Is Saint Petersburg FL a good place to move (20 something single)? (Tampa: appointed, for sale)

[Mcanny]

Hey there! I'm fairly convinced that I'd like to move to Saint Petersburg in the near future. I recently fell in love with the city’s aesthetic appeal, food choices, and general feel after visiting the downtown area. But, as I don't know anyone who actually lives here, I am a bit weary over whether my first impression is fully accurate.

I'm originally from Manhattan and love NYC's culture and lively environment, but I'm not the greatest fan of the racing lifestyle, lack of greenery, and cold weather. From what I can tell, Saint Pete has a lot to offer it’s residents and also has a good dose of interesting culture (which is a huge plus for me).

What are the people like in Saint Pete? Are they all born and raised, or is there a mix of people from everywhere? Would it be easy to find opportunities to go out and make new friends?

Also, as a 20 something single female who will be living alone, I'd also like to make sure that I chose an area that's not only around other young professionals in their 20s/30s, but also (more importantly) safe.

Thanks so much for all the help!

[wallyb2013]

I think it's a good place to move as long as you know what you're getting into. I'm a mid-30's married female with two kids, and just moved here from NC and was initially drawn to the lack of winter, quality of life (not as much of a rat race), vibrant arts and restaurant scene, and historic homes. So far, my opinion of life here is mixed.

To answer your questions, there are people here from all over. The people I've met are very friendly, and I've actually only met a few people born and raised here. For someone in your demographic, I think it would be fairly easy to make friends at work, yoga, etc. (depending on what your interests are). There is a lot to do here - tons of festivals, street fairs, community events, etc., but it's nothing like NYC. You can't just walk out your door and stumble upon something exciting - you have to seek it out and plan for it. I'd suggest using social media (Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram) to follow a bunch of places that match your interests (breweries, restaurants, galleries, neighborhood associations, etc.) to get an idea of what to expect.

I find it very, very safe here and have never even accidentally ended up in a sketchy area. I spend almost all of my time in Northeast St. Pete and basically rarely go South of 6th Ave. South, North of 38th Ave N, and West of the 275. I think there are some more questionable areas farther South and West of downtown, but I've never seen them and haven't had a reason to visit them.

Overall, I really like that people are friendly, the older homes in Northeast St. Pete, the beautiful scenery, and the lack of a winter. As far as culture goes, it's just okay compared to some of the other places I've lived (NYC, Charleston, New Orleans - to name a few). The music scene is average for a metro area of this size, the art scene is burgeoning but nothing out of this world, and the restaurant scene is just okay for a metro of this size. The food and drink culture does not compare to Charleston or New Orleans - it's not very cutting edge. Even Charlotte (where I moved from) had significantly more restaurants and breweries that catered to the 20 and 30 something demographic. There are also a lot of old people and empty nesters here, and a lot of restaurants and events target that crowd.

If it won't put you out financially, I think it would be worth a move down just to see how you like it. If you're in the restaurant industry or have serving experience, maybe try to find a furnished sublet and work at a restaurant for a few months to see if it suits you. I probably would not take a huge financial or career gamble and move here based on the criteria you're seeking. You might be disappointed. The jury is still out for me. Good luck!

[Mcanny]

Thanks so much for all the advice! For me, people are the most important part of a city, and it sounds like St. Pete has a nice variety of friendly individuals I may very well move down there within the next few months...

[bentlebee]

Down town St. Pete is very nice for young people and there are cheaper places (not cheap but lower than downtown St. Pete) closer to Gandy bridge where nice apartments are with easy access to Tampa or Townhouses for sale.
On Gandy there are a lot of new build rentals available pretty soon.

[SusieClue]

St Pete is, and has changed a great deal. I lived in NE St. Pete around 4th 9th and Roosevelt/Gandy area, and there were quite a few young professionals, including where I lived in Feather Sound. SP has always been a bit older to some degree, and the Bay area will probably continue to be so, but Tampa itself is a lot younger for sure with much more to do. The good thing is that you can live around NE and jump over to TPA in a flash, so no biggie. St Pete does have some what I call ticky-tacky sort of areas like Largo, some parts of Seminole and Pinellas Park - not my favorite areas.


Search this site and other sites across the web and you will invariably get some decent information, but take everything with a grain of salt on sites because many posters are paid to logon sites every day and play the role of boosters, and many are contracted posters for moving companies, real estate firms, builders, insurance companies/banks, local governments (cities and counties), convention and visitor bureaus, and even regional planning agencies. This is especially true on "travel sites" and "review sites". Most times it's hard to tell fact from fiction. Just be a bit wary and logical. No city is perfect for sure, but beware of posters with thousands and thousands of posts because that's a telltale sign of someone with an hidden agenda, working for the city itself, or is retired and bored and doesn't get out much.
If you doubt the presence of these sorts of posters please know many sites recruit and pay people to "drive traffic" to sites, pay them per word, per thread, etc. Just Google "paid posters". I mention this because many people actually think they're getting unbiased, accurate, and good ole Helpful Helen advice; and that's simply not true most of the time.

[SJNE17]

Can't answer your question directly but here's our $0.02: the downtown area of St. Pete seems to have a vibrant young scene, lots of folks in their 20's/30's. We're not in your age bracket (about double it !! ), but we don't want to feel like we're in an AARP convention when going out for dinner or drinks either. St. Pete is a great mix of young, middle and old. The cooler "hip" (read: younger) spots are a bit farther up Central Ave. (VIP, Bodega, etc.). You can go from there to the more pricey places along Beach Dr., depending on your interests & budget. Seems like every couple of months a new place pops up, which is great to see.

[wallyb2013]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

Down town St. Pete is very nice for young people and there are cheaper places (not cheap but lower than downtown St. Pete) closer to Gandy bridge where nice apartments are with easy access to Tampa or Townhouses for sale.
On Gandy there are a lot of new build rentals available pretty soon.

I would absolutely NEVER recommend that anyone live around Gandy Blvd. coming from Manhattan. I was in corporate housing up there for 3 months and it was miserable. The traffic is horrendous up there. You can't walk to anything. It's 20 minutes away from anything worthwhile. Don't make that mistake.

[bentlebee]

Originally Posted by wallyb2013

I would absolutely NEVER recommend that anyone live around Gandy Blvd. coming from Manhattan. I was in corporate housing up there for 3 months and it was miserable. The traffic is horrendous up there. You can't walk to anything. It's 20 minutes away from anything worthwhile. Don't make that mistake.

Maybe you are referring to the Tampa part of Gandy while I refer to the St. Pete part of Gandy which is a total different area than the other side of the bridge.

We spend a lot of time in St. Pete yesterday and had a great time. Down town area is great and near the Sundial is a very nice area with a movie theater, food center and some shops. There is a lot of security walking around and I assume that it might be to avoid that crime from the other areas will come to the Sundial area which is prevented by clearly showing that security is around.

[MAniacTHW]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

Maybe you are referring to the Tampa part of Gandy while I refer to the St. Pete part of Gandy which is a total different area than the other side of the bridge.

They definitely aren't describing the Tampa side either, unless they're talking the very small stretch between Bayshore and MacDill.

[LadyWray12]

I'm looking to move to St. Pete too and I'm also in the same age group. I have friends down there that are also in their 20s-30s and seem to really enjoy it. I lived there in high school for a semester but I've heard it's changed a lot in the last 10 years and that downtown has a lot more to offer for our age group! Also, Tampa is really close, so you can easily go over to ybor if you're feeling restless!

I will say the biggest bummer is that the apartments downtown are very pricey .So, like others have said, the more north you are, close to Gandy, the cheaper it gets (for really nice places). Being from NYC, having to drive everywhere, will probably stink. I lived in Boston for 8 years and now Texas. Texas is the same way, very spread out, was hard to get used to but from what I've seen downtown is only about 15-20 minutes, so it's not awful, especially just to get you started.

I have seen some affordable houses to rent or garage apartments that are closer to downtown but I'm probably going to get an apartment for 6mo-1 year up off gandy, learn the area and then take it from there! Good Luck to you!