Street Economics

Highlands County, Florida

HJR 1 Homestead-Exemption Tax-Base Exposure

Highlands County . 2025 final assessment roll

Snapshot

The Highlands County read

Highlands County carries the Residential Commuter archetype: residential-dominant like a classic bedroom community, but with a larger renter or out-of-state share or a lower homestead rate, so somewhat less of the base is owner-occupied primary residence. The county is still thin on commercial. At full $250,000 phase-in in 2028, 28.5% of the non-school taxable base is exposed to the HJR 1 homestead exemption expansion; the 2027 step at $150,000 puts that figure at 20.9%. Exposure is high but slightly buffered by the non-homestead residential share — renters and second homes — that continues paying under the amendment.

Of 48,424 residential housing units, 53.9% are owner-occupied, 9.9% are owned by out-of-state owners, and 36.2% are non-homestead but Florida-owned. That 36.2% Florida-owned non-homestead share is the structural cushion here: it is a local-ownership rental market, not an absentee-ownership story, and it is the category the amendment does not touch.

Land-use composition

Share of taxable value by category, Highlands County, 2025 roll:

The per-parcel out-of-state ownership data (lu_oos) is not present in the data provided for this record. The composition table below shows share of value only.

Residential land use accounts for more than half of total just value, and Agricultural land is the second-largest category at 21.9%, reflecting the county’s rural and working-land character. Commercial sits at 7.8%, just below the threshold where it would function as a meaningful fiscal counterweight. Multifamily and Industrial together represent only 2.7% of value, leaving the county with very limited non-homestead base in the categories most insulated from the amendment.

What the exposure band means

Moderate exposure. A meaningful but absorbable hit. The place has some non-homestead base to lean on. Mitigation is about steering future growth, not emergency response.

Looking ahead

Neither of the following changes the exposure figure calculated above; both shape how Highlands County grows its base after the amendment takes effect.

First, beginning January 1, 2027, the annual assessment-increase cap on non-homestead property drops from 10% to 5%, covering commercial, industrial, and small residential rentals of nine units or fewer. Because capped values can rise only 5% per year, the main path to growing taxable value in these categories is transactions: a sale or change of control resets assessed value to market. Transaction velocity matters more to non-homestead base growth than it did under the old 10% cap.

Second, new Florida residents who did not maintain a Florida permanent residence as of December 31, 2026 phase into the larger exemption over five years rather than receiving it immediately. This cannot be read from the assessment roll, so all exposure figures here assume full application of the exemption. Near-term exposure could run slightly lower than modeled in places with many recent arrivals still inside their five-year window.

Where the opportunity is

These recommendations are based solely on the tax roll’s land-use composition. They do not account for whether local land development regulations and zoning permit the uses described, whether there is local obstruction, or the political dynamics that typically decide what actually gets approved. This is a starting point for a conversation, not a development plan.

• Commercial at 7.8% of total value is just below the threshold where it provides meaningful fiscal ballast, making it the single biggest lever available to Highlands County.
• The county already houses a large commuter and renter population; the missing piece is a commercial and services base where residents spend and work locally, converting some of the bedroom function into daytime economy and taxable commercial value. Concentrating commercial and rental investment on one corridor or node — rather than scattering it across the county — allows non-homestead base to build where infrastructure and demand already exist, rather than requiring new public investment to follow scattered development.
• The 36.2% Florida-owned non-homestead residential share signals that the rental market is already part of the county’s DNA. Zoning for more multifamily and missing-middle rental housing deepens that base in a category the amendment does not touch, and it does so in a way that is consistent with what the roll already shows. Employers who want a workforce-adjacent location are a natural fit: Highlands County already houses commuters, so capturing where they work adds non-homestead commercial and industrial value without requiring a fundamental change in the county’s character.

Watch-out: resist the instinct to chase only owner-occupied move-up housing for its image. It is the most exposed category under HJR 1. Mixed-tenure growth — rental, commercial, and light industrial alongside owner-occupied residential — is more resilient to the amendment’s fiscal impact than a strategy that deepens the homestead share further.

Source and scope

All figures are drawn from the Florida Department of Revenue 2025 final assessment roll, the most recent certified roll in the state’s possession. The roll is used here as a structural proxy for tax-base composition, not as a dollar forecast for any specific budget year. HJR 1 / CS-HJR 1F is on the November 2026 ballot; the 2026 roll is the assessment roll in place when voters decide. If the amendment passes, the first roll affected is the 2027 roll (the $150,000 step), and the 2028 roll reflects full phase-in at $250,000. Ownership shares are measured on a residential-unit basis. The out-of-state ownership figure is a mailing-address proxy: it undercounts true outside ownership (owners using in-state LLC addresses or Florida-registered second homes count as Florida-owned) and does not prove where an owner actually lives. This read is a land-use-composition starting point, not a full fiscal, economic, or legal analysis.

Place: Highlands