Florida is no more monolithic than any other state. You can't generalize because the different regions of the state are vastly different. South and Central Florida have very little in common with panhandle or North Florida.

That said, my parents (now mother), have lived in the Orlando for nearly 40 years. They moved after I graduated from High School, so I did not attend school there, but there are a number of decent public school pyramids there. As with any other state and region of the country, the rich areas do better than the poor areas.

I have friends who have college kids that they raised in the area. This family moved down when their kids were in preschool. In the DC area, they both had to work in order to afford a home in a decent school district and to have money for the extras that come with raising children. When they moved to Florida, the husband was offered a raise to relocate (his national employer wanted him in the Orlando office and gave him a raise as incentive to move). The lower COL and raise meant that his wife could now stay at home with the kids. She stayed at home with them until they were near the end of middle school. She then got a teaching certificate and started working at a private school. Her part-time job allowed her to enroll her kids in the private school and when they got to middle/high school, she moved to full-time. Now they are empty nesters and she still works full-time at the school and loves it there. But they could not realistically afford to be a one income family here in the DMV region, but they could easily in central Florida (even without the raise they could have swung it).

Through these friends, I have met others who also relocated from other parts of the country and it was a theme that many families that were struggling or just getting by in northern urban areas found it much more economically comfortable to raise families in central Florida due to the lower COL. Some converted from two income to one income and others continued as two incomes, but were far more comfortable.

DCUM is a self-selected group of predominantly higher income contrbuters. These folks are overrepresented by those in the top 1% of the nation income-wise and they get to make choices that the other 99% can't make as easily. So, read this thread (and many others) with the side knowledge that the views represented here are those of the privileged affluent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not habitable for anyone. Homophobic, racist, poor health care, anti science, corrupt. Why would you even consider it.

And far fewer people like this here, which is why so many of us love it.

Well then good we agree then!

Anonymous wrote:Yes, Florida is a fine place for children to grow up. There are actually millions of children growing up just fine in Florida. I'm not sure if they suffer from the affliction that causes people to stereotype whole states full of people based on vague anecdotal data, maybe some like OP do. But not all.

Some of the jobs here are not low paying jobs, some of the children of Florida will be able to live here and buy a house and have a nice life, many already are. Some are even college graduates and successfully employed.

You should hear what all of my former Florida classmates said about DC when I moved here. They literally think that everyone is surveilled by the feds constantly and we are all oppressed up here.

God no. Take it from a Fla native. Don’t do it.

I almost moved to Florida. Palm City and schools were good

Anonymous wrote:Nope. I grew up in Naples. Old people central. Nothing for kids or teens to do (except go to Orlando), hotter than hell, and crotchety old people trying to eat their blue plate special for dinner before 7 pm bedtime. Don’t engage with them or they’ll tell you all about their health problems. No life, no action, just people talking about what they did 30 years ago. I hear Rod Stewart played in Ft. Myers recently. That’s as exciting as life gets down there.

So growing up in Florida, or at least Naples, will result in you being a negative, ageist, narrow minded, pessimistic adult who stereotypes whole states full of diverse people purely for the fun of being snarky on DCUM?

Nope. I grew up in Naples. Old people central. Nothing for kids or teens to do (except go to Orlando), hotter than hell, and crotchety old people trying to eat their blue plate special for dinner before 7 pm bedtime. Don’t engage with them or they’ll tell you all about their health problems. No life, no action, just people talking about what they did 30 years ago. I hear Rod Stewart played in Ft. Myers recently. That’s as exciting as life gets down there.

Anonymous wrote:It's not habitable for anyone. Homophobic, racist, poor health care, anti science, corrupt. Why would you even consider it.

And far fewer people like this here, which is why so many of us love it.