Manatee County
Bradenton is not one market.
It is about twenty of them, and they each behave differently. These pages are here to help you understand what each one actually is.
The Same County
Anna Maria
A barrier island. Coastal flood zones, and rental rules that change by the block.
forty minutes apart
Parrish
New construction on former farmland. Builder contracts, and CDD assessments.
Picking the wrong one for how you actually live is the most expensive mistake I see.
The Islands and the Coast
Anna Maria Sound sits on one side and the Gulf on the other. Expect higher prices, higher carrying costs, and short term rental rules that change from street to street.
Anna Maria Island
Anna Maria Island is seven miles of barrier island running north from Longboat Pass, and it holds three separate municipalities. Anna Maria at the north end, Holmes Beach in the middle, and Bradenton Beach at the south.
Explore Anna Maria IslandHolmes Beach
Holmes Beach sits in the middle of Anna Maria Island and holds most of its year round population. It is the largest of the three island cities and the one with the most canal frontage, which is why it draws buyers who want a boat behind the house rather than only a walk to the sand..
Explore Holmes BeachBradenton Beach
Bradenton Beach occupies the southern end of Anna Maria Island, from Cortez Road down to Longboat Pass. It is the most condominium heavy of the three island cities and historically the most rental oriented..
Explore Bradenton BeachLongboat Key
Longboat Key runs south from Longboat Pass for about eleven miles, and the town straddles the Manatee and Sarasota county line. The northern portion sits in Manatee County and the southern portion in Sarasota County, which affects taxes, services, and which set of county records applies..
Explore Longboat KeyCortez
Cortez is a working commercial fishing village on the mainland side of the Cortez Bridge, and one of the last of its kind on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The historic district is on the National Register, and a good deal of the original village housing survives..
Explore CortezPerico Island and Harbour Isle
Perico Island sits on Manatee Avenue between west Bradenton and the Anna Maria Island bridge, surrounded by Anna Maria Sound and Palma Sola Bay. Almost all of it was developed as planned communities rather than as a conventional street grid..
Explore Perico IslandWest Bradenton
These neighborhoods sit between the city and the bridges, with older Florida housing stock, mature landscaping, and the shortest drive to the sand without paying island prices.
Palma Sola
Palma Sola runs along the bay of the same name at the western edge of the mainland, just before the causeway out to Perico Island and the beaches. It is one of the shortest drives to Anna Maria Island from a mainland address..
Explore Palma SolaWest Bradenton
West Bradenton covers the stretch between the city proper and Palma Sola, running along Manatee Avenue and Cortez Road. Most of it was built between the 1950s and the 1970s, which shows in the tree canopy and the lot sizes..
Explore West BradentonBayshore Gardens
Bayshore Gardens sits south of Bradenton along US 41, running down toward the Sarasota county line. It was developed largely in the 1950s and 1960s as one of the county original planned subdivisions, and it retains its own recreation district..
Explore Bayshore GardensWhitfield and Sara Bay
Whitfield Estates sits at the southern edge of Manatee County along Sarasota Bay, and it is one of the older platted neighborhoods in the area, laid out in the 1920s around what is now the Sara Bay Country Club golf course..
Explore WhitfieldEast County and Lakewood Ranch
These are master planned communities built mostly after 1995, with newer construction, amenity centers, and CDD assessments on top of HOA dues.
Lakewood Ranch
Lakewood Ranch is a master planned development east of Interstate 75 that spans the Manatee and Sarasota county line, and it has been among the top selling planned communities in the country for years running. It is not a neighborhood so much as a collection of dozens of them, each with its own builder, price point, and association..
Explore Lakewood RanchGreyhawk Landing
Greyhawk Landing is a gated community east of Bradenton off State Road 64, built largely in the 2000s across a large parcel with a significant amount of the land left as lakes and preserve..
Explore Greyhawk LandingMill Creek
Mill Creek is a residential community in east Manatee County near Lakewood Ranch, built out mostly through the 1990s and 2000s. What distinguishes it from most of its neighbors is lot size.
Explore Mill CreekWaterlefe
Waterlefe sits on the Manatee River in northeast Bradenton and is one of the few communities in the county to combine a golf course with a marina offering river access. It was developed beginning in the late 1990s..
Explore WaterlefeRiver Strand and Heritage Harbour
Heritage Harbour is a large master planned area just east of Interstate 75 at State Road 64, and River Strand is the gated golf community within it. Together they hold one of the widest ranges of price points in east Manatee County, from condominiums to single family homes..
Explore River StrandNorth of the River
Across the Manatee River is the fastest growing part of the county, and it is where most of the new construction inventory sits.
Palmetto
Palmetto sits directly across the Manatee River from Bradenton and is a city in its own right, with its own downtown, its own historic district, and a working waterfront. It is older than most of what surrounds it..
Explore PalmettoParrish
Parrish is the fastest growing part of Manatee County and where most of its new construction inventory currently sits. It was farmland and small holdings until recently, and it is now a corridor of master planned communities running north from the Manatee River toward the Hillsborough county line..
Explore ParrishEllenton
Ellenton sits on the north bank of the Manatee River at Interstate 75, and it is best known regionally for the outlet mall and the Gamble Plantation historic site. Residentially it is a mix of older housing, a number of manufactured home communities, and newer subdivisions filling in around them..
Explore EllentonCentral Bradenton
This is the original city, with historic housing along the river, a working downtown, and the arts district.
Downtown Bradenton and the Village of the Arts
Downtown Bradenton runs along the south bank of the Manatee River, with the Riverwalk connecting the waterfront and the cultural buildings that sit on it. Just south of it is the Village of the Arts, a neighborhood of small 1920s through 1940s cottages rezoned to allow residents to run galleries and studios out of their homes..
Explore Downtown BradentonRiverview Boulevard
Riverview Boulevard runs west from downtown Bradenton along the south bank of the Manatee River, and it holds the oldest concentration of substantial homes in the city. Many date to the 1910s and 1920s land boom, and several are on the National Register..
Explore Riverview Boulevard