[ArielE]

Hello,
My husband & I are young professionals who will be starting a family in the next few years. I'm from a very liberal, beautiful but cold city in Minnesota, and that's where we're living now. My husband wants to move to Florida and I want to see if I can find a place with the right fit. Please help! Here's what we're looking for:


"Walkability" -- ie, We dislike strip malls, suburban type areas, and anything where you don't have a nice outdoorsy place or urban area to walk around in or go to restaurants, libraries, museums, etc
Affordable housing (we're trying for under $250,000)
Family friendly
Environmentally friendly
Mild weather
Hills... I don't like completely flat areas
Liberal attitude
A large body of water nearby, the ocean, a river, lakes, anything really.
Lots of green space and parks

To give you an idea, we lived in Portland, OR and St. Louis, MO for school and were happy with both of these cities as far as liberal attitude, walkability, hills, bodies of water, and affordability are concerned. I work in Medicine and he works in Physical Therapy and so we would also need a place with job opportunities in these fields.

Are there any cities in Florida that may fit some or all of these criteria? If not, we're going to have to look at Colorado or California as alternatives.

I posted this on the Jacksonville forum and got a wonderful response that was very helpful. I was told Tallahassee is the one place in Florida that isn't completely flat.

[doggiebus]

I don't know if Florida has all of the things you are looking for in one place, California seems like its closer to what you are looking for. That said... Tallahassee isn't totally flat, it has rolling hills. Parts of Central Florida, north of Orlando has hills. Both have lakes close by. Orlando is pretty liberal, not like California or Portland. Tally is pretty liberal because of the college, but the further out you get from the City the more conservative it gets.

[Guntersville Boomer]

I have lived in Florida all of my life, I am getting ready to retire in December and moving to Alabama where my daughter lives. I spent 18 years in Tallahassee and raised my daughter there. I know the state real well and I can say Tallahassee is probably the most liberal place you will find but times are changing here. BTW, the local paper is called the Tallahassee Democrat....anyway the legislature was all democrats when I moved there in 1986, when I left in 2004, it had all turned republican, including the governor. But for Florida, it really is about as liberal as you will find. It is an excellent place to raise a family, it is about 2 hour drive to good beach areas, it does have change of seasons too. I am not sure I would describe it as a walkable city, there is a downtown like anywhere and some nice downtown neighborhoods like Betton Hills where you can walk/ride bikes but not many walk to downtown. It really is a city that only exists because the capitol is there and FSU as well as FAMU, without these it would be just another little town. One important point is getting in and out of there is pretty much restricted to car, Delta just pulled out of there so Jacksonville is closest large airport, about 3 hour drive or Orlando is 4 hour drive, some even just drive to Atlanta. I hope this helps you..

[TD*]

I would say it would be a great place.

[AustinTraveler]

"Walkability" -- ie, We dislike strip malls, suburban type areas, and anything where you don't have a nice outdoorsy place or urban area to walk around in or go to restaurants, libraries, museums, etc
Affordable housing (we're trying for under $250,000)
Family friendly
Environmentally friendly
Mild weather
Hills... I don't like completely flat areas
Liberal attitude
A large body of water nearby, the ocean, a river, lakes, anything really.
Lots of green space and parks

I don't think you will find this in Florida, much less Tallahassee. In fact, if you find this place with affordable housing, please let me know cause I'm always looking.

[ArielE]

Originally Posted by AustinTraveler

I don't think you will find this in Florida, much less Tallahassee. In fact, if you find this place with affordable housing, please let me know cause I'm always looking.

Hahaha, yeah... I have a feeling that any place with ALL of these nice things wouldn't stay affordable for long. I'm hoping to at least find a place with most of them, and I may end up staying in northern MN (which has most of my criteria except weather) and getting a "Sun exposure" lamp.

[seain dublin]

Mild weather in Florida????? It is still in the 90s here, I don't call that mild.

In the winter months it is very pleasant here,but I can you this you don't see a lot of people walking here most of the year. It is too hot and humid to be outside for too long.

FL is also flat as a pancake.

[johnatl]

Originally Posted by ArielE

Hello,
My husband & I are young professionals who will be starting a family in the next few years. I'm from a very liberal, beautiful but cold city in Minnesota, and that's where we're living now. My husband wants to move to Florida and I want to see if I can find a place with the right fit. Please help! Here's what we're looking for:


"Walkability" -- ie, We dislike strip malls, suburban type areas, and anything where you don't have a nice outdoorsy place or urban area to walk around in or go to restaurants, libraries, museums, etc
Affordable housing (we're trying for under $250,000)
Family friendly
Environmentally friendly
Mild weather
Hills... I don't like completely flat areas
Liberal attitude
A large body of water nearby, the ocean, a river, lakes, anything really.
Lots of green space and parks

To give you an idea, we lived in Portland, OR and St. Louis, MO for school and were happy with both of these cities as far as liberal attitude, walkability, hills, bodies of water, and affordability are concerned. I work in Medicine and he works in Physical Therapy and so we would also need a place with job opportunities in these fields.

Are there any cities in Florida that may fit some or all of these criteria? If not, we're going to have to look at Colorado or California as alternatives.

I posted this on the Jacksonville forum and got a wonderful response that was very helpful. I was told Tallahassee is the one place in Florida that isn't completely flat.

You may want to check out Chapel Hill. It might be a great fit for most of what you are looking for.

[ArielE]

Originally Posted by johnatl

You may want to check out Chapel Hill. It might be a great fit for most of what you are looking for.

Is that in Delray Beach? Do you think Delray beach would be a good fit?

[TD*]

No, he is referring to Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Where the University of North Carolina is.

Its a nice area Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill form the Triangle.

Lots of high tech jobs.