Answer: Airparks

Some people love golfing so much that they buy a condo on a golf course, so they can hit the links at a moment’s notice. Some people love sailing so much that they buy an expensive home on a lake, where they can hop in their sailboat to blow off steam after work. And some people love their planes so much they buy a home with a built-in hangar that they can taxi right out of, hit the airway, and be airborne in a matter of minutes.

These homes are such a niche thing, we’ll absolutely forgive you if you’ve never seen, let alone heard of, the specialized communities they exist in called “airparks”. An airpark is a subdivision that, for the most part, looks like any number of upper-middle class subdivisions you’d find around the United States: spacious lawns, wide streets, and newer homes with the modern amenities you’d expect, with a twist—the entire complex is built around a small airport. The most expensive homes have direct access to the airstrip (and can roll their planes right out the back of their homes and onto the tarmac), while the more removed homes can either taxi through the extra-wide streets of the neighborhood or keep their small planes in a community hangar.

There are an estimated 426 airparks in the United States with Florida (52), Washington (50), California (28), and Oregon (23) accounting for over a third of them. If you’re considering moving into such a community, you’ll need to not only brush up on your private aviation skills, but consider the cost of a small personal aircraft in addition to the cost of your exclusive home. The majority of airpark communities will not accept residents who don’t own an aircraft and store it on site.