The Florida Housing Market Drove Them Out. Now They’re Living Entirely on Their Boats.

In the Florida Keys, where ordinary rent has become impossible for many working people and retirees, a growing number of residents have moved onto the water and built a different kind of neighborhood.

YouTuber Nick Johnson visited Boot Key Harbor in Marathon, Florida, for a look at what he called one of America’s new “floating neighborhoods,” where people live full-time on boats, ride dinghies to shore, haul their own water, run solar panels and generators, and try to keep housing costs low in one of the most expensive corners of the country.

Johnson said there may be close to 100,000 people nationally living on boats, with the number rising as the cost of living climbs. In Boot Key Harbor, he said, nobody knows the exact count, but it may be hundreds or even around a thousand.

“It’s like van life, but you’re on the water,” Johnson said.

A Neighborhood Off The Shore

Boot Key Harbor sits in Marathon, about halfway down the Florida Keys from Key Largo, according to Johnson.

He described it as the largest residential boat harbor in the United States, with more people living on boats there than anywhere else in the country.

For some, the draw is freedom. For others, it is survival. For many, it is both.

Johnson said some boat residents have day jobs, some are retired, and others hustle to cover daily expenses. They anchor offshore for free, known as being “on the hook,” though they still need fuel, food, supplies, repairs, and transportation to shore.

Some use solar power. Some fish. Some work local jobs. Nearly everyone has a plan, whether it is fixing up a boat, sailing away, trading up, or simply making it through another season.

The lifestyle can look romantic from shore, but Johnson’s interviews made clear it is not effortless. Boats rot. Engines fail. Salt air ruins equipment. Hurricanes loom over every plan.

Still, for people priced out of land-based housing, the water may be the last place where independence still feels possible.

Bugman Lives By Permission On An Island

One of the first people Johnson met was Bugman, who lives on a boat near Boot Key and has special permission to stay around the island.

Johnson said Boot Key is an 1,100-acre abandoned island off the coast of Marathon and described it as the only island left in Florida that still has its natural habitat.

Bugman told Johnson he has lived there for years, partly to keep squatters away, but he may eventually have to move because the island is for sale for $4 million.

At 71, Bugman said the work of maintaining life out there has become harder because of arthritis, degenerative disc disease, and the constant physical demands of living off-grid.

“Everything out here always seems to be a challenge,” Bugman said.

He told Johnson that everything decays in the salt and sun, even items that should last. He described a heavy stainless steel pot splitting after sitting outside, then pointed to plastic and debris as proof that everything “rots” in that environment.

Getting into town has also become harder. Bugman said his larger small boat used to carry water and gas well, but the smaller one he bought is harder to move around in because of balance issues.

That is one of the hidden costs of boat life. The rent may be low or even zero, but every basic task becomes a project: water, fuel, repairs, storage, balance, weather, and age all matter more when your home floats.

A Dream Of Stars And A Kids Show

Bugman’s life is not only hardship.

He told Johnson about bringing his boat from Wisconsin, down through Chicago, along the Illinois River, down the Mississippi, and across the Gulf of Mexico on a moonless night.

A friend on a catamaran told him to turn off his lights, climb onto the flybridge, and look up.

“You don’t just see stars, you see everything,” Bugman said.

He also showed Johnson an old radio station on the island where he has set up a studio. Bugman said he wants to create a children’s show about living on a boat, using instruments and tools to teach kids in a hands-on way.

But even that dream is uncertain because he does not know whether a future owner of the island will let him stay.

He said if he cannot remain where he is, he may move his boat back into Boot Key Harbor with the others. He has also thought about the Virgin Islands.

The whole story gives the floating neighborhood a deeper feeling. These are not just people avoiding rent. Many are living through personal reinvention, trying to keep old dreams alive in the only setting they can still afford.

SpongeBob and the Harbor Community

Across the harbor, Johnson met a man everyone calls SpongeBob, whose real name is Dean Halbert.

SpongeBob leads eco kayak tours into the mangroves around the same island where Bugman lives, and he moves around by small boat.

He told Johnson he used to pull kayaks into the area four or five at a time, but now he carries around 10 on his boat. He said he tries to live “of the brine, of the salt.”

SpongeBob said he once lived on the island, but later moved onto a boat he raised from the water after it had been abandoned and left damaged by Hurricane Irma.

He described Boot Key Harbor as stretching for miles and offering some hurricane protection, though he warned that protection has limits.

During Hurricane Irma, SpongeBob said around 1,000 boats were in the harbor and only nine survived.

That number hangs over the entire lifestyle. A boat can be cheaper than a house, but it is also vulnerable in ways a house is not. One major storm can erase years of work and turn a home into wreckage.

A Sailboat That Feels Like A House

SpongeBob later showed Johnson the sailboat where he lives now.

He said it has a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom, big speakers, televisions, internet, solar power, cameras, and air conditioning run by a generator.

“It’s amazing how big it is,” SpongeBob said.

He described living off about 50 gallons of water a week, taking small freshwater showers every few days and using the ocean as part of daily life.

But he said people have to be committed to live on the water. Power, water, mobility, storms, and hurricane planning are constant concerns.

“You have to be of the salt,” he said.

That phrase captures the difference between boat living as a fantasy and boat living as a real home. The people who stay are not simply camping on the water. They have learned the systems, the risks, the routines, and the mental toughness needed to live where land no longer feels affordable or appealing.

Retiring On A Floating Budget

Johnson also spoke with John, who lives aboard a boat with his wife, Sandy.

John said he and Sandy decided about 18 years ago that they would live on boats. About 10 years ago, after Hurricane Irma, he came to the Keys to help and try to get situated, and he has been there ever since.

He now runs a handyman business, while Sandy works at a hospital in Key West.

John said he has been around boats most of his life, starting a seafood business when he was 10 and later serving in the Navy. He said living on the water is the only way he could imagine retiring comfortably while doing something he likes.

He told Johnson that living in the Keys on a budget is extremely difficult because rent is so high.

“Rent down here is outrageous,” John said. “You just can’t do it.”

At his dock, John said he pays a little under $1,500 a month, which includes water, Wi-Fi, pump-outs, showers, laundry, and other services. That is still a serious monthly cost, but far below what many land rentals in the Keys would require.

His boat, a 36-foot Mainship double cabin with twin 350 engines, has sleeping quarters, a salon, two bathrooms, and the comforts of a small home.

“It’s just like a house except it floats,” John said.

Artists, Workers, and Castaways

Johnson also met artist Ed Krell, who lives on a 34-foot 1968 Morgan classic sailboat and creates large chalk art on canvas.

Krell said he came to the Keys to make art and help people notice beauty around them. He described waking up near sea turtles, dolphins, and manta rays, and said the only traffic problem is crossing the water to shore.

He also put the housing issue bluntly.

Krell said the average cost of living for a one-bedroom in the area can be around $3,500 a month, and that one job often cannot cover it. Living on a boat, he said, can bring the monthly cost down dramatically if someone can anchor or rent a mooring.

His plan was to score an old boat, rebuild it, sail back north, and then return again.

That kind of drifting plan is common in Johnson’s video. People talk about going to the Virgin Islands, sailing to St. Thomas, heading back to Maryland, or finding the next harbor where life still feels possible.

The New Floating America

Johnson ended his visit by saying he was inspired by people living on their own terms without the comforts most Americans expect.

He said “comforts” may be a relative word because the people he met seemed happy with the trade they had made.

“I don’t think they want to be a part of you and I land ever again,” Johnson said.

That may be the most telling part of the story. The Florida housing market may have pushed some people toward the water, but many of them have built something more than a backup plan.

They have created a neighborhood with rules, characters, work, art, boats, generators, dinghies, dogs, storms, and dreams of leaving again whenever the wind changes.

It is not easy life, and it is not always cheap. But in a place where land has become unaffordable for many, Boot Key Harbor shows how people keep adapting.

Some move into vans. Some leave the state. And in the Florida Keys, some climb aboard, cast off from shore, and make a home where the rent can no longer follow them.