Levy County, Florida: A Local Guide for Home Buyers and Homeowners

Cedar Key

Cedar Key is an island city on the Gulf. It was the western end of the Florida Railroad, the first railroad across the state, which tied it to Fernandina on the Atlantic.

Cedar Key Museum State Park, an 18-acre site at 12231 S.W. 166th Court, covers the cedar lumber industry that named the town, and a state marker there notes John Muir’s 1867 stay at the end of his walk to the Gulf.

Chiefland

Chiefland sits on US 19/98, and US 129 heads north out of town. The College of Central Florida opened its Jack Wilkinson Levy Campus here in 2017 at 15390 N.W. Highway 19.

Williston

Williston runs its own city electric utility, so a house inside the city may get its electric service from the city rather than a cooperative. US 27 and US 27 Alt run through town toward Chiefland, and the Tax Collector keeps an office at 551 SW 1st Avenue.

Bronson

Bronson has been the county seat since 1874, and the Property Appraiser, Tax Collector and county SHIP office are all here, on Garner Street and School Street.

Fanning Springs

Fanning Springs sits where US 19 meets the Suwannee River, and the spring in its state park stays about 72 degrees year-round. The Nature Coast State Trail runs through town.

Yankeetown and Inglis

Yankeetown and Inglis are towns near the Gulf at the county’s south end. After Hurricane Idalia in 2023, National Hurricane Center surveyors measured 4 to 5 feet of water above ground in Yankeetown.

Rainbow Lakes Estates

Rainbow Lakes Estates is an unincorporated subdivision on the Marion County line, and it was the county’s most populous census-designated place at the 2020 Census.

Levy County SHIP Purchase Assistance

Levy County’s SHIP purchase assistance helps very low, low and moderate income first-time buyers with a 0% deferred loan that’s forgiven a little each year once you’ve lived in the home long enough, under the schedule in the county’s housing plan. You’ll need a homebuyer education class, a preapproved first mortgage and some of your own money in the deal, and the purchase price has to fall under a cap tied to area home prices.

Levy opens SHIP applications on its housing page when a new year’s money arrives, and a rural county’s share doesn’t stretch far. Call 888-601-8344 and we’ll check with Community Services at 310 School Street, Suite 112, Bronson, 352-914-7192, whether purchase money is open and what it pays before you sign a contract.

Levy County Housing page

Levy County SHIP repair and hardship help

Owners can get help too: rehab on the same forgiveness schedule, demolition and reconstruction when a home can’t be saved, disaster grants after a declared disaster, and foreclosure prevention for very low and low income owners.

Repair forms are posted on the county’s housing page when the program is taking them. Planning a refinance on a home that needs work? Call 888-601-8344 and we’ll talk through using SHIP repair money alongside it.

County housing plan (PDF)

Florida Hometown Heroes (statewide)

Through Hometown Heroes, Florida Housing pairs a 30-year fixed first mortgage with a 0% down payment and closing cost second that has no monthly payment and is repaid rather than forgiven, when you sell, refinance, pay off the first or stop living in the home. One buyer must work full time for a Florida-based employer in health care, K-12 schools, first response, public safety, the courts or licensed child care.

If you’re on active duty, any employer works for Hometown Heroes in Levy County; if you’re a veteran or in the Reserve or National Guard, you need to work full time for a Florida-based employer. You’ll need to take a homebuyer education course, and the application goes through a participating lender or broker. You can use Florida Housing help once in a lifetime, which is why the house and the lender both need to be right. Call 888-601-8344 first and we’ll find out whether Hometown Heroes is reserving money and what it pays on a Levy purchase.

Official program page

FL Assist and HFA Preferred / HFA Advantage (statewide)

FL Assist is a 0% deferred second with no monthly payment that you repay later rather than have forgiven, when you sell, refinance, transfer or move out; it sits behind a Florida Housing FHA, VA, USDA or Conventional HFA Preferred or HFA Advantage first. HFA Advantage PLUS pairs a Freddie Mac Conventional first with a second forgiven over 5 years while you live there.

These are reserved loan by loan and the money can run out. Text us at 954-816-8820 with the Cedar Key, Chiefland or Williston address and we’ll tell you which second is funded and how it works with your loan.

Official program page

Schools and colleges

The School Board of Levy County runs the public schools; the district website is the place to start for enrollment.

The College of Central Florida’s Levy Campus in Chiefland offers degrees and certificates, including Welding Technology.

Getting around

US 19/98 (SR 55) is the main north-south road in western Levy and US 41 in the east. US 27 and US 27 Alt run northwest to southeast through Williston and Chiefland, US 129 heads north from Chiefland, and SR 24 runs from Cedar Key into Alachua County.

Manatee Springs State Park

Manatee Springs is the largest spring flowing into the Suwannee River, about 100 million gallons a day, and an 800-foot boardwalk runs through cypress forest to the river. Manatees come in during the cooler months. The park is at 11650 N.W. 115 St., Chiefland.

Fanning Springs State Park

Fanning Springs flows about 65 million gallons a day, now a second-magnitude spring, and the water stays near 72 degrees. Manatees show up in winter. Find it at 18020 N.W. Highway 19.

Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge

The refuge takes in 13 islands off Cedar Key. Seahorse Key’s rookery hosts egrets, night herons, brown pelicans, white ibis and roseate spoonbills. Seahorse Key is closed except by permit, and the waters around Snake Key close March through June.

Nature Coast State Trail

The Nature Coast State Trail is 32 paved miles linking Chiefland, Fanning Springs, Trenton and Cross City, and it crosses the Suwannee on the historic railroad bridge.

Cedar Key Seafood Festival

The Cedar Key Seafood Festival fills a free weekend every October with local seafood, a Saturday parade and arts and crafts, and it’s been running for more than half a century.

Central Florida Peanut Festival

Williston’s peanut festival closes out the regional harvest each October and has been run by the Williston Chamber of Commerce since 1989.

Buying a home

FHA is the loan most of our Levy County buyers use, with 3.5% down, flexible credit guidelines and room to pair with SHIP and the statewide programs. Veterans who qualify can buy here with a VA loan and nothing down, and we also close Conventional loans, Hometown Heroes and FHA 100% financing.

AAA Capital Funding has been a licensed Florida mortgage broker since 1997, and we lend statewide in all 67 Florida counties, Levy included. We shop multiple wholesale lenders for you and tell you what you qualify for before you drive out to see a place in Chiefland or Williston.

Refinancing the home you have

A refinance can cut your monthly payment, take cash out for storm repairs or a new roof, pay off higher-interest debt, or buy someone else off the title. It puts the equity in your home to work.

Call 888-601-8344 and we’ll lay out the new payment, the cash out and the closing costs side by side.