[MortonR]

Both Pasco's and Hillsborough's starting pay for teachers with an undergraduate degree is over $35k. That's not to say it's good, but there were new contracts negotiated this summer, and Hillsborough settled first at $35,300 for starting salary.

However, the cost of living (primarily housing) is such that if you don't come down here with some serious equity in your pockets, you'll be living in a hovel.

New Tampa is expensive, as is Fish Hawk Ranch and Westchase, all very desirable areas to live in. I can recall when Fish Hawk opened several years ago wih homes in the mid $150s and up. You can't touch a home there for under $400k these days, even with the crappy housing market.

I built a home in the Bloomingdale area in 1996, and the market value has more than doubled since then. I went home to the Midwest two weeks ago and had a hard time believing there were starter homes in suburban areas where I grew up that were only $100k. Wow.

New Port Richey is older, with a lot of retired folks. For that matter, the closer you get to the Gulf, the higher the median age.

RM

[weatherfordfan]

^^^^^^^^
The housing market has TRIPLED in Pasco County the last ten years. It's near-impossible for a newbie to come down here with a college degree and expect to make enough money to buy a $250k house.

This is really disgusting what has happened down here and there's no give at all. People that have the houses can't sell them (a lot of little houses on zero lots that would be viewed as "pieces of junk" from Midwest standards) and even more people can't buy them.

This state is going to be worse than California because our education system is horrible and a lot of Florida's money is imported money when people come down from other states.

Florida IS NOT the place to be for a young college graduate. This is why so many UF grads are leaving the state and finding work elsewhere.

The "Florida Dream" of cheap living is OVER. And a lot of people are finding that out still (and some the hard way that move down here trying to scrape out a living).