[cjl2007]

Hello I am wanting to move to Florida.....I have four girls ages 6-16. Can anyone give me info...on crime, weather the best places to live...anything that would help me decide what to do....

[sunrico90]

Originally Posted by cjl2007

Hello I am wanting to move to Florida.....I have four girls ages 6-16. Can anyone give me info...on crime, weather the best places to live...anything that would help me decide what to do....

You must do some homework and school yourself and look for the better places away from the crowded areas. Regardless the town/city in Florida we have crime, just like any other city/town of this nation. Some areas are worst than others.

I will suggest staying away from the larger cities and looking at areas that are well developed and established. The northwest area of the state is an excellent place to raise a family, but do your research first.

The forum has databases that provide info on the topics that you asked about, read the posts, evaluate your needs and them proceed with your plan.

One area that needs to be look at first is the job market and housing. Then work your way to crime, education, etc...

If you find an area that supports your skills and housing is affordable, now look for pro/cons... Also if possible visit your choices and get a true view. We only have about 50 to 60 Florida members (reside in the state) posting. The state has 17 million plus of citizens.

If you provide your skills, housing price we might be able to provide better info.... Good luck...

[backtofla]

you cant really say, "fla is a good place to raise children" or "fla is not a good place to raise children." fla is very diverse, and with that being said, i dont see how one can say yes or no as a whole. is miami a good place to raise children? in some parts, i'm sure. is winter springs a good place to raise children? absolutely.

i voted yes, because, of course there are lots of places in fla to raise children, and you'll find that many of them are a good place to raise them...

[Floridasunshine]

Yes Florida will make you happy, Can you get job here to support your family?
If you have skill yes, if not you will have to have 2 jobs just like every other city. I love Lakeland , It is best kept secret, We were shocked at home prices being so low, after looking in Hillsborough,Manatee,Pasco counties.
Then our tax bill was half of what these counties are.

[I95]

I've recently decided to relocate from Md to Fla with 4 kids as well. I wanted an area that had good schools, fair crime rate, middle income, family friendly and diverse. This is all in comparison to what I'm used to in Baltimore.

Given that, I've settled on St.Johns/Duval/St. Augustine/Mandarin areas of Jacksonville. Now, I just have to find the house

[Nirvana-Guy]

Good paying jobs (which in FL is around $12 - $15 /h) are hard to come by in Central Florida. Unless you have money and a job already here wiating for you, you could land in a big heap of trouble.

Also, cost of living is very high, while wages are not that good. Employment is 'at-will', so you can be hired/fired at anytime for any reason (including not speaking Spanish).

You need to do your homework. It sounds to me like you just got the idea of coming down here on your head now, but have not yet researched.

You need to decide what area you want to live in. Then open another thread into the forum closest to the area you want to live in (example: you want to live in Lake Mary, then ask on the Orlando section of the forum).

[sunrico90]

Unemployment rate Feb: 3.3 percent for the fourth straight month, the Agency for Workforce Innovation reported today. The national unemployment rate of 4.5 percent and the lowest of the nation's 20 most populous states.

Now we have 301,000 Floridians unemployed last month out of a civilian labor force of 9.1 million. Walton County in the western Panhandle had the lowest unemployment at 2.2 percent, with Monroe and Liberty counties close behind at 2.4 percent. Madison County east of Tallahassee the highest unemployment rate 6.2 percent.

All the good paying jobs must be taken

[backtofla]

i want to hear from the ppl that said no. what about the entire state is there reason to say no? i'm tired of all the generalizing. if you live in miami, and think schools are terrible, fine. but dont say that all of fla is the same way.

[Rhett_Butler]

Originally Posted by backtofla

i want to hear from the ppl that said no. what about the entire state is there reason to say no? i'm tired of all the generalizing. if you live in miami, and think schools are terrible, fine. but dont say that all of fla is the same way.

Very general questions begat very general answers. To simply say "yes" is as misleading as simply saying "no"... You don't think that your own personal feelings in the matter are jading you a bit here???

Why don't we edit your comments to say, "I'm tired of all the negative generalizing." The positive doesn't seem to be bothering you too much, eh??? I mean you said it yourself already that you can't generalize one way or the other. So since we have 9 people that say it's good to raise kids in Florida and only a post or two saying why, shouldn't we ask those that said "yes" and offered no explaination to step forward as well???

Of course there are good and bad places to raise kids. That's true of EVERY state, so don't blame the general answers. Blame the phrasing of the question.

[backtofla]

and i explained why i said yes. ppl saying no arent explaining it. i want to hear from them.

i try to be unbiased, even though it's hard to b/c i like fla a lot, for different reasons.

but when ppl say "fla schools are terrible, i'm moving to sc." i am pretty familiar with sc, and the schools there are worse (as a whole).