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Popular Master-Planned Communities on Florida's West Coast

Discover the growing communities from Tampa to Naples that people are moving to.

Upon relocating to Florida, many choose to live in a master-planned community due to the many popular amenities and benefits they provide. As the name implies, master-planned communities are developed from a master comprehensive plan and are created to embody the culture of living, working and playing all within the convenience of a single, large, well-planned community. From inception, these communities are designed to be amenity-rich and embrace the concept of resident interaction with centralized town centers, planned social activities and an active calendar of fun events for its residents to enjoy.

For your convenience, this page has been created to help you locate the popular master-planned communities from Tampa to Naples, as this is where the majority of people are relocating to on Florida’s west coast (based upon U-Haul’s annual data of one-way truck sharing transactions as well as growing population data from the U.S. Census Bureau). The coastline north of Tampa Bay, called the nature coast, is much less populated overall as the eight-county region is mostly home to state conservation lands and nature parks. There are however, some popular master planned communities more inland in this region such as in Ocala and The Villages, but those communities are roughly 40 - 50 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico and considered to be more in the north central region of Florida.

Key Takeaway Comparisons

Community	Location	Size (Acres)	Starting Price	Unique Feature / Lifestyle
Epperson	Wesley Chapel (North Tampa Area)	900	$300's	Features a 7.5-acre Crystal Lagoon pool, smart home designs and ULTRAFi hi-speed internet.
North River Ranch	Parrish (Manatee County)	2,600	$300's	Newer community with a focus on a "living, working, and playing" design and 26 miles of planned fitness trails.
Lakewood Ranch	Sarasota/Manatee Counties	33,000	$300's	Massive Size (2nd largest in FL). Top-selling, multi-generational, features 3 town centers and 150 miles of trails.
Skye Ranch	Sarasota	1,000	Upper $300's	New, smaller community focused on preserving nature with integrated wetlands and over 25 miles of fitness trails.
Palmer Ranch	Central Sarasota County	12,000	Upper $300's	Established Community. 30+ Neighborhoods with a 12.5-mile Legacy Trail.
Wellen Park	North Port (South Sarasota County)	11,000	Upper $300's	Top-Selling National Community. Features a new vibrant Downtown Wellen town center.
Babcock Ranch	Fort Myers Area (Charlotte/Lee Co. Border)	17,000	Upper $200's	America's First Solar-Powered Town. Focus on energy efficiency, sustainability, and resilient building codes.