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My family lives in Missouri about 50 miles west of St. Louis. We have lived here all our life and we are ready for a change. We are mid to late 30s and have 2 kids aged 7 & 4. My wife has always loved Florida so we are strongly considering a move there. She wants to be a close distance to a beach and to stay on the Gulf side of the state.
Housing- We would probably rent and at most we would go $1000/mo.
Employment - I work for the post office so I can direct a transfer close to any town.
Schooling - Having a 7 & 4 year old.....education is important so we want to find an area with good schools
Crime - Obviously there is crime everywhere but I'd rather stay away from areas there is a lot of it....living near St. Louis I know how bad crime can get and the good and bad areas.
Other - We'd like an area where there are a lot of family things to do but not have to drive 50 miles or more every single time to go there.
I have a list of towns we are considering and since we are in the beginning stages the list is a little long but if anyone has any helpful information on any of these towns I would love to hear them! Thanks!
Auburndale
Bartow
Bradenton Beach
Bradenton
Brandon
Brooksville
Clearwater
Dade City
Dunedin
Ellenton
Fort Meade
Haines City
Indian Rocks Beach
Lake Alfred
Lake Wales
Lakeland
Largo
Longboat Key
Mulberry
New Port Richey
Palm Harbor
Palmetto
Pinellas Park
Plant City
Port Richey
Ruskin
Safety Harbor
St. Petersburg
Sarasota
Tampa
Tarpon Springs
Valrico
Venice
Winter Haven
Zephyrhills
Wow, talk about a variable list. I've lived in Missouri and Florida (and a few other states) and Florida was always my absolute least favorite. When people are asking me personally about moving from an inland state to Florida because of the beaches or whatever, I always recommend maybe moving to a lake house or lake access community instead, lol. Anyway...
Before I start I just want to say that: It's really hard for me to rate and review all these places for you, these are my own opinions after living in Florida for 10 years. I've lived in the central gulf area of Florida and the panhandle area. If I had to make a personal recommendation of a place that I personally enjoyed visiting, it would be the Niceville/Destin area. One of my friends grew up there and I've visited her and it was a nice community, STUNNING beach, I wouldn't have minded growing up there myself.
I also always recommend Tallahassee to anyone who's considering FL and wants to live in an area that has a lot of stuff to do, Tallahassee has great restaurants, schools (some better than others obviously), it's about an hour from the closest beach (alligator point)... It's a city but not a "real city" I'd say it's more suburban. You could probably find a very nice house to rent in the Maclay Gardens area for your budget. One perk is that you'd live near a major university and community college.
If you want to live in a "real city", one that's bigger and more urban than Tallahassee, then I recommend Tampa. Never Orlando.
Auburndale - No. Nowhere in Polk County or the Lakeland area. A lot of it is pretty rural, nowhere near the beach and you'd have a long drive to Orlando or Tampa. If you want to move to Florida, do yourself a favor and avoid Polk County. It's not a terrible place, it just isn't that close to any beaches and it's not like there's a ton of stuff to do. Bartow - again, no. (Polk County) Bradenton Beach
Bradenton Brandon - closer to Tampa, so yeah, it'd probably be alright Brooksville - avoid. Small, small rural town... not even really close to a beach. If you like this area, check out Hernando Beach or Spring Hill instead. Clearwater - decent. Dade City - no, in my opinion it's not really near anything for a young family.
Dunedin
Ellenton
Fort Meade
Haines City
Indian Rocks Beach
Lake Alfred
Lake Wales Lakeland - avoid (in my opinion), if you want to live close to the beach, why would you chose this place? Largo - decent. Longboat Key - nice, Ft. Myers may also serve you well.
Mulberry
New Port Richey
Palm Harbor
Palmetto
Pinellas Park
Plant City
Port Richey
Ruskin
Safety Harbor St. Petersburg - good, I'd look at Ft. Myers instead. Sarasota - decent, mostly known for it's retirees Tampa - better, big city, lots of young people and transplants Tarpon Springs
Valrico - no, just live in Brandon or Tampa instead... Venice - eh, maybe. You might just be better off in Ft. Myers instead of Venice. Winter Haven - no Zephyrhills - no
Ok, so I just kinda started skipping over a lot of places because I started feeling overwhelmed (can't even imagine how y'all must feel with a list like that)... I think maybe y'all should narrow your list down and decide what size of a city you want to live in. Over/under 100,000? Over/under 50,000? Over/under 25,000? Under 10,000? 5000? And also by the area... panhandle/the Big Bend area, central area of the gulf coast, southern area of the gulf coast?
Auburndale-small town, not a lot of crime, but not a lot to do. they do have family festivals at times.
Bartow- small town, has built up in last few years. Not a lot to do, not too much crime.
Bradenton Beach
Bradenton
Brandon- is ok, a lot of traffic, but not as bad as Tampa. things to do and easy enough to get to tampa & beach
Brooksville
Clearwater- has some nice beaches
Dade City-tiny town, not much crime
Dunedin
Ellenton-has a good outlet mall
Fort Meade-tiny town, not a lot to do, most people who live here have lived there forever
Haines City-small town, has areas that are STAY AWAY from the area, has a big July 4th celebration
Indian Rocks Beach
Lake Alfred-small town, not much crime.....nothing to do , couple mom and pop restaurants
Lake Wales-small town, not much crime not much to do
Lakeland-decent size town, has fair share of crime, people not to friendly. down town has some nice mom and pop places. Some family activities during year....not my favorite place
Largo
Longboat Key
Mulberry-small town, not much crime, most people are nice. nothing to do
New Port Richey-ok town, mid sized. has most things you need , but not much else to do
Palm Harbor
Palmetto
Pinellas Park
Plant City-tiny town, not to much crime, most people are nice....Strawberry festival every year. not much else
Port Richey
Ruskin
Safety Harbor
St. Petersburg
Sarasota
Tampa-Big city, fair share of crime..most things to do , better than Orlando
Tarpon Springs
Valrico-place to live if you want to be close to Tampa with less people, little less traffic than Brandon
Venice
Winter Haven-mid-ish size town, everything you need food and shopping wise, not much else to do. not to much crime some parts of town are STAY AWAY FROM
Zephyrhills- tiny town , not much to do , people are nice, not much crime, people drive south into polk county to shop in Lakeland.
Thanks for the responses! Yeah I know the list is huge....just think that is a narrowed down list. haha Mainly it's a list of towns within an hour of Tampa that I could transfer to but I didn't want to put this in the Tampa forum cause I figured some towns aren't considered in the "Tampa" area. The town we live in now is about 10000 and that is fine by me. In the end we would just like a nice area that is at least under an hour to a beach with low crime and close to shops and restaurants. So I don't mind a bigger or smaller town as long as the rest falls into place. Also probably more than likely the central part of the Gulf Coast.
With all of the information you just posted, I would personally recommend not looking north of the Hernando Beach and Spring Hill area. It's about an hour north of Tampa, and about 2 hours west of Orlando, and not looking south of the Sarasota area.
Heads up: the further south in Florida that you go, the more expensive everything gets.
I think staying around the central gulf coast area may be a good choice, especially with kids, because you'll only be ~4 hours away (or less) from all of the major universities in Florida (UCF, FSU, UF, USF, etc).
Plant High School in Tampa is pretty well known, especially for athletics (not sure if that matters to you or not, FL is a huuuuuge football recruiting state). Former NFL player Brad Culpepper sends his kids there, so the academics can't be terrible.
If you don't mind me asking, where all in Florida have you visited? The state is so diverse.
We have visted the Pensacola/Gulf Breeze area and the Tampa/Clearwater area and I think my wife has visited Orlando, Coco Beach and Cape Canaveral but many years ago. We actually got married on Pensacola Beach 10 years ago. We had intentions of looking to move to the Pensacola/Gulf Breeze area but we vacationed there a couple years ago and the area had taken a turn for the worst by our estimations and we dropped it off the radar. After visiting Tampa a couple times.....staying in Tampa the first time and Apollo Beach the second time I think my wife fell in love with the area. She isn't hellbent on having to move to the Tampa area so she is open to other options too. I for one am open to anything......you know the old saying "if momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" comes into play here....haha But I am ready for some warmer weather.......
We have visted the Pensacola/Gulf Breeze area and the Tampa/Clearwater area and I think my wife has visited Orlando, Coco Beach and Cape Canaveral but many years ago. We actually got married on Pensacola Beach 10 years ago. We had intentions of looking to move to the Pensacola/Gulf Breeze area but we vacationed there a couple years ago and the area had taken a turn for the worst by our estimations and we dropped it off the radar. After visiting Tampa a couple times.....staying in Tampa the first time and Apollo Beach the second time I think my wife fell in love with the area. She isn't hellbent on having to move to the Tampa area so she is open to other options too. I for one am open to anything......you know the old saying "if momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" comes into play here....haha But I am ready for some warmer weather.......
Yeah, I'd say Tampa is good for young family transplants. I think you're smart for avoiding the Atlantic side of the coast and Orlando (...just my opinion).
I don't know where your extended family is from, or how close you are to them... but one thing to keep in mind is that the closer you live to Tampa, the closer you are to the airport/big hotels, which will make traveling to visit family in other states easier.
Since you have kids, as soon as you move to Florida I recommend learning about setting up a Florida Prepaid Account. In-state tuition at public universities in FL right now is cheaper than almost anywhere else but they are raising it every year to meet the national average. The Florida Prepaid Account helped my friends get through college.
Also, public education in theruralarea of Florida where I lived during middle school was lower than any other state I've ever lived in, ever. I moved to rural Florida from suburban Missouri in the 6th grade. When I started 6th grade in FL they gave me the science book I used in the 4th grade in Missouri, the history book I used in the 5th grade, and the math and reading were way behind too. So, that is why I was kind of suggesting against living in small towns in Florida. I won't publicly name the school or the town in Florida where I used to live because I don't want to cause problems/ruffle anyone's feathers, but it was in the central area near Polk county - that's all I'll say.
Edit: If you aren't interested in a city/urban area like Tampa, I definitely suggest checking out the Destin/Niceville area of the Panhandle. Every time I visit my friend there, I'm just amazed at the communities/developments and how they still capture "the real Florida" vibe (in my opinion) and the locals are always great.
Hmm... other than that, just realize every part of FL is impacted by tourism and snowbirds! And even though it's called the Sunshine State, it rains a lot, haha, so always have an umbrella in your car!
I'm not going to comment about all of them as it would take too long. Stay clear of Mulberry and Fort Meade. Both are total dumps and have little employment opportunities. I work in close proximity to both of them and have spent extensive time in them.
I agree with Niceville being nice. Imet someone who moved here from there and I thought it was probably some scraggly misnamed town. I was shocked at how lovely it is.
I agree with Niceville being nice. Imet someone who moved here from there and I thought it was probably some scraggly misnamed town. I was shocked at how lovely it is.
Lol! I thought the same thing. I was like "If they had to name the town Niceville, then it's probably not very nice..." Then I actually visited my friend who grew up there and I loved it!
Overall I disliked the state of Florida, but nothing beats the really authentic feeling beach towns of North Florida.
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