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It's become a transient transplant state.
Neighbors here today, gone tomorrow, as my in-laws say. Many people move to Florida because they can't cut it elsewhere, and many of them do poor planning. They just see houses as cheaper and hell, it's sunny and warm all year long.
On these forums alone how many people come here asking moving questions with no jobs lined up? Exactly. "Oh I'm a blah blah blah, I'm not worried about finding a job". Famous last words.
Some of them are the worst. All they see is a 2500 square foot house for half of what they pay in their native state and they just up and move.
It's just a mess. Plan people, plan. The grass is not always greener.
Someone here on C-D actually made a video about this years ago. I think of it every time I read one of the many posts you're referring to.
I am a Florida native who was born in South Florida, was raised in Central Florida and went to high school in North Florida. I have traversed every corner of this state. It's true that Florida is changing. In my opinion it's improving. You can find more restaurants open on Sundays. You have more 24-hour stores. You can find some decent Asian restaurants now (although it's still horrible compared to the Northeast and California). You have more diversity, festivals, things to do. Florida took a huge leap forward when it attracted a Trader Joe's to finally open here. Many cities in Florida are becoming more cosmopolitan.
But there is NO QUESTION that there's a lot of morons who drive gigantic trucks in Florida with "FLO-GROWN" or "SALT LIFE" stickers on their bumpers. I see at least once a week some other wacko with a giant Trump flag flying from the flatbed of their truck down the freeway and I live in a county that went for Hillary! In Florida people make up for the low wages in this state by making money via getting into car accidents. There's an attorney billboard on every freaking corner. And you can count on Florida to go red in elections 99% of the time. Also, Casey Anthony, HELLO! The Anthony family is a textbook definition of the typical Florida transplant story. People from Ohio who moved here seeking warmth and sun and lost their ever-loving minds. The majority do not end up killing toddlers but many do end up doing some other crazy stuff. Personally I think people move here thinking "I love heat" or "I can tolerate the heat" and the 6 months of relentless heat fries their brains.
Do not move here expecting it to be anything like the Midwest, Northeast, Arizona or California. No, you will not find pizza like in Connecticut. No, you will not find lobster rolls like in Maine. No, you will not find tacos like in SoCal. No, you will not find sushi like in NorCal. Florida is an "either you love it or you hate it" kind of place. You will have to get used to humidity, a badly educated populace, bad customer service, bugs, materialistic people in South Florida, right-wing Jesus freaks in North Florida, and a mixed bag of people (mostly right-wing transplants and retirees) in Central Florida.
Also what Craigiri said is absolutely true. Horrible city planning and development decision making in Florida.
I am a Florida native who was born in South Florida, was raised in Central Florida and went to high school in North Florida. I have traversed every corner of this state. It's true that Florida is changing. In my opinion it's improving. You can find more restaurants open on Sundays. You have more 24-hour stores. You can find some decent Asian restaurants now (although it's still horrible compared to the Northeast and California). You have more diversity, festivals, things to do. Florida took a huge leap forward when it attracted a Trader Joe's to finally open here. Many cities in Florida are becoming more cosmopolitan.
But there is NO QUESTION that there's a lot of morons who drive gigantic trucks in Florida with "FLO-GROWN" or "SALT LIFE" stickers on their bumpers. I see at least once a week some other wacko with a giant Trump flag flying from the flatbed of their truck down the freeway and I live in a county that went for Hillary! In Florida people make up for the low wages in this state by making money via getting into car accidents. There's an attorney billboard on every freaking corner. And you can count on Florida to go red in elections 99% of the time. Also, Casey Anthony, HELLO! The Anthony family is a textbook definition of the typical Florida transplant story. People from Ohio who moved here seeking warmth and sun and lost their ever-loving minds. The majority do not end up killing toddlers but many do end up doing some other crazy stuff. Personally I think people move here thinking "I love heat" or "I can tolerate the heat" and the 6 months of relentless heat fries their brains.
Do not move here expecting it to be anything like the Midwest, Northeast, Arizona or California. No, you will not find pizza like in Connecticut. No, you will not find lobster rolls like in Maine. No, you will not find tacos like in SoCal. No, you will not find sushi like in NorCal. Florida is an "either you love it or you hate it" kind of place. You will have to get used to humidity, a badly educated populace, bad customer service, bugs, materialistic people in South Florida, right-wing Jesus freaks in North Florida, and a mixed bag of people (mostly right-wing transplants and retirees) in Central Florida.
Also what Craigiri said is absolutely true. Horrible city planning and development decision making in Florida.
But as a Florida native, I say, come on down!
Your bias does not apply to everyone, your world view is not generic neither enlightened.
In the second half of your first paragraph you are praising certain trends and certain people, while in the first half of your second paragraph you are calling other trends and people morons. Many of us see it the other way around, morons in the first part and not in the second. I mean what kind of people go to Trader Joes or eat sushi???
I think you should move to California where I live, and I will move to Florida where you live. Swap, win-win.
Compared to most other states, Florida's society is substandard. It is generally less educated, poorer and more crime ridden. The statistics and data back this 100%. The schools are subpar, obesity is more common than most states and shootings are more common. There are many more people with tattoos and piercings. Way too much gun obsession and toxic masculinity. So many immature men with severely jacked up monster trucks with stupid slogans like "Don't tread on me" or "FLO-GROWN." Lots of rednecks anywhere north of I-4. The STD and HIV rates are among the highest in the nation. Lots of yards with unkempt lawns and vehicles on the lawn, including boats. However, if you're in an HOA, it's great. There are rules that prevent this kind of nonsense and keep the neighborhood from going downhill.
Of course, it depends on where you are within Florida, but I am making accurate generalizations. I have lived in multiple states and keep up with facts and data. The per capita and median household incomes in Florida are below the national average. Poverty is above the national average. Coming down here from Connecticut a couple years ago, it was a tough pill to swallow. Connecticut has the #1 highest per capita income in America, has excellent schools and environmental laws. People are in great shape and crime is very low all over the state, with the worst parts only concentrated in certain cities. Gun obsession and redneck culture is almost nonexistent. I miss that.
Florida in general is a substandard society compared to the nation as a whole. Floridians generally prefer to pay little to no taxes at the expense of building an educated population and talented workforce. Paying no taxes is the #1 most important thing to Floridians. It's more important than education quality, teacher pay and curbing the effects of climate change.
I have also lived in Ohio and Florida is even more substandard than central Ohio people. At least central Ohioans are educated and less gun obsessed.
EXCELLENT rendition of the State of Florida, in general......I only go there for three months of winter.......and then back home to my little castle......
Your bias does not apply to everyone, your world view is not generic neither enlightened.
In the second half of your first paragraph you are praising certain trends and certain people, while in the first half of your second paragraph you are calling other trends and people morons. Many of us see it the other way around, morons in the first part and not in the second. I mean what kind of people go to Trader Joes or eat sushi???
I think you should move to California where I live, and I will move to Florida where you live. Swap, win-win.
I would never move to California. Too expensive, too much tax and too many people. Also, I'm am not a liberal, and that state is out of control leftist.
Like I said. Some people hate Florida, some people love Florida.
There is an either/or attitude here about Florida and most everything, including Trader Joe's and sushi.
Your attitude will fit right in!
Welcome to my home state!
PS: Melbourne is a %%%%hole. It is just run-down suburban blah-ness. Everyone I know who has moved there has hated it.
PS: Melbourne is a %%%%hole. It is just run-down suburban blah-ness. Everyone I know who has moved there has hated it.
Melbourne is the only small town with high tech jobs in a warm climate. All others are in crowded huge metropolitan areas. I had enough of crowds and daily traffic jams, and the cold...
Melbourne is the only small town with high tech jobs in a warm climate. All others are in crowded huge metropolitan areas. I had enough of crowds and daily traffic jams, and the cold...
I would visit Melbourne several times before I moved there.
I just spent a couple weeks in LA and Orange County. Drove the 5, the 10, the 101. Did not get stuck in traffic not even once. In fact, if anything, I noticed people drive much faster there on the freeways than in Florida. Here, you have a lot of old people in the left lane doing 50 mph. Over there people were doing 80mph+ in the left lane. Flying past me.
Regarding your comments about people snowboarding and wine tasting. Here you can replace that with "I"m taking the boat out this weekend" or "I'm going fishing" or "I'm going to the beach". Here, people are very into boating, jet skis, Disney World and the beach. People here get into a competition over who has the biggest boat, who has the biggest baddest pickup truck (or Maserati, or Tesla, or Benz, or Porsche, or Range Rover), who has an annual pass to Disney World. They display this fact proudly by putting "Disney World passholder" bumper stickers on their cars. "Oh, you don't have an annual pass to Disney? You're a loser." I have actually heard people many times getting into pissing contests about which luxury hotel they are staying at in Disney World.
There is also the "OHhhhhh, you're not a native Floridian? You're another transplant?" BS. A lot of people who have been here generations cannot stand "the new people" who have move here.
There are pretentious people in small towns and big towns in all 50 states.
I would visit Melbourne several times before I moved there.
I just spent a couple weeks in LA and Orange County. Drove the 5, the 10, the 101. Did not get stuck in traffic not even once. In fact, if anything, I noticed people drive much faster there on the freeways than in Florida. Here, you have a lot of old people in the left lane doing 50 mph. Over there people were doing 80mph+ in the left lane. Flying past me.
Regarding your comments about people snowboarding and wine tasting. Here you can replace that with "I"m taking the boat out this weekend" or "I'm going fishing" or "I'm going to the beach". Here, people are very into boating, jet skis, Disney World and the beach. People here get into a competition over who has the biggest boat, who has the biggest baddest pickup truck (or Maserati, or Tesla, or Benz, or Porsche, or Range Rover), who has an annual pass to Disney World. They display this fact proudly by putting "Disney World passholder" bumper stickers on their cars. "Oh, you don't have an annual pass to Disney? You're a loser." I have actually heard people many times getting into pissing contests about which luxury hotel they are staying at in Disney World.
There is also the "OHhhhhh, you're not a native Floridian? You're another transplant?" BS. A lot of people who have been here generations cannot stand "the new people" who have move here.
There are pretentious people in small towns and big towns in all 50 states.
In SF bay area, even if I go home from work at 10PM I sill end up in guaranteed stop and go traffic. There are too many cars on the freeway at 1AM Saturday to go at 80+ mph longer than few minutes.
Owning and using a boat, even though costs money, still more down to earth than wine tasting and snowboarding. Both wine tasting and skiing costs a lot of money not as a purchase but as an expense. Going to beach is free and you enjoy nature. Go to Tahoe for the weekend for skiing or snowboarding? Its $500/person. Go wine tasting with the rest of the stuck up elitists, so you can all despise the rest of the "peasants" (who don't go wine tasting) together? Probably also $200 for a day. Once the weekend is over all you own is this stupid T-shirt.
Native Floridians have the right to dislike newcomers, especially the ones that want to change Florida. For example bringing in Sushi bars and Trader Joes, while trying to ban their dear trucks and boats.
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