Last updated October 4, 2026
Moving to Delray Beach
Delray Beach FL Guide: Five ZIP Codes, Five Price Points, Real Costs
Delray Beach is in Palm Beach County, Florida. What it is actually like to live in Delray Beach: the neighborhoods, the commute, the costs people forget, and what homes there sold for last month.
Delray Beach is one city name stretched across five ZIP codes and five very different housing markets, from $3.7 million barrier-island houses to $80,000 condos in 55-plus communities four miles west that are not inside the city at all. The median tells you almost nothing here. Which side of the Intracoastal, which side of I-95, and which side of the city line you are on decide the price, the tax bill, the insurance quote and the fee. This guide is organized around those lines.
Price my home correctly or read how we price a home first. Own here already? Every decision on this page starts with the number on your own home, or call (561) 395-8418.
Delray Beach in numbers (Jan 1 – Aug 31, 2026)
| Single-family | Condo and townhouse | |
|---|---|---|
| Closed sales | 813 | 1,452 |
| Median closed price | $899,900 | $240,000 |
| Change vs same period 2025 | +16.9% (from $770,000) | +2.1% (from $235,000) |
| Median price per sq ft | $418 | $195 |
| Median days on market | 36 | 56 |
| Closed price as % of list | 96% | 95% |
| Months of inventory | 4.7 | 6.9 |
| Active listings / median asking | 360 / $1,272,500 | 966 / $209,000 |
| Share of closings under $500k / $500k–$1M / over $1M | 18% / 36% / 46% | 83% / 10% / 7% |
| Median year built of what sold | 1997 | 1981 |
| Cash closings | 57% | 70% |
Source: BeachesMLS closed sales, Delray Beach city area, retrieved nightly. Population 66,940 and median household income $79,393 (U.S. Census ACS 2023 five-year); the Census Bureau's July 1, 2025 estimate is 69,809.
Two things stand out. First, the single-family median jumped almost $130,000 in a year. That is not the same house getting 17% dearer; it is a mix shift, with more of the closings coming from the $1 million-plus east side and the newer western club communities and fewer from the 1970s–80s stock in the middle. Anyone using the city median to price a specific house in Delray will be wrong by a wide margin in either direction. Second, the condo column is a buyer's market by the usual test: almost seven months of supply, nearly two months to sell, and a median asking price ($209,000) below the median closed price, which tells you how much of the active inventory is the 55-plus western stock. The fee and building sections below explain why.
Where Delray Beach actually starts and ends
Five ZIP codes carry the Delray Beach name. Twelve months of BeachesMLS closings to September 2026 put a price on each (single-family median / condo median):
| ZIP | Where it is | Single-family closings / median | Condo closings / median |
|---|---|---|---|
| 33483 | Barrier island east of the Intracoastal, A1A, the Marina and Nassau Park districts | 110 / $3,712,500 | 220 / $705,000 |
| 33444 | Downtown and the east side between I-95 and the Intracoastal: Lake Ida, Dell Park, Del-Ida Park, Osceola Park, Tropic Palms | 259 / $1,100,000 | 99 / $295,000 |
| 33445 | I-95 west to Military Trail: Rainberry Bay, Sabal Lakes, High Point, Pines of Delray, Delaire | 266 / $700,000 | 244 / $195,000 |
| 33484 | West of Military Trail: Kings Point, Huntington Pointe, Lakes of Delray, Floral Lakes | 147 / $555,000 | 531 / $140,000 |
| 33446 | Jog Road to Lyons Road and the Ag Reserve edge: Addison Reserve, Mizner Country Club, Seven Bridges, Polo Club, Valencia Falls, Huntington Lakes | 529 / $875,000 | 462 / $126,625 |
The line that matters most is not on that table: the city limit. The City of Delray Beach runs roughly from the ocean to a ragged western edge near Military Trail. Most of what carries a Delray Beach mailing address west of there, including Kings Point, the Villages of Oriole, Huntington Lakes and Pointe, the Polo Club, Addison Reserve, Mizner Country Club and the Bridges communities, is unincorporated Palm Beach County. Kings Point alone is a former census-designated place of roughly 7,200 condominiums built between 1973 and 1985 (Kings Point community publications; 55places). These addresses are served by the county, not the city, and their tax bill carries no city millage.
Why this matters in dollars: the 2025 total millage for a parcel inside the City of Delray Beach is 18.450 mills; for unincorporated Palm Beach County it is 16.265 (Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, 2025 taxing-authority table). On the $899,900 median single-family purchase with the homestead exemption, that gap is roughly $1,850 a year for an otherwise identical assessed value. The city's own operating rate was 6.1611 mills for fiscal 2025–26, and on July 21, 2026 the commission voted 4–1 for a tentative 6.4371 for 2026–27, a 4.5% increase, with final adoption at the September hearings (The Coastal Star, July 29, 2026; Property Appraiser TRIM notice). Check the taxing-authority code on any parcel at pbcpao.gov before you assume which side of the line it is on.
What it costs to own here in 2026
Monthly figures for a buyer at today's median with 20% down and a 30-year fixed at 7.07% (Mortgage News Daily 30-year fixed index, September 10, 2026), property tax on the 2025 in-city millage with the standard homestead exemption, and the Palm Beach County average homeowners premium from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation's July 2026 stability report ($6,323 a year with wind for a house; $2,311 for a condo unit owner's HO-6).
| Monthly | Single-family at $899,900 | Condo/townhouse at $240,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Principal and interest (20% down) | $4,824 | $1,286 |
| Property tax (homestead, in-city) | $1,320 | $305 |
| Insurance (county average) | $527 | $193 |
| Association fee (city median) | $433 | $700 |
| Total | $7,104 | $2,484 |
| Total without association fee | $6,671 | $1,784 |
| Cash needed at 20% down | $179,980 | $48,000 |
| Total as share of median household income | 107% | 38% |
That 107% figure is the honest headline of this city. The median Delray household cannot buy the median Delray house on a mortgage, which is why 57% of single-family closings and 70% of condo closings were cash, and why the buyer for the median house is arriving from somewhere else with equity. The condo line is a different world: at $2,484 a month all-in, the median condo costs about what the median unfurnished rental does (below), which is the whole case for owning here for anyone staying more than a few years, subject to the building questions further down.
Two cautions. The insurance line is a county average; the quote on a 1950s Lake Ida cottage with an original roof or an A1A house in a VE flood zone can run to multiples of it, while a 2017 Seven Bridges house with impact glass and a tile roof can come in under it. And the association fee is the citywide median across everything from a $165-a-month HOA in Sabal Lakes to more than $1,700 a month in an oceanfront building; use the specific community's fee page, linked below.
For the same numbers set against Boca Raton, see Boca Raton vs Delray Beach: cost of living. A Delray Beach vs Deerfield Beach comparison follows in the next wave.

Renting in Delray Beach, and how it compares
BeachesMLS recorded 563 closed leases in the Delray Beach city area between August 2025 and August 2026, median $2,599 a month; unfurnished units alone (270 leases) had a median of $2,350. By size: one-bedroom $1,850, two-bedroom $2,400, three-bedroom $4,500. The four-bedroom median of $14,200 (48 leases) is not a typo; it is the seasonal furnished east-side house market, and it is why annual and seasonal rents must never be averaged together here. The Census gross-rent median of $1,914 (ACS 2023) is lower because it counts every renter in place, including long-tenured tenants, not just leases signed this year.
Set the $2,350 unfurnished median against $7,104 to own the median house and the gap explains why the east side's working households rent. Set it against $2,484 for the median condo and the gap all but vanishes. A full rent-versus-own break-even for Delray Beach, with the inputs visible and adjustable, is in preparation on this site.
Neighborhoods and communities, with the closed numbers
This is a city where the community median is the only median that matters. The communities below had at least ten single-family closings in the twelve months to September 2026 (BeachesMLS). Names link to their pages where we have one.
East of I-95
| Community | Where | Closed (12 mo) | Median closed price | $/sq ft | Median DOM | Built (median) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tropic Isle | Intracoastal canals, south end | 29 | $4,200,000 | $1,092 | 116 | 2000 (teardowns from 1958) |
| Lake Ida | Lakefront and cottage streets north of Atlantic | 30 | $2,137,500 | $876 | 46 | 1976 (oldest 1949) |
| Seagate | Between the Intracoastal and A1A, south of Atlantic | 26 | $2,125,000 | $644 | 34 | 1980 |
| Dell Park | Swinton to Federal, north of Lake Ida Road | 23 | $1,400,000 | $749 | 28 | 1986 (oldest 1931) |
| Delray Lakes | Gated, Lake Ida Road at I-95 | 24 | $1,222,000 | $484 | 52 | 1999 |
| Tropic Palms | South Federal to Dixie, near Linton | 34 | $726,375 | $452 | 36 | 1975 |
| Southridge | South of Linton, east of I-95 | 16 | $692,500 | $423 | 46 | 1979 |
I-95 to Military Trail (inside the city)
| Community | Notes | Closed (12 mo) | Median closed price | $/sq ft | Median DOM | Built (median) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delaire Country Club | Mandatory club | 14 | $2,739,500 | $741 | 6 | 1982 |
| Sabal Lakes | Non-gated, HOA about $165/mo | 19 | $727,000 | $325 | 17 | 1995 |
| Bexley Park | Traditional-neighborhood layout, 2005 | 10 | $710,000 | $273 | 12 | 2005 |
| Hammock Reserve | Gated, Linton at Military | 16 | $674,500 | $394 | 23 | 1999 |
| Rainberry Lake | Lake Ida Road west | 25 | $505,000 | $337 | 14 | 1984 |
| Rainberry Bay | 55+, villas and houses | 34 | $360,000 | $217 | 83 | 1984 |
West of Military Trail (largely unincorporated)
| Community | Notes | Closed (12 mo) | Median closed price | $/sq ft | Median DOM | Built (median) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polo Club | Mandatory club; 100% cash | 19 | $2,575,000 | $544 | 29 | 1995 |
| Addison Reserve | Mandatory club; 93% cash | 43 | $2,000,000 | $623 | 13 | 1997 |
| Seven Bridges | GL Homes, 2015–2019 | 24 | $1,880,500 | $458 | 42 | 2017 |
| The Bridges | GL Homes, 2013–2016 | 40 | $1,715,000 | $438 | 68 | 2014 |
| Mizner Country Club | Mandatory club | 19 | $1,675,000 | $413 | 69 | 2003 |
| Dakota | 2018 new-build resales | 12 | $1,052,500 | $431 | 23 | 2018 |
| Polo Trace | Resale sections and newer phases combined | 51 | $820,000 | $404 | 23 | 1998 |
| Valencia Palms | 55+ | 33 | $714,000 | $298 | 35 | 2006 |
| Valencia Falls | 55+ | 50 | $585,000 | $267 | 28 | 2002 |
| Villa Borghese | 55+ | 22 | $495,000 | $259 | 66 | 1999 |
| Coco Wood Lakes | 55+, HOA about $197/mo | 29 | $399,900 | $259 | 60 | 1980 |
Three things these tables show that the city median hides. The east side is a $700,000-to-$4-million market whose price is set by water, walkability and lot, not by the house on it; Tropic Isle's 116-day median marketing time at a $4.2 million median is what a thin buyer pool at the top looks like. The club communities (Delaire, Polo Club, Addison Reserve, Mizner) sell fast when priced right, at six to thirteen days in two cases, because mandatory membership filters the buyers before they arrive; the same membership is why they are over 90% cash. And the 55-plus western communities are a $400,000–$715,000 house market with a completely different buyer, seller and timeline; a Valencia Falls seller who prices from a Delray Beach city median will sit.
Condo and villa communities by fee
Delray's condo market is dominated by 1970s–80s stock west of Military Trail, and the monthly fee, what it includes, and what the building has done about reserves and inspections drive value as much as the unit. Largest by resale volume, twelve months to September 2026:
| Community | Closed (12 mo) | Median closed price | Median monthly fee | Built | Cash | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kings Point | 426 | $82,750 | $711 | 1973–1985 | 83% | 55+, about 7,200 units, unincorporated |
| High Point of Delray | 158 | $154,000 | $525 | 1971–1981 | 69% | 55+, several sections, in-city |
| Huntington Lakes | 114 | $145,000 | $857 | 1981–1990 | 84% | 55+ |
| Palm Greens | 83 | $155,000 | $580 | 1974 | 77% | 55+; recreation association in Chapter 11, see below |
| Huntington Pointe | 75 | $283,500 | $1,006 | 1989–1993 | 87% | 55+ |
| Pines of Delray | 74 | $180,000 | $599 | 1977–1981 | 61% | 55+, in-city |
| Villages of Oriole | 65 | $115,000 | $722 | 1974–1981 | 71% | 55+ |
| Lakes of Delray | 64 | $177,000 | $695 | 1982–1990 | 69% | 55+ |
| Gleneagles | 61 | $330,000 | $728 | 1985–1989 | 92% | Mandatory club membership on top of the fee |
| Floral Lakes | 52 | $354,500 | $426 | 1996–2001 | 58% | 55+ villas |
| Delray Trails | 28 | $442,697 | $364 | 2024–2025 | 29% | New-build villas, the one financed buyer pool in this table |
| Pineapple Grove Village | 18 | $677,500 | $719 | 2004 | 83% | Downtown, walk to Atlantic |
| Tropic Bay | 21 | $310,000 | $974 | 1971–1974 | 67% | Intracoastal, boat slips |
| Seagate condos | 25 | $1,275,000 | $1,752 | 1969–1970 | 68% | Oceanfront and near-ocean buildings |
Citywide, the median condo fee is $700 a month (809 listings stating a fee), and Delray's fee is unusually low relative to the region because the stock is old, low-rise and mostly without elevators; only 11.5% of Delray condo listings carry a fee over $1,000 against 36.6% across South Florida (PBP condo fee index). What the fee most often includes: common areas 81%, grounds 79%, cable 74%, trash 61%, building insurance 58%, water 53%. That insurance line is the one to check, because a $700 fee that carries the master policy is cheaper than a $500 fee that does not. In current Delray condo listing remarks, 4.7% mention a special assessment, 1.2% reference a milestone inspection and 3.1% mention a capital contribution due at closing (794 listings read). Those are agent remarks, not a census of buildings; treat them as the floor. Full index: Delray Beach condo fees and Delray Beach HOA fees.
Palm Greens, specifically. The Palm Greens Recreation Association, which owns the clubhouse and golf facilities that the two Palm Greens condo associations fund, filed for Chapter 11 in March 2026 listing $43.7 million in liabilities, with Lennar the largest creditor at $25 million (Palm Beach Post, March 19, 2026). The condo associations themselves are not in bankruptcy, but the court-appointed trustee has warned residents of possible special assessments (Palm Beach Post, August 6, 2026). If you are buying or selling in Palm Greens, the recreation association's financials are part of the price, and we read them before we quote one.
What this means if you are selling in Delray Beach
The sales data above changes how a Delray house should be priced and marketed, and it is the reason we do not price from a city median or an online estimate.
East of I-95: comparable sales are street-level, and lot, water and walk-to-Atlantic distance move price more than square footage. Seller marketing time at the top is long (Tropic Isle 116 days) because the buyer pool is thin, so the first two weeks of pricing decide whether you sell in season or carry the house through summer. Club communities: membership terms and the club's own financial statements are part of your buyer's due diligence; have them ready with the listing. 55-plus west: buyers are overwhelmingly cash, decide on fee, reserves, roof and inspection status before they decide on your kitchen, and the association's estoppel and budget are your marketing documents. Any condo built before 1990: the milestone-inspection and structural-integrity-reserve paperwork under Florida's 2022–2024 condo laws is now the first thing a serious buyer's lender or attorney asks for; a building that has it sells, a building that does not gets priced for the uncertainty.
If you own a Delray Beach property and want the actual number rather than a range, Gia Freer prepares a written opinion of value for Delray Beach homes from the current BeachesMLS sales, with the sales attached. For inherited property, our Delray Beach probate real estate page explains the court timeline and what can be done before letters of administration issue. If your listing expired or was canceled with another brokerage, start here. Current market pages: Delray Beach real estate statistics and primary-residence share by community.
See what your home is worth
Every decision about a Delray Beach property, selling, holding, renting it out or settling an estate, starts with one number on the home you already own. Gia Freer prepares a written opinion of value by hand from our own BeachesMLS data, with the comparable sales attached. No automated estimate is published on this site.
Price my home correctly or read how we price a home first. or call (561) 395-8418. Conversations are confidential and there is no cost to having one.
Property tax, insurance and the roof question
Tax. Florida taxes on assessed value less exemptions. A homesteaded owner gets up to $50,000 off ($25,000 of it against school taxes too), the assessed value cannot rise more than 3% a year under Save Our Homes, and portability lets you carry accumulated savings from a previous Florida homestead. The consequence for buyers: the seller's tax bill is not your tax bill. The Property Appraiser resets assessed value to market value on sale, so a long-time Lake Ida owner paying $6,000 a year on a house that will be assessed at $2.1 million hands the buyer a bill closer to $38,000 at in-city millage. Use the PAPA tax estimator for the actual parcel; our carrying-cost figures above already assume the reset. Non-ad valorem charges (solid waste, stormwater, and in some western communities a community development district bond) come on top and can add several thousand dollars a year in newer GL Homes communities; the listing's tax line should show them, and we check the county tax bill rather than trusting it.
Insurance. The state's July 2026 stability report puts the Palm Beach County average at $6,323 a year for a homeowners policy with wind. Roof age and the wind-mitigation report move the quote more than anything else you control. Delray's east side is 1925–1979 stock in large part, and that is where quotes surprise buyers; the western communities built after the 2002 Florida Building Code generally quote closer to or below the average. Barrier-island and Intracoastal parcels add flood: most of 33483 and the canal streets sit in FEMA AE or VE zones where flood insurance is required by any lender and priced on elevation. Condo owners carry an HO-6 (county average $2,311), and the building's master policy sits inside the association fee.
The roof. Insurers in Florida increasingly decline or surcharge shingle roofs past 15 years and tile past 25, and a buyer who cannot bind coverage cannot close. Sellers with an older roof have three honest paths: replace, price for it, or document it (permit history, a current four-point and wind-mitigation report) so a buyer can get quoted quickly.
Condos, villas and association reality
A large share of attainable Delray Beach inventory is association-governed, so read the association as carefully as the unit. Since Florida's post-Surfside reforms, condominium and cooperative buildings three or more habitable stories in height are subject to milestone structural inspections under Section 553.899, Florida Statutes, generally first due by December 31 of the year the building turns 30 and every 10 years after, plus structural integrity reserve study requirements, which HB 913 amended effective July 1, 2025. Before you write an offer, ask for the milestone report summary, the reserve study, budgets and reserve balances, board minutes covering assessments, and the buyer application and approval process. Full detail from the seller's side: how to sell a condo in Palm Beach County.
Some communities, particularly west of Interstate 95, carry mandatory club membership. That is a legitimate disclosure item and worth confirming in writing for any community you are considering; fee structures change, so get current figures from the association itself.
Getting around and getting out
I-95 has two Delray exits, Atlantic Avenue (52) and Linton Boulevard (51). Florida's Turnpike has an Atlantic Avenue interchange serving the western communities. Tri-Rail and Amtrak share the Delray Beach station at 345 South Congress Avenue, just south of Atlantic Avenue, with Tri-Rail commuter service to West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami (SFRTA). Brightline does not stop in Delray; the Boca Raton station at 101 NW 4th Street is about eight miles south, roughly 15 minutes by car. Palm Beach International is about 20 miles north and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood about 30 miles south, 30–45 minutes each outside peak. Two bascule bridges cross the Intracoastal to the barrier island, at Atlantic Avenue and at Linton Boulevard; the county's Linton bridge opens on the hour and half hour, and the federally funded Linton Boulevard corridor project that began June 3, 2024 was 80% complete in March 2026 with completion expected summer 2026 (WPTV). East-side buyers should drive Atlantic Avenue at 6 p.m. on a Saturday in February before buying; the downtown that makes the east side valuable also makes it slow in season.
The beach
The Municipal Beach runs about a mile and a half of open, lifeguarded shoreline centered on the foot of Atlantic Avenue, with Ocean Rescue lifeguards (all licensed EMTs) on duty year-round, and the city says it draws more than 3.2 million visits a year. Atlantic Dunes Park, 1605 South Ocean Boulevard, is the quieter second public beach with a nature trail through the dune. Beach parking is metered; city residents and non-residents can buy an annual beach parking permit ($90 plus tax) covering the Sandoway, Anchor Park, Ingraham, Orange Grove and Atlantic Dunes lots. The Sandoway Discovery Center at 142 South Ocean Boulevard, in a 1936 beach house, is the marine-science stop, with touch tanks and a daily shark feeding.
In early 2026 the city completed a federally supported beach nourishment: a $19.18 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock placed an initial 450,000 cubic yards of sand and widened the beach by roughly 250 feet from the Gulf Stream town line to south of Atlantic Dunes Park, with an April 30, 2026 completion deadline (The Coastal Star, February 2026; Boca Daily News). For an A1A or Seagate owner, that renourishment cycle, repeated roughly every decade since the 1970s, is the reason the beach in front of you is still there, and the reason to ask about the next one.
If water frontage is the point of the move, our Delray Beach waterfront homes guide covers the oceanfront and Intracoastal side of the market.
Downtown, the Avenue and what is being built
Delray's downtown is the reason the east side trades at the premium it does, and it is in the middle of its biggest building cycle since the 1990s.
Old School Square, the 1913 school and 1925 high school at Atlantic and Swinton (National Register), houses the Cornell Art Museum, the Crest Theatre and the outdoor Pavilion. The city owns the campus; the Downtown Development Authority has operated most of it since 2024, the city took the Crest Theatre in-house in November 2024, and in early 2026 the commission agreed to commission a study on the campus's next steps, with a Crest Theatre renovation under discussion (Boca Magazine, February 3, 2026; The Coastal Star, March 4, 2026).
Sundy Village, the seven-acre Pebb Capital campus at 22 West Atlantic Avenue around the restored 1902 Sundy House, completed its first phase in 2025 with 100,000 square feet of office, 30,000 square feet of retail and dining and 268 below-grade public parking spaces, and refinanced with a $223 million loan in September 2026 (Florida YIMBY; The Real Deal, September 8, 2026). It is the first Class A office of any size downtown and it pulls the center of gravity west of Swinton for the first time.
Atlantic Crossing, 777 East Atlantic at the Intracoastal, opened its office and retail in the first phase; the second phase, financed with a $119 million Bank of America construction loan in September 2024, is under construction, and the developer lists a condominium component to follow (Commercial Observer; developer site). Along the Avenue itself, Redfearn Capital paid $42.2 million in September 2026 for 105–123 East Atlantic Avenue, one of the largest commercial trades in the city's history (The Real Deal, September 11, 2026). Boutique condos are back: Casa Avenida at 102 SE 5th Avenue broke ground in May 2026, and an office-to-condominium conversion of 26 units at 109 SE 5th Avenue was approved in early 2026 with delivery projected for 2027–28; developers are quoting the $1.5–2.5 million range for these blocks (citybiz, May 22, 2026). On North Federal Highway, the commission approved a townhome-style condominium project 3–1 on August 18, 2026 after rejecting it in July (The Coastal Star, September 2, 2026).
West of Swinton, the CRA's West Atlantic master plan, adopted in 2020 and revised in early 2026, is moving toward requests for proposals for a grocery store and housing on the agency's remaining parcels (CRA presentation to the DDA, February 2026). For a homeowner in the historic districts north and south of West Atlantic, this is the corridor to watch.
Five locally designated historic districts protect the streets that give the east side its character: Del-Ida Park, Nassau Park, the Marina District, Old School Square and West Settlers (City of Delray Beach Historic Preservation). Historic-district status is a real constraint on demolition and additions and a real support to value; buyers of a 1930s cottage in any of them should read the district guidelines before they plan a second story.
Work and healthcare
Delray Medical Center, 5352 Linton Boulevard, is the city's largest employer: a Tenet Healthcare hospital in the Palm Beach Health Network with more than 490 licensed beds on a campus of about 40 acres, roughly 1,700 employees and 700 physicians, and a state-designated Level I trauma center, one of two in Palm Beach County (Tenet Health, 2026). The hospital opened in 1982. Beyond it, Delray's employment base is the downtown restaurant, hospitality and professional cluster (now with Sundy Village's office tenants), the Congress Avenue and Linton office and light-industrial corridors, the City of Delray Beach itself, and the retail centers along Linton, Atlantic and Military Trail. Most working residents commute: to Boca Raton's office parks 15 minutes south, to downtown West Palm Beach 35 minutes north, or into the county's healthcare and education systems, which is why the I-95 exits and the Tri-Rail station sit high on buyers' first questions.
Schools
Delray Beach is served by the School District of Palm Beach County. Assignment depends on the address and boundaries change, so look up any specific home in the district's school-locator tool rather than relying on a listing; some western Delray addresses are zoned to Boca Raton high schools. Public high schools in the city include Atlantic Community High School, 2455 West Atlantic Avenue, and Village Academy (400 SW 12th Avenue), a K–12 school opened in 2000. Private options in and near the city include American Heritage School (Boca/Delray campus), Unity School and Saint Vincent Ferrer Catholic School (810 George Bush Boulevard), with more in Boca Raton within 20 minutes. We publish school assignments as facts and do not rate schools; that judgment is yours.
Parks, nature, golf and tennis
The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, 4000 Morikami Park Road, sits on land that George Sukeji Morikami, the last of the Yamato Colony's Japanese farmers, gave to Palm Beach County in 1973–74; the first museum building opened in 1977 and the main museum in 1993, and the park runs to about 200 acres of gardens, lakes and pine flatwoods (Morikami; Palm Beach County). The Wakodahatchee Wetlands, 13270 Jog Road, is 50 acres of created wetland on utility land with a three-quarter-mile boardwalk, free and open sunrise to sunset, and one of the best wading-bird rookeries in the state February through April (Palm Beach County Water Utilities). Lake Ida West Park, a Palm Beach County park off Lake Ida Road with a free two-lane public boat ramp, is what gives the Lake Ida neighborhood its ski-lake identity.
Golf: the city owns two courses. Delray Beach Golf Club, 2200 Highland Avenue, sits on 150 acres the city bought in 1923; Donald Ross designed the original nine, which opened in 1926, and Dick Wilson added the second nine in 1950 (Florida Historic Golf Trail; City of Delray Beach). Lakeview Golf Club, 1200 Dover Road, is the city's second, shorter course. The private clubs, Delaire, Seagate, Polo Club, Addison Reserve, Mizner Country Club, Gleneagles, Hunters Run just over the Boynton line, each run mandatory or optional membership regimes that change the true monthly cost by hundreds of dollars; ask before you fall in love with the house.
Tennis: the Delray Beach Stadium and Tennis Center, 30 NW 1st Avenue, one block off Atlantic, hosts the Delray Beach Open, an ATP 250 event whose 34th edition ran February 16–22, 2026 (Sebastian Korda beat Tommy Paul in the final). It is the only ATP Tour stop in Palm Beach County and it books out every hotel room in the city for a week.
Eating, shopping and the calendar
Atlantic Avenue from Swinton to the beach is the densest restaurant and bar strip between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, and Pineapple Grove (NE 2nd Avenue) is the arts-and-galleries side street with the Arts Garage performance venue. The CRA's Delray Beach GreenMarket runs every Saturday morning from late October to May at Old School Square, with a shorter summer market June–July. Anchors elsewhere: the Delray Marketplace lifestyle center at 14851 Lyons Road, at Atlantic Avenue just west of the Turnpike, for the western communities, the Linton Boulevard and Military Trail retail corridors, and the Delray Beach Public Library at 100 West Atlantic and the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum at 170 NW 5th Avenue on the west side. Recurring events: the Delray Beach Open (February), the Chamber's Delray Affair arts-and-crafts festival along Atlantic Avenue (April; 64th year in 2026), Fourth of July on the beach, and the city's 100-foot Christmas tree lighting and street festival at Old School Square (first week of December).
A short history
William S. Linton, a Michigan congressman, bought land here in 1894–95 and named the settlement Linton; Black Bahamian and Floridian settlers were already farming the area and petitioned Dade County for a school in the same years. The town west of the canal incorporated as Delray in 1911 with John Shaw Sundy as first mayor; the barrier island incorporated separately as Delray Beach in 1923, and the two merged as the City of Delray Beach in 1927 (Palm Beach County History Online; Delray Beach Historical Society). Pineapples built the early economy, then winter vegetables; the Yamato Colony of Japanese farmers settled just to the south, in what is now north Boca Raton, from 1904–05, and its last settler's gift of land west of Delray became the Morikami. The 1913 and 1925 school buildings at Atlantic and Swinton, saved from demolition in the late 1980s and reopened as Old School Square, started the downtown revival that made Atlantic Avenue what it is. The 1990s–2010s brought the western build-out past Military Trail and, after 2000, the GL Homes communities along Lyons Road; the population passed 60,000 in 2010 and stands near 70,000 today (Census).
Price my home correctly or read how we price a home first. Every Delray Beach figure on this page is a market number with its source shown. The one figure it cannot show you is your own; that takes a conversation: (561) 395-8418.
Sources and method
- BeachesMLS closed sales and leases via PBP's data layer (Jan 1 – Aug 31, 2026 for city totals; Aug 2025 – Sep 2026 for community, ZIP and lease counts), nightly refresh; aggregates only, n >= 10.
- Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, 2025 Taxing Authority Code Description (in-city 18.450 mills, unincorporated 16.2652); pbcpao.gov TRIM hearing table (Delray Beach 6.1611 current, 6.4371 proposed).
- The Coastal Star, July 29, 2026 (tentative millage vote 4–1) and Oct 1, 2025 (FY 2025–26 budget).
- Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Property Insurance Stability Unit report, July 2026, pp. 19–20.
- Mortgage News Daily 30-year fixed rate index, September 10, 2026 (7.07%); national average, not a quote or offer of credit.
- U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2023 five-year (population, income, gross rent); QuickFacts V2025 estimate 69,809.
- PBP condo fee index (Delray Beach, 809 listings; region 24,369) for fee medians, inclusions and remark flags.
- Palm Beach Post, Mar 19 and Aug 6, 2026 (Palm Greens Recreation Association Chapter 11).
- City of Delray Beach: Municipal Beach and Atlantic Dunes facility pages, beach parking permit page, Historic Districts page, Old School Square page, Delray Beach Golf Club renovation release.
- The Coastal Star, Feb 4, 2026 and Boca Daily News, Jan 6 and Mar 3, 2026 (beach nourishment).
- Boca Magazine, Feb 3, 2026 and The Coastal Star, Mar 4, 2026 (Old School Square, Crest Theatre).
- Florida YIMBY, Sep 27, 2025 and Sep 14, 2026; The Real Deal, Sep 8 and Sep 11, 2026 (Sundy Village, Redfearn purchase).
- Commercial Observer, Sep 11, 2024 and Florida YIMBY, Sep 12, 2024 (Atlantic Crossing phase 2); citybiz, May 22, 2026 (Casa Avenida); The Coastal Star, Sep 2, 2026 (North Federal townhomes); CRA/DDA presentation, Feb 2026 (West Atlantic master plan).
- Tenet Health job postings 2026 (536-bed) and PracticeLink (493 licensed beds, 42 acres, est. 1982) for Delray Medical Center; stated as "more than 490 beds, about 40 acres".
- SFRTA Tri-Rail Delray Beach station page; Amtrak DLB; Brightline Boca Raton station page; PBC Engineering bridge section; WPTV Mar 24, 2026 (Linton corridor).
- Morikami Museum About and Yamato Colony pages; Wikipedia (museum 1977 / 1993 dates); PBC Water Utilities Wakodahatchee page and brochure.
- Florida Historic Golf Trail and City of Delray Beach (Delray Beach Golf Club dates); Delray Beach Open site and Wikipedia (2026 edition).
- School District of Palm Beach County / Atlantic Community High and Village Academy school pages.
- Palm Beach County History Online, Delray Beach Historical Society, ACHP (incorporation dates).
- Kings Point community site and 55places (about 7,200 units, 1973–1985); Wikipedia (former CDP, unincorporated).
Nearby city guides
Neighborhoods we cover in Delray Beach
- Del Ida homes for sale
- Dell Park homes for sale
- Delray Lakes homes for sale
- Lake Ida homes for sale
- Mallory Square homes for sale
- Mizner Country Club homes for sale
- Old Palm Grove homes for sale
- Pineapple Grove homes for sale
- Polo Trace homes for sale
- Sabal Lakes homes for sale
- Saturina Isles homes for sale
- Tradewinds Estates homes for sale
- Tropic Isle homes for sale
- Tropic Palms homes for sale
- Cache homes for sale
- Gulfstream Estates homes for sale
- Highland Park homes for sale
- Hofman homes for sale
- Kenmont homes for sale
- Kingsland homes for sale
Moving to Palm Beach County
Moving to Delray Beach? Everything in one place
- Moving to Palm Beach County guide — prices by city updated daily, houses and condos kept separate, homestead and insurance basics, and how to plan the search.
- Search homes for sale in Delray Beach — live BeachesMLS search; email me new listings.
- Public schools: check the address — The School District of Palm Beach County assigns schools by address, not by neighborhood name. Check each address in the district's Find My School locator before you sign.
- More Palm Beach County guides: Gulf Stream · Highland Beach · Jupiter · Lake Worth Beach · Manalapan · Palm Beach
- All 30 Palm Beach County cities — market data, guides and search for each one.
More about living in Delray Beach
Living in Delray Beach: questions and answers
What is Delray Beach known for?
Atlantic Avenue - a walkable downtown of restaurants, galleries and shops running to a public beach - plus the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, a strong arts calendar and a downtown residential market that trades at a premium precisely because you can live without a car.
Is Delray Beach a good place to live year-round?
Many residents do exactly that. Season brings crowds and traffic to the downtown core from roughly January through April, so if quiet matters to you, look at neighborhoods a few blocks off Atlantic Avenue or west of Swinton, which stay calmer without losing the walk.
What does it cost to buy in downtown Delray Beach?
Walkable downtown addresses carry a premium over comparable housing further west, and the gap is wider here than in most Palm Beach County cities. Our Delray Beach market report shows current closed-sale figures from BeachesMLS rather than an estimate.
Is Delray Beach expensive to live in?
Delray Beach spans a wide range, from condos and townhomes to oceanfront estates, so the honest answer depends entirely on the neighborhood and how close to the ocean or Atlantic Avenue you want to be. We can give you current numbers for the specific area you are considering.
How far is Delray Beach from Boca Raton and Palm Beach?
Delray Beach is immediately north of Boca Raton and south of Lake Worth Beach and West Palm Beach, all within a short drive on I-95 or A1A.
Can you help me relocate to Delray Beach?
Yes. We are local brokers and handle relocating buyers, including building a neighborhood shortlist before you visit.
Do I pay state income tax if I move to Delray Beach?
Florida has no state income tax. Property tax, insurance and association dues are the costs to model carefully, and your property tax bill will be reset based on market value when you buy rather than continuing at the seller's amount.
Can I transfer my Florida homestead savings to a new Delray Beach home?
Florida's portability provision allows homeowners to transfer accumulated Save Our Homes benefit from a prior Florida homestead to a new one, subject to statutory limits and filing deadlines. Because timing rules apply, discuss portability before you list your current home and confirm your figures with the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser.
What should I check before buying a Delray Beach condo?
Ask for the milestone inspection report summary where applicable, the structural integrity reserve study, current budgets and reserve balances, board minutes covering special assessments and litigation, the declaration and rules, insurance certificates, and the buyer application and approval requirements. Confirm in writing whether club membership is mandatory.
Free to reuse with attribution and a link to PBP Real Estate. Figures, tables and charts on this page may be quoted, screenshotted or embedded. Keep the source line and link to www.pbprealestate.com/delray-beach-relocation-guide/. Aggregates only: no address, listing number or listing-level record is published here.
Ready to look at Delray Beach homes?
The Delray Beach market page shows what sold last month, at what price and how fast, plus the neighborhoods we track. If you already own here and are weighing a sale, the same page has the seller path.
See Delray Beach homes and prices
764 closed transactions (Gia and Grant Freer, since 2000)5.0 from 86 Google reviewsLicensed since 1997 and 2000
For sellers
Pricing a home is a skill. Start with the current competition and recent closed sales.
38.9% of active single-family house listings in Delray Beach have a recorded asking price below their original list price.
The data comes from the segment and recorded fields available in PBP Real Estate's BeachesMLS feed, as of the date shown. Gia Freer, Broker of Record, turns comparable sales and current competition into one written pricing opinion for your home, with the reasoning, before it goes live.
No website estimate, no automated number: a written opinion of value prepared by hand, within one business day.
Request a pricing opinion for your property
Selling? Pricing correctly is a skill. Gia Freer prices your home from this data before it goes live.
Ask Ava about this dataPrice my home correctly