Windermere is a town of 3,344 people (Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025) in Orange County, Florida, among the lakes of the Butler Chain. Town Hall is at 520 Main Street.
The town is small. The 2020 Census measured 1.93 square miles of land, and the Town puts its limits at about 2.2 square miles and 1,600 parcels. The Windermere ZIP code, 34786, holds about 30,000 parcels by the Town’s count, so most “Windermere” addresses are in unincorporated Orange County, where the county’s taxes and rules apply instead of the town’s.
Homes and neighborhoods
Inside the town there are 1,359 housing units, 98 percent of them single-family detached houses, and about 96 percent of occupied homes are owner-occupied (ACS 2020-2024). The Town states that there are no apartments, condominiums or townhomes within incorporated Windermere.
The median home in the town was built in 1989. About a third were built before 1980, nearly half from 1980 to 1999 and about 18 percent since 2000. The Census Bureau’s median value of owner-occupied homes in the town was $987,500 for 2020-2024, with a margin of error of about $93,000 because the town is small. It is a survey figure, not a sale price.
On the county’s subdivision map, the original Windermere plat was recorded in 1921 and covers about 445 acres. Later subdivisions inside the limits include Metcalf Park (1930), Willows at Lake Rhea, Manors at Butler Bay, Lake Butler Estates, Chaine du Lac, Sunset Bay (1988), Marina Bay Estates, Windermere Reserve and Estancia at Windermere (2016). Some town streets are unpaved, and the Town keeps a Dirt Roads page with its paving plans.
To see what is listed now, search homes for sale in Windermere.
search homes for sale in Windermere
Windermere addresses outside the town
The Town names Summerport, Keene’s Pointe, Casabella, Belmere and the area around Reams Road as places that are not part of Windermere. Isleworth is outside the town limits too. All are unincorporated Orange County.
The Census Bureau groups the area around the town, Keene’s Pointe and Isleworth included, as the Lake Butler census-designated place. It had 18,851 residents at the 2020 Census, a median build year of 2003 and a median owner-occupied value of $930,500 (ACS 2020-2024).
Keene’s Pointe has The Golden Bear Club, a private club with an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature course. Isleworth’s club describes the community as 600 acres on the Butler Chain with an 18-hole course first designed by Arnold Palmer. To the west and southwest, Summerport and Horizon West’s Lakeside Village (Lakes of Windermere, Windermere Trails) also carry the 34786 ZIP code. They are part of the county’s Horizon West plan, covered in the Winter Garden guide.
To check an address, search it on the Orange County Property Appraiser’s site and read the “Municipality” line. The Town recommends the same check.
Property taxes in Windermere
Florida taxes a home on its assessed value less exemptions. A homestead exemption takes $25,000 off for every taxing authority. A second exemption, on assessed value above $50,000, takes off about $25,000 more for every authority except the school district; it is adjusted for inflation and was $25,722 for 2025 and $26,411 for 2026.
Save Our Homes limits the yearly rise in a homesteaded home’s assessed value to 3 percent or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower: 2.7 percent for 2026. Without a homestead exemption the limit is 10 percent a year, and it does not apply to school taxes. A sale ends the seller’s cap, and the home is reassessed at market value as of the next January 1, so a buyer’s bill can be much higher than the seller’s.
| Taxing authority | 2025 millage |
|---|---|
| Town of Windermere | 3.7425 |
| Orange County | 4.4347 |
| Orange County Public Schools | 6.4490 |
| Orange County Library District | 0.3748 |
| South Florida Water Management District | 0.2301 |
| Total | 15.2311 |
Some town parcels also pay the county’s Windermere Navigation levy (0.2528 mills), for a total of 15.4839.
Outside the town there is no town millage, but the county adds 2.8437 mills for fire and emergency medical service and 1.8043 for unincorporated services. The 2025 total there was 16.1366 mills before any lake district levy, about 0.9 mills more than in the town.
As a worked example, take a homesteaded home in the town assessed at $900,000 in 2025. School taxes apply to $875,000 and come to $5,643. The other taxes apply to $849,278 and come to $7,458. The total is about $13,101 before non-ad valorem assessments. At the unincorporated rate the same home owed about $13,870.
The notice of proposed taxes (the TRIM notice) is mailed in August. Bills are mailed by November 1, with a discount of 4 percent for paying in November, stepping down to 1 percent in February, and taxes are delinquent April 1. The Town’s garbage service is billed once a year on the same tax bill.
CDD and HOA fees
A community development district (CDD) repays its bonds through yearly assessments on the property tax bill. Whether a home is in one is a parcel question: open the parcel’s record on the Property Appraiser’s site and read the non-ad valorem lines on its tax bill.
Homeowners association dues are set by each association. Florida law requires an association to issue an estoppel certificate within 10 business days of a request, stating the regular assessment and anything owed (section 720.30851, Florida Statutes). We can request the association’s documents for a home you are considering.
Short-term rental rules
A search of the Town’s code of ordinances and land development code, as published online, turns up no section on short-term or vacation rentals. Before you count on rental income from a home in the town, ask the Town’s zoning staff through its Development Services page how it treats stays under 30 days.
Outside the town, Orange County’s code applies. The county’s Zoning Division states that short-term rental (stays of 179 days or less) is permitted only in commercial and industrial districts or in planned developments that expressly allow it, that single-family transient rental (under 30 days) is permitted only in the R-3 district, and that both are prohibited in every other zoning district.
Renting an entire unit more than three times a year for under 30 days also requires a vacation rental license from the Florida DBPR, and stays of six months or less owe Florida’s 6 percent sales tax plus any county surtax and Orange County’s 6 percent tourist development tax. A home’s zoning and its association documents both have to allow the rental.
Schools
Orange County Public Schools is the district inside the town and out. School zones go by home address, so look up each address on the district’s Find My School page. The district notes that results do not show rezoning approved during the current school year.
Utilities
The Town does not provide water or sewer. It says homes either have private wells and septic tanks or are connected to Orange County Utilities, so ask which a house has.
Electricity is Duke Energy and natural gas is Lake Apopka Natural Gas. Waste Pro collects garbage on Tuesdays and Fridays, recycling on Tuesdays and yard waste on Wednesdays. Outside the town, the county’s service map shows Orange County Utilities for water and sewer.
Getting around
From Town Hall, OpenStreetMap routing puts Universal Orlando about 5.4 miles and 13 minutes away by Conroy Windermere Road. Downtown Orlando is about 12 miles and 23 minutes by Conroy Road and Interstate 4, the Magic Kingdom toll plaza about 15 miles and 29 minutes by Chase Road and County Road 535, and Orlando International Airport about 19 miles and 37 minutes. These are times without traffic, and real times vary through the day.
State Road 429, on the route to Horizon West, is a toll road of the Central Florida Expressway Authority. Its cash lanes closed on September 30, 2025, so tolls are paid with E-PASS or another accepted transponder, or by Pay By Plate invoice. SunRail has no station here, and LYNX’s route list names no Windermere route.
Flood zones and insurance
FEMA’s flood map puts the lakes and the land along them in a Special Flood Hazard Area (Zone AE or AH), and by the Census Bureau’s measure water is about a quarter of the area inside the town limits. On a lakefront lot, look at where the zone line falls. Search any address on FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center before you make an offer.
Orange County notes that a standard homeowner’s policy does not cover flooding. Citizens Property Insurance, the state-created insurer, requires flood coverage on its wind policies for homes in a Special Flood Hazard Area and for dwelling coverage of $400,000 or more, and on every such policy from January 1, 2027. Citizens also says a wind mitigation inspection can qualify a policy for discounts.
Parks and things to do
- The Town describes the Butler Chain as 13 lakes joined by 32 navigable canals, more than 5,000 acres of water, and says the Florida Legislature designated it an Outstanding Florida Waterway. The Town’s jurisdiction stops at the shoreline; the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission cover the water.
- There are three boat ramps inside the town: a public Orange County ramp on Lake Down, and resident-only ramps at Fernwood Park on Lake Butler and at Lake Bessie, which need a $35 Town park pass.
- Town parks include Town Square Park, Palmer Park, Central Park, Johnson Park and Lake Down Park.
- The Town’s farmers market runs Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Town Square Park, 520 Main Street.
Nearby guides: Winter Garden and Orlando.