good areas of duval county Florida (Jacksonville, Miami: schools, utilities, places to live)

[Woot21210]

I've been looking at the map around Jacksonville and it seems like you would have to drive out of your way to get to the outskirts of duval county. Is it worth the extra drive or are there good areas of duval county to look in and then we wouldn't have to drive so far for everything. (Seems like not a lot between Jacksonville and st Augustine, for example.) any opinions on this commute and other areas in/around Jacksonville or surrounding counties?

[mawipafl]

I've only had one cup of coffee this morning (so far), so bear with me :-) I think you're asking about decent places to live on the outskirts of Jacksonville that would be a bit less "cluttered" with people and yet within easy access to work and stores/restaurants/etc.?

[Yiyi2626]

Check out Oakleaf plantation very nice area close to everything including the highway to get anywhere you need and shopping centers, it's on the county line of Clay and Duval. You will have to drive no matter what because that's how it is in Jacksonville. The good thing is you won't spend 2 hours getting to work because it's not as congested as Miami or Orlando yet....

[Woot21210]

Thanks for the info. I meant is there areas of duval cnty/Jacksonville city that are better then downtown or inner city jacksonville? I see a lot of people live in st. John's county or clay or Nassau county and commute. Is this due to lower cost?better schools? More open? Any added info is welcomed!

[mawipafl]

Originally Posted by Woot21210

Thanks for the info. I meant is there areas of duval cnty/Jacksonville city that are better then downtown or inner city jacksonville? I see a lot of people live in st. John's county or clay or Nassau county and commute. Is this due to lower cost?better schools? More open? Any added info is welcomed!

Ok got it :-)

It's a hard question to truly answer why some people choose to live in another county other than Duval. It's all about opinions/beliefs/concepts about schools, open spaces, costs of housing and utilities, and generally it comes down to personal preferences.

Since the First Coast is gigantic (that essentially includes the counties of Nassau, Baker, Duval, Clay, St. Johns), the first recommendation always given is to look for places to live based on a decent commute to/from the workplace. Although people do it, most wouldn't consider it ideal to live in Nassau County and commute to Southside or to live in Clay and commute to the airport area in northern Duval. As well, some people prefer to live and work on the same side of the St. Johns River rather than deal with any of the bridges.

It's hard to get a true sense of Jacksonville from a map, and it also depends on the type of map. If using a satellite-produced map, you will see a lot of green on what may appear on a street map to be a congested spiderweb of roads. Conversely, some areas that show a lot of green that gives the illusion of open space can be busy areas that just happen to have a lot of trees.

We lived in Fleming Island (Clay) and liked it very much. All the shopping necessary was right there, and we specifically chose a large master-planned community. However, some people consider Fleming Island too remote. We now live in northern Duval and like it here, too. Again we have easy drives to shopping and restaurants, etc. But again, some consider it too remote.