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Not like a major metro like NYC/Long Island, LA/OC, SD or Miami but more like Destin, Panama City Beach, Myrtle Beach, Ocean City, Biloxi. Not a lot of infrastructure, not a ton of resources like a bigger metro would have and probably not a lot of full timers or natives. Good/Bad of it all?
I have a friend who lived in Santa Barbara, CA for a couple years. She was poor and worked at Starbucks. She seems to remember that time fondly. It was still super expensive, even to rent, even though there were no high-paying jobs; I think she had 3 roommates. And there wasn't much to do in town if you were poor besides running on the beach, which she did every night.
When you live in a beach town full-time, it is relatively easy to meet other people and make new friends. However, that process becomes a vicious cycle because, as mentioned in the original post, there are not many full-time residents and/or natives who live in beach towns. Oftentimes, the full-time residents and natives alike are either very wealthy or dirt-poor and work in the service industry (supporting the very wealthy residents and visitors), so the locals (overall) do not have much in common with the average, middle-class person. The people who fall in between those extremes usually move on after 3-5 years due to job- or military-related transfers or because they are nostalgic for the place from where they originated. If the beach town itself attracts retirees, then over time, they may pass away or move closer to their children/grandchildren for care-related reasons. Overall, beach towns are just very transient.
There is also the seasonal aspect. Many places simply close for the season in some beach towns, curbing your access to amenities and restaurants. If you prioritize the access to beach and ocean, it's amazing. But there are definite tradeoffs.
It depends upon the beach town. I assume you mean a town with a great big sandy beach and not just coastal.
Probably most of the big beaches with good weather are going to be party towns. No matter what the weather or beach are like, the town will be full of tourists. Bad about tourists is the traffic, good about tourists is that there will be lots of interesting shops and restaurants.
The gorgeous sunny beaches in Los Angeles are lined with homeless camps, so you'd want to make a visit before committing.
I grew up in Ormond Beach, Florida and lived there for the first 24 years of my life, excepting college. It's on the Atlantic side of the state and right next to the more well-known Daytona Beach.
It was okay I guess. Of course, when I was growing up it wasn't nearly as built up as it is now. It felt like a small town, while now it just feels like a sprawling suburb and has since around the 1990s.
I never really cared for the beach when I lived there and didn't spend much time there at all. For outdoor recreation I usually ventured west rather than east - to the state parks or springs.
What I didn't like was the constant stream of tourists and people moving in who aren't from there taking over everything all the time. I also didn't like the rapid growth and constant change. New construction everywhere, new houses everywhere. Housing was also overpriced because of all the outsiders with money driving everything up.
The good thing I guess is that amenities of all kinds were plentiful and outsized (shopping, restaurants, medical care, infrastructure, etc). This is because the number of people occupying the town at any given time is nearly always greater than the actual full-time population.
I moved away at age 24 and have no desire to move back. A beach town is fine if you're either young (not yet married w/ children) or an empty-nester/retiree; but in my opinion it's not a great place to raise a family.
We lived in Santa Cruz, CA for 20+ years. Living in a touristy beach town, for me, was an enigma. Being near the ocean has a lot of benefits, and I really enjoyed it there in my younger years. But as I got older the downsides increasingly outweighed the positives. One of the big downsides is the "beach town tax," everything is more expensive for what you get, from housing to eating out, to everyday services... everything cost more, is lower quality, and with fewer options. You also share your town with hordes of tourists that clog roads and are often disrespectful to the town and local environment. During summer weekends/holidays the San Francisco Bay Area flocks to Santa Cruz and it's difficult to get around and enjoy where you live. We increasingly felt like we were stuck at home during these times because hitting the beach or the trails just wasn't worth fighting the crowds. The seasonality of crowds also impacts things like dining. Restaurants have to make ends meet year round, but tourist season is relatively short, which means there isn't enough dining capacity during tourist season, and restaurants know this and can get away with selling very mediocre overpriced food with poor service... again, it's the "beach town tax."
When we finally threw in the towel on Santa Cruz we intentionally eliminated tourist locations from our candidate cities. This was one of the best decisions on our part, thankful everyday to now live in a city without a huge influx of visitors. We still like Santa Cruz, but we've decided it's better to visit than live there.
Lived in Redondo Beach, CA in the late ‘80’s through the early ‘90’s after college, as the area was a close commute to my office at the time.
Fantastic moderate climate, year around, for exercising, running, bike riding, etc. Plenty of young upwardly mobile singles, plenty of social events and parties (drinking, etc) on the weekend. Great place to meet other singles as the nightlife was prevalent.
Downsides: crowds in the summer months which create parking issues, expensive real estate and rents, transient population, fake/plastic people.
Not like a major metro like NYC/Long Island, LA/OC, SD or Miami but more like Destin, Panama City Beach, Myrtle Beach, Ocean City, Biloxi. Not a lot of infrastructure, not a ton of resources like a bigger metro would have and probably not a lot of full timers or natives. Good/Bad of it all?
The beach will become a backdrop like any other scenery. If you fell in love with it on vacation understand it won't have that appeal once you live there. I saw the same living in Montana. People moved there after falling in love in the summer and then realized it's not a permanent vacation. Also, there are hurricanes in many of those places and they happen all the time.
If you are considering Biloxi, MS then I guess you haven't visited. Biloxi doesn't really have an attractive beach. It's basically a bayside beach without a port (except the Back Bay for a fishing fleet). The beach is sheltered by a series of barrier islands, so the water becomes pretty stagnant. Only tourists venture into the water in the area. Then the main tourist attraction are the casinos, so if gambling and casino entertainment are your thing, then it might be a good fit for you. If not, then probably not.
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