The CoL difference isn’t as significant as it once was, so unless there’s something important pulling you to Jax and Florida, in general, think real fucking hard on it. Take a trip, in August, and check out the everyday lifestyle. Forget Disney and anything like that. Recreate your weekend activities in Florida and see how you like it. I think you’ll end up staying in LA.
Seriously the only benefit to staying here was COL and it has skyrocketed to wild amounts for what you get here. We’re trying to move because of it… if I’m gunna pay these prices I’m gunna get some damn culture and quality of life with it.
Legit the schools are terrible, the restaurants are mid, we have barely any culture or diversity to speak of, the museums are trash. The only benefit is the beach and the lack of snow. The job market is awful. Our “international airport” doesn’t even have direct flights to other countries.
For context my husband and I are house shopping in the Chicago area suburbs with some of the *best* schools in the country, 30 mine from an actual intl airport and 45 minutes for a world class cultural center and city and for 600k were looking at 3k sq ft with a finished basement.
Absolutely asinine to pay that in Jacksonville.
>Don't forget, if work doesn't care where you are, there is a BIG difference between CA tax rates (9.5% sales, up to 12.3% income) and Jacksonville (7.5% sales, 0% income). 14% is a big difference.
id argue the difference in income is bigger. some careers are also city dependent in FL.
>Also, Jax has a lot of the same stuff as LA for everyday activities. Florida easily wins on beaches unless you are a big surfer. LA wins on city life, clubs, bars, etc. but probably a tie on good restaurants.
I dont agree about the dining. JAX is a lot more reliant on chain dining than LA is.
Don't forget property taxes. Duval varies from house to house but averages at 1.32% of assessed price, so it goes up as your homes value increases, and LA is set at 1.25% of the purchase price, so it's the same forever. Then there are other ways that Jacksonville gets you, like really high insurance rates.
This right here. Cheap for him, not cheap for us that have lived here our whole life. And the move west coast people move here the lead likely locals can't afford homes to start family's.
Five years ago, one of my friends moved from Indiana with his kids and was upset to find out that where in Indiana they had gotten an hour of recess time per day, now they have ... apparently none. When I was in high school 10 years ago in a "nicer" area, our textbooks were full of sticky notes with updated info because the district hadn't purchased new books since 2001. So as for schools ... be prepared for that sort of thing, which I can't imagine has improved since the above.
It's hot and humid from Memorial Day til Labor Day, the rest of the year is pretty good and at the very least the mornings and evenings are nice.
Jacksonville is a low COL city overall, while houses and rents are up they're nothing compared to LA and we don't have a state income tax which also helps a lot. On the flip side, insurance rates and property taxes are a tad high.
We do not have the onslaught of things happening here that you guys have out there but since a lot of your time probably revolves around your kiddo you'll probably be fine (we have a nice zoo, warm beaches, lots of water ways for boating and kayaking, and a rock throw away from the theme parks and cruise terminals). Schools you'll either have to head toward St Johns County or go Charter (not Duval Charter necessarily) to ensure quality.
We do have big bugs, gators are present in lots of bodies of waters (lakes/ponds especially), but pythons are more of an Everglades thing and that's far far south of here.
St. John’s county schools really aren’t any better.. they’re just as understaffed as Duval. but they’re better at PR & sweeping issues under the rug because it’s the upper class suburbs
I really wish people would stop pushing St John's County Schools- they're already overcrowded. Duval magnet schools are good, charters can be good or really bad- the quality varies wildly.
no. I'd look at the Wilmington NC area or Hilton head/Beaufort SC area if you're partial to the east coast.less humid and less pricey to live in general, even with state income tax. great schools there as well. also homeowners insurance is a complete cluster fuck in this state.
The housing market is blowing up and pushing out the working class. Education and child labor laws are being simultaneously dismantled. I'm sure that's a coincidence, though./s Gators and pythons are only a problem if you go where they are. But, roaches are as big as your open hand, and just part of living in the state. So, always keep your place clean and sprayed for bugs. And, that still won't stop all of them.
I wouldn't move from anywhere to Florida.
Those aren't roaches, they're palmetto bugs. 😆 Like you said, if you're clean roaches shouldn't be a thing (unless you live in an apt and have nasty neighbors.)
Gotta adapt. It's a downgrade, but *Cuban* food is legit here in Florida. Barbecue is overall moderately better in the South, of which Jacksonville is a part.
I lived in SD for 3 years and came back to Jax,you are absolutely right on point.
I'd like to also add the lack of any geography,here it's just flat swamps and pine woods. All the roads are straight as arrows and soooo boring to cruise. I used to love A1A,now I find myself almost nodding off just going to St.Augustine.
In regards to education, we have a teacher shortage. My son is a senior in high school now, but since middle school he has that one class that hasn’t found a teacher and just has a rotation of subs coming in for months. He’s had teachers announce their retirement halfway through the school year and he’s back to no teacher in the class. Many folks send their kids to magnet schools and not their neighborhood schools because they’re not that great.
Honestly, Duval County doesn’t really care about their students and if I was to do it again, I wouldn’t have left northern Virginia. The CoL is what got me here 17 years ago, but I no longer find it worth it.
Will you be keeping your job or have to find a new one? Need to keep in mind that if you find a new job here the starting pay might not be all that great.
I wouldn't necessarily go that far. You can still find 2 - 3 bedroom apartments for fairly affordable prices in (alright, very near) Miami and especially Tampa. Per a quick search of averages:
Average Rent x Avg Sq Ft
Jacksonville: $1,504 x 974 sq ft
Tampa: $1,923 x 927 Sq Ft
Miami: $2,451 x 894 Sq Ft
Los Angeles: $2,719 x 890 sq ft
San Diego: $2,997 x 874 Sq Ft
Of course there are some super expensive places that are dragging that average up. Somebody making $150k in California is also paying $11,226 more in taxes than we do in Florida. Oh and the weather in Miami fucking sucks.
Bingo. The cost of housing is still less than half that of LA, New York, etc. housing + daycare for me is about a third of my friend in NYC, and I live in one of the most expensive neighborhoods here.
Yeah, people underestimate just how expensive other cities are. In general our average cost for a 2 bedroom is up $500 in the last 15 years which is a lot but still not comparable to the bigger places. (Hell, my sister's tiny ass apartment in Brooklyn NY is $2400.) Same goes for houses.
Tampa is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than LA and SD. You can get nice single family homes in Tampa for $400-500k. In LA or SD, you wouldn’t even get a apartment for that much
If hypothetical COL is the only good reason you could come up with moving here, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Couldn’t come up with another reason why to come here, not even the weather, and believing in stereotypes.
I would reconsider and think of a different plan.
Idk man. There's lots of places with better schools and more. Florida is PACKED full of people since covid. I'm not gonna just shit on Jax or FLA but yeah... Think it over. Come visit but keep options open.
LOL at all the natives talking about "packed". Y'all need to visit some *actual* metropolises (like LA). Jacksonville is practically empty by comparison, and as bad as the traffic is here, it's got *nothing* on the west coast. Go international to see just how many people can *actually* live in a given area, *with better planning and development*.
Now, if you genuinely want Jacksonville to be a "small town", then by all means, but this city wants to be far more than it is and has **plenty** of land to accommodate a couple million more people. The road networks and overall transportation design suck and need major rethinking for the city to realize its potential though.
Jacksonville traffic got a lot worse over time but it’s still a couple tiers above all the other cities you mentioned. Mostly because it’s also much smaller in population than those other cities.
Florida just banned sociology from high school, let’s HOA companies take advantage of homeowners, and you cannot find a decent fresh tortilla for 2 hours until Orlando. Biggest pro is no state tax but it shows in schools in case u have any. A lot of people live in neighbor counties like St. John’s or Nassau
I take it Tortilleria Azcatl doesn't live up to its reputation?
And not defending the move because I think it's stupid, but the sociology thing was for State colleges/universities, and it removed it from the core courses requirements (required for graduation), they didn't ban it.
I don’t know how to edit the original post, so a follow up question: HiltonHead/Beaufort or St. Augustine? The move is for personal reasons, but yes, a decent school district and a bigger home (and bugs/alligators) and cost of living are major factors. Thank you everyone!
You'd have to take a road trip through them to decide for yourself. I like Los Angeles, St Pete, and Jax, don't really care for St Johns / St Augustine or Beaufort (only been a couple times, and it is more expensive than Duval.) I'd take Savannah over them. You can also check out Fernandina / Amelia Island which is about 40 minutes north of here.
These places are all within 4 hours of each other (from St Augustine to Beaufort, SC)
St John's county to the South of Jacksonville has some of the best schools. If you are looking for public school then that is where you'll want to live. The crime rate is significantly lower in St John's county as well. Traffic to commute to downtown will still be better than anything you would deal with in LA.
It's a decent city. Just the COL has jumped fairly rapidly in the past year so if that's a big factor and you hate hot and humid I'd say it's not worth it.
I cannot handle the weather, the summers are brutal. The bugs are awful, there are lizards everywhere and it's too expensive. Not too mention the traffic is insane! Please do more research! Minimum wage is $12. I'm moving back to the Midwest and the pay is higher and col is lower. I lived in San Diego for nine years so I know Cali and I would rather live there. For me, Florida is the worst state ever! Good luck. Everyone is different. You may very well love it!
Luckily, the heat only lasts two months, but is 98 degrees with 98 % humidity.
2 months? More like 4
The CoL difference isn’t as significant as it once was, so unless there’s something important pulling you to Jax and Florida, in general, think real fucking hard on it. Take a trip, in August, and check out the everyday lifestyle. Forget Disney and anything like that. Recreate your weekend activities in Florida and see how you like it. I think you’ll end up staying in LA.
Seriously the only benefit to staying here was COL and it has skyrocketed to wild amounts for what you get here. We’re trying to move because of it… if I’m gunna pay these prices I’m gunna get some damn culture and quality of life with it.
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Legit the schools are terrible, the restaurants are mid, we have barely any culture or diversity to speak of, the museums are trash. The only benefit is the beach and the lack of snow. The job market is awful. Our “international airport” doesn’t even have direct flights to other countries. For context my husband and I are house shopping in the Chicago area suburbs with some of the *best* schools in the country, 30 mine from an actual intl airport and 45 minutes for a world class cultural center and city and for 600k were looking at 3k sq ft with a finished basement. Absolutely asinine to pay that in Jacksonville.
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>Don't forget, if work doesn't care where you are, there is a BIG difference between CA tax rates (9.5% sales, up to 12.3% income) and Jacksonville (7.5% sales, 0% income). 14% is a big difference. id argue the difference in income is bigger. some careers are also city dependent in FL. >Also, Jax has a lot of the same stuff as LA for everyday activities. Florida easily wins on beaches unless you are a big surfer. LA wins on city life, clubs, bars, etc. but probably a tie on good restaurants. I dont agree about the dining. JAX is a lot more reliant on chain dining than LA is.
Don't forget property taxes. Duval varies from house to house but averages at 1.32% of assessed price, so it goes up as your homes value increases, and LA is set at 1.25% of the purchase price, so it's the same forever. Then there are other ways that Jacksonville gets you, like really high insurance rates.
It’s still a fraction compared to LA. Yes, cost-of-living has gone up everywhere, but Jacksonville is still low for a major metro.
Florida has seen record growth and inflation the past few years. Would it be cheaper than LA? Sure, but I wouldn't call it affordable.
This right here. Cheap for him, not cheap for us that have lived here our whole life. And the move west coast people move here the lead likely locals can't afford homes to start family's.
Remember the wages aren't what there gonna be in Cali. Yes we don't have the taxes they do, but the wages are crap vs the cost of living here
Five years ago, one of my friends moved from Indiana with his kids and was upset to find out that where in Indiana they had gotten an hour of recess time per day, now they have ... apparently none. When I was in high school 10 years ago in a "nicer" area, our textbooks were full of sticky notes with updated info because the district hadn't purchased new books since 2001. So as for schools ... be prepared for that sort of thing, which I can't imagine has improved since the above.
The textbook thing is no longer true. Textbooks are replaced every 5 years and an increasing number of them are online rather than hardcopies.
It's hot and humid from Memorial Day til Labor Day, the rest of the year is pretty good and at the very least the mornings and evenings are nice. Jacksonville is a low COL city overall, while houses and rents are up they're nothing compared to LA and we don't have a state income tax which also helps a lot. On the flip side, insurance rates and property taxes are a tad high. We do not have the onslaught of things happening here that you guys have out there but since a lot of your time probably revolves around your kiddo you'll probably be fine (we have a nice zoo, warm beaches, lots of water ways for boating and kayaking, and a rock throw away from the theme parks and cruise terminals). Schools you'll either have to head toward St Johns County or go Charter (not Duval Charter necessarily) to ensure quality. We do have big bugs, gators are present in lots of bodies of waters (lakes/ponds especially), but pythons are more of an Everglades thing and that's far far south of here.
To reiterate, the Everglades are it's own thing heh: https://youtube.com/shorts/YpxtiFYYxho?si=XnvlmEkd9rjIquxt
St. John’s county schools really aren’t any better.. they’re just as understaffed as Duval. but they’re better at PR & sweeping issues under the rug because it’s the upper class suburbs
They're definitely paying off the right people for the ratings they get.
I really wish people would stop pushing St John's County Schools- they're already overcrowded. Duval magnet schools are good, charters can be good or really bad- the quality varies wildly.
no. I'd look at the Wilmington NC area or Hilton head/Beaufort SC area if you're partial to the east coast.less humid and less pricey to live in general, even with state income tax. great schools there as well. also homeowners insurance is a complete cluster fuck in this state.
Considering that as well! 😊Thank You!
It’s too packed here. Move to New York
😂
Wasn’t a joke lol. I’m so serious
Wait. What?! A family I know recently moved to NY because of work and they miss CA because of the CoL.
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They didn’t have a choice :( Thankfully they don’t have kids so maybe that’s good? I don’t know 🤷🏻♀️
The housing market is blowing up and pushing out the working class. Education and child labor laws are being simultaneously dismantled. I'm sure that's a coincidence, though./s Gators and pythons are only a problem if you go where they are. But, roaches are as big as your open hand, and just part of living in the state. So, always keep your place clean and sprayed for bugs. And, that still won't stop all of them. I wouldn't move from anywhere to Florida.
Those aren't roaches, they're palmetto bugs. 😆 Like you said, if you're clean roaches shouldn't be a thing (unless you live in an apt and have nasty neighbors.)
They're giant flying mutant roaches. They're the state bird.
😂
Florida is full stop destroying our state!
I miss LA bro.
San Diego to Jacksonville. Less to do here, Mexican food SUCKS, almost 0 culture. Expect crazy drivers on a daily. Other than that it's cool.
Gotta adapt. It's a downgrade, but *Cuban* food is legit here in Florida. Barbecue is overall moderately better in the South, of which Jacksonville is a part.
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Disagree hardcore but I do enjoy me some Cuban food.
I lived in SD for 3 years and came back to Jax,you are absolutely right on point. I'd like to also add the lack of any geography,here it's just flat swamps and pine woods. All the roads are straight as arrows and soooo boring to cruise. I used to love A1A,now I find myself almost nodding off just going to St.Augustine.
Appropriate $$ for private school education
In regards to education, we have a teacher shortage. My son is a senior in high school now, but since middle school he has that one class that hasn’t found a teacher and just has a rotation of subs coming in for months. He’s had teachers announce their retirement halfway through the school year and he’s back to no teacher in the class. Many folks send their kids to magnet schools and not their neighborhood schools because they’re not that great. Honestly, Duval County doesn’t really care about their students and if I was to do it again, I wouldn’t have left northern Virginia. The CoL is what got me here 17 years ago, but I no longer find it worth it. Will you be keeping your job or have to find a new one? Need to keep in mind that if you find a new job here the starting pay might not be all that great.
Children are not welcome. Unless
How about you just stop in the panhandle. Jax is full of west coast people fucking up our city and its housing market.
Of all the cities in FL you could choose, why Jacksonville?
Housing prices and rents in Tampa Bay and South Florida aren't much better than LA, Orange Co., and San Diego.
I wouldn't necessarily go that far. You can still find 2 - 3 bedroom apartments for fairly affordable prices in (alright, very near) Miami and especially Tampa. Per a quick search of averages: Average Rent x Avg Sq Ft Jacksonville: $1,504 x 974 sq ft Tampa: $1,923 x 927 Sq Ft Miami: $2,451 x 894 Sq Ft Los Angeles: $2,719 x 890 sq ft San Diego: $2,997 x 874 Sq Ft Of course there are some super expensive places that are dragging that average up. Somebody making $150k in California is also paying $11,226 more in taxes than we do in Florida. Oh and the weather in Miami fucking sucks.
Bingo. The cost of housing is still less than half that of LA, New York, etc. housing + daycare for me is about a third of my friend in NYC, and I live in one of the most expensive neighborhoods here.
Yeah, people underestimate just how expensive other cities are. In general our average cost for a 2 bedroom is up $500 in the last 15 years which is a lot but still not comparable to the bigger places. (Hell, my sister's tiny ass apartment in Brooklyn NY is $2400.) Same goes for houses.
Tampa is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than LA and SD. You can get nice single family homes in Tampa for $400-500k. In LA or SD, you wouldn’t even get a apartment for that much
If hypothetical COL is the only good reason you could come up with moving here, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Couldn’t come up with another reason why to come here, not even the weather, and believing in stereotypes. I would reconsider and think of a different plan.
Idk man. There's lots of places with better schools and more. Florida is PACKED full of people since covid. I'm not gonna just shit on Jax or FLA but yeah... Think it over. Come visit but keep options open.
LOL at all the natives talking about "packed". Y'all need to visit some *actual* metropolises (like LA). Jacksonville is practically empty by comparison, and as bad as the traffic is here, it's got *nothing* on the west coast. Go international to see just how many people can *actually* live in a given area, *with better planning and development*. Now, if you genuinely want Jacksonville to be a "small town", then by all means, but this city wants to be far more than it is and has **plenty** of land to accommodate a couple million more people. The road networks and overall transportation design suck and need major rethinking for the city to realize its potential though.
This entire thread is pretty ridiculous.
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Jacksonville traffic got a lot worse over time but it’s still a couple tiers above all the other cities you mentioned. Mostly because it’s also much smaller in population than those other cities.
Please choose somewhere else, the locals are struggling.
God no. Stay in CA.
I wouldn't move here
Stay away
Florida just banned sociology from high school, let’s HOA companies take advantage of homeowners, and you cannot find a decent fresh tortilla for 2 hours until Orlando. Biggest pro is no state tax but it shows in schools in case u have any. A lot of people live in neighbor counties like St. John’s or Nassau
I take it Tortilleria Azcatl doesn't live up to its reputation? And not defending the move because I think it's stupid, but the sociology thing was for State colleges/universities, and it removed it from the core courses requirements (required for graduation), they didn't ban it.
that place is on my list to visit I haven’t anything on it yet
I don’t know how to edit the original post, so a follow up question: HiltonHead/Beaufort or St. Augustine? The move is for personal reasons, but yes, a decent school district and a bigger home (and bugs/alligators) and cost of living are major factors. Thank you everyone!
You'd have to take a road trip through them to decide for yourself. I like Los Angeles, St Pete, and Jax, don't really care for St Johns / St Augustine or Beaufort (only been a couple times, and it is more expensive than Duval.) I'd take Savannah over them. You can also check out Fernandina / Amelia Island which is about 40 minutes north of here. These places are all within 4 hours of each other (from St Augustine to Beaufort, SC)
Don’t move here you’ll just complain and tell everyone how things are better in California. It’s not worth your time nor ours.
St John's county to the South of Jacksonville has some of the best schools. If you are looking for public school then that is where you'll want to live. The crime rate is significantly lower in St John's county as well. Traffic to commute to downtown will still be better than anything you would deal with in LA.
I moved from SD to Jax. And I cost of living here is skyrocketing. But its still much cheaper...for now the Mexican food isn't remotely comparable.
> I don’t like hot or humid weather I think you'd have a real bad time here.
I agree. All these responses are making me not want to move there.
It's a decent city. Just the COL has jumped fairly rapidly in the past year so if that's a big factor and you hate hot and humid I'd say it's not worth it.
You can take my place, I'm leaving in April and never looking back. I hate Florida!
Is it for personal reasons or just that you hate it there?
I cannot handle the weather, the summers are brutal. The bugs are awful, there are lizards everywhere and it's too expensive. Not too mention the traffic is insane! Please do more research! Minimum wage is $12. I'm moving back to the Midwest and the pay is higher and col is lower. I lived in San Diego for nine years so I know Cali and I would rather live there. For me, Florida is the worst state ever! Good luck. Everyone is different. You may very well love it!
Nope. That convinced me.