Advise on Naples vs Jacksonville

[Kuota]

By LewLew "Jacksonville has a population of .82M or roughtly 795,000
Naples has a population of 22,000 "

A valid point but nevertheless the crime rates are much higher in one city than another. Changes in crime rates have been driven by higher density populations than smaller cities. Over half of the violent crimes in the US occurred in cities with a population of 100,000 or more. Large cities have a greater incident of drug-related and gang-related killings than smaller cities like Naples.
Conversely, intimate homicides (spouses, ex-spouses, boyfriends, and girlfriends) made up a larger percentage of murders in rural areas than in suburban or urban areas. You have a greater chance of becoming a victim in a large urban city than a smaller city.
Source: FBI, Supplementary Homicide Reports, 1976-2005.

So if you are having difficulty, marital problems with your significant other stay away from rural areas.........A difficult choice for a family with small children to consider. A big city or small city?? Many pro's and con's for both.

[TANaples]

Jacksonville doesn't have suburbs? Naples is not the place for young families. As my 30 year old daughter says, "I look in car windows and all I see are OLD people. "Where are all the young people who grew up here?" They probably moved to Jacksonville or other large cities.

[LewLew]

Originally Posted by TANaples

Jacksonville doesn't have suburbs? Naples is not the place for young families. As my 30 year old daughter says, "I look in car windows and all I see are OLD people. "Where are all the young people who grew up here?" They probably moved to Jacksonville or other large cities.

Jacksonville has the youngest per capita median age in the state. Their median age in 2007 was 23 years old.
I also get what the other poster said about crime; however you aren't living in the part of the city where the crime is concentrated. I was merely saying that you can't compare small cities to large metro areas on a whole. You have to break it down to respectively sized areas. In Jacksonville, most don't live on the immediate northwest side where all the crime is. Most live in Mandarin, St Augustine, Southside, Avondale, Orange Park, San Marco none of which have close to the crime rate Naples has. You choose a small area located in the larger metro area.
I lived in Chicago for years and never had a problem. However, the crime rate the way you view it would have assumed I would. Many of my friends raise there children there, and the kids still play in the road, in the yards with no parents etc. Nothing has happened. Can't say that for Ft Myers, Naples and the surrounding areas. I also grew up in Cleveland, but the crime rate in my burb was .001 percent of the national crime average. I was less than 3 miles from the inner city of Cleveland where crime is everywhere.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by RMD3819

You could live anywhere in Naples with that budget, except Port Royal and parts of Pelican Bay.

I don't know if this link will work, but here are some real bargains!

http://www.naplesarea.com/home-search-results.asp

I wouldn't say a person can live anywhere, but there certainly are a lot of choices, although it depends on one's desires like square footage, land, amenities, location, etc. For example, I doubt if there is a home in Quail West or Collier's Reserve for that price.

[justNancy]

Sorry. I just checked my link and it doesn't work any more. I was only having fun. It was a list of homes in Naples from around $14 to $20 million.