[LordHomunculus]

Originally Posted by Vncks

Florida is getting quite the reputation nationally. People don't think very highly of it anymore, this person is just one in a long line of folks. Florida may not have ever been a great place to begin with. It's essentially a very difficult swamp like area that we have tried to turn into livable land.

Florida's general reputation always sucked. The only good thing you hear about it is weather and beaches and most of the time, that's referring to beachside cities like Miami, St. Peterburgh, Key West, etc. That was the main thing that early 1900 investors blabbered about when selling swampland to the Northerners.

[Enigma777]

Originally Posted by isles20

I will start off saying that 8 years ago I moved from New York, to Bradenton Fl. I was/am a transplant like many of people moving here. It was attractive, cheap, by the water, tropical. Well, let's just say, it wasn't what it was cracked up to be. Here is why.
1- Florida has some interesting people. But not in the way you would think. What I mean is that we don't exactly have all the smart people in the world. You can see it all over. You have that idiot George Zimmerman, who keeps getting in to trouble. Then you get the people who are so smart, they fly the flag of the Confederates, next to the American flag. Geniuses. Rick Scott, the guy who ripped of seniors for a living, had a huge fraud scandal, becomes the govennor, in a state full to the brim with retirees. But then he cuts college funds, cuts school funds, but then due to public back lack, restores some of it, and becomes the "Education govennor".
2- Most of Florida is boring. Sarasota the so called cultural capital of Florida because of what exactly? A few art colleges, some museums, and one decent theater? Come on. Tampa is snoresville, and Orlando has some theme parks. Super exciting! Miami, the saving grace for the state, in this regard.
3-We have a lousy education system. It is not only poorley funded, but now it will continue to have the FCAT, because the PARCC, was had too much "Federal intrusion". Not only are our graduation rates low, our SAT scores are low, our ACT scores are low, and county school budgets are low. Yes Edweek says we are like 6th, but that is one measure. Might I point out that it gives us an A for jobs, and economy.
4-Jobs don't really pay well. While we don't have an income tax, we have a sunshine tax. Middle of the road COL, but lower than average pay and there aren't that many jobs either.

First off--I know exactly what you are talking about and can totally relate to your post. Twenty years ago I could not take the cold gray winters and cement any longer and I moved from NYC to Miami. Loved Miami but lived in Sobe (club land). Got married and for some misguided reason moved to Sarasota, then bought a house in Bradenton (and got stuck during the RE crash). And therein lies your problem. Bradenton is in no way representative of Florida and actually the Bradenton culture is more a mix of southern/midwestern/redneck and is rather bland and boring. My husband is British and still hasn't forgiven me for Bradenton. Finally, the market is back and we are selling and returning to South Fla.

Take kids and schools out of the equation and Fla is not such a bad place to live, and is really quite beautiful. I love the tropical feel, the beaches, palm trees, the gorgeous 75 degree sunny weather in the winter. It's Halloween night and there is an extraordinarily beautiful sunset after a beautiful day. Though people love to make fun of Floriduh, there are idiots and stupid people in every state. On average, the people I met and worked with in Miami were better educated, more sophisticated and more well-traveled than many of the people I co-exist and work with in Bradenton/Sarasota area. There are also more jobs in South Fla, though not necessarily much higher paying. It depends on what you do for a living. North Fla and South Fla are like two different states and the Tampa Bay area is more like northern Fla in culture and thinking. I often think that Fla is illogical and backwards politically, e.g., a state legislature that refused to make texting while driving illegal, refused to make the 'left lane for passing' on the interstate, refused to allow a casino-resort to be built in Miami during a recession, decided to bring public school prayer back in a religiously diverse state, and a governor who refused federal funds to build a high-speed rail line we desperately need. But, I cannot imagine living anywhere cold and gray again.

[Mike1306]

Let's see a NY'er was complaining about how the education sucks and mentioned SAT scores, well let's see how they rank.

New York 76% 485 501 477 1463
Florida 67% 492 490 475 1457

Looks like NY and FLA SAT scores are pretty close there, like almost the even.

Another complaint was wages, I ran this one before when a nurse was thinking of moving down and someone posted that they would take a "massive pay cut" moving here

A registered nurse in NY has an annual mean wage of $74,100, a registered nurse in Florida has an annual mean wage of $61,780 (most recent BLS data). A difference of $12,320, now start off by subtracting $4145 for state income tax and you have a difference of $8175. Hardly a massive pay cut. Now calculate the difference in rental cost of $2638 for NY and $1298 for Florida (values gathered within last 30 days by myapartmentmap.com) , that is over $16000 a year. At this point we have not figured in for local income tax rates which many areas in NY have but seems Florida is ahead by almost $8000.

Looks like that higher wage only works out to more money going to the government.

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by Mike1306

Let's see a NY'er was complaining about how the education sucks and mentioned SAT scores, well let's see how they rank.

New York 76% 485 501 477 1463
Florida 67% 492 490 475 1457

Looks like NY and FLA SAT scores are pretty close there, like almost the even.

Another complaint was wages, I ran this one before when a nurse was thinking of moving down and someone posted that they would take a "massive pay cut" moving here



Looks like that higher wage only works out to more money going to the government.

Please, take your facts somewhere else. This thread is for stereotypes!

[THX 1138]

Originally Posted by Mike1306

Another complaint was wages, I ran this one before when a nurse was thinking of moving down and someone posted that they would take a "massive pay cut" moving here



Looks like that higher wage only works out to more money going to the government.

Only difference here is you pay plenty for car insurance, South Florida especially, and if you buy a home your homeowners insurance will even further draw more from your pay. Jobs pay less here more on average than elsewhere and opportunity in some sectors can be nill and an upward progression can be difficult if not impossible to reach.

[Mike1306]

Originally Posted by THX 1138

Only difference here is you pay plenty for car insurance, South Florida especially, and if you buy a home your homeowners insurance will even further draw more from your pay. Jobs pay less here more on average than elsewhere and opportunity in some sectors can be nill and an upward progression can be difficult if not impossible to reach.

Well with my calculation I did, it showed a nurse in Florida ahead by about $8000 after taxes, anyone paying $8000 for car insurance? Not likely.
And of course there will be other factors, some favoring Florida and some favoring other states. If you want to use South Florida as an example you would probably need to compare it to NYC so cost of living just went way up on the NYC side, I doubt the average price of insurance in Florida is going to equal that extra for a NYC apartment.
Let's not forget that NYC income tax.

[Sunny-Days-in-Florida]

Originally Posted by TriMT7

Yeah, sure. And Ohio is just GREAT. A cosmopolitan atmosphere that just SCREAMS culture and high sophistication.

Sorry Tri I dont remember if you ever lived in Ohio or not.

Last I checked Columbus Ohio is a fast growing major city that many businesses are going to and of course they are used as a huge marketing tool as Columbus is very diverse in many ways.

If Columbus was a Florida town it would be the perfect place to live as no city in Florida can compare to what is happening in Columbus and its very good surrounding towns.

But Columbus is too cold for many and they end up here.

Now to the other poster.

Why do you feel it is a place to visit but not live? What experiences can you discuss?

I moved from Ohio to Florida 2 1/2 years ago and really enjoy living here. Lots of things to do, warm weather, the beaches are amazing, the theme parks are great, water parks are great, natural wonders everywhere.

Columbus Ohio is a nice place to live and raise a family, better then any city in Florida for sure but it has nothing like the above for me and my family likes that Florida offers us.

Sitting on the Lanai eating breakfast on Christmas morning and heading to Disney for the day and going to Disney for New Years eve is a total blast.

I cannot do that in Ohio.

[Swimmom32]

Originally Posted by Mike1306

Well with my calculation I did, it showed a nurse in Florida ahead by about $8000 after taxes, anyone paying $8000 for car insurance? Not likely.
And of course there will be other factors, some favoring Florida and some favoring other states. If you want to use South Florida as an example you would probably need to compare it to NYC so cost of living just went way up on the NYC side, I doubt the average price of insurance in Florida is going to equal that extra for a NYC apartment.
Let's not forget that NYC income tax.

We were paying 5869.00 a year for car insurance with clean driving records so the 8000 dollars wouldnt be much savings especially for a family or person who has driving age children...its pretty much a blanket statement..I pay for the same 3 cars with our son here in Charlotte 2850 a year...Quiet Significant from South Florida the biggest difference is the State Tax here NC loves to tax everything....than opposed to Florida

[Swimmom32]

Originally Posted by Sunny-Days-in-Florida

Sorry Tri I dont remember if you ever lived in Ohio or not.

Last I checked Columbus Ohio is a fast growing major city that many businesses are going to and of course they are used as a huge marketing tool as Columbus is very diverse in many ways.

If Columbus was a Florida town it would be the perfect place to live as no city in Florida can compare to what is happening in Columbus and its very good surrounding towns.

But Columbus is too cold for many and they end up here.

Now to the other poster.

Why do you feel it is a place to visit but not live? What experiences can you discuss?

I moved from Ohio to Florida 2 1/2 years ago and really enjoy living here. Lots of things to do, warm weather, the beaches are amazing, the theme parks are great, water parks are great, natural wonders everywhere.

Columbus Ohio is a nice place to live and raise a family, better then any city in Florida for sure but it has nothing like the above for me and my family likes that Florida offers us.

Sitting on the Lanai eating breakfast on Christmas morning and heading to Disney for the day and going to Disney for New Years eve is a total blast.

I cannot do that in Ohio.

That is one of the greatest thing about Florida especially during the holiday times when the weather is just perfect and a beautiful Sunset!!

[THX 1138]

Originally Posted by Mike1306

Well with my calculation I did, it showed a nurse in Florida ahead by about $8000 after taxes, anyone paying $8000 for car insurance? Not likely.
And of course there will be other factors, some favoring Florida and some favoring other states. If you want to use South Florida as an example you would probably need to compare it to NYC so cost of living just went way up on the NYC side, I doubt the average price of insurance in Florida is going to equal that extra for a NYC apartment.
Let's not forget that NYC income tax.

Car insurance is going up, one of my co-workers added his 16 year old daughter on his policy, brand new Honda Civic, he got quotes from several places, highest was $10K/year for 3 cars in a group policy. I think he was able to get it down tot $8K/year, but has the legal limits and not much coverage.