-month period, with listed price ranges commonly running from about $400,000 up toward $4 million for waterfront property, and condos ranging roughly $200,000 to $2.5 million depending on age and water proximity. Homes here take an average of 74 days to sell, versus a 58-day national average -- a real, if modest, sign of a slower-moving market than the country overall. The honest caveat: that $575,000 figure is an island-wide blend across all three jurisdictions and every housing type from unincorporated Crescent Beach cottages to St. Augustine Beach condos to Davis Shores mid-century homes, so it should be read as a rough island-wide midpoint, not a like-for-like comparison for any specific neighborhood or property type. A buyer targeting a specific section of the island should pull neighborhood-level comps from a local agent rather than anchoring to this single blended number.

Insurance: A Real Barrier-Island Cost Range

St. Johns County homeowners insurance is commonly cited in the rough $2,400-$6,500+ per year range depending on distance from the water, roof age and construction type, and wind-mitigation features, per multiple local insurance-guide estimates -- with St. Johns County specifically flagged by more than one of those guides as having some of the higher average premiums in the region because of its coastal exposure and generally higher home values. That standard homeowners figure does not include flood coverage: a standard Florida homeowners policy excludes flood damage entirely, so any parcel in a Special Flood Hazard Area (a real possibility across large sections of this barrier island, given the county's own Zone A/B evacuation designation covering the whole island) needs a separate NFIP or private flood policy, priced independently. Coastal-adjacent, older-construction homes closer to the water and dune line should be budgeted toward the higher end of that range or above it; inland, newer-construction homes on the island's western, Intracoastal-facing side are more likely to land toward the lower end. None of this substitutes for an actual quote tied to a specific address, roof age, and elevation certificate.

Short-Term Rental Compliance Costs Differ by Jurisdiction Too

For unincorporated sections of the island -- Crescent Beach and Butler Beach specifically -- St. Johns County's own short-term-rental ordinance, adopted in 2021 and covering unincorporated land east of the Intracoastal Waterway, caps occupancy at 10 guests regardless of bedroom count, was phased in over three years for existing rentals, and requires registration with the county alongside collection and remittance of the county's Tourist Development Tax. On top of that county layer, Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation requires a statewide vacation-rental license for any property rented more than three times a year, and the county requires its own Business Tax Receipt for the rental activity -- real, recurring compliance costs and paperwork beyond the mortgage and insurance. Properties inside St. Augustine Beach's own city limits instead fall under that city's separate rental ordinance (City Code Section 3.09.00), and properties inside the City of St. Augustine's Davis Shores or Lighthouse Park sections fall under that older city's own rules -- this page did not independently verify the current fee schedule or occupancy limits for either of those two city-level ordinances, and a buyer planning to rent should confirm the specific ordinance that applies to a specific parcel before underwriting any rental income.

Utilities, Water/Sewer, and Everyday Costs

This research did not find Anastasia Island-specific utility-rate data broken out from the broader St. Johns County / St. Augustine service area; JEA (Jacksonville) and various county and city utility providers serve different parts of the county depending on location, and the specific provider and rate schedule for any given Anastasia Island parcel should be confirmed directly rather than assumed. Older, coastal barrier-island construction on this island generally carries higher exposure to wind-mitigation retrofits (impact windows, roof strapping, roof age) that materially affect the insurance figures above -- a wind-mitigation inspection report is worth obtaining before or during any purchase, since it can meaningfully change a quoted premium either direction.

HOA and Association Costs

HOA and condo-association exposure varies enormously by which part of the island a buyer is looking at: unincorporated Crescent Beach and Butler Beach lean toward older, non-planned, non-HOA single-family lots; the City of St. Augustine Beach and Davis Shores include a mix of non-HOA single-family streets and specific condo buildings and planned developments that do carry dues and governing documents. This page does not generalize a dues figure across such a varied stock -- any specific listing's HOA or condo-association dues, reserve health, and governing documents should be requested and reviewed directly rather than assumed from an island-wide average.

Putting the Real Number Together

For a representative $500,000-$600,000 purchase on Anastasia Island, a realistic annual recurring-cost floor depends heavily on jurisdiction and location: roughly $6,700-$8,100 in property tax at the unincorporated county's 13.4686-mill 2025 certified rate for a Crescent Beach or Butler Beach parcel, or that same county figure plus an additional city millage layer for a St. Augustine Beach or Davis Shores parcel; a homeowners policy likely in the $2,400-$6,500+ range depending on the property's distance from the water, age, and construction, plus a separate flood policy for any Special Flood Hazard Area parcel; and, for any owner planning short-term rental income, a separate layer of state DBPR licensing, county or city registration, and Tourist Development Tax compliance costs on top of the mortgage. None of these figures substitutes for an actual county tax card, actual insurance quotes, and an actual comparative market analysis for a specific parcel and jurisdiction -- but together they give a far more honest starting budget than a single island-wide purchase-price headline alone.