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Interesting feedback thus far.
For clarity - city of Tampa vs city of Fort Worth
Not including the Bay or Metroplex
How can't you include it? If we are talking you and your family must stick within the boundaries of those municipalities or you'd be shot for leaving: I'd choose FW. There's a lot of nice places to live there that won't cost you an arm and a leg. Tampa has its rough parts and some of it looks 3rd world to me.
Im 20s rather than 30s. I find absolutely nothing appealing about Fort Worth outside of Sundance Square. Tampa all the way, though I could do Dallas if I had to.
Interesting feedback thus far.
For clarity - city of Tampa vs city of Fort Worth
Not including the Bay or Metroplex
Is this a hypothetical, or actual couple? Because I agree with previous posting, it's pretty hard contextually to completely ignore the amenities that either region as a whole has, unless we are strictly talking about things like schools, safety, and housing stock/cost of living.
Is this a hypothetical, or actual couple? Because I agree with previous posting, it's pretty hard contextually to completely ignore the amenities that either region as a whole has, unless we are strictly talking about things like schools, safety, and housing stock/cost of living.
I think that’s especially true with Tampa. Tampa has a few sad little beaches within its city limits, but otherwise it’s almost like it isn’t even a coastal city. If you consider Tampa Bay as a whole though, it is obviously coastal and has some of the best beaches in the country so it’s a totally different story.
I mean, I don’t know a lot about the couple in their 30s or what their priorities are.
To me, DFW (I have to factor them both in), has perhaps a more distinctive local culture (with the cowtown stuff), even if touristy, it has a more active downtown (though Tampa Bay overall IMO has an edge on urbanism), it’s part of a larger overall region with a better public transportation infrastructure and a little more overall ethnic diversity, but perhaps more importantly, higher paying jobs and more economic opportunity.
I live in Tampa Bay, and in comparing it to DFW, it likely overall sprawls out a little less, has comparatively more old world and Latin flair, less overall volume of traffic, beaches and coastline and a swampy/subtropical feel compared to a prairie feel. Tampa Bay also has proximity to Orlando and the theme parks if that interests-St Petersburg has a leafy/inviting touristy feel along with other communities like Dunedin and Gulfport and Sarasota that have a vacationland vibe that nowhere in DFW does.
Summed up, DFW I think is a place people most often move to for a great job market and modest cost of living, whereas Tampa also has a modest cost of living, but is moved to because people want to retire, or vacation, or generally be near the beach and/or theme parks. Dallas has a better sports scene, The Fine Arts scene of the two is in my assessment relatively comparable. A relative advantage of Dallas for me would be the ability to go on the weekend to places like Austin/Hill Country and Palo Duro Canyon. Non flat and coastal landscapes in Florida, you have to go further to get to. But, I can get on a cruise ship right in Tampa, or weekend to places like Miami or Saint Augustine.
For me, as a resident of Tampa, there are things I would appreciate about DFW that Tampa doesn’t have, but I could say the same for certain things that Tampa has and Dallas doesn’t. I think most people would probably prefer Tampa ignoring economic factors, but for my niche interests they are on about equal footing, with maybe a slight lean to Dallas if the right job opened itself, combined with the travel potential that DFW airport offers for domestic and international trips. That said, I don’t like enough about DFW that I would move away from family to be there, like I potentially would with ATL or certain other places.
TL;DR
Dallas has more urbanism and more opportunity
Tampa has better urbanism/human scale, and more attractions that would entice visitors and residents to base there
Great post. Am not in either location yet but considering both. To me they are apples and oranges other than they are both among the big destination locations.
I don't know enough about Tampa yet to know about which kind of job growth there is that is making is so popular, unlike DFW where so many companies are flocking to or already have major offices there.
It's a lot harder to make decent money in Tampa than it is Fort Worth, unless you're in tech.
Or finance, or law, or medicine.
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