Living in Tallahasee (Tampa, Orlando, Tallahassee: fit in, employment, high school)

[bellcam718]

Hi. I'm considering a move to FL. I'm looking at Tallahassee and several other areas. I've been to FL throughout the years to visit but looking for long-term settlement. I need info such as best areas to live, cost of living(living wage), education and employment. Thanks!!

[TD*]

Tallahassee is great and I think you will love it here. Education you have FSU TCC and FAMU.

Lots of employment in government, law firms, and finance/accounting.

Check out midtown Southwood bradfordville Killearn and buck lake for places to live.

[solomonkane]

For education you will get the best deal out of Florida State University if you've already completed two years of undergraduate. If you haven't Tallahassee Community College is a consistently well-regarded community college, though it does often suffer from being the living community college stereotype of "a high school for legal adults". Be aware that there are very few Bachelor's or Master's degrees in the area that you can do evenings/online/part-time if you end up with a full-time job, but if you need to advance your education while full time look into the distance programs offered by UWF and (hate to say it as a Noles fan) UF, which will allow you to pay in-state tuition.

As for jobs themselves, as someone else here had mentioned, state work is incredibly easy to come by if you have a Bachelor's or Master's and includes a variety of career paths. That said, for reasons you might be able to imagine, state work being easy to come by can be both a good thing or a bad thing. Accounting only matters if you have relevant qualifications and most work with law firms (unless you are a JD) is grunt work, which is fine if you do not yet have a Bachelor's and need an entry level job. And, of course, bars, restaurants and other types of commercial establishments are usually hiring.

Tallahassee itself is not as bad as it once was. The area is now developing heavily around Midtown and Gaines Street, both of which were dusty little gravel deserts about 5-6 years ago.

[TD*]

Tallahassee is an amazing city!

[grad_student200]

Originally Posted by bellcam718

Hi. I'm considering a move to FL. I'm looking at Tallahassee and several other areas. I've been to FL throughout the years to visit but looking for long-term settlement. I need info such as best areas to live, cost of living(living wage), education and employment. Thanks!!

It depends on your age - Tallahassee is most excellent for FSU/TCC students between 18-22. Beyond that, the area seems to be comfortable for local Floridians with family and community ties in the area that go back to early childhood.

But you may not be in that category. An older (>= 24 yr) YUPPIE or young adult would be a much better fit in Central Florida (in my opinion): Orlando, Tampa, Clermont, Cocoa Beach, etc. The colleges in Central FL are also of very high quality. I know UCF had a live Google employee teach entry-level Java. Robert Downey Jr also visited their prosthetic engineers who had 3d printed an arm for a child who had lost an arm. USF is also very advanced. There are many smaller high quality schools in the area that are inexpensive: SPC, Seminole State, etc.

I think people from the midwest, upper east coast, or Pac 12 region would most likely be ok with Central FL compared to other parts of the state. However, that is a huge overgeneralization with many exceptions. But in terms of a "likelihood" variable Tallahassee is probably not a fit for you. But maybe Orlando/Tampa would be better.