Jacksonville Job Market and Livability (St. Augustine, Orange Park: transplants, real estate, high crime)

[aclg311]

Hello,

My wife (30) and I (31) have been to St. Augustine around 4 times (coming back this December to see the lights). We are expecting our first child in March and we are looking to get out of the D.C./Maryland area over the course of the next year (allowing the little one to grow a little).

DC/MD has worn on us with traffic, cost of living, over population, etc. We both fell in love with St. Aug when we visited and have always envisioned living in Florida. My wife is an elementary art teacher and I am a project manager working in the security field.

Understandably, I would imagine we would be looking into Jacksonville more so than St. Aug, but I wanted to ask a few general thoughts from you all on Jacksonville. Based on some brief research, Jacksonville ranks higher than I thought for cities in Florida to live.

For those of you who live in Jax/St. Aug area, my questions are:

1. Would it be difficult for my wife and I to find work in our respective fields?
2. Thoughts on raising a 1 year old with potential to grow our family in the Jax/St. Aug area?
3. Is Jax growing as much as some websites say or am is that misleading?
4. Cost of living vs income?

I guess any info on personal/professional thoughts on on Jax. would help. Ideally, we would like to live closer to St. Aug and work in Jax. We both drive quite far as is in MD for work, so a 30-40 minute drive is not a showstopper for us.

Thanks everyone! Any thoughts or inputs (both good and bad) are welcomed.

[projectmaximus]

1) I have a friend who is an art teacher in Duval. I think middle school. I would guess that it isnt easy to find a job, just depends what is available and how many people are looking with appropriate connections already. No idea about your field.
2) I think it's a great area to grow up. Lots of very family-friendly areas and amenities.
3) I think it really is. I don't necessarily think it's exploding, but the growth has been steady and consistent for a long time with no signs of any letdown.
4) About average. It really is extremely affordable, but from what I can tell incomes are much lower for comparable positions in high COL areas.

St Johns County will most likely be your best bet. Your wife would almost certainly be in a much better situation if she can land a job there and that puts you in/near St Aug.

Good luck!

[aclg311]

Awesome. Thanks for the info.

I will look at the St. Johns area. We do not know much about Jax, but figured that to be in the area we want, Jax may be the city to find the best opportunity to work.

We may take a trip down to explore, but really wanted to find out thoughts about Jax as we have heard mixed reviews of the city. A friend who plans conferences says Jax is great, so that really got us on the train to look. That and loving St. Aug.

[bigh1t]

We have been looking at Jax as well but want to stay south of town. My wife fears hurricanes so we are looking at homes west of I-95 but really like the Bartram area. My brother has been in Orange Park for 30 years and loves it, but he works local in OP so doesn't have to drive in to town much.

Listen to WOKV radio on line for an idea of traffic congestion; coming from Charlotte it looks like there are more bottle necks for traffic in Jax because of the bridges.

4) Cost of groceries and properties taxes are higher in Fl than they were in CLT but you have to weigh the no state income tax and no taxes on groceries to come to a good comparison.

[squarpeg]

I think your going to have to do your own job search but here is my guess. Art teacher. Probably a tough one. Do they even have art teachers in JAX schools? A less arty city is hard to find.

Security project manager. I am afraid I do not know what that is exactly but while JAX is not high on art it does love security, it's a military town, they love police and have lots of places walled off with gates and lots of chain link fence so I am guessing the security angle holds more promise then the art. Also some real high crime areas so if that what your looking for you may find it in JAX.

The area is pretty family and kid oriented. I think of JAX as a southern city as opposed to a Florida City. While I disagree with a lot of the deep south mentality I will say I think the family values and family orientation they have is genuine and for that reason I think it is probably a good place for a child to grow up.

Jax is growing industry and job wise. If I was one of those people you always hear on the news in Erie PA, west Virginia or deadsville Arkansas. I would be on the first bus to JAX. City is on the rise.

Affordable? yes I think so. Wages? probably low, Pay is not going to be like DC and Maryland........ most expensive place on the planet.

Lastly, I would just say personally I would want to be in St Augustine vs. JAX. JAX while as pointed out has some good things going but it is also a giant sprawling city that really lacks a vibrant city center. Best of Luck

[Zinka]

The job market is NE Florida is competitive, chiefly because you're about 20 years late in your 'discovery' and are now competing with hordes of southbound U Hauls containing couples much like yourself. Last I heard, the applicant to job ratio in St Johns County schools was well into the 100's.

It's definitely advisable to find something first, then come, then make sure it's a good fit before buying a home. As a FL native, the only thing more consistent than older people moving to Florida are younger people leaving Florida and going 'back home', wherever that may be.

[Debg1]

I highly recommend northern St John's County for the schools and the family friendly community feel. We relocated from MA four years ago. There are lots of transplants from the northern states in the area. We are very happy with the schools. Real estate prices have risen a lot in St John's County in the past five years but the cost of housing is still much more reasonable than most of the northern coastal/New England states. A lot of communities here have built in amenities and parks including fitness centers, pools and family centered activities.

I have heard that teaching positions in St John's County are very competitive and there are more job opportunities available in Jacksonville.

I commuted to Jacksonville for work and while there are some nice areas such as Mandarin and Southside for shopping I prefer to live in St John's.

I did find salaries to be lower here than up north and am not familiar with opportunities in your line of work.

May suggest a job search online and maybe visit for interviews and view housing options during the visit.

Best of luck to you and your family!

[aclg311]

Thank you all for the information and insights in regards to my post.

Definitely is something we are going to research. We are actually coming down to St. Aug in August and December this year. Our goal is to look into jobs prior to that and maybe tie an interview into one of our vacations.

We will see how it goes! DC has wore us out, so looking for something a little slower paced, even if Jax is still a roughly large city and growing.