Retiring in Hollywood, Florida

Housing Market

Median sale price: $488,000 (as of 2025).

Hollywood Lakes offers established waterfront/canal single-family homes at a genuine premium (median around $700,000), Hollywood Hills offers a somewhat more moderate alternative (median around $636,000), and West Hollywood (the Florida neighborhood, not the California city) offers a more affordable entry point around $480,000.

Extensive along Hollywood Beach (median around $440,000) and within the gated Emerald Hills community, which includes multiple established condo associations such as Grandview at Emerald Hills (established 1979) and The Greens of Emerald Hills (established 1978).

Genuinely active along Hollywood Beach, including the 39-story, 248-unit One Hollywood Residences directly on the beach, the 38-story Icon Beach Waterfront Residences (construction starting May 2026, delivery targeted 2028), and a $100 million luxury redevelopment of the century-old Hollywood Beach Resort led by Related Group.

Property Taxes & Homestead

The City of Hollywood’s total FY2025 millage runs 8.0132 mills (7.4479 operating plus 0.5653 voted debt service), a decrease from FY2024, layered on top of Broward County’s countywide millage of 5.6658 mills for FY2026 plus Broward County School Board and South Broward Hospital District levies; buyers should confirm the exact combined rate for a given Hollywood address directly with the Broward County Property Appraiser.

Standard Florida homestead exemption (up to $50,000 off assessed value) and the Save Our Homes 3%/CPI annual assessment-growth cap apply to primary residents, with the filing deadline always March 1 of each year.

Insurance, Flood & Hurricane Risk

Homeowners insurance cost estimates for Hollywood varied widely across sources reviewed in this research, from roughly $3,663 per year to over $7,000 per year for comparable coverage, reflecting real differences in property age, construction, and coastal proximity; buyers should obtain individualized quotes rather than relying on any single citywide average.

Florida’s statewide NFIP average runs roughly $853-$938 per year, though Hollywood-specific risk runs meaningfully higher given its coastal geography: 128 of 129 census tracts in the city have more than half of buildings facing significant flood risk, and over 11,000 properties sit within FEMA’s Special Flood Hazard Area across Zone AE, Zone VE, and Zone X designations, with a 26% chance of a 1-in-100-year flood event occurring at least once over a 30-year mortgage.

Hurricane Wilma in October 2005 impacted a reported 3,182 properties in Hollywood; in October 2024, Hurricane Milton caused standing water on roads and prompted some Hollywood Broadwalk businesses to consider temporary closures ahead of the storm, though the city did not experience a direct catastrophic landfall since Milton made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

128 of Hollywood’s 129 census tracts have more than half of buildings facing significant flood risk from storm surge, high-tide flooding, surface flooding, or riverine flooding; the city maintains defined hurricane evacuation zones (Zone A for the barrier island, Zone B from the Intracoastal to Federal Highway), with a direct Category 5 strike potentially producing 9-12 feet of storm surge extending past Federal Highway.

HOA, CDD & Condo Fees

Emerald Hills operates as a gated community with 24/7 security and HOA dues around $350-400/month covering security, landscaping, and common-area maintenance, containing multiple separate condo associations; Hollywood Lakes and Hollywood Hills are established, non-gated, non-age-restricted neighborhoods with lighter formal HOA structure.

No Community Development District was identified as a governance structure within Hollywood in this research; the city’s established neighborhoods and gated communities are governed instead through traditional HOA and condo-association structures.

Healthcare

• Memorial Regional Hospital — Reported bed count varies inconsistently across sources, from roughly 797 to 863 licensed beds. One of only seven Level I Trauma Centers in the state of Florida; completed an $88 million infrastructure investment around its 70th anniversary in 2023.
• Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital — A 226-bed quaternary-care facility on the same Hollywood campus, also designated as a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center.

Airports & Transportation

• Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) — approximately 4 miles (~11 min drive)

Hollywood participates in the broader statewide snowbird pattern, with Florida’s population rising by up to roughly 5% during the winter season between October and April, adding real seasonal traffic to I-95 and local beach-adjacent roads.

Lifestyle

Golf is present in the broader Hollywood area but is not the city’s defining recreational identity, which centers instead on its beachfront Broadwalk and established waterfront neighborhoods.

Hollywood offers genuine Intracoastal and canal-front boating access via Hollywood Lakes and Hollywood Hills, complementing the city’s broader beachfront identity along the Broadwalk.

The Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, a roughly 2 to 2.5-mile paved oceanfront promenade, gives the city one of the most genuinely walkable beachfront corridors in this entire research project, while Historic Downtown Hollywood adds a separate walkable entertainment and dining district anchored by ArtsPark at Young Circle.

ArtsPark at Young Circle, a roughly 12-acre park with a 2,500-capacity amphitheater, includes a Visual Arts Pavilion offering rotating gallery exhibits and a working glass-blowing studio with free demonstrations and paid classes, giving Historic Downtown Hollywood genuine, hands-on cultural programming beyond a typical performing-arts venue.

Snowbird vs Full-Time

Hollywood participates in the broader statewide snowbird pattern, with Florida’s population rising by up to roughly 5% during the winter season between October and April, though no Hollywood-specific seasonal population statistic was independently confirmed in available research.

Pros

• A Level I trauma center (Memorial Regional Hospital), one of only seven in the entire state of Florida
• A genuinely long, walkable oceanfront Broadwalk recognized as a top beach destination
• A real choice among established waterfront neighborhoods, from Hollywood Lakes to the gated Emerald Hills community
• A specialized pediatric-trauma hospital (Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital) on the same campus as the main hospital
• Genuine cultural programming via ArtsPark at Young Circle’s amphitheater and hands-on Visual Arts Pavilion
• A genuine choice among distinct neighborhood identities, from the lively Broadwalk corridor to quiet, established canal-front streets
• Convenient proximity to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, among the closest of any city profiled in this research

Drawbacks

• Reported age-65-plus percentage and median household income figures varied across sources reviewed in this research
• Homeowners-insurance cost estimates varied widely across sources, from roughly $3,663 to over $7,000 per year
• Nearly all of the city’s census tracts show more than half of buildings facing significant flood risk
• Memorial Regional Hospital’s exact bed count was reported inconsistently, from roughly 797 to 863
• An evolving Beach Overlay District plan that could affect building heights and design standards along the Broadwalk over time
• A genuinely large, actively developing city rather than a quiet, low-density beach town
• A genuinely varied set of distinct neighborhood identities that requires careful comparison before choosing where to buy
• Homeowners-insurance cost figures that vary too widely across sources to rely on a single confident citywide estimate