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My windshield disagrees and .... I was just in Tampa for 5 days.
Beautiful weather too, high 70's to low 80's nice breeze and minimal humidity.Loved it. Mind you July and Aug are different in the South of FL and central FL, but the coasts are a bit different especially the East Coast in the middle of the State. Mind you, I still prefer CA weather.
You have never lived in FL, I have and in the Tampa area. Go back there in May for Love Bug Season. You're car and not just your windshield, but your grill will be covered in them.
Of course you prefer CA weather, who wouldn't. FL is hot, humid, and miserable for 8 months out of the year.
A couple of days of lower than normal humidity there isn't the norm.
I remember one year in the month of October over a weekend, it was low humidity and the temps dropped to the mid 70s, people were over the moon, you could actually open your windows. I told them this is the norm for Southern CA for many months, the Tampa area got it for two days...than back to hot and humid.
I remember Thanksgivings where it was 90 and humid....just lovely....LOL.
Really? I take it you never lived in FL. I saw more car accidents and some horrific ones in a few years in FL, than I did in over 20 in CA....so much for less stressful. I saw "stunts" on the highways in FL(which are narrow and not well planned like CA) that driving became actually frightening.
Nope! I lived in Florida from 1998-2014, in various cities from the panhandle to Orlando. I'm now in one of those California small towns in the Central Valley and I really feel like life was easier in Florida. Buying a house is a breeze in FL, even for the working class. The cities where I lived in Florida (especially Orlando and Gainesville) were self contained, with international airports close by and everything you could want inside the city center. In California I have to drive 3 hours round trip to get to a good airport, and if I want to go to a Trader Joe's or a specialty store I'm putting more miles on my car.
The best city I lived in FL was Gainesville. Extremely livable (I rented a 3 bedroom house for $820!), super bike friendly, walkable, HUGE beautiful tree canopy, tons of small businesses, good city planning, 1 hour from the beach on BOTH sides, great brunch scene, awesome nature trails, and a vibrant university. Stress levels also seemed low. Less people rushing from place to place to "beat the traffic." Still searching for a place with all of those positives in California.
I've never driven so much in my life or spent so much time in traffic as I have in California. That even includes when I lived in Orlando, which is a sprawling city with its own traffic problems. But in California I was inducted into a new paradigm of traffic hell - like dead still traffic for hours on major highways. In CA there are NO OTHER routes over the geography (like the Altamont pass). In Florida you have multiple roads, backroads you could take to get where you need to. Also the 99 is a road you would never see in Florida - most "freeways" in the central part of FL are converted to interstates and are maintained federally. I actually prefer the toll system in Orlando (408, 417) - the roads are extremely well maintained, well lit, and clean. Can you imagine how California roads would handle a Florida rain storm at night? The street lights are so dim in California and the roads so ill equipped for all weather than you'd hydroplane off a cliff.
The only point I agree with everyone else on is the bugs! I fled to California because of the roaches alone...*shudder*
Nope! I lived in Florida from 1998-2014, in various cities from the panhandle to Orlando. I'm now in one of those California small towns in the Central Valley and I really feel like life was easier in Florida. Buying a house is a breeze in FL, even for the working class. The cities where I lived in Florida (especially Orlando and Gainesville) were self contained, with international airports close by and everything you could want inside the city center. In California I have to drive 3 hours round trip to get to a good airport, and if I want to go to a Trader Joe's or a specialty store I'm putting more miles on my car.
So, didn't you do your research before you moved to your present home in CA? If so, why did you move there?
BTW, your Central Valley experiences cannot be generalized to all of California. I do hope you realize that. You put yourself into that situation.
You're not kidding the weather is different, and summer in FL starts in March and goes into Dec. I lived in FL a few years and am back in CA(and happy to be back). I tell people out here who have never experienced FL weather(and it is this way 8 to 9 months out of the year) it's like walking into a bathroom fully dressed after the shower has been running on hot for 5 minutes. In another words very uncomfortable most of the year, unlike CA where even during the hot months the mornings start off cool and after the sun goes down you see a drop in temps, in FL it's already 85 and muggy at 8am, gets to 92 and muggy, at 11pm it's still 86 and muggy...so no break.
Everyone has a different reaction to humidity. If the OP was coning from a 'dry' state (AZ, NV, etc.) I would advise caution, but she is coming from New York. IME (how it feels to me), the 'northern half' of Florida is pretty similar to New York re humidity. South Florida is on another level re humidity, which some people (myself included) like. Your description seems a bit hyperbolic, but it might not be as everyone reacts differently. Given some of the information above, I'm guessing you lived in South Florida.
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BTW my car insurance in CA with a 2014 car is about $400 a year cheaper in CA than it was in FL with a 2008. Groceries are also cheaper in CA, so are the utilities. Home ownership is the big difference.
Part of that difference could be a difference in the crime rate between your previous Florida zip code and your current California zip code, but I did include in one of my thread replies to the OP that...with all other variables being egual...car insurance will be more expensive in Florida than California because Florida is a no fault state, and California is not.
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Really? I take it you never lived in FL. I saw more car accidents and some horrific ones in a few years in FL, than I did in over 20 in CA....so much for less stressful. I saw "stunts" on the highways in FL(which are narrow and not well planned like CA) that driving became actually frightening.
If you draw a line across the state just south of Bradenton and include all areas south of that line...I completely agree with you. My experience in that part of Florida mirror what you mention re stunts that people pull. THAT PART of Florida (south of a line drawn across Florida south of Bradenton) = the worst area in the U.S. re driving, IMO...the only place with worse drivers than Houston. Even with my scary experiences in South Florida with crazy drivers, that hasn't resulted in making me afraid to drive there.
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LOL!!!!!!! I used to call FL "Jerry Springer Country", weird mix of people. But I really didn't know what white trash was until living in FL.
Yeah, there are a lot of rednecks in Florida, but there are still places where transplants can live unaffected by rednecks.
Also the 99 is a road you would never see in Florida - most "freeways" in the central part of FL are converted to interstates and are maintained federally. I actually prefer the toll system in Orlando (408, 417) - the roads are extremely well maintained, well lit, and clean. Can you imagine how California roads would handle a Florida rain storm at night? The street lights are so dim in California and the roads so ill equipped for all weather than you'd hydroplane off a cliff.
Fresno, California is the only city in the United States with a population of over 500,000 that is not served by an interstate.
So, didn't you do your research before you moved to your present home in CA? If so, why did you move there?
Is it really necessary to tell people what situations they put themselves in? The truth is, a ****ty labor market put me in this situation. I moved here for a stable secure job with a Calpers pension. My industry (academia) is not good in FL. CA does invest more in higher ed and has more job opportunities for that field. However, once vested in 3 years, I'm moving back to the south. It suits me.
I never said my experiences could be generalized to the whole state. I'm simply making comparisons that the OP solicited. I'm speaking from MY EXPERIENCE, which I refuse to silence just because I'm in the CV. We're all working with an "n of 1" here.
The only point I agree with everyone else on is the bugs! I fled to California because of the roaches alone...*shudder*
Not sure why it would be important whether any one person likes or doesn't like living one place over another.
If people like Florida. That's great.
If they like California. That's great.
If they like Nebraska. That's great.
Somalia? Great.
My recent experiences with FL have been in the Sarasota area. Gulf coast, beautiful beaches, nice arts and restaurant scene, decent small college and airport nearby, nice downtown with apartments, shops, markets, etc. Apartment rental market is tight right now, but you may be able to rent a home there instead. If I were to move to FL, Sarasota would be near the top of my list. Only 1 hour south of Tampa for even more amenities too. I tend to prefer warm/sunny, so I'm not as scared of FL as some.
Still, when I do the analysis, I really do like some parts of FL, but I just prefer many parts of CA better, so that would swing it to CA for me. I could always jump on a plane to visit FL if desired.
Life is too short to live in a place you don't like, especially if you have a flexible employment situation.
You have never lived in FL, I have and in the Tampa area. Go back there in May for Love Bug Season. You're car and not just your windshield, but your grill will be covered in them.
Of course you prefer CA weather, who wouldn't. FL is hot, humid, and miserable for 8 months out of the year.
A couple of days of lower than normal humidity there isn't the norm.
I remember one year in the month of October over a weekend, it was low humidity and the temps dropped to the mid 70s, people were over the moon, you could actually open your windows. I told them this is the norm for Southern CA for many months, the Tampa area got it for two days...than back to hot and humid.
I remember Thanksgivings where it was 90 and humid....just lovely....LOL.
I have never encountered the Love Bugs, but my understanding is that they exist for a week or two and then are gone. Kinda like the Gnats in CA that show up in swarms on occasion. This I know because I was born and raised in SoCal.
I also agree that low humidity is not normal for most of the year in FL, but in some ways I prefer humidity. I always had chapped lips, a sore throat and dry skin in CA and now I don't, except in the dead of Winter and even then no sore throat.
Overall I prefer low humidity, but since I will be retiring and living very neat the beach in FL (Assuming my doctor does not tell me I need to be in SoCal due to an ailment) and at far lower cost than in CA.
I have been in FL just about every month of the year, all parts of FL, and the humidity does not bother me much and an ocean breeze fixes it real quick.The only thing that helps low humidity in CA is fog and rain. I did grow up in Newport Beach, so very familiar with May gray and June gloom and ... I still had sore throats due to the dry air.
California is a big big place. We live in Oxnard on the coast. Not a day goes by that I don't see the ocean, that is unless we are somewhere else. This past weekend we were in Fresno for our son's Taekwondo event. We did not see the ocean,. What we did see were signs for new homes. In the Bakersfield area homes were advertised as $170,000. In Fresno we read that you can find homes for around $200,000. I think the cheapest we found was $250,000 and that is amazing to see something that low in price, old or new.
Lots of cheaper land along the Central Valley. I have heard that it can get into the 100 degree range though and it can get very humid. We were there during this time of year and it was nice. It did rain while we were there though.
Not sure what the rents are along that area. Not sure what the jobs are like either.
On the coast my wife and I both work for a hospital. We also bought our home over 5 years ago. We have no intention of leaving our area. The only goal we have is to pay off our home and fully fund our retirement accounts.
Rents in our area are as low as maybe $700 if you are lucky, for a room with shared bath and hopefully kitchen privileges, to $1,000 for a studio if you are lucky to find one that cheap. The 2 bedroom we used to rent back in 2010 now rents for over $1,800 a month. Newer apartment places that were built in the last 10 years rent for even more. On average I would say you would need to have an income of $4,500 a month to live in a one bedroom apartment by yourself. If you are lucky you can do it for less, but that would depend on your rent. When we rented you had to make 3X the rent. Not sure if they still do that today. Also back then a married couple's income combined could cover it, so a couple making $4,500 could get a $1,500 a month apartment. Now I think they do it per household, so if two people living together rent a place together they would combine both incomes. This is not always safe though, as your friend could move out leaving you holding the bag. I would only rent a place that I could afford to cover the entire rent and living expenses.
I do know a single guy that bought a 5 bedroom home and then rented out the other four bedrooms. His friends that he rented to make the house payment and then some. He is also paying down his mortgage and will probably pay the place off in 10 years if he can keep the rooms rented. There again he does not have to rent the rooms out, just doing it to pay the place off quicker. Chances are he will be able to continue doing this because so many people are not able to pay for there own place.
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) and at far lower cost than in CA. 
