[ABK18]

Hello,

I am a federal employee currently living in Fairfax County, which is located in Northern Virginia. Considering the high cost of living in Fairfax and the ability for me to work from home full-time, I am considering moving to Florida with my wife and two young children (2yrs and 3 months).

Our main concern is finding a neighborhood that has good public schools and is safe. We are currently considering Tampa (Westchase, New Tampa), St. Augustine, Tallahassee, and Panama City. How do these areas compare with one another? Are there other areas we should consider?

If we were to move to Florida, we would be looking to buy a 500-600K home.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[the awesomee]

LoL at Florida and best schools in same sentence.

[FLgirl727]

I can't attest to the schools in any of the areas you mentioned, but you might want to consider adding Seminole County (in Central Florida, just east of Orlando) to your list.

They have an excellent and innovative school system, which their residents have chosen to support by approving a 1 mil tax hike in this past November's election. I live in nearby Volusia County, where a similar referendum failed to pass, and the cuts in funding means the school curriculum will suffer as a result.

Since your kids are years off from being school age, keep in mind the economic health of the area you are moving too. Schools systems throughout the state are expecting serious cutbacks and shortfalls in funding in the years to come, so how the schools are performing now may not last too much longer.

[beachmouse]

If possible, I'd delete Panama City from the list in favor of the Ft. Walton Beach/Eglin AFB area because you'd get a huge upgrade in the school situation that way.

As for the rest of the list, you can find good-by-Southeastern-standards schools in any of the above and it probably comes down to whether you want to be in the middle of a large metro area (Tampa), the exurbs of a large metro area with a nearby core small town (St. Augustine) or a mid-sized metro/college town somewhat far from larger metros (Tallahassee). I'll also note that it's a long way from a good beach in Tallahassee and that winters there can be rather cool by Florida standards if either of those things matter to you.

[HarryWho?]

Palm City. Good schools, safe, family oriented.

[TD*]

Honestly, Tallahassee is a great city for Families. I think you will love it here. That kind of money will buy you an extremely nice house.

Look into Southwood, Killearn, Bucklake, Midtown, for nice neighborhoods.

The cost of living here is incredibly low compared to fairfax county.