Florida vs Texas? (Jacksonville, Miami, Tallahassee: transplants, real estate, amusement parks)
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I currently have the opportunity to move either to College Station, Texas , or down to Florida preferably around the Jacksonville, Daytona or the I-4 corridor. From your as experience which States did you prefer more Texas or Florida.
I currently have the opportunity to move either to College Station, Texas , or down to Florida preferably around the Jacksonville, Daytona or the I-4 corridor. From your as experience which States did you prefer more Texas or Florida.
I currently have the opportunity to move either to College Station, Texas , or down to Florida preferably around the Jacksonville, Daytona or the I-4 corridor. From your as experience which States did you prefer more Texas or Florida.
Lived near Dallas and now in FL, Volusia County. Loved a lot about TX but prefer FL. Main reason is the beach on the West coast but also the closeness to so many other States with places to go including the Smokies and of course a multitude of beaches up the coast. The two States are different, so it depends on what is important to you. Plus a lot of interesting places to visit in FL and all are much closer than places to visit in TX.
Unfortunately, Florida's economy is primarily based upon the real estate and tourism industries. In my personal experience of living and working in Florida, my friends and neighbors with the most lucrative professional careers worked in either the healthcare or legal industries. However, those individuals were almost invariably well-educated and/or highly skilled in their professional career fields. For skilled laborers and run-of-the-mill accounting, engineering, marketing, etc. professionals who graduated from an averagely ranked college or university, Florida presents a very unforgiving professional career environment due to the competitive economic forces at play, especially the demographic makeup of Florida (i.e., wealthy retirees and part-year residents coupled with mostly poor blacks and immigrants from Third World countries). As a result, the cities in Florida with the highest labor force participation rates and highest average personal incomes such as Jacksonville and Tallahassee, for example, are located in the extreme northern part of the state (i.e., the region with the lowest annual rates of tourism and lowest population share of retirees, part-year residents and immigrants). On the Florida fora, there is a Florida native named Kyle who frequently discusses this issue.
Compared to Florida, Texas has a much more robust, diversified economy. Even small cities in Texas such as College Station, for example, have stronger economies than comparable cities in Florida. In addition to Texas A&M University, which employs close to 20,000 people, there are a number of other reputable, well-paying employers in the College Station area that have greater 1,000 employees such as Reynolds and Reynolds and Sanderson Farms, Inc., for example.
Along with better long-term employment prospects due to the number and diversity of employers across a multitude of well-paying industries (e.g., aerospace, energy, finance, healthcare, logistics, etc.), labor force participants in Texas are, on average, better-educated than those in Florida. For example, Texas has a higher adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR) among public high school students than Florida (Texas, 89% vs. Florida, 81%) and is well-above the national average of 84%, despite the abject poverty and language barriers that still persist in the southern and western regions of Texas (e.g., Brownsville, El Paso, Laredo, etc.). I suspect that the state of public education is stronger in Texas than Florida as a direct result of higher average starting and long-term salaries of public school teachers. Source: https://cdn.americanprogress.org/con...y-Appendix.pdf
Separately, Florida has significantly more manmade and natural tourist attractions than Texas, so you will never run out of things to do and see, if you lived in Florida. In addition to the popular, world-renowned amusement parks, nightclubs and resorts, Florida has the second-longest coastline of any U.S. state after Alaska at 1,350 miles, so bays, beaches, harbors, inlets, islands and marshes are much more plentiful in Florida than Texas. Needless to say, Florida is a beach-lover and boater’s paradise. Moreover, Florida has more than 700 natural freshwater springs, which is more than any other political jurisdiction in the world. Also, Florida is generally more forested than Texas, which has more areas of barren desert and flatland prairie by comparison. Due to the impressively long coastline, greater forest coverage, noticeably milder climate and better-maintained public spaces, Florida is home to cleaner, more beautiful national and state parks such as Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park and, of course, Everglades National Park. However, finding quality folks with whom to enjoy these activities and attractions will be challenging; please see below.
Unfortunately, Florida is and always has been a very transient state: people are constantly moving in and out of Florida and, within the state itself, relocating from city to city. Coupled with the second- or third-lowest percentage of native-born residents, Florida residents have very low allegiance to and pride in their state. For example, I knew of a few young people who were born and raised in southern Palm Beach County and northern Broward County that, sometimes, lied about their birthplace, claiming they were born in New York instead of Florida. On the other hand, if someone was born in Texas, you would know it. Due to the transient social environment of Florida that often attracts crooks, deviants and sociopaths, it is very challenging to meet decent, honest folks and, in turn, build meaningful, mutually dependable friendships in Florida compared to more deeply rooted states such as Iowa and Texas.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not discuss the amount of antisocial behavior you will likely experience and witness in Florida, which is the result of a high percentage of transplants from states with cultures that rank highly on neuroticism and rank lowly on agreeableness and conscientiousness such as Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, for example. I am not going to go into much further detail to avoid getting flagged, but I am sure you get the general idea.
Been to both, have you check each city out boots on the ground?
Best to kick the tires than to base upon good insights mentioned on this forum.
Salary, apt/condo/home, family situation, travel for work, family etc-all need to fit the mix.
Flush out your inquiry with more detail to get deeper insights.
Good luck
My girlfriend and several of my neighbors are all from New York and they are all very nice people. Before I moved to Florida I bought into the stereotype of New Yorkers but now I feel differently.
My girlfriend and several of my neighbors are all from New York and they are all very nice people. Before I moved to Florida I bought into the stereotype of New Yorkers but now I feel differently.
Yep, bias shows up in claims that people from different areas are sooo unfriendly and yet since I have beem here I have met people from all over and ... they are all friendly. The ones making the claims seem to be the truly unfriendly ones.
Yep, bias shows up in claims that people from different areas are sooo unfriendly and yet since I have beem here I have met people from all over and ... they are all friendly. The ones making the claims seem to be the truly unfriendly ones.
Yep, bias shows up in claims that people from different areas are sooo unfriendly and yet since I have beem here I have met people from all over and ... they are all friendly. The ones making the claims seem to be the truly unfriendly ones.
Same, NY and NJ neighbors. Very friendly. Happy to be out of those states. If you are a rude miserable person, people will act the same way. I’m that way too, if someone is pleasant I will go way out of my way to help them. However, I have no problem having nothing to do with a negative person. I’ve found if you are proactively friendly, it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, most people will be friendly back.
Unfortunately, Florida's economy is primarily based upon the real estate and tourism industries. In my personal experience of living and working in Florida, my friends and neighbors with the most lucrative professional careers worked in either the healthcare or legal industries. However, those individuals were almost invariably well-educated and/or highly skilled in their professional career fields. For skilled laborers and run-of-the-mill accounting, engineering, marketing, etc. professionals who graduated from an averagely ranked college or university, Florida presents a very unforgiving professional career environment due to the competitive economic forces at play, especially the demographic makeup of Florida (i.e., wealthy retirees and part-year residents coupled with mostly poor blacks and immigrants from Third World countries). As a result, the cities in Florida with the highest labor force participation rates and highest average personal incomes such as Jacksonville and Tallahassee, for example, are located in the extreme northern part of the state (i.e., the region with the lowest annual rates of tourism and lowest population share of retirees, part-year residents and immigrants). On the Florida fora, there is a Florida native named Kyle who frequently discusses this issue.
Compared to Florida, Texas has a much more robust, diversified economy. Even small cities in Texas such as College Station, for example, have stronger economies than comparable cities in Florida. In addition to Texas A&M University, which employs close to 20,000 people, there are a number of other reputable, well-paying employers in the College Station area that have greater 1,000 employees such as Reynolds and Reynolds and Sanderson Farms, Inc., for example.
Along with better long-term employment prospects due to the number and diversity of employers across a multitude of well-paying industries (e.g., aerospace, energy, finance, healthcare, logistics, etc.), labor force participants in Texas are, on average, better-educated than those in Florida. For example, Texas has a higher adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR) among public high school students than Florida (Texas, 89% vs. Florida, 81%) and is well-above the national average of 84%, despite the abject poverty and language barriers that still persist in the southern and western regions of Texas (e.g., Brownsville, El Paso, Laredo, etc.). I suspect that the state of public education is stronger in Texas than Florida as a direct result of higher average starting and long-term salaries of public school teachers. Source: https://cdn.americanprogress.org/con...y-Appendix.pdf
Separately, Florida has significantly more manmade and natural tourist attractions than Texas, so you will never run out of things to do and see, if you lived in Florida. In addition to the popular, world-renowned amusement parks, nightclubs and resorts, Florida has the second-longest coastline of any U.S. state after Alaska at 1,350 miles, so bays, beaches, harbors, inlets, islands and marshes are much more plentiful in Florida than Texas. Needless to say, Florida is a beach-lover and boater’s paradise. Moreover, Florida has more than 700 natural freshwater springs, which is more than any other political jurisdiction in the world. Also, Florida is generally more forested than Texas, which has more areas of barren desert and flatland prairie by comparison. Due to the impressively long coastline, greater forest coverage, noticeably milder climate and better-maintained public spaces, Florida is home to cleaner, more beautiful national and state parks such as Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park and, of course, Everglades National Park. However, finding quality folks with whom to enjoy these activities and attractions will be challenging; please see below.
Unfortunately, Florida is and always has been a very transient state: people are constantly moving in and out of Florida and, within the state itself, relocating from city to city. Coupled with the second- or third-lowest percentage of native-born residents, Florida residents have very low allegiance to and pride in their state. For example, I knew of a few young people who were born and raised in southern Palm Beach County and northern Broward County that, sometimes, lied about their birthplace, claiming they were born in New York instead of Florida. On the other hand, if someone was born in Texas, you would know it. Due to the transient social environment of Florida that often attracts crooks, deviants and sociopaths, it is very challenging to meet decent, honest folks and, in turn, build meaningful, mutually dependable friendships in Florida compared to more deeply rooted states such as Iowa and Texas.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not discuss the amount of antisocial behavior you will likely experience and witness in Florida, which is the result of a high percentage of transplants from states with cultures that rank highly on neuroticism and rank lowly on agreeableness and conscientiousness such as Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, for example. I am not going to go into much further detail to avoid getting flagged, but I am sure you get the general idea.
The ontology of this post is well organized. I agree with most of it. I lived in both FL and TX. I am an engineer. The reliance on tourism is well exemplified by the oil disaster of 2010 in the Gulf Coast which floated into the FL Panhandle. The drop in tourism was very harsh, and it hurt the state budget and economy. In the midst of the "Great Recession" with the housing bubble, Florida's job market suffered badly. The oil spill cancelled a lot of state projects and jobs. It forced me to move to Texas in 2011. I loved it.
I found a robust number of engineering projects in Texas. The economy was booming in stark contrast to Florida (2011-2012). I found many job options in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston. I chose to work in Austin and San Antonio on several consulting projects. The experience was excellent. I did not want to leave but had to return to FL since I could not sell my house.
My one disagreement with this post is in the allusion to Texas as being a "flat prarie" compared to FL. It's the other way around. I am an experienced mountain runner from the southwest. I have run Pikes Peak, Longs Peak, Sandia Peak, Flagstaff's local mountain range, the Grand Canyon, etc. Other than Kansas, Florida is the flattest state I can think of. There are some small hills in the FL Panhandle and by Clermont (of all places), but for the most part Florida is extremely flat and exposed to damaging hurricanes (i.e. Panama City).
By contrast, Texas has the "hill country" around Austin which is robust compared to Florida's flatland (albeit pales to Colorado). But far west Texas has the mountain ranges which exceed 5000 feet. I have done mountain running just north of El Paso, and it's very rugged mountain country - not a "flat prarie" at all. Try a half marathon or 50 k race in that region, and it will be very rugged. I cramped up several times and was happy just to finish. It even snows there a fair amount.
In Miami and other coastal areas the runners who want a "high point" to get some "hill running" in their regimen usually wind up using the bridges, which is lame compared to Texas. I know because I have done this. I used to run the Rickenbacker Causeway leading into Key Biscayne because it was the "high point" of the area.
To be fair to FL, it has the beaches and waterways. A boater would love FL. Beach enthusiasts would love FL. Albeit flat with a bridge as a proxy for a "hill", I loved the run to Key Biscayne mainly because of the ocean view. I have since moved back to AZ. FL is not my ideal, but I think boaters and beach lovers would prefer FL to TX.
Culturally, Texas had the "southwest" appeal for me as an Arizonan. To me, the "Tex-Mex" cultural aspect was awesome with the food, lifestyle, and general feel of the region. The in-state rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M and Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma are excellent. I loved the Tex-Mex food. I have joked on cd before that if there is a Taco Cabana nearby, then you are in the southwest. By contrast, if there is a publix nearby, then you are in the "south" or Florida.
Florida has a "southern" culture ranging from Gainesville up to the FL Panhandle and I-10 east region into Jacksonville. By contrast, Central FL is more like a northern city. South FL is essentially Latin/Caribbean America with a large population of Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Haitians, Jamaicans, etc. There is also a large influx of South Americans from Columbia, Brazil, etc. There is a stark contrast between North FL with a demographic group descended from Southern Bible Belt Confederates and South FL's Latin/Caribbean ethnic identities. The annual FSU-Miami game is like a clash of cultures. I've been in the stadium during those football games - it's fierce. Needless to say, Trump's base is heavily centered in the FL Panhandle while much of Central FL and South FL is Democratic (but older Cubans tend to be Republican). North FL tends to be "Bible Belt Protestant" while South FL has a large concentration of Catholics and Jewish congregations (by comparison). Central FL seems to have more of the "Nones" or non-identifiers of any religion.
If you love the ocean, FL is the choice. But I preferred Texas. To be fair, I met many Floridians who I cannot image being happy any place else. As for me, I moved back to Phoenix and am happy here.
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