24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on the 550 areas measured by the U.S. Census Bureau with populations of 65,000 or more.
Cape Coral’s strong employment growth between 2011 and 2013 helped drive the unemployment rate down from 11.1% in 2011 to 6.9% in 2013. Median income in the city was $48,619, below the national level, and incommensurate with the city’s moderately high cost of living. Like the rest of the state, Cape Coral was hit hard by the housing crisis. However, as of last year, payments on a median-priced home in Lee County equaled just 16.6% of a typical household’s income, less than in many other parts of the country.
While Lee County, where Cape Coral is located, has more than 50 golf courses,
the city’s biggest attraction is its network of canals, which is the largest, by mileage, in the world.
