Maybe moving to Jacksonville to teach. What's it like? (Charlotte: fit in, apartments)

[sloth777]

I've noticed that the Coastal part of NC is kinda rural. That's not a problem at all, but it would seem like it would be a booming place, since it's on the ocean. Is Jacksonville a nice place to live? I have two kids, 4 and 5 years old. Is it expensive, such as apartments and groceries?
Thanks

[CortlandGirl79]

My brother teaches high school in Jacksonville and he seems to like it. Jacksonville is decent sized and has most of the everyday shopping you need. Since it's a military town there are a lot of 18-22 year olds running around. My brother's g/f grew up there and said that when she was a teenager the military guys were always hitting on her and her friends. I think you'll find a nice mix of housing and neighborhoods and a stable economy due to the military presence.

To me here are the pro's and con's:

Pros: Nice weather, close to beaches, good economy for the most part, most of the people that live there aren't from there so it will be easier for you to fit in, stable and appreciating home values

Cons: surrounded by rural areas (not that it's bad, but you have to drive pretty far to have bigger city events), major airport is almost 2 hrs away in Raleigh, major shopping is 45 minutes to an hr away in Wilmington, no major league sports and Charlotte is a pretty long drive to see a NFL game. If you want to see major concerts you have to drive to Raleigh most of the time. High home insurance rates due to being near the coast. Threat of hurricanes.

I guess for you it will depend where you are coming from. Moving from NE Ohio my brother loves the weather, but wishes concerts and major sports were closer. He also misses the great Italian food. Hope that helps a little...........i'm sure people that actually live there might have a better idea than i do, but i thought i would share my experience and his.

[Steven McCurdy]

Jacksonville has a nice mall with all the girl stores my wife and daughters like, Pacson, American Eagle, Victoria Secrets, Belk, Penny's, and alot of other big name stores...

Their is a nice Community College their that offers an extension of UNC-Wilmington..

Resturants like Chili's, Logan's, Olive Garden, and many other large chain restuarnts...

Which school are you likely to teach at?

The traffic can get heavy at times....

[goi_cuon]

I'm also preparing to relocate to Jacksonville. A lot of the pluses and minuses are relative to where you are coming from, literally and figuratively.

For me "large chain restaurants" is not a plus. I'm all about food and this is one of the largest drawbacks to Small Town USA as far as I am concerned.

It's a town of 70K people, coming from a metro area of about 2.5 million, the traffic is never going to seem heavy. If you are coming from a town of 10,000, it will seem big.

The concerns/downsides, to me, are the ones common to many smaller towns:
1)Distance to major airport
2)Lack of independent and ethnic restaurants means that I will be cooking at home a lot more and may not be able to find the ingredients that are common to me here
3)Size of city makes me wonder what I'd do if I needed specialized medical care (i.e., if I needed chemo would I have to drive 100 miles to Raleigh to get it each time, or if I had an accident would I bleed out before I got to a trauma center?)
4)Where am I going to go when I need to evacuate from a hurricane (also a concern where I live now, but I have an interstate highway handy)?
5)Will I have any options for my hobbies? I'm sure I'll find a yoga studio and a place to do ceramics, but if I don't like them am I stuck with the only game in town?
6)The smaller the community, the more people will be in your business and telling you what your business should be.


The upsides
1)It's really pretty
2)Salt water, baby! The beach, the fishing!
3)Cost of living is very reasonable
4)Should have access to high quality seafood
5)Should be able to find an honest to god butcher where I can get meat cut to order and maybe game meats
6)Crime is a lot lower

City-data does a good job of providing details on cost of living and the like - http://www.city-data.com/city/Jackso...-Carolina.html

[CortlandGirl79]

^Great description. I agree, it all depends where you are coming from. We're from a town of around 6800 people, but our metro is around 500,000 and our area is very densely populated. We're also not far from Metro Cleveland, Akron and Pittsburgh (about an hr's drive) so we have a lot of entertainment options, shopping and great hospitals. The health care situation in Jacksonville would also be a concern to me. My mom got sick while she was down there visiting and i'm not sure what hospital she went to (i can't imagine there are too many), but both of my parents said it was filthy and it made our worst hospital here in Warren look amazing.........

[sloth777]

It's really small where I live now. Population 9,000. However, I am only an hour from Little Rock, which has an awesome local music scene.
I already have to drive 30 minutes plus, just to go to The Olive Garden or Chilis and stores like American Eagle.
I'm not sure which school I'll be teaching in, but I qualify for English/History 5th grade to 12th grade, and middle grade science. My wife is hoping to finish out her Nursing degree, so it's good that there is at least a community college nearby.
Thanks for all the info, and if you have more, please respond. It's a little scary to be moving 18 hours away to a place I know nothing about.
Thanks.

[nepabirdsfan]

I am also considering moving to NC for a teaching position. I am applying in the Jacksonville area. I am two children 13 and 7 along with my wife. We are from Northeast PA and are wondering about nice and affordable areas around Jacksonville. We would greatly appreciate any help.

[dreemcatcher]

I've lived in Jacksonville for 5 years now ( I also lived here in the late 80's) due to a military move.

Pluses:

Mild winters
relatively low cost of living
relatively low traffic
beaches
Albert Ellis Airport (30 minutes away has flights to charlotte/atlanta)
many transplanted people
many churches
schools: fair
Crime: probably lower than bigger cities
Tony's/Michaelangelo's NY style pizza
Strawberry/blueberry picking in the spring/summer
Some very nice people

Minuses:

Lack of cultural activities
No real planned communities (bike/walking paths, community pools)
no public transportation
few other than chain restaurants
Few professionals/professional jobs
Dating prospects are mostly young Marines (not a bad unless you are not a young female who wants that life style)
Boring town overall (sorry)
No charm
Not a lot of religious facilities besides the standard Christian churches.


Nice areas to live: Northwoods, the New Hunter's Creek (off Piney Green Road), and a few other areas. Some schools fair better than others. If you are moving to this area, you may also want to check out Swansboro.

[dreemcatcher]

I've lived in NJ, CT, VA, MI, CA, HI, FL, Spain, AK, and here. Alaska was probably my least favorite (weather stinks), but this was near the bottom. However, I have met some of the nicest friends here. So-there are positives to everyplace if we find them.