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[quote=Anonymous]Recently moved back to DC from Coral Gables, FL, with elementary-aged kids in tow. I personally prefer raising kids in DC over Miami on balance, but there are certainly worse places to live.

Schools:

They can be good, but they tend to be in the more expensive neighborhoods. Coral Gables Elementary and Sunset are good, as well as the schools in Pinecrest. Gulliver and Ransom Everglades are considered the top private schools in Miami.

Housing:

Not as expensive as DC, but expensive nonetheless. Your money will go farther, but unlike in other parts of the deep south, $500K will not buy you a mansion. You can get a small (3-2), Spanish-style ranch in Coral Gables on a nice street for that amount of money. If you choose to live in Coconut Grove, you really need a good agent to help you choose carefully because it is really a street-by-street kind of neighborhood. One major shocker--the cost of home insurance is outrageous--like think in the range of $50-10K/year due to potential hurricanes.

Traffic:

Miami lies along 95, and all traffic sprouts out and into 95, which is a long strand of strip malls and the train. 
The city's growth was/is unplanned. You have an unexpected mix of really old drivers who should have had their license revoked a decade ago, aggressive drivers from South America, and intentionally slow or fast drivers who want to show off their leased luxury cars.

Weather:

Great in the winter, but awful, awfully humid in the summer. With kids, you are always worried about the possibility of hurricanes. Some years you get 10 (most of them end up being tropical storms), but some years you get none, and some years you get a whopper. You will be a NOAA addict within a few years.

Food:

I thought that the food scene in Miami was much better than the one in DC, even though DC has gotten better. Lots of really inexpensive, but solid and interesting restaurants--Peruvian Japanese, anyone?

Culture:

Very Cuban, you need to learn Spanish, very flashy and shallow. It's diverse in the sense that you have a lot of different Spanish-speaking cultures, but the black Haitian population is unjustifiably marginalized. There are very few Asians. The whites are pretty diverse--retirees from up north, Orthodox Jews, WASPS, faux-Cubans. The worst part, though, is the huge emphasis on appearance at the expense of substance. From plastic surgery to the leased luxury vehicles, it just isn't a culture I wanted my kids to grow up in. DC has its flaws, but I in the end prefer to raise my kids as wonky snobs than plastic airheads.
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