Where can I move that is warmer, slightly cheaper, somewhat liberal with good schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suggest either St. John's County (St. Augustine) or Sarasota County (40 min south of Tampa) which have the top two FL school districts according to Niche, they also appear on other top schools lists.

The price of housing is skyrocketing in FL because so many people, both red and blue, are moving there. However, relatively cheap housing can still be found in these areas if you are comparing to the DC area.

Despite many ignorant opinions to the contrary on DCUM I find FL to be a delightful place to live and I am staunchly democrat. Like other states (Virginia for example) the rural areas are almost completely red and the urban areas are almost completely blue. Registered Republicans in FL just recently started to barely outnumber registered Democrats after many years of the opposite. So it's pretty purple basically.

With the warm climate, decent schools in certain areas, and lower COL it's not too tough to ignore or tolerate whatever politics or political opinions you have a problem with and just live your own life.

You must be white and cisgender. Living in these purpling states that are still gerrymandered to death to ensure GOP hold on the state works only for straight, white progressives. As a Black woman, I was entirely unsurprised that Youngkin won VA, and you can't blame it on the rural parts of the state. As MLK said, white moderates are the problem. It is easy to ignore or tolerate the politics of others when they aren't causing direct harm to you.

Do you have this same vitriol towards the anti-Semitic blacks who are so prevalent in the DC area?

So your response is classic whataboutism. Hi Tucker. Please remain in Florida.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A school administrator from Florida once told me that people don't move to Florida for the good schools. That is not their priority. The schools are very inferior. I worked in Brevard county close to Melbourne. Also, Tampa and Gainesville and the schools did not have adequate funding or parent participation. Compared to DC or NOVA schools you'll he shocked. They also can't afford to attack great staff with very low pay and now extremely high real estate prices (compared to 2 years ago). When I lived there I flew back to DC to see my doctors. Also, Florida has a terrible health care system. If you move to Florida you may need to budget private schools or private tutors.

Parkland schools are very good. We know 3 families who relocated there from nyc and the dc area, and they are happy. All liberals.

But housing isn’t cheap. They live in gated communities that look like resorts, and their houses were north of $1M. Of course, that was during the pandemic bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A school administrator from Florida once told me that people don't move to Florida for the good schools. That is not their priority. The schools are very inferior. I worked in Brevard county close to Melbourne. Also, Tampa and Gainesville and the schools did not have adequate funding or parent participation. Compared to DC or NOVA schools you'll he shocked. They also can't afford to attack great staff with very low pay and now extremely high real estate prices (compared to 2 years ago). When I lived there I flew back to DC to see my doctors. Also, Florida has a terrible health care system. If you move to Florida you may need to budget private schools or private tutors.

I have a friend from Florida who is a nicu nurse. She graduated from a Florida HS and went to a Florida college for free. I think
She had to have a certain gpa to get this but free college for residents who graduate from a state HS is pretty awesome.

[Anonymous]

Revisiting this thread after being away. I just saw it in recent topics and thought "that's basically Colorado."

Colorado may or may not be warmer than DC, I'm not sure of average temps. But Colorado is actually one of the sunnier states in the country and has a much more temperate climate than people think. It's also gotten hotter in recent years (leading to dry forests and fires, which is bad, but still warmer). Colorado has much better weather than DC -- not as wet, pleasant falls and springs, way less humid in the summer, and the winters come with snow but can also include plenty of 50 degree days.

Some parts of Colorado have gotten quite pricy in recent years, but even in those areas, your money will go farther than it does in this area, buying more square footage and often more updated homes. And if you are willing to branch out from Denver or Boulder, it gets much more affordable. If you are looking for "somewhat liberal" the key is to just steer clear of the military (Colorado Spring and environs) and look for a town with a college or university. Fort Collins is very progressive. Greeley is more rural and conservative, but the university counterbalances that quite a bit. You could also look into areas in the south if you are willing to be in a more remote area. Grand Junction is very libertarian to conservative, but Pagosa is more liberal.

Schools vary and if you venture outside the Denver/Boulder area you have to adjust your expectations because rural schools never have the same opportunities or resources as urban schools. But you can find solid school districts with good academics and strong extra-curriculars. Again, you have to change your perspective -- people in the DMV are obsessive about education and expect a TON of extras that are not part of the core offerings in most school districts. You will get a much more stripped down version in a rural area, but there are good things about that too if you also teach your kids to be independent and encourage interests (and provide necessary supervision so they don't just get bored and have sex and do drugs, which is very common in more rural areas)

Anyway, Colorado seems like a good fit because it's very middle-ground while also being in an economic upswing. I think Oregon could be good too but has weather more similar to DC and also pockets of scarier conservatism you have to be more careful of. Colorado conservatives tend to be less scary, in my experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suggest either St. John's County (St. Augustine) or Sarasota County (40 min south of Tampa) which have the top two FL school districts according to Niche, they also appear on other top schools lists.

The price of housing is skyrocketing in FL because so many people, both red and blue, are moving there. However, relatively cheap housing can still be found in these areas if you are comparing to the DC area.

Despite many ignorant opinions to the contrary on DCUM I find FL to be a delightful place to live and I am staunchly democrat. Like other states (Virginia for example) the rural areas are almost completely red and the urban areas are almost completely blue. Registered Republicans in FL just recently started to barely outnumber registered Democrats after many years of the opposite. So it's pretty purple basically.

With the warm climate, decent schools in certain areas, and lower COL it's not too tough to ignore or tolerate whatever politics or political opinions you have a problem with and just live your own life.

You must be white and cisgender. Living in these purpling states that are still gerrymandered to death to ensure GOP hold on the state works only for straight, white progressives. As a Black woman, I was entirely unsurprised that Youngkin won VA, and you can't blame it on the rural parts of the state. As MLK said, white moderates are the problem. It is easy to ignore or tolerate the politics of others when they aren't causing direct harm to you.

Do you have this same vitriol towards the anti-Semitic blacks who are so prevalent in the DC area?

So your response is classic whataboutism. Hi Tucker. Please remain in Florida.

No, I'm the pp but not the FL poster. Your smug rant put down people for moving somewhere better *for them* because you think you have some sort of moral high ground being a black woman living in a blue area. As if blacks can't be bigots (the antisemitism from blacks is horrible here in my DC neighborhood) and everyone isn't just trying to find what works best for their family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eugene, Oregon

Lol I’m from Oregon. It is technically warmer in the winter but it’s also raining for ten months straight. Literally nobody moves to Oregon for the weather.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Revisiting this thread after being away. I just saw it in recent topics and thought "that's basically Colorado."

Colorado may or may not be warmer than DC, I'm not sure of average temps. But Colorado is actually one of the sunnier states in the country and has a much more temperate climate than people think. It's also gotten hotter in recent years (leading to dry forests and fires, which is bad, but still warmer). Colorado has much better weather than DC -- not as wet, pleasant falls and springs, way less humid in the summer, and the winters come with snow but can also include plenty of 50 degree days.

Some parts of Colorado have gotten quite pricy in recent years, but even in those areas, your money will go farther than it does in this area, buying more square footage and often more updated homes. And if you are willing to branch out from Denver or Boulder, it gets much more affordable. If you are looking for "somewhat liberal" the key is to just steer clear of the military (Colorado Spring and environs) and look for a town with a college or university. Fort Collins is very progressive. Greeley is more rural and conservative, but the university counterbalances that quite a bit. You could also look into areas in the south if you are willing to be in a more remote area. Grand Junction is very libertarian to conservative, but Pagosa is more liberal.

Schools vary and if you venture outside the Denver/Boulder area you have to adjust your expectations because rural schools never have the same opportunities or resources as urban schools. But you can find solid school districts with good academics and strong extra-curriculars. Again, you have to change your perspective -- people in the DMV are obsessive about education and expect a TON of extras that are not part of the core offerings in most school districts. You will get a much more stripped down version in a rural area, but there are good things about that too if you also teach your kids to be independent and encourage interests (and provide necessary supervision so they don't just get bored and have sex and do drugs, which is very common in more rural areas)

Anyway, Colorado seems like a good fit because it's very middle-ground while also being in an economic upswing. I think Oregon could be good too but has weather more similar to DC and also pockets of scarier conservatism you have to be more careful of. Colorado conservatives tend to be less scary, in my experience.

I could never deal with the fire risk. Some suburbs of Boulder just caught fire this December and people were evacuating from Target. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suggest either St. John's County (St. Augustine) or Sarasota County (40 min south of Tampa) which have the top two FL school districts according to Niche, they also appear on other top schools lists.

The price of housing is skyrocketing in FL because so many people, both red and blue, are moving there. However, relatively cheap housing can still be found in these areas if you are comparing to the DC area.

Despite many ignorant opinions to the contrary on DCUM I find FL to be a delightful place to live and I am staunchly democrat. Like other states (Virginia for example) the rural areas are almost completely red and the urban areas are almost completely blue. Registered Republicans in FL just recently started to barely outnumber registered Democrats after many years of the opposite. So it's pretty purple basically.

With the warm climate, decent schools in certain areas, and lower COL it's not too tough to ignore or tolerate whatever politics or political opinions you have a problem with and just live your own life.

You must be white and cisgender. Living in these purpling states that are still gerrymandered to death to ensure GOP hold on the state works only for straight, white progressives. As a Black woman, I was entirely unsurprised that Youngkin won VA, and you can't blame it on the rural parts of the state. As MLK said, white moderates are the problem. It is easy to ignore or tolerate the politics of others when they aren't causing direct harm to you.

I think if we could get more white cis liberals to move to red places, we might be able to change the red places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eugene, Oregon

Lol I’m from Oregon. It is technically warmer in the winter but it’s also raining for ten months straight. Literally nobody moves to Oregon for the weather.

I live in Chicago and I could totally get behind moving to Oregon for the weather.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suggest either St. John's County (St. Augustine) or Sarasota County (40 min south of Tampa) which have the top two FL school districts according to Niche, they also appear on other top schools lists.

The price of housing is skyrocketing in FL because so many people, both red and blue, are moving there. However, relatively cheap housing can still be found in these areas if you are comparing to the DC area.

Despite many ignorant opinions to the contrary on DCUM I find FL to be a delightful place to live and I am staunchly democrat. Like other states (Virginia for example) the rural areas are almost completely red and the urban areas are almost completely blue. Registered Republicans in FL just recently started to barely outnumber registered Democrats after many years of the opposite. So it's pretty purple basically.

With the warm climate, decent schools in certain areas, and lower COL it's not too tough to ignore or tolerate whatever politics or political opinions you have a problem with and just live your own life.

You must be white and cisgender. Living in these purpling states that are still gerrymandered to death to ensure GOP hold on the state works only for straight, white progressives. As a Black woman, I was entirely unsurprised that Youngkin won VA, and you can't blame it on the rural parts of the state. As MLK said, white moderates are the problem. It is easy to ignore or tolerate the politics of others when they aren't causing direct harm to you.

I think if we could get more white cis liberals to move to red places, we might be able to change the red places.

I don't think those other places want people trying to push liberal platitudes and creating all the problems that make leftist places like DC such a mess.

[Anonymous]

^^ no but they can’t change our votes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Revisiting this thread after being away. I just saw it in recent topics and thought "that's basically Colorado."

Colorado may or may not be warmer than DC, I'm not sure of average temps. But Colorado is actually one of the sunnier states in the country and has a much more temperate climate than people think. It's also gotten hotter in recent years (leading to dry forests and fires, which is bad, but still warmer). Colorado has much better weather than DC -- not as wet, pleasant falls and springs, way less humid in the summer, and the winters come with snow but can also include plenty of 50 degree days.

Some parts of Colorado have gotten quite pricy in recent years, but even in those areas, your money will go farther than it does in this area, buying more square footage and often more updated homes. And if you are willing to branch out from Denver or Boulder, it gets much more affordable. If you are looking for "somewhat liberal" the key is to just steer clear of the military (Colorado Spring and environs) and look for a town with a college or university. Fort Collins is very progressive. Greeley is more rural and conservative, but the university counterbalances that quite a bit. You could also look into areas in the south if you are willing to be in a more remote area. Grand Junction is very libertarian to conservative, but Pagosa is more liberal.

Schools vary and if you venture outside the Denver/Boulder area you have to adjust your expectations because rural schools never have the same opportunities or resources as urban schools. But you can find solid school districts with good academics and strong extra-curriculars. Again, you have to change your perspective -- people in the DMV are obsessive about education and expect a TON of extras that are not part of the core offerings in most school districts. You will get a much more stripped down version in a rural area, but there are good things about that too if you also teach your kids to be independent and encourage interests (and provide necessary supervision so they don't just get bored and have sex and do drugs, which is very common in more rural areas)

Anyway, Colorado seems like a good fit because it's very middle-ground while also being in an economic upswing. I think Oregon could be good too but has weather more similar to DC and also pockets of scarier conservatism you have to be more careful of. Colorado conservatives tend to be less scary, in my experience.

I could never deal with the fire risk. Some suburbs of Boulder just caught fire this December and people were evacuating from Target. No thanks.

I live in the Co town that caught fire, we just moved here after 20 yrs in DC. What the PP wrote about the CO climate and vibe is spot on. Sunny, great schools, liberal, so much space and access to nature. The Boulder fires were once in a lifetime and I’d ask you to point to a desirable part of our country not impacted by climate change in some way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suggest either St. John's County (St. Augustine) or Sarasota County (40 min south of Tampa) which have the top two FL school districts according to Niche, they also appear on other top schools lists.

The price of housing is skyrocketing in FL because so many people, both red and blue, are moving there. However, relatively cheap housing can still be found in these areas if you are comparing to the DC area.

Despite many ignorant opinions to the contrary on DCUM I find FL to be a delightful place to live and I am staunchly democrat. Like other states (Virginia for example) the rural areas are almost completely red and the urban areas are almost completely blue. Registered Republicans in FL just recently started to barely outnumber registered Democrats after many years of the opposite. So it's pretty purple basically.

With the warm climate, decent schools in certain areas, and lower COL it's not too tough to ignore or tolerate whatever politics or political opinions you have a problem with and just live your own life.

Funny you should suggest that part of Florida. I recently met new neighbors who moved back to Bethesda after retiring to the same area you recommend. They said they were sick of being mocked for wearing masks in stores, and even had some scary moments on the roads when Trumpsters saw their Dem bumper stickers. This couple bought an old, pre-war bungalow in walking distance to downtown Bethesda and metro.

Funny that you think your one anecdotal second hand story about your neighbors means much about Florida. I have experienced nothing like that, that's my anecdotal evidence, so I guess all of Florida is like me right?

+1


I lived in Florida for decades on both coasts. I couldn’t even tell you the political affiliation of many people I knew for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suggest either St. John's County (St. Augustine) or Sarasota County (40 min south of Tampa) which have the top two FL school districts according to Niche, they also appear on other top schools lists.

The price of housing is skyrocketing in FL because so many people, both red and blue, are moving there. However, relatively cheap housing can still be found in these areas if you are comparing to the DC area.

Despite many ignorant opinions to the contrary on DCUM I find FL to be a delightful place to live and I am staunchly democrat. Like other states (Virginia for example) the rural areas are almost completely red and the urban areas are almost completely blue. Registered Republicans in FL just recently started to barely outnumber registered Democrats after many years of the opposite. So it's pretty purple basically.

With the warm climate, decent schools in certain areas, and lower COL it's not too tough to ignore or tolerate whatever politics or political opinions you have a problem with and just live your own life.

You must be white and cisgender. Living in these purpling states that are still gerrymandered to death to ensure GOP hold on the state works only for straight, white progressives. As a Black woman, I was entirely unsurprised that Youngkin won VA, and you can't blame it on the rural parts of the state. As MLK said, white moderates are the problem. It is easy to ignore or tolerate the politics of others when they aren't causing direct harm to you.

I think if we could get more white cis liberals to move to red places, we might be able to change the red places.

What if they change you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Virginia Beach? Somewhat trumpy but mixed.

It’s more Trumpy the closer you get to Pungo.