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Hello, I just came across this thread and I felt I should give my honest opinion of Tampa and FL in general. My story and experience- I moved to Tampa from Chicago for college. I rented in Brandon and went to nursing school. All I can say is that I could not wait to move out! But, I had to wait until graduation. Once I graduated, I abandoned my apartment and I still had 5 months left in my lease. I didn't care though. I just wanted to leave. So, I moved to Orlando and my sister flew in from Chicago and stayed at my abandoned apartment in Brandon, but she only lasted there for 3 months. She said it was a terrible experience for her. First, the driving conditions are scary! Second, the people are scarier! Third, you have to drive forever to get somewhere! I had my purse snatched at a Publix parking lot. My car got broken into at the mall in Brandon. I got rear ended by a drunk driver and luckily I only suffered from whiplash. Everywhere I went, I felt unsafe and looking over my shoulder. The people are so screwed up mentally! I was tired of all the homeless people bothering me on a daily basis. People are very rude and use profanity loudly in public places, oh and they smell bad. I'm sorry if I sound mean, but I'm simply stating the facts. I had to get out because I feared for my life. I moved near the Lake Nona area in Orlando because I needed some peace and quiet in my life. But, I found that I was driving even further there because it was so secluded. And, there was really nothing for me to do there other than work. It has developed more now, but I still would not want to go back there. I would drive to downtown Orlando, but I didn't really like it all that much, but it is safer than Tampa. Anyway, on my vacation time, I drove a long road trip of the entire state of FL. The more south I drove, the worse it would get in regards to safety. The more north I drove, the more isolated it would get. I just didn't feel right anywhere in FL. I felt like I was living in another country. I actually learned Spanish just so that I could communicate with my patients. I left Orlando and took a job at the Mayo Clinic in JAX which is where I met my husband. I lived in JAX for 3 years and I had just about had enough with that place and so did my husband. We got out! We drove all the way from JAX to Chicago to stay with my family temporarily and then moved to Gilbert AZ which is where my husband grew up. I love it here! It is safe, clean, American, hot as hell, and I'm not leaving! I have a great job and I get along very well with the people. I feel like a new person here. The quality of life is so much better than FL. My husband and I never want to even visit FL again. He said the only good thing that came out of his job transfer to JAX was meeting me. He hates FL more than I do. Anyway, I hope this helps with anyone thinking about moving to FL. Good luck!
I just didn't feel right anywhere in FL. I felt like I was living in another country. I actually learned Spanish just so that I could communicate with my patients.
moved to Gilbert AZ which is where my husband grew up. I love it here! It is safe, clean, American, hot as hell, and I'm not leaving!
LOL @ having to learn spanish to communicate in Florida, but calling Arizona "American". Yeah, that's pretty rich.
Hello, I just came across this thread and I felt I should give my honest opinion of Tampa and FL in general. My story and experience- I moved to Tampa from Chicago for college. I rented in Brandon and went to nursing school. All I can say is that I could not wait to move out! But, I had to wait until graduation. Once I graduated, I abandoned my apartment and I still had 5 months left in my lease. I didn't care though. I just wanted to leave. So, I moved to Orlando and my sister flew in from Chicago and stayed at my abandoned apartment in Brandon, but she only lasted there for 3 months. She said it was a terrible experience for her. First, the driving conditions are scary! Second, the people are scarier! Third, you have to drive forever to get somewhere! I had my purse snatched at a Publix parking lot. My car got broken into at the mall in Brandon. I got rear ended by a drunk driver and luckily I only suffered from whiplash. Everywhere I went, I felt unsafe and looking over my shoulder. The people are so screwed up mentally! I was tired of all the homeless people bothering me on a daily basis. People are very rude and use profanity loudly in public places, oh and they smell bad. I'm sorry if I sound mean, but I'm simply stating the facts. I had to get out because I feared for my life. I moved near the Lake Nona area in Orlando because I needed some peace and quiet in my life. But, I found that I was driving even further there because it was so secluded. And, there was really nothing for me to do there other than work. It has developed more now, but I still would not want to go back there. I would drive to downtown Orlando, but I didn't really like it all that much, but it is safer than Tampa. Anyway, on my vacation time, I drove a long road trip of the entire state of FL. The more south I drove, the worse it would get in regards to safety. The more north I drove, the more isolated it would get. I just didn't feel right anywhere in FL. I felt like I was living in another country. I actually learned Spanish just so that I could communicate with my patients. I left Orlando and took a job at the Mayo Clinic in JAX which is where I met my husband. I lived in JAX for 3 years and I had just about had enough with that place and so did my husband. We got out! We drove all the way from JAX to Chicago to stay with my family temporarily and then moved to Gilbert AZ which is where my husband grew up. I love it here! It is safe, clean, American, hot as hell, and I'm not leaving! I have a great job and I get along very well with the people. I feel like a new person here. The quality of life is so much better than FL. My husband and I never want to even visit FL again. He said the only good thing that came out of his job transfer to JAX was meeting me. He hates FL more than I do. Anyway, I hope this helps with anyone thinking about moving to FL. Good luck!
I am glad you like Arizona. And that your experience in Florida was bad. I find Arizona dusty, dry and ugly. I like the green and humidity, being close to the ocean and springs . The people of Arizona are much like Florida.. Most people are from elsewhere, lots of retirees and lots of Spanish speakers ( mexicans in AZ and Cuban/Puerto Ricans in FL.) as well as a population of native born rednecks/ranchers. If you hate Florida so much please don't come visit and I will not visit AZ.
I would venture to say you like Arizona more because of your husbands family and friends there. It is his home. Its always nice to have family and friends nearby. Take this into consideration before you bash an entire state
Hello, I just came across this thread and I felt I should give my honest opinion of Tampa and FL in general. My story and experience- I moved to Tampa from Chicago for college. I rented in Brandon and went to nursing school. All I can say is that I could not wait to move out! But, I had to wait until graduation. Once I graduated, I abandoned my apartment and I still had 5 months left in my lease. I didn't care though. I just wanted to leave. So, I moved to Orlando and my sister flew in from Chicago and stayed at my abandoned apartment in Brandon, but she only lasted there for 3 months. She said it was a terrible experience for her. First, the driving conditions are scary! Second, the people are scarier! Third, you have to drive forever to get somewhere! I had my purse snatched at a Publix parking lot. My car got broken into at the mall in Brandon. I got rear ended by a drunk driver and luckily I only suffered from whiplash. Everywhere I went, I felt unsafe and looking over my shoulder. The people are so screwed up mentally! I was tired of all the homeless people bothering me on a daily basis. People are very rude and use profanity loudly in public places, oh and they smell bad. I'm sorry if I sound mean, but I'm simply stating the facts. I had to get out because I feared for my life. I moved near the Lake Nona area in Orlando because I needed some peace and quiet in my life. But, I found that I was driving even further there because it was so secluded. And, there was really nothing for me to do there other than work. It has developed more now, but I still would not want to go back there. I would drive to downtown Orlando, but I didn't really like it all that much, but it is safer than Tampa. Anyway, on my vacation time, I drove a long road trip of the entire state of FL. The more south I drove, the worse it would get in regards to safety. The more north I drove, the more isolated it would get. I just didn't feel right anywhere in FL. I felt like I was living in another country. I actually learned Spanish just so that I could communicate with my patients. I left Orlando and took a job at the Mayo Clinic in JAX which is where I met my husband. I lived in JAX for 3 years and I had just about had enough with that place and so did my husband. We got out! We drove all the way from JAX to Chicago to stay with my family temporarily and then moved to Gilbert AZ which is where my husband grew up. I love it here! It is safe, clean, American, hot as hell, and I'm not leaving! I have a great job and I get along very well with the people. I feel like a new person here. The quality of life is so much better than FL. My husband and I never want to even visit FL again. He said the only good thing that came out of his job transfer to JAX was meeting me. He hates FL more than I do. Anyway, I hope this helps with anyone thinking about moving to FL. Good luck!
Your honesty is refreshing....
I appreciate that you didn't sugar coat anything-
then again most Chicagoans don't, lol
MaimiRob is on point..... Hard to say what is really good "in" the city.
I just left Jacksonville FL for Tampa and I love it.
People seemed very unhappy in Jax, I never knew why. There is the beaches, yes, lacking in night life is one thing but other than that the river is there etc... But people were still very unhappy and this includes the transplants in Jacksonville, the people who were raised and grew up in Jacksonville and the Navy people.
The biggest problem with Jacksonville is the people who are living there since it seems like most people were depressed or angry. I never met so many angry/depressed people in one city.
As they said in NPR (which was my way to the "outside" world when I was living in Jacksonville) PTSD is contagious. Depression is also contagious as well.
But if you do have to move to Jacksonville I recommend
St. Augustine (not in Jacksonville, but sort of close) St. John area, Atlantic beach.
This is very true. I could never figure it out, but I've been depressed my whole life in Jacksonville until I finally moved out. The problem with Jax is that it has an identity crisis that trickles down on its population. There's really no way to explain it but to live there. I think though, it has to do with a combination of being so spread out, having a "southern" mentality in Florida, no being very educated, and poor jobs and quality of living.
Jobs are NOT very good either and don't pay well considering the low cost of living. Yes, average might be 40-45K here, but it also depends on your line of work. I'm in law enforcement, and one of the reasons I decided to move to South Florida is for the pay and stability. I'm making around 47,500K to start over the 38K I would be in Jacksonville. The Cost of living is obviously higher in mid and south Florida, but so are the opportunities and stability. The politicians and crime is what is ruining Jax more than anything else. Companies and progress are slowly coming in, but Jacksonville is a city 20 years in the past compared to the other major FL metros. Like I said in another thread, I see new apts, buildings, and condos going up all the time here in Fort Lauderdale, but you rarely see that in Jax.
When I lived in Jax, the best company that had the most promise in terms of long term job prospects is Fidelity Investments. I actually used to work for them, and its a shame Jax doesn't have more jobs like that, that are willing to do so much for an employee. Besides that, the City of Jacksonville is the next best company/career in Jax. Its actually the biggest I believe.
Just wanted to give my 2 cents on this. I currently live in Tampa, I moved here about 6 months ago, I've also lived in jacksonville, dallas TX, atlanta, phoenix and memphis. I like hunting and fishing, the beach, outdoor activities, hate traffic, like good food and good people. However 2 things I REALLY like are no state income tax and warm weather. So for those reasons I plan on living in florida for the foreseeable future, however with my career i could end up anywhere in the south.
Tampa - If you like a big city type feel, Tampa's downtown blows jax out of the water, 3 pro sports teams, 4 if you include arena football. The amount of bars, clubs, that type of thing is not even close. With that comes traffic, unbelievable traffic, there's always an accident and the infrastructure is terrible, takes forever to get anywhere. The people are a melting pot of people from up north coming here for jobs or to retire. More people that are are born and raised here are staying, this didn't use to be the case. Cost of housing is rising much more than Jax, but for other costs, food, entertainment, it's typically cheaper or the same price in Tampa. So the costs of living vs the salary in jax just isn't worth it.
Jax- like others have said, southern GA. It's a small time feel in this city. There really is no downtown and the big thing that people do is go to the st johns town center, which isn't that big or nice in comparison to what you can find in tampa. Everything is at the beach, the best restaurants, clubs, shopping, it's all on the beach. The people are pretty nice but there's 2 different types of people i've found, you have hippies that love to smoke and hang out at the beach and then you have southern. In general, you're going to run into friendly people and crime is less of a problem on the east side of jax. You find all types of crazy crimes going on in tampa that don't even seem real when you see them on the news. Beach life is much easier in Jax than tampa. I don't mean the beaches are nicer or water is better, because personally i prefer the gulf but it takes me an hour to get to the beach in tampa and i only live about 20 miles away. In jax i lived about 12 miles and it was a 15-20 min drive. It feels like florida because of the easy access to the beach.
Economy- Tampa has much more jobs in comparison to jax, especially higher quality, well paying jobs. You could probably find 1 job paying 40-50k in jax vs finding the same job in tampa paying 55-60k a yr and there's 4 of them for every 1 in jax. I'm in the tech field, do a search on indeed or linkedin and you'll see for yourself.
Weather - The weather is much warmer in Tampa than jax, typically is below 60 for maybe 2 months of the year where jax is probably closer to 3-4 months of the year. You have closer to 4 seasons in jax than tampa. Summers are hot in both but tampa is slightly more humid in my opinion.
Houses - Houses are more expensive in tampa, probably about 20% more expensive. Everything is stucco in tampa, you can find more brick homes in jax. You can find bang for your buck in north tampa, new tampa or wesley chapel but you'll be fighting traffic everyday. So it's a give and take.
Bottom line- I loved living in Jax much more than i like Tampa, it's a simple life in jax, the beach is more accessible and you can get places relatively quick in comparison than tampa. Biggest problem for me is lack of jobs. If i could find a job paying what i make in tampa, i'd move there tonight, but thats probably not going to happen, so until it does, i'll be in tampa.
After spending much time visiting most places and vacationing in St. Pete, south of Tampa, every year since 1995, and knowing natives who live in both areas, I agree with many of Livedeverywhere's observations about each area. They definitely each have their own good points and drawbacks, so it depends on what your priorities are.
Personally, as a retiree, I prefer to live not right in either city but in a nice suburb near one of them. If I were still working, it would be the opposite due to the difficulty of a long commute, particularly in the Tampa area. The biggest dealbreaker for me there was the whole traffic and highway system. I ended up on the northeast coast primarily due to the lower humidity, less traffic congestion, and more affordable new construction housing options.
I have a small place in Clearwater which is far nicer than Tampa anyday, there are alot of jobs in the Tampa Bay area, i didn't have much trouble finding one. There is a lot of blue collar work, dunedin, largo and clearwater are not that expensive compared to say the Palm Beaches.
I am curious about pensacola and mobile alabama, any thoughts on this. I am originally from NJ and was thinking about Texas too. Houston or Dallas.
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