[Majami]

Originally Posted by PDF

West Palm Beach, love it there.

Isn't that a ghetto or am I wrong? I know Palm Beach is nice, but it's kind of sterile.

[PDF]

Originally Posted by Majami

Isn't that a ghetto or am I wrong? I know Palm Beach is nice, but it's kind of sterile.

No way. It's pretty nice.

[Majami]

Originally Posted by PDF

No way. It's pretty nice.

I had a look, it seems the murder rate is around 18/100,000 persons, so it has problems: //www.city-data.com/city/West-P...h-Florida.html

But then South Beach is probably not far from there.

[Madruga]

Highly subjective question. All depends on your age, male or female and what you can afford. Men and women are very different as it's a bit deceiving when a single MAN asks a question where to live and the responses are from married women. Women and liberals dominate this forum so it is almost impossible to get unbiased feedback in the best interest of the person asking.

[perry335654]

Two Egg or Sopchoppy Fl. these two towns, one cracks me up and the other one is a bit of a cut up.

[PDF]

Originally Posted by Majami

I had a look, it seems the murder rate is around 18/100,000 persons, so it has problems: //www.city-data.com/city/West-P...h-Florida.html

But then South Beach is probably not far from there.

Miami has major crime problems as well. So do other Florida cities, such as Orlando.

[theurbanfiles]

So I've changed and thought about this lots of times, and I'm sure that based on different stages or times of life I'd pick different things. Right now though, if I had to say, I'd pick Tallahassee. That's right, the one people call "Tallanasty". Why?
1. Relatively Lower Traffic (I'm guessing)
2. Best Value Housing (Could get safe neighborhood, 15 minute commute, 10* schools for $165K)
3. CLIMATE probably the big one, some semblance of 4 seasons, only 3 rough weather months, not 5
(Don't buy it? Check: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallahassee,_Florida avg. humidity 5 pts. lower, daily mean temp 5 degrees lower, higher pct. tree cover)
4. Still about 50 mins. from a decent beach (Alligator Point), but also has freshwater springs 20 mins. away, Lake Jackson 15 mins. away.
5. Probably the best tree canopy of any city in Florida. But also a nice looking bike trail and selection of parks around town, and terrain right within town which makes for good hiking, more like what one would find in a northern state. Close by, able to walk next to 100 foot plus bluffs alongside rivers and lakes, in addition to having a show cave, waterfall, and whitewater rapids within an hour of town.
6. It's a college town for one of the two flagship universities of Florida. Meaning, pretty good ethnic food (and food in general) options for under $10. There's still a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's and a pretty nice mall in town due to the clout of that. Working at FSU (where I'd likely be if there), having the opportunity to attend high level D-1 sports, an impressive group of touring singers/plays/comedians/lecturers, and probably a decent amount of interesting events/festivals occurring on a regular basis, all on the cheap.
7. The fact that it's almost out of Florida: It still has Florida stuff like some beaches, palm trees, etc., and relatively close to family that is here, but it makes it possible to drive 2 hrs. and get to Providence Canyon, 4 hrs. to Atlanta, or 5 hrs. to the Appalachian Mountains/New Orleans. As opposed to the agonizing 8-9 hour trip it can be to somewhere "different" from down in lower parts of the state, when you feel like getting out, you can easily do a 3-4 day weekend trip.
8. Politics: I know this part is cheesy, but being in the state capitol, especially when it isn't an overly large city to begin with, would seem to give me greater opportunities to be civically engaged over the course my life.

If I were to pick a few runners up from around the state, they would probably be (in no particular order)
1. St. Petersburg (Old NE neighborhood)
2. Coral Gables (If I could afford)
3. Winter Park
4. Gainesville
5. St. Augustine

[Tamika929]

captiva looks pretty nice and small, something tells me not much goes on over there.

[Tamika929]

west palm beach is not a ghetto, its a town next to palm beach that's all.

[Ignatius J. Reilly]

I had this choice to make a few years ago and after exploring and spending considerable time in other parts of the state my wife and I decided upon a little coastal town in the panhandle of NW Florida.

The combination of weather (some discernible winter patterns, mostly fog and some chilly winds), natural beauty relatively unspoiled by commercialism, the proximity to the rest of the US due to the fact that our families live elsewhere, and the beaches. I subjectively believe that the snow white beaches of NW Florida and the contrast with the emerald water creates the best beach atmosphere in Florida, and there is some strong competition with great beaches everywhere in our state.

We are close to major college football and progressive, hip culture in Tallahassee for quick weekends to boot. Atlanta is 5 hours as is NOLA and we hit each a few weekends a year.

As a bonus at the time we bought in this area we were able to live on the water within our budget. A dream come true.

Full disclosure: we were itching to get out of Florida because we thought our young kids needed a large city atmosphere to thrive. My wife and I have lived all over the country but when we revisited our old locations it just wasn't the same so we have decided to stay - we had a very silly grass is greener moment but a bit of evaluation showed us it isn't. We are happy here so why question it?