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Old 08-28-2016, 05:14 PM
 
24 posts, read 19,797 times
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South Florida is a great place if you are retiring and selling your 500k house in the NE and want to come enjoy the warm winters but for a twenty something just starting out it's extremely difficult. Like you I didn't do my research on the area and learned the hard way lol.
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Old 08-28-2016, 05:20 PM
 
Location: Nashville TN, Cincinnati, OH
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I live in Miami Beach but I also have a place in my home state of Ohio and a house in TN because my gf is from that state. I love South Florida but not this time of year.
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Old 08-28-2016, 05:28 PM
 
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I moved to North Central Indiana. Not only did I get a sizeable salary raise, the cost of living is less. If I had it to do over again I would have moved years earlier.
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Old 08-28-2016, 07:44 PM
 
3,615 posts, read 2,306,408 times
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Originally Posted by MissMouse111 View Post
I have to disagree because I originally thought the same way you did for a long time, BUT and here is the BIG BUT, if there are very few jobs to go around, you will end up having many homeless people living in the woods around the Treasure Coast. They can't find work and they are stuck here! Do you think that makes for a happy camper? These are GOOD people who can't find work in the area. Meanwhile, many greedy bosses in South Florida are out on the water with their beautiful boats on the weekends. They aren't thinking about giving their employees a LIVING wage so they can have a roof over their head and food on the table (basic things). They want to give the minimum and if you're lucky they'll be kind enough to give you a 25 cent raise in a year or so. Wow!

It is well known that Florida offers the worst wages in the nation so if you're looking for a livable wage you will have a very difficult time making ends meet on $15/hr here in Florida and that's if you're even lucky enough to make that much. In Palm Beach County alone, currently 50% of the jobs earn $15 or less. Try looking at the rents in the Palm Beach area! Very high rents! Who can afford these rents beyond certain professionals and snowbirds mainly???

Also, many young people (20s/30s) discover ONCE coming down here to South Florida that their demographic hardly exists in certain areas they jump ship as soon as they realize it's a mostly 60+ demographic. Jobs are very hard to come by that pay a decent wage, many people are struggling to make ends meet, and many articles back up what I'm saying so where you choose to live is very very important or you will be sorry you didn't do your research beforehand. You really have to give your location a lot of thought.

I have learned a happy person does their research. A happy person plans ahead and thinks things through. When I came to Florida in 2009, I didn't do the proper research and I have no one else to blame but myself. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. All I cared about was being closer to my family so I had no idea what I was getting myself into and yes, I have a degree and lots of experience. Florida is a different beast!! Many people will agree with me on this!

Survival comes first. Happiness comes second. If you can't survive, it's pretty hard to be happy.
excellent post. I just moved back to florida from maryland and the wages here are just awful compared to maryland and alot more poverty and homelessness and crime than where I lived, I love the weather and the beaches but in many ways florida is a much poorer state than many areas in the rust belt for median incomes but its so sunny, beachy and palm saturated and has very low unemployment numbers you dont think of it as an economically depressed area.

In Orlando, " the three occupations with the most jobs are “retail salespersons,” “food preparation workers” [which includes fast food], and “waiters and waitresses.” Those three combine to provide more than 120,000 jobs. None of those occupations, in Orlando, has a median annualized pay of more than $20,430. "

Report: Jobs in Florida cities have lowest pay in the nation - Florida Politics

"Orlando has a lower median wage than Detroit or Milwaukee " "the majority of jobs — yes, the majority — paid less than $30,000 a year. Nearly 40 percent paid less than $25,000."

Orlando: No. 1 in tourism and dead last in wages - Orlando Sentinel

Floridas low unemployment numbers are a mirage, scott touts his job numbers but so many of the the jobs are very low paying and dont offer benefits. its a sprawl and growth and service sector economy

Orlando,Fort Lauderdale, Tampa-St. Petersburg ,Miami, etc always have the lowest wages for any of the top 50 metros. We need better leadership than just always touting population growth and tourism and service industry jobs, more high paying tech and stem jobs
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Old 08-28-2016, 08:05 PM
 
3,615 posts, read 2,306,408 times
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Originally Posted by MissMouse111 View Post
Okay, this is a very simple question. For those of you who have moved away from South Florida, where did you go? Are you happier? Did you end up getting a much better paying job by leaving the state? Is the cost of living much better where you chose to move to? Is there more to do, nightlife, hiking clubs, etc. in your new location? Do you wish you could come back to South Florida or are you very happy that you made the move? Thanks in advance.
I moved to work in family business after graduating from uf to dc and maryland so it wasnt south florida but florida nonetheless and the wages and opportunities are much better in dc/maryland but always missed florida. I would not have come back if I didnt have a job position to take. Once my sisters restaurant is open , I am going to have to look for a job here and its not going to be easy. I have been looking for two years in a my programing field and none of them come anywhere close to what I made in DC. The weather is a thousand times better in florida than maryland though,especially the winters

I love to sail and dive and florida would be paradise if the economy actually had a better stem economy. probably looking at austin , Houston,seattle or research triangle if I cant find anything here in florida.
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Old 08-28-2016, 08:21 PM
 
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Originally Posted by floridanative10 View Post
I moved to work in family business after graduating from uf to dc and maryland so it wasnt south florida but florida nonetheless and the wages and opportunities are much better in dc/maryland but always missed florida. I would not have come back if I didnt have a job position to take. Once my sisters restaurant is open , I am going to have to look for a job here and its not going to be easy. I have been looking for two years in a my programing field and none of them come anywhere close to what I made in DC. The weather is a thousand times better in florida than maryland though,especially the winters

I love to sail and dive and florida would be paradise if the economy actually had a better stem economy. probably looking at austin , Houston,seattle or research triangle if I cant find anything here in florida.
DC is rat race central compared to FL. Wages go hand in hand with COL. Pull any COL calculator and you'll see overall FL is less expensive than DC/MD. The avg house in FL is $175K to $199K. The avg house in DC is what, $500K or more? Of course wages will be higher.

May be a little tricky to start your career down here, however, once established, it's one of the best places for diving/sailing/boating etc..
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Old 08-28-2016, 08:25 PM
 
445 posts, read 395,548 times
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Originally Posted by ReadytoleaveFL View Post
South Florida is a great place if you are retiring and selling your 500k house in the NE and want to come enjoy the warm winters but for a twenty something just starting out it's extremely difficult. Like you I didn't do my research on the area and learned the hard way lol.
I hear yah! I had a 23 year old coworker a few years back lamenting about the lack of young people in the Palm Beach area. If you go out to socialize, you don't see much of his demographic. I think it depressed him. It's there, but it's very small from the looks of things.
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Old 08-28-2016, 08:55 PM
 
3,615 posts, read 2,306,408 times
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Originally Posted by Trigger-f View Post
DC is rat race central compared to FL. Wages go hand in hand with COL. Pull any COL calculator and you'll see overall FL is less expensive than DC/MD. The avg house in FL is $175K to $199K. The avg house in DC is what, $500K or more? Of course wages will be higher.

May be a little tricky to start your career down here, however, once established, it's one of the best places for diving/sailing/boating etc..
I agree and the traffic in DC is some of the worst in the country, my stress level has come down immensely since moving back to florida.I feel much healthier since moving back. Florida has the best beaches and beautiful warm water in the country by far. I dont even mind the heat in summer, you always tend to get a late afternoon thunderstorm and a miserable cold morning scraping ice or shoveling snow or 5 pm freezing temps in winter farther north is enough to make want to stay in the south. If you love the ocean ,diving, boating ,sailing,pools and fishing and even backyard barbecuing pretty much year round , this is the place to be

Quote:
Originally Posted by MissMouse111 View Post
I hear yah! I had a 23 year old coworker a few years back lamenting about the lack of young people in the Palm Beach area. If you go out to socialize, you don't see much of his demographic. I think it depressed him. It's there, but it's very small from the looks of things.
That whole palm beach area is a really tough place to live in florida unless you are rich,alot of florida is like that. Have you ever thought of north florida or tampa or jacksonville or maybe a higher paying southeast economy metro that is short flight or maybe 8 or 9 hour drive to palm beach and family like atlanta or charlotte or rtp or charleston ?

I will say that even with the bad wages in certain areas in florida , you will miss many aspects about florida. I think winter and alot of snow and not much sunlight can be very depressing when you have lived winters in florida

Last edited by floridanative10; 08-28-2016 at 09:28 PM..
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Old 08-29-2016, 04:47 AM
Status: "Finally some snow!" (set 12 days ago)
 
Location: St. Louis Park, MN
7,719 posts, read 6,355,253 times
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I moved to Texas (West Texas originally, North Texas for now.) and I am sure glad I did. I love that there's actual four seasons here and not 95 in summer and 75 in winter. The leaves change in fall, it snows sometimes, spring is beautiful with all the wildflowers. Summers are really hot but at the same time it still cools down at night better than South Florida. In Miami the low in the summer is often around 80. We had a few lows in the 60s already in August, that don't happen back home! I really look forward to October which has far better weather than back home. Back in Miami there's no relief of the heat until Thanksgiving usually.

I love how much nicer people are, I mean we still get jerks but nothing like a a-holes back home. I love that everyone speaks English, at least up here. Maybe not as much by the border but up here, Mexican immigrants speak English and are polite. A lot of Cubans in Miami treats non-Spanish speakers very rudely, part of why my friends hate visiting Miami with me.

I prefer the variety of architecture here. The houses don't all look the same or stale. You can find a brick house neck to a bungalow, next to a shotgun house, next to a Victorian house. Back home its Mediterranean style (generally of the tacky variety) of the next. My friend asked "Why do y'all have sheetrock on the outside walls down here?" lol. I mean there's ugly houses here too but there's a variety and still a lot more pretty ones.

The economy is better here, though wages do suck, and Florida only raised its minimum wage a few weeks after I moved out of state. I could not get a job when I lived in Florida and I spent 2 years there applying. Less than 2 months after living in Texas I got a job at an office, and until now, having been here for close to two years I've held 5 jobs already. Also things are a lot cheaper, especially gasoline. Except Chinese restaurants and some groceries lol.

People are better at driving. Not the best, not like Kansas and Missouri which have amazing drivers, but still miles ahead of Louisiana or Florida. The roads do suck here though at least in my town. Props to Miami for having really smooth roads.

Texas isn't where I wanna live for the rest of my life, nor is it my favourite state, that would be Minnesota, however even though I definitely look forward to living up there, I'm enjoying my time down here until then. I am a lot happier in Texas than I was in Florida. It's not even close. Florida is still home of course, and it's always a road trip or flight away, but I'm very glad I can call Texas my current home and after a very hectic family visit last April, Texas feels even more like home.
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Old 08-29-2016, 05:52 AM
 
24 posts, read 19,797 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trigger-f View Post
DC is rat race central compared to FL. Wages go hand in hand with COL. Pull any COL calculator and you'll see overall FL is less expensive than DC/MD. The avg house in FL is $175K to $199K. The avg house in DC is what, $500K or more? Of course wages will be higher.

May be a little tricky to start your career down here, however, once established, it's one of the best places for diving/sailing/boating etc..
Florida is a huge state...you can't compare DC/MD to the entire state of Florida. Yea if you go up to the panhandle you could probably find a decent house for 175k but come down to South Florida and you will have a tough time finding a house that needs repairs in a bad area for that amount.
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