[logybogy]

Yeah, Jacksonville gets a fair amount of days below freezing and upper teens in really bad cold snaps. Snow is also very, very rare but has happened before.

This isn't the case in Orlando.

[projectmaximus]

Originally Posted by tonyp22

Over the course of the past year I've visited both the greater Orlando and Jacksonville areas a few times. I'm looking at both areas as possible parts of FL for retirement. There are things I like very much about both areas, but there are characteristics that leave me a bit confused between the two. I'll try to explain.


First, I will say that the folk I've met in both areas are very nice - kind, pleasant, very much like you'd hope for a place to live. In that respect I find no real difference. Jacksonville to me seems like a combination of cosmopolitan but at the same time a feeling of a strong hold on... not sure how to describe it... local traditionalism (this is not intended as an insult - I just don't know really how to describe it). The city proper of JAX has a well regarded symphony, a number of very nice museums, yet on the weekends is almost deserted (at least in the parts I went through). I drove through the city side of Riverwalk and from there radiated outward - north, east, and west - through the city. It was like there was nothing going on, like the locals don't feel the city is a normal go-to destination. Orlando, OTOH - and I guess in part because of Disney - seems like a more "alive" city on the weekends, even in areas outside of the central Disney focus. Are none of them locals? I don't know. Yet, Orlando has no comparable symphony (I know it does have a symphony and a philharmonic orchestra, but they do not seem to be of a similar level as JAX) and neither does it have the same kind of museums and other cultural things.


In JAX I went to Fleming Island, Orange Park, Mandarin, Fruit Cove, St. Johns, Nocatee, others in this area... and San Marco. Yes the St. Johns Town Center is a sight to see (or an eyesore and traffic jam, depending on who you ask ), but IME it's really not much different than the area I'm living in now - New Jersey, the land of excess in shopping, plazas, outdoor, and indoor malls. The towns themselves next to Central FL - Longwood, Lake Mary, Sanford, Winters Park/Garden/Springs, Clermont, Windemere, Doctor Phillips, Mt. Dora, have parallels to those in JAX but "feel" different. I noticed it most on the local roads. In JAX, there are a lot of big pickup trucks with even bigger tires and motorcycles with loud exhausts tooling around. The kind of loud that guys go out of their way to put into their chosen vehicles. Nary a hint of that in Central FL. And in the local restaurants it seems the JAX patrons are "more local" than in the Central FL restaurants. Don't ask me how it seems that way, it's just a sense I got from observing people in all these different areas. All these trips were during the heat of summer, when I think there would be a slightly smaller number of vacationers in both areas.


I know this is dangerous territory. I don't intend to stereotype, even though it seems I might be doing that, but I can't deny to myself that these two parts of Florida feel different. They're both well regarded and I do like both - St. Johns has the highest rated school system in the State, for example. But they seem different to me. I guess I feel like I like the Central area a bit more. I get more of a sense of - call it cosmopolitan diversity - but I'm disappointed that it does not seem to have the same degree of invested cultural resources as JAX to go along with that feeling.


I apologize in advance to anyone who make have taken any offense to anything I wrote. No insult of any sort is intended.

Haven't read through the responses in your thread yet, just responding to the OP. I think your realization is pretty much what I told you in your previous thread asking about these cities. A few additional thoughts: if by more locals in Jax you simply mean southerners/rednecks/country-folk/etc then that's because Jax still has a significant population of such folks. Orlando does not and never really did. I'm sure you saw plenty of "locals" around but those are the Orlando locals lol. The stereotype, which is true, is that Jax is part of the South and Orlando is not.

Regarding places in Jax with people out and about...besides the town center, you'd see this vibrancy in Riverside and Avondale. There should have been a bit of that in San Marco as well by the square. It's basically much more vibrant in all the inner-ring suburbs rather than downtown itself. Also, the beaches...Jax/Neptune/Atlantic.

[germanoricua]

Originally Posted by logybogy

Yeah, Jacksonville gets a fair amount of days below freezing and upper teens in really bad cold snaps. Snow is also very, very rare but has happened before.

This isn't the case in Orlando.

Yes, Jax always has several nights in the winter with temps below freezing (sometimes in November but mostly in January and/or February), we never had below freezing temperatures during the day when we lived there.

The only disadvantage of that is that your cold sensitive plants suffer. Other than that the day temps are only 2-3 degrees lower than in Orlando (I always compared temps on my weather app when I lived in Jax). When there is a cold spell over Florida, it is cold in Orlando also and sometimes even in Miami. I visited Miami in two different years in November and both times it was freezing cold there, too. Usually, these cold spells last only a few days up to a week here in FL.

That should not hold you back from moving to Jax if you really like Jax. Most of the year Jax has less humidity than Orlando (from spring to fall). Try it out for yourself. Drive from Jax to Orlando. You will feel the difference when you get out of the car in Orlando.

[floridarebel]

Tally and Panhandle FL get pretty cold as well. But there are big temp swings. It can go from 20 in the morning to 65-70 by early afternoon but drop back down to the 20s again the next morning. If it's cloudy all day, it'll stay colder during the day and temp swings aren't so drastic. It's usually when it's sunny and dry do such swings take place.

[tonyp22]

Originally Posted by germanoricua

That should not hold you back from moving to Jax if you really like Jax. Most of the year Jax has less humidity than Orlando (from spring to fall). Try it out for yourself. Drive from Jax to Orlando. You will feel the difference when you get out of the car in Orlando.

I did. Last week. JAX was humid, rainy, and drab and Orlando was sunny and pleasant. Just the luck of the weather draw in this case, I guess.

[aax]

Originally Posted by tonyp22

In JAX I went to Fleming Island, Orange Park, Mandarin, Fruit Cove, St. Johns, Nocatee, others in this area... and San Marco. Yes the St. Johns Town Center is a sight to see (or an eyesore and traffic jam, depending on who you ask ), but IME it's really not much different than the area I'm living in now - New Jersey, the land of excess in shopping, plazas, outdoor, and indoor malls. The towns themselves next to Central FL - Longwood, Lake Mary, Sanford, Winters Park/Garden/Springs, Clermont, Windemere, Doctor Phillips, Mt. Dora, have parallels to those in JAX but "feel" different. I noticed it most on the local roads. In JAX, there are a lot of big pickup trucks with even bigger tires and motorcycles with loud exhausts tooling around. The kind of loud that guys go out of their way to put into their chosen vehicles. Nary a hint of that in Central FL.

You just described Orlando. But Orlando has more '95 Honda Civics with cherry bomb exhaust. If you don't like hearing LOUD exhaust don't move to Orlando.

[tonyp22]

Originally Posted by aax

You just described Orlando. But Orlando has more '95 Honda Civics with cherry bomb exhaust. If you don't like hearing LOUD exhaust don't move to Orlando.

I’ll keep that in mind. I didn’t hear anything like that in the areas I mentioned in Central FL, but plenty of that in pickup truck and motorcycle form (and, now that you mention it, Civic form) in Fleming Island, Orange Park, Mandarin, Fruit Cove, and adjacent towns.

[Trip Mcnealy]

Originally Posted by tonyp22

I’ll keep that in mind. I didn’t hear anything like that in the areas I mentioned in Central FL, but plenty of that in pickup truck and motorcycle form (and, now that you mention it, Civic form) in Fleming Island, Orange Park, Mandarin, Fruit Cove, and adjacent towns.

Have you considered Tampa?

[aax]

Originally Posted by tonyp22

I’ll keep that in mind. I didn’t hear anything like that in the areas I mentioned in Central FL, but plenty of that in pickup truck and motorcycle form (and, now that you mention it, Civic form) in Fleming Island, Orange Park, Mandarin, Fruit Cove, and adjacent towns.

You'll know it when you hear it. It's as loud as the shuttle going off. And loud reggaeton base and auto-tuned music to go with it.

[walker1962]

Originally Posted by logybogy

Jacksonville is kind of like a mini version of Atlanta or Charlotte. It's a Southern city with many corporate headquarters, a diverse economy not solely dependent on retail and tourism with large amounts of well paying finance, logistics, military/government, and medical jobs. In fact, it is the least touristy of Florida's big cities. Certainly compared to Orlando there is a much less international presence and diversity. A lot of people like this and don't care to live in a city like Orlando or Miami.

Jacksonville is less exciting but more practical. Kind of like Tampa. Think Honda Accord rather than a flashy sports car. But a lot of people want that when that expensive flashy sports car becomes an expensive pain with repair after repair in the shop.

What Corporate headquarters, i.e. Fortune 1000 companies are headquartered in Jacksonville? I know there's a few large back office hubs there but never heard otherwise. https://www.tripsavvy.com/top-employ...nville-2021396