Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-27-2007, 01:26 PM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
142 posts, read 1,030,595 times
Reputation: 106

Advertisements

I am looking to move back to Florida in the near future (I moved away from Miami about 5 years ago) and would like to find a nice city much smaller than Miami, but still large enough to have some energy, nightlife and economic opportunities. Right now, which smaller Florida cities are generally the best places to live? I am a water & nature lover, so cities that have lots to offer involving those things get bonus points!!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-27-2007, 02:04 PM
 
387 posts, read 1,593,189 times
Reputation: 114
Gainesville
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-27-2007, 02:06 PM
 
17,533 posts, read 39,105,017 times
Reputation: 24287
Quote:
Originally Posted by acs.1979 View Post
I am looking to move back to Florida in the near future (I moved away from Miami about 5 years ago) and would like to find a nice city much smaller than Miami, but still large enough to have some energy, nightlife and economic opportunities. Right now, which smaller Florida cities are generally the best places to live? I am a water & nature lover, so cities that have lots to offer involving those things get bonus points!!
Lakeland! Perfect size - lots of parks and loads of lakes for all kinds of water activities. This town has it all!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-27-2007, 02:18 PM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
142 posts, read 1,030,595 times
Reputation: 106
Thanks guys....I actually thought about Gainesville, but I hear that employment opportunities there are quite limited because it is a small town and the university brings lots of competition for the jobs that are actually available... Is that true or just a myth? Also, what are the home prices like there?

Lakeland...I have actually never looked into it. I will have to do some research!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-27-2007, 02:35 PM
 
387 posts, read 1,593,189 times
Reputation: 114
I have not looked into the Gainesville professional job market... YET. My perception is that there ARE professional jobs there, but like I said, I don't know. Houses are not bad. There are some very low cost crappy houses, then there are your million dollar houses around Haile Plantation - I'm sure you can find a happy median.

Personally, I'd take the lower wages (vs. South Florida) to live in G'Ville. Where others see a place that would get boring, I actually loved it there. It was perfect for me... close to the beach (considering I now live in Atlanta), very close to the gorgeous outdoors - so many springs and swimming holes around G'Ville. Also, the atmosphere is amazing - of course I was a student, but I worked closely with "real" people who had families there, jobs there, etc. The consensus I got was that they loved being close to the massive education wheel. The fact that UF is constantly changing how we live - through medical breakthroughs, engineering, etc. gave these people a sense of pride just to be living near it all.

I think there are many young professionals living there that are not students, they just get overlooked because of the obvious large student body.

That said, there are parts of G'Ville that are severely economically depressed.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-27-2007, 02:45 PM
 
Location: Tampa
3,982 posts, read 10,458,760 times
Reputation: 1200
Daytona or Melbourne.
Jax
Tampa Area (maybe)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-27-2007, 03:01 PM
 
Location: Living in Paradise
5,701 posts, read 24,155,464 times
Reputation: 3064
Try Northwest Florida, Panama City, Destin, Fort Walton, or Pcola. Might be the perfect location for you.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-27-2007, 03:29 PM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
142 posts, read 1,030,595 times
Reputation: 106
Thanks again all...MG80...great comments on Gainesville...maybe I will check into it a bit more before writing it off....Crystalblue...thanks...I love the Tampa Bay area...it is definitely one of my top choices...as for Jax...sounds interesting...however, it might be too far north for me to grow certain plants like Mango / Avocado....damn....I need to check if Tampa is even too far north for that!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-27-2007, 04:24 PM
 
Location: Gainesville
3 posts, read 10,723 times
Reputation: 10
Gainesville Good employment opportunities if you have a degree even though there are plenty of jobs for everybody. Pay is lower than most cities and housing prices are better than other cities. lots of activities and a beautiful place because of all the trees. Biggest negative are property taxes and lack of main roads to go around town but once you live here you figure out when to get around town the easiest. Lots of young people from all kinds of backgrounds.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-28-2007, 08:46 AM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
142 posts, read 1,030,595 times
Reputation: 106
Does anyone have any comments on nice smaller cities in South Florida?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top