Florida Suncoast
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The Florida Suncoast is a colloquial name for the west-central and southwest peninsular Florida coastal area between Tarpon Springs to the north, and Naples to the south, and includes the Tampa Bay area. This region is sometimes also referred to as the Sun Coast. The name has been promoted by local governments and businesses as a replacement for the name Pirate Coast, also applied to the area.
On the west coast of the Gulf, the region is known for miles and miles of prime beaches and sunny days from early December through the following May. Housing prices have been going up at 20-40% per year since 2000, as baby boomers move to the Sun Coast of Florida.
Not far above Tampa the beaches change character to swamp, estuaries and salt marsh land near the coast. It is a huge retirement area, attracting hundreds of thousands of retirees. It includes the well known coastal cities of Saint Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, Tampa, Brandon, Ruskin, Bradenton, Sarasota, Punta Gorda, Englewood, Cape Coral, Fort Myers Beach, Venice, and Naples. Three of the Suncoast beaches that have been named in the top 10 of the United States: Caladesi Beach, Desoto Beach and Siesta Key Beach. South of Naples is the Everglades and north of Tarpon Springs, the coast has isolated beaches, with very few roads and mangrove swamps to the Gulf's edge.
This part of Florida has traditionally been associated with a large population of Midwestern retirees and so-called "snow-birds" who are traditionally retirees from northern states who relocate to the Sun Coast for the winter months. Much of the Tampa Bay area (especially Pinellas and south Hillsborough Counties) has had long a reputation for being the main sleepy haven for the elderly. Now the area has seemed to grow to include the modern day Florida Suncoast which includes most of coastal southwest Florida.
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