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I am in my mid 20's male getting married and starting a family soon.
I am a bit of conflicting situation, which I will explain below.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and never really liked the political situation here and how expensive it is.
I feel out of place in California due to my personal life views that do not match the majority of Californians.
I have narrowed my moving city to (2) places.
Orlando/Tampa Florida vs Dallas/Fort Worth Texas
I am looking for a place where unlike California (SF Bay Area) I do not smell Marijuana every single place I go to/drive to.
My top choice originally was Florida (because I love living near beaches) and also Orlando is closer to cities that interest me (Atlanta, DC, New York City)
However, I am coming to realize that I could be purposefully leaving the liberal and excessively open society that California is, to something similar politically (Orlando/Tampa). I have heard that Orlando/Tampa can be quite ghetto, people doing drugs in the open, etc.) which is the exact reason I am leaving California.
Which tips me over to want to choose Dallas (more conservative, better place to raise family, drug laws are stricter) but I can't stand not being able to live on a close flight to major global cities like I could in Orlando, and also not being able to go beautiful beaches like there are in Florida.
In a bit of conundrum, I prefer more conservative family oriented cities but also want to be within 2 hour flight of major global cities and close to the beach, but could not bear living in an area with people openly using drugs and their pretentious liberal politics. Sorry If I offended anyone. Advice would be appreciated.
I am not considering Houston Texas if anyone was going to suggest that, that is out of the question for me for many reasons.
It has to be out of these 2 places. I am hoping a Floridian can tell me otherwise about Florida.
Thanks.
Originally Posted by ConflictingPolitics;46186696
Which tips me over to want to choose Dallas (more conservative, better place to raise family, drug laws are stricter) but I can't stand not being able to live on a [B
close flight to major global cities[/b] like I could in Orlando, and also not being able to go beautiful beaches like there are in Florida.
In a bit of conundrum, I prefer more conservative family oriented cities but also want to be within 2 hour flight of major global cities and close to the beach, but could not bear living in an area with people openly using drugs and their pretentious liberal politics. Sorry If I offended anyone. Advice would be appreciated.
DFW Airport provides a reasonably close flight to both coasts. About 2-2.5 hr flight to LA. Plus it's more of a major airline hub than Tampa. But Texas sadly doesn't have beautiful beaches .
Re: Conservative Politics
I'm not as familiar with Tampa, but I don't think there's as many cities and metros as liberal as San Francisco. So you should be fine finding your "conservative niche" in most metros. Dallas-Fort Worth is a red-leaning metro with a liberal urban core. As long as you stay at least a 5-10 mile radius outside of greater Downtown Dallas, you'll be able to avoid the less family oriented, more liberal/bar centric inner city. Places such as Plano, Frisco, Grapevine, Flower Mound, etc. are great for families. Generally speaking and this is true in most cities, inner city police officers don't have the time and energy to arrest weed smokers. It's in the suburban areas where they have way more time on their hands to worry about weed.
I am in my mid 20's male getting married and starting a family soon.
I am a bit of conflicting situation, which I will explain below.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and never really liked the political situation here and how expensive it is.
I feel out of place in California due to my personal life views that do not match the majority of Californians.
I have narrowed my moving city to (2) places.
Orlando/Tampa Florida vs Dallas/Fort Worth Texas
I am looking for a place where unlike California (SF Bay Area) I do not smell Marijuana every single place I go to/drive to.
My top choice originally was Florida (because I love living near beaches) and also Orlando is closer to cities that interest me (Atlanta, DC, New York City)
However, I am coming to realize that I could be purposefully leaving the liberal and excessively open society that California is, to something similar politically (Orlando/Tampa). I have heard that Orlando/Tampa can be quite ghetto, people doing drugs in the open, etc.) which is the exact reason I am leaving California.
Which tips me over to want to choose Dallas (more conservative, better place to raise family, drug laws are stricter) but I can't stand not being able to live on a close flight to major global cities like I could in Orlando, and also not being able to go beautiful beaches like there are in Florida.
In a bit of conundrum, I prefer more conservative family oriented cities but also want to be within 2 hour flight of major global cities and close to the beach, but could not bear living in an area with people openly using drugs and their pretentious liberal politics. Sorry If I offended anyone. Advice would be appreciated.
I am not considering Houston Texas if anyone was going to suggest that, that is out of the question for me for many reasons.
It has to be out of these 2 places. I am hoping a Floridian can tell me otherwise about Florida.
Thanks.
Huh? Where did you hear people are doing drugs in the open in Tampa/Orlando? You mean pot or other?
I've lived in Tampa Bay for many years, never seen people do drugs in the open, even pot(though drugs are everywhere; but I would think the West coast is a lot worse usage wise). I was in Seattle last year and someone tried to sell me edible pot in front of my family and wouldn't lay off. Kept smelling it in parks etc.. FL legalized medical pot but so far it hasn't been the same as the West coast. For the record, Tampa Bay(i.e. Pinellas, Sarasota/Pasco counties are more conservative than liberal. Hillsborough has become more liberal lately.) ORL I think is more liberal too.
I personally would choose the Tampa/Orlando region. Very familiar with the area. It one of the few places in the nation that we would actually consider living if we ever wanted to move anywhere else. There's enough political diversity there that you can find your niche'. Though Orlando and Tampa have crime like most other urban areas in the nation, the "doing drugs openly" thing is a bit inaccurate. The Tampa/Orlando region has some of the most recreational assets anywhere. The Dallas/Ft. Worth area has a broader economy and more buying power per dollar. But if you can land a good job and buy a home as oppose to renting, I'd choose Tampa/Orlando.
I am in my mid 20's male getting married and starting a family soon.
I am a bit of conflicting situation, which I will explain below.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and never really liked the political situation here and how expensive it is.
I feel out of place in California due to my personal life views that do not match the majority of Californians.
I have narrowed my moving city to (2) places.
Orlando/Tampa Florida vs Dallas/Fort Worth Texas
I am looking for a place where unlike California (SF Bay Area) I do not smell Marijuana every single place I go to/drive to.
My top choice originally was Florida (because I love living near beaches) and also Orlando is closer to cities that interest me (Atlanta, DC, New York City)
However, I am coming to realize that I could be purposefully leaving the liberal and excessively open society that California is, to something similar politically (Orlando/Tampa). I have heard that Orlando/Tampa can be quite ghetto, people doing drugs in the open, etc.) which is the exact reason I am leaving California.
Which tips me over to want to choose Dallas (more conservative, better place to raise family, drug laws are stricter) but I can't stand not being able to live on a close flight to major global cities like I could in Orlando, and also not being able to go beautiful beaches like there are in Florida.
In a bit of conundrum, I prefer more conservative family oriented cities but also want to be within 2 hour flight of major global cities and close to the beach, but could not bear living in an area with people openly using drugs and their pretentious liberal politics. Sorry If I offended anyone. Advice would be appreciated.
I am not considering Houston Texas if anyone was going to suggest that, that is out of the question for me for many reasons.
It has to be out of these 2 places. I am hoping a Floridian can tell me otherwise about Florida.
Thanks.
Unless the beach and proximity to "major global cities" are the main motivators here, I'd suggest you move to Dallas. You seem to place a real emphasis on conservatism, and while Dallas and Orlando are both blue dots in a sea of red, Florida is just too transient to ever feel that conservative.
Also we just legalized the green, at least medically that is, and there is an overall lax position on drugs here.
There are pros and cons to both cities but I love Orlando for its non conservative, pro-weed policies, progressive mayor, enormous LGBT pop, beaches, endless things to do, natural beauty of lakes, great parks, and more.
If you're looking for somewhere more conservative, I wouldn't say Dallas, but Forth Worth or Arlington, sure. Since this was one of your points, I'll mention that weed while still illegal, is decriminalized within the city of Dallas, but not Fort Worth nor any Dallas suburb. Now for your third point, both DFW and Orlando have direct flights to all the cities you mentioned.
As for Orlando, on the conservative note, it is similar to Dallas. The city isn't conservative at all, but the suburbs are very conservative. On the weed note, they recently passed a decriminalization law, which I'm not exactly sure when it comes into effect, or if it already has.
So socially based on what you gave, they're similar. But DFW has a better economy. And Orlando is smaller, if that helps or not.
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that is, and there is an overall lax position on drugs here. 
