Small, quiet beach towns in Florida (Jacksonville, West Palm Beach: middle-class, 2015, condos)

Windy City Polak · 07-21-2018, 09:23 AM

Hi, I'm considering moving to Florida and I'd like to live near the sea in a small town. I don't want to be in one of those beach towns in the resort areas that are packed with people and have condos lined up along the shore. I'd like a small town (perhaps ~25,000 people at most) that isn't entirely swamped by tourists with a nice, mostly undeveloped shoreline. I'd like it to be just a regular, middle-class town as well, not some fancy, gated, rich community. Preferably about 1 hours drive of a major city, though I understand that is rather unrealistic so it's not a 'must'.
I'm assuming that the only towns that fit this criteria are on the "Nature Coast", but anywhere in the state is fine.

Fredesch · 07-21-2018, 11:04 AM

This map may help http://coastal.floridanatureguide.co...ida-beach-map/. Note on the map the "nature coast' doesn't have many beaches. The big bend of Florida is where the land and water meet in a very wide and very shallow area with growing seagrass. You need elevation above 0 to have a beach and as you can see on the map there are very few beaches along that coast.

Florida has 20 million residents and tourism is our #1 industry. Don't expect a small beach community untouched by tourism. It doesn't exist anymore. You can find nice beach communities with great beaches. But you need to scale your expectations to realitiy. I live in zip 32176 which is a quiet beach community. It is between Flagler Beach and Daytona Beach two tourist popular beaches. This is what you can expect in Florida today, this or seagrass.

jghorton · 07-21-2018, 11:07 AM

Everyone has always looked for the same thing you are looking for in 'Idealistic Florida' - which even 20-years was unrealistic at the price most were willing or able to pay.

There are still many regular, middle class, small towns, not swamped by tourists ... within an hour of both larger cities and the beach. There are also a number of older coastal towns close to (but, not on) the beach that generally meet your criteria.

We moved to Florida about 45-years ago and have lived on the beach or harbor for the past 30+ years. Suggest you start south of Jacksonville (Duvall) and work your way down the coast to about Vero or Jupiter - pay particular attention to Brevard.

cfbs2691 · 07-21-2018, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jghorton

Everyone has always looked for the same thing you are looking for in 'Idealistic Florida' - which even 20-years was unrealistic at the price most were willing or able to pay.

Great post

OP will you need a job?
What areas of Florida have you already spent time?

DanielAvery · 07-21-2018, 05:47 PM

Stuart, Florida was named "The Happiest Seaside Town in America" last year by...oh, gosh, I believe it was Coastal Living magazine (I might be wrong on the magazine, but I recall the honor). As a resident of Stuart, I can attest that it's a pretty neat place to live. We have about 18,000 residents. There is an actual downtown area (not just a collection of subdivisions) with lots of mom-and-pop type boutiques. We're about an hour from West Palm Beach (east coast). Martin County has historically shunned a lot of the development of other south Florida counties, so there are not many 'condos lined up along the shore', but there is a "choosiness" about what they allow to be built that helps the place maintain a small-town feel. No place in Florida is immune to tourism and/or snowbird invasions, of course, but there is a solid contingent of year-round residents--Stuart doesn't have the seasonal population variations of many west-coast cities of similar size.

nep321 · 07-21-2018, 08:42 PM

Take a look at the Forgotten Coast. Look at the small cities of Port St. Joe, Carabelle and Apalachicola. Each of these cities only has a population of 2,000 - 4,000. There are practically no tourists, no traffic, no big box stores or any sign of development. Just a lot of charm, peace and quiet and natural beauty. There are many beaches in the area with virtually no people. I love it and would love to live there, but I can't because there's no good paying jobs there.

d4g4m · 07-21-2018, 08:46 PM

What you are seeking started disappearing in the 60's and was gone around 1972

TransplantedFloridian · 07-22-2018, 12:57 AM

Look at Cedar Key and Port St. Joe.

kyle19125 · 07-22-2018, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d4g4m

What you are seeking started disappearing in the 60's and was gone around 1972

nep321 · 07-22-2018, 09:23 AM

Are you retired? How are you going to survive in one of these small beach towns? Almost all of the jobs are low paying jobs. Will you have a job secured before the move?