Highland Beach vs Gulf Stream: Which Exclusive Oceanfront Town Is Right for You in 2026?

Highland Beach and Gulf Stream are the two most private, residential-only towns on this stretch of South Florida's A1A, and buyers looking at oceanfront between Boca Raton and Delray Beach ask me about both constantly. Here is the honest answer: Gulf Stream is estate-scale and ultra-low density, while Highland Beach delivers oceanfront living with a wider range of condos, townhomes, and single-family homes. Your choice comes down to price, lifestyle, and how much land you want under your house.

These towns are the quiet bookends of my day-to-day market. As a RealTrends Verified agent with Coldwell Banker Realty, I work Delray Beach down through Highland Beach, and in a single week I can be advising a seller of an Gulf Stream estate and a buyer of an oceanfront condo in Highland Beach. Two very different conversations, same strip of coast. Here is what I tell clients in real conversations, not what the listing pages say.

The Big Picture: Two Private Towns on One Corridor

Both towns share the same DNA: residential-only, low density, no downtown, and almost no commercial zoning. Gulf Stream sits between Delray Beach and Boynton Beach on about 514 acres, with roughly 660 housing units and around 90 percent owner-occupancy. Highland Beach is a smaller footprint, about half a square mile of land with roughly 2.8 to 3 miles of oceanfront between Boca Raton and Delray Beach, home to about 4,300 residents who roughly double in number when season arrives.

The real difference is the housing stock. Gulf Stream is almost entirely estate-scale single-family homes on large parcels. Highland Beach is a mix of oceanfront condos and townhomes with luxury estates mixed in. That single difference drives everything else: price, maintenance, and who each town suits.

Gulf Stream: Estate-Scale Privacy

Gulf Stream has the deepest roots of any town on this corridor. Wealthy Palm Beach investors, including Henry Phipps Jr. of U.S. Steel, assembled most of the land in the 1920s, and the town was chartered in 1925. In the decade that followed it earned the nickname "Winter Polo Capital of the World," and the golf heritage has stayed on: the Gulf Stream Golf Club, founded in 1924, remains a private, invitation-only club with a Donald Ross course and an Addison Mizner clubhouse.

The housing is what you'd expect from that history: oceanfront mansions and Intracoastal estates with deep-water docks, on lots you simply do not find in the condo towns to the south. Recent census figures put the median home value above $2 million, and median asking prices in Gulf Stream run around $4.5 million. This is the market for a buyer who wants acres of privacy with the Atlantic at the door and the Intracoastal at the dock. For the full picture, my Gulf Stream real estate guide and the Gulf Stream neighborhood guide go deeper.

Highland Beach: Oceanfront With More Options

Highland Beach incorporated in 1949 and stayed deliberately quiet ever since: no traffic lights, virtually no commercial zoning, and one resort hotel, the Delray Sands Resort, on the whole strip. What it lacks in commercial life it makes up in variety. The oceanfront here is mostly condos and townhomes with estates in between, so the price spread is far wider. Recent figures put the median home and condo value around $1 million to $1.2 million, while prime oceanfront estates sell for multiples of that, reaching into the tens of millions.

Be honest with yourself about the rhythm of the town. The median age is around 70, most residents are 65 or older, and the population roughly doubles in winter. Some buyers love that settled, seasonal pace; others find it too quiet and keep their activities in Delray Beach and Boca Raton, both only minutes up and down A1A. My Highland Beach neighborhood guide and Highland Beach deep dive cover the buildings and lifestyle in detail.

Price Reality: Where Your Dollar Goes

• Gulf Stream: the entry point is high and the ladder is short. Median home values sit above $2 million and median listings run near $4.5 million, with prime oceanfront and deep-water dockage priced far higher. What you get is land, privacy, and direct water on two sides for the right property.
• Highland Beach: the spread is everything. Oceanfront condos and townhomes hold the middle of the market around the $1 million to $1.2 million median, and single-family and oceanfront estates climb well beyond that. Buyers at several price points can find a home here.

In short, Gulf Stream is a town of houses, and Highland Beach is a town of buildings and houses. If your plan is a single-family estate on real land, Gulf Stream is the fit. If oceanfront condo or townhome living is the goal, Highland Beach gives you the options.

Beach Access: What Buyers Ask First

Can I walk to the beach in Highland Beach?

Not the way you can at Delray's public beaches. Almost all of Highland Beach's oceanfront is private, and public deck access has historically been scarce. Palm Beach County has pursued a public oceanfront park here for roughly 40 years and approved preconstruction funds in 2025, but it is not built yet. Most residents use their community's private beach or drive a few minutes to public beach access in Delray Beach or Boca Raton.

Does Gulf Stream have a private beach?

The beach in Gulf Stream belongs to the oceanfront estates themselves. That is the point of the town. Several of the last vacant beachfront lots were rezoned from multifamily to single-family, which tells you how committed Gulf Stream is to staying an estate community. If private, direct beach access matters more than anything else, this is the stronger of the two towns.

Quick Answers: Highland Beach vs Gulf Stream

Which is more expensive, Highland Beach or Gulf Stream?

Gulf Stream. Recent census figures put its median home value above $2 million, and median asking prices run around $4.5 million. Highland Beach's median home and condo value runs closer to $1 million to $1.2 million, with a much wider spread from condos to oceanfront estates.

Which town has better beach access?

Both are private-first. Highland Beach's oceanfront is mostly condos and estates with historically scarce public access, and Gulf Stream's beach belongs to its oceanfront estates. In either town, plan around private or community beach access rather than public parks.

Is Gulf Stream a gated community?

No, not in the typical sense. There is no gated perimeter. The privacy comes from estate lots, very low density, and zero commercial zoning. Its one club, the Gulf Stream Golf Club, is private and invitation-only.

Is Highland Beach good for full-time living?

It is one of the quietest communities in South Florida, with a median age around 70 and a population that roughly doubles in winter. If you want year-round activity, the restaurants and energy of Delray Beach and Boca Raton are minutes away, but the town itself stays low-key.

Both towns have earned their reputation as the private end of the Palm Beach County coast. If you are coming from the Gulf Stream side of the corridor, my Gulf Stream agent page explains how I work that market; on the Highland Beach side, the Highland Beach agent page does the same. Either way, the first step is a conversation about what you actually want to do with the place.