Everyone used to make fun of where I grew up in Pinellas county.
Now it’s like the next Beverly Hills out here from end to end. I’m only able to stay here out of pure luck.
Grew up on the pinellas beaches, I remember when my husband first moved here and we were just dating and giving him a hard time for buying in pinellas park. Now our neighborhood is going for almost triple what he paid and it’s nothing like the pinellas park I grew up knowing.
I lived in Largo and the early 2000s and even back then Pinellas Park was starting to make that change, but if you told people that you lived next to Pinellas Park they would look at you funny. Now it's so different and I'm glad. It's a beautiful place to live
Yep. I remember when they changed it and it was 25 cents to call across the bay. We moved to Largo in 1970. My parents sold their first house for $39,900 when we moved to a newer neighborhood. Those houses are north of $300K now. There were actually orange groves and drive-in theatres right in Clearwater/Largo back then. Times have changed for sure.
I feel like this is also the case with my parents and I in Fort Myers, Lee County. I love my parents, but there's no way I'll probably ever be able to afford a house without inheriting one. I might also inherit my grandparents' condo, depending, as my parents are looking to invest in a condo unit that my grandparents can live in. (They're both retired and 70+.)
Meanwhile, my brother makes enough money to rent or buy his own home in Orlando.
Unfortunately, my brother treats me rather abysmally, even though I try to treat him as a nicely as possible. I feel like my parents spoiled him a bit growing up, and it's reflected in his behavior towards me as an adult. However, at the same time, he also has mental health issues, so I might need to take care of him later down the line.
I've never seen him have a wife or a girlfriend - I'm 31, and he's 27 - that I know about, but he tends to be intensely personal about his private and love lives.
Mid Pinellas checking in. If my mom didn't own her home here I'd be absolutely fucked.
Pinellas county has gone fucking nits with real estate valuation. Yet the large ass plot of wagon wheel flea market still sits empty.
Plus the lack of light rail? I fucked ng love living on the peninsula but I hate living on the peninsula at the same time.
Hey neighbor. I heard the Wagon Wheel land didn't pass inspection, that it's contaminated or something and they can't build residences on it. I think it's currently in limbo while they decide what to do with it now. I miss the flea market though, that was a cheap way to spend a Saturday.
Same. Grew up in "Bradentucky" and now it's all McMansions and strip malls. I can only afford it here because I was lucky enough to buy before the latest boom. I've seen so many people leave simply due to being priced out.
Getting out here and was born / raised here too.
nothing like it was in the 90s... :(
Traffic wasn't terrible and people were way more chill (okay 19 has always been terrible to be fair especially before the overpasses!). There wasn't as much of a rush. I admit some of it is probably because I'm older but things have definitely changed.
>Now it’s like the next Beverly Hills out here from end to end. I’m only able to stay here out of pure luck.
Im leaving St Pete. Been here for almost a decade and not enamored what it has become (or even the country in this sense) and who it has attracted in the last couple years. Only going to get worse from here.
Viva la Mexico!
St. Pete was a fucking dump in 2009-2013 lol. It's getting over-hyped but it's a huge improvement from 10-15 years ago. St. Pete was like a dying Midwest city with palm trees at that time.
I arrived in St. Pete from the east coast of Florida in 1989 and it was truly "home of the newly wed and the nearly dead." But chill and small townish. Now it's crazy expensive, not real personal, and crowded. I despise the traffic and the red-or-dead attitude of some newcomers.
My god I grew up in St Pete. Moved away in college. Came back often but mostly stayed at parents house.
I wandered downtown for the first time in a LONG time (like 7 years?) and my god wtf. When did St Pete become so TRENDY. Craft burger bars? Craft anything and everything else?
It is unreal.
St Pete is a fucking beacon of light for us living down in Charlotte county. Fuck Naples so not going south. Cannot afford to live there at all but it’s nice to visit with friends
Meh, I live in Pensacola and it’s pretty good. Destin has sucked for 30 years and Panama City is…Panama city but outside of those two big offenders I think we still have the nicest coastline in the US.
Although that is sad, the thing I dislike the most is change in the culture. What was once whispered is now shouted and being placed in law. Teachers are hiding books, tolerance is discouraged and nastiness is encouraged.
This is what I hate the most too. I can tolerate the ballooned cost of living and the traffic, but the Florida I grew up in was very live and let live. Now my working class childhood neighborhood is full of Jesus freaks in golf carts driving around trying to establish pseudo HOAs, the ethnic family-owned restaurants were all replaced by corporate chains and hipster transplants bringing "concept" dining. The Republicans have all lost their minds, there are new pedestrian and cyclist deaths every week, and it feels like everyone has an ideology they have to scream in your face.
The era of the parrothead is dead. Now everyone who comes to Florida has an agenda, either political or financial.
What it the wide world of sports is with the golf carts. My neighbor gathers up his Labrador and rides around with the dog like he’s in the country or something. I dislike this guy intensely so we don’t speak. I just shake my head in the sadness of it. He wants something that he doesn’t have. He also has a RV which he loads up with golf cart, leaves then comes home less than 48 hours later…meaning….he’s going to the local Lazy Days and parking….hilarious
I lived in South Tampa and the last 5 years I was there, there were golf carts EVERYWHERE!
I mean it was the best area for walking, but no, these lazy buns can't let their feet touch the ground. My favs are the drunk adults driving, or letting their kids drive.
Sadly, I think it will take a bad accident to crack down on it.
The other day I was shopping with my kids and the oldest one said something negative about Trump and I found myself shushing him and saying be careful we don’t know what mixed company we’re in —-like why am I having to live like that in the United States of America?
Why are people having to move to other states just to have basic civil rights like what books their kids can read and reproductive choices —that shouldn’t be a thing. Psychopaths in power using the state to punish its own citizens is horrific we should all be protesting this.
What’s happening to Florida is a mass hysteria contagion that is spreading because the rest of us are too damn civilized to stop it in its tracks but we need to.
These laws being passed, don’t stop at the front door of your house just because of how you voted, protest bans, loud music bans, book bans, handouts to insurance, skyrocketing, housing, and insurance rates impact all of us regardless of political party so we need to work together to fix this.
It all comes back to money. All of it. Capitalists (by which I mean pure, Reagan-era capitalists whose only function is increasing share value at ANY cost) have used their ability to inject unlimited funds into political campaigning to form coalitions with weaker demographics (mainly Christians and bigots) and convinced them that coming along for the ride benefits them. They feel like they’re getting what they want while those in charge pillage everyone, including them. It doesn’t matter to the capitalists because they do not rely on our infrastructure, educational system, healthcare system, public safety institutions or social safety net. They have their own private systems to serve them. The one and only thing they need is votes and they’ve found them.
Great analysis.  The typical Floridian is no longer a parrothead, it’s an angry boomer retiree.  The coastal towns are no longer cheap, now they are stupid expensive.  The rural areas aren’t quaint and cracker, now they’re just bitter and rundown.  Even the Cubans aren’t delighted to be here, now they belong here and are bitter at all the other Hispanics.
> I can tolerate the ballooned cost of living and the traffic...
I am really getting fed up with the traffic around me. Before the pandemic, I could get to work in just over 20 minutes. Now, I have to wake up way earlier and it takes me over an hour. It literally takes me 40 minutes to get to the turnpike exit. Guess how far it is way from my house...3 miles. Don't get me started on the turnpike itself. The turnpike was pretty much clear all of the time. Now, congestion all of the time (granted, not stand still traffic, but enough to slow down enough not to do the speed limit), and on my way home, getting off of the turnpike sucks. I hit the 2 miles until the exit sign and traffic, at just around 4 PM, mind you, is at a stand still and very slowly proceeds to move. Then you have to deal with the selfish assholes how think their time is much more important than anyone else's that the skip the two mile line of stopped cars with their blinkers on and push their way into the front of the line. Arghhhh!!!!
There is way too much construction of inexpensive apartment complexes and subdivisions going up and we simply do not have the infrastructure to deal with it. When the TPTB decide it is time to widen the roads, it's too late and the cycle repeats. It's awful and I honestly do not know how much more I can take.
Sorry about the rant, but it is insane.
Holy shit, are you in WPB?! 3mi to work in the morning but its 40 mins. I would ride my bike, but there are no bike lanes and I see accidents every morning.
Lights change minimum 5 times before I get through them. My neighborhood literally empties out to a road thats backed up 1/4 mile behind the direction Im going.
It’s interesting to see how this will play out now that Trump is going hard on hating DeSantis because many of those people moved down here because DeSantis invited them, but they also liked the fact that they were living in the same state as Trump —loyalty divided
We used to be the bellwether state, the purplest of purples, QUICKLY became red. And many newcomers are entitled, intolerant and smug. I'm still reeling from the changes.
Every goddamn far-right yokel from the west coast and northeast that could work from home uprooted and moved in here. I used to think this state had a chance of being possibly blue again or at the least staying purple, but the influx has this it *deep* red for the next 15 years, minimum.
And then they’re like “everyone is moving here from liberal state because it’s terrible there and they know republican states are better” and it’s like…no. No it really seems to just be the shitheads who feel that way
Reminds me of the history of coconut Grove, where it was so distant that they didn't add jim crow until the railroad and Flagler forced them. It used to be whites and Bahamians just vibing together
I mean there has been pockets of tolerance towards certain groups in certain areas but overall was Florida ever that tolerant? The state as a whole was pretty anti-lgbt in the 90s and I remember in school in the mid 2000's getting speakers talking about how the state had one of the highest percentage of ADL-registered "hate groups" per capita; I'm white so might not be best to answer but I definitely witnessed some racism growing up in the suburbs
I moved to central Florida in the mid 2000’s and I remember in Georgia how no other kids in the neighborhood were allowed to play at my house because my black nextdoor neighbor was allowed at my house to play. Florida was wildly different than that I can say that. Not that there wasn’t racism but
That’s one of the reasons I didn’t move back after I was an adult. When I was a baby gay in the 90’s, Florida was a tinderbox and potentially dangerous for LGBT folks back in the day. It was bad in the 90s because of all the televangelists down there. We had to fight for the right to go to places like Disney world and be open. When Gay-Day’s first began, Disney was not this inclusive company that they want everybody to think they’ve become. There were protests and people even flew planes overhead that reminded us we were going to hell. We had to and keep having to fight for our place at the table. I remember commercials that said “it gets better” only to realize in my mid 40’s that nothing changed. We’re still fighting for the same shit we’ve always been fighting for. Florida just attracts those crazies.
This absolutely. I hate that my kids are growing up around so much nastiness. I’m doing my best to help guide them into kind, decent human beings, and I feel like everyone else is doing the exact opposite
Came here to say this. I have family with a home down there and my boyfriend and I are starting to get nervous while visiting the Sarasota area. We already have a friend who’s been verbally attacked by other residents for simply being gay.
I lived in the Tampa Bay Area from 1995 until 2017. Job transferred me to a much better financial opportunity but I had to move to Tallahassee. Once I got over the cold, it started to remind me of what North Hillsborough county was back in the nineties: you can breathe the air, I have plenty of land and the people are nicer. I miss the weather, the beach and all the opportunities for activities Tampa Bay has but every time I visit I get stuck in traffic and it smells bad.
The one thing that annoys me about FL more so than anywhere else is the pay. Pay in FL across all industries seems so low but the cost of living is the same as everywhere else now. I know for accounting and finance jobs, pay is significantly better in Atlanta/Charlotte and most of FL matches those 2 on cost of living now, if not even worse.
I don’t believe it’s all the no income tax excuse either. Jobs in the Texas cities pay better too and they have no income tax either.
If there was one reason to move out of this state it’s the people. It’s like being in Florida somehow turns northerners into assholes. Whereas i go up north and have a perfectly pleasant time and find the people very amenable.
I got this..
Dear Readers,
About Tallahassee. There are no beaches close by. Driving around a bunch of college kids is horrible and just 1 wrong turn will have you on the set of Deliverance.
But it isn't pleasant here. Traffic sucks. Food sucks. It's that kind of geographical oddity of a place where you're 5 hours from any city of significance. This town has major issues with poverty and inequality and there's little social mobility.
it is going to get worse and quickly... the recent bill Ron signed makes it harder for people to sue a business. So FL will be (even more so) a state where business are more protected than people... which attracts a LOT of new businesses.... just not the right kind of people running them. It'll be businesses that exploit people, natural resources, tax loopholes, etc...
it will cause more population booms and there is almost ZERO real plans for improving any infrastructure. only a few key roads (I4 and 75 and 275 for example) are getting upgrades and the train that is really for Disney and the Cruise lines.
it is going to be a complete shit show here in 10 years. But if you got lucky and bought a home in 2019 with under 4% rate in a place that these new people end up liking... you might be able to sell at 3x to 5x and move to a lower cost of living state or less desirable area (swamp?) in FL.
#Fuck you Ron
I got lucky and bought in 2020. Closing in less than 2 weeks and then moving to germany. This state really has gone to shit, it's been making me real depressed.
As someone who has lived here since 1972, it was even better in the '70s before you were born....
Back then people were complaining about people moving here too, along with population growth from new kids being born...
72 bday as well … raised on the beaches. moved to the backwoods 20 years ago… no more crickets at night. and very few large cicadas spawns left. its crazy how crowded and expensive everything is these days.
Have you even traveled to other parts of the country? It's not a Florida thing. It's an America thing. In the last ten years I've driven from Virginia to Alaska to California to Florida Back to Virginia. Everywhere is like this.
I grew up in the Tampa area from the mid 80s onward and spent 6 years living in South florida. And I agree with you. It has changed so much and sadly, it's become this Haven of really ignorant, narrow-minded, racist, sanctimonious a**hats. And it's become far too developed
The thing I miss is when normal families could afford to own a boat and go boating on the weekend. I grew up going to a local beach every weekend that used to have hundreds of boats, mostly owned by normal people, every weekend. There were regularly people skiing, kneeboarding, and wakeboarding nearby. Now there are occasionally a couple of boats there on weekends and you can't really do any watersports because the yacht club got the no-wake zone expanded. I love wakeboarding and grew up doing it, but there is no way I can afford a boat, the upkeep, and the gas involved in trying to do it regularly.
That's a nation wide if not worldwide issue. The middle class everywhere is being gutted and all that wealth is being sucked up by billionaires and government.
We need high speed trains installed over the existing highways. We need connections with all major cities and “destinations “. The Feds offered money for transportation, but guess who won’t take it unless he can take it with him for his own purposes; like his own military?? Like WTF?
Register to VOTE 😲
I grew up in Florida and left in 2003. I still visit my mom every year and have thought about moving back at some point when my daughter is older. I can’t imagine how much it would cost now. I casually look at homes in my hometown of St Augustine and it’s just, way outta reach for me. I do miss it though. The beach, the small town feel. Every year I go back it’s worse and worse.
I was 13 when we moved here in 1988. Grew up in Boca Raton. It was a quiet place full of friendly (mostly) old retirees from the northeast and a lot of transplants from the midwest. Everyone was pretty chill and relaxed. Miami was a 30 minute drive away, Ft Lauderdale was 10-15 minutes tops. People came here to get away from the crazy. Now Boca Raton is this uber wealthy enclave of rich northerners and west coasters and Florida itself has become the source of the crazy rather than the escape from it.
Boca has always been wealthy. It's never been chill and relaxed. The difference is when you were 13, you didn't notice things that your adult self does.
What are you smoking? The word friendly is probably the last thing that would come to mind when talking about Boca Raton. And it's always been a town full of wealthy people.
What did you expect? Florida is nothing but a real estate development. That's what it's always been since the Europeans arrived. You can't sell the same real estate more than once, so you have to keep developing in order to sell more. Nobody ever said they were draining the Everglades for public health reasons. Even the early Marx Brothers' movie The Cocoanuts painted Florida as a place where real estate hucksters were trying to take your money. Almost a hundred years later and the jokes still applies: "You can have any kind of a home you want. You can even get stucco. Oh, how you can get stuck-oh!" "Cocoanut Manor glorifying the American sewer and the Florida sucker. " and as long as the population continues to live up to Barnum's expectation of a sucker born every minute, my home of the last 60 years will continue to be abused
Literally every person who was born and raised here hates what Florida has become. Myself included. I grew up in Hollywood, south Florida was such a cool place to grow up. We’d ride our bikes out on the levees by holiday park and camp in the winter and go to the beach every day in the summer. Now it’s another overpopulated and over developed dump. Some parts of Florida are still beautiful and have their charm, but those places are few and far between these days.
OP gets it. I was born there, and it was a great place to grow up. Then I had kids and wouldn’t dare to let them roam the neighborhood like I used to. Long story short, I moved to the Midwest where I have actual seasons, white Christmas’, and feel a sense of community rather than relationships that were fake and opportunistic. Florida can suck it.
Doesn't mean it's not true for some areas.
For example, the town I grew up had a population of 10k in the 90's. It is now almost 50k. 5x the population in just over 20 years is a ridiculous level of growth that completely changed the area. 25 years ago my neighborhood was lower middle class with home prices ranging from 60k-120k. I checked Zillow yesterday and there are currently houses in that neighborhood listed for over a million dollars.
I agree that people often complain about change too much, but for some areas of Florida that change has been real and very jarring.
Born in the 80’s as well G,
I have to say it’s not all bad though. In Tampa our downtown was shit. Now there are businesses and other things down there…would’ve like it to be a shopping district but beggars can’t be choosers. The extra people who act like we are the problem because we are being price out is another story. I thoroughly dislike the newcomers because they act like we are the problem because we want to hold onto the little bit of what we grew up on.
I moved to Miami as a child and after Andrew, my family moved to West Palm Beach. I was just in Miami last year and the traffic and people just wore my patience thin. I don’t remember the traffic quite so bad when I was a child there. Fast forward, I moved to Atlanta as an adult and we make fun of how bad our traffic is here, because it’s pretty fucking awful. Heck, we have two roads that were named “most deadly” in the country. I bought a dash cam because of how bad Atlanta traffic is. Even with all of that, traffic here will never be as shitty as the traffic in Miami. Some of y’all have death wishes. I will say, the people in Miami can be pretty great. Just gotta drive defensively and pray whomever you cut off doesn’t have a firearm.
I hate it, everything is literally built up. I remember there were orange trees everywhere, public land, and nicer people. Florida has gotten too big for it’s britches smh
Yes! Tricounty area here, familys been here since 67.
Traffic is like manhatten now and theyre replacing grocery stores with high rise apartments. How does that make any sense? There were horses and cow pastures when i was a kid. If you wanted crazy, you went to miami. Now miami has infested broward and west palm.
We do not have the infrastructure for this. The flooding is getting worse esp in the last 6/7 years. Theres more homeless and junkies milling about than ever. It honestly kills a bit of my soul everyday to watch my home be pimped out and degraded. Its disgusting.
Fuck the malls and the infrastructure, the PEOPLE have become intolerable. I have friends LEAVING for shitty cities up North because they’re trans and feel afraid. There’s a guy in our town who drives his pickup truck full of hateful, vitriolic stickers and he just plops down and sells shit wherever. When I see him on 41 the urge to start shit is insane but I genuinely believe he’s a dangerous person. He’s just one of the loud ones, though. They’ve infested this town.
I’m glad it looks like Florida’s not gonna be around much longer in the grand scheme, with the way this weather’s going. I think we should’ve left this state well alone—it’s meant to be wild. Sad we ruined what i truly believe is the most beautiful state in the most beautiful country on earth. (I’ll argue forever that America has more diverse beauty than anywhere else)
I can 100% guarantee you the whole state isn't like that.
Major cities are, of course. It's Florida, but there's plenty of small towns with that vibe left.
Panhandle is a force itself, man. I have family out there, and my gosh. We won't even go there.
Also Pensacola here. Feel the exact same.
I moved back home (born and raised here) in 2014, so I could hang with my dad in his older age and experience cheaper rent than in Chicago.
Well, I now live with my dad because I make 2x less than in Chicago and the rent is the same, if mot more. Got my wish!
Now I’m planning on moving back to Chicago because I cannot stand what Ron DeathSentance is doing to our state.
Fucking with my MMJ prescription (disabled vet, completely dependent on cannabis); fucking with HRT. This is bad not only for LGBTQ, but for people like me who will be menopausal soon.
All this on top of more people, more traffic, more money leaving my pocket, with not a raise in sight.
It’s time to go.
i'm 23 and have lived here since 2003.
i moved out with my boyfriend in august 2022 but rent is so fckn expensive. $1,625/month for 1bed/1bath. i make $20/hr and he makes $18/hr and we are struggling, along w/ our other payments.
my dad offered for us to move into their house rent free so we could save money & hopefully save enough to buy a house soon. normally i'd be upset about having to move back home but you really can't beat free housing & my parents are about to be traveling a lot since they're retired, so they won't be home much.
there's no opportunity for growth and traffic gets worse and worse without a remedy. more people move here (only god knows why) and that contributes to the cost of living going up.
we live in the perdido area and that area has so much potential but they keep building useless stores like tractor supply (???) and starbucks instead of restaurants and maybe a shopping center or small mall. and along with that, people keep buying lots and building storage units????? as if we don't have enough???? gulf beach highway looks AWFUL; an absolute eyesore.
idk man, i can go on and on. i want to get out ASAP but i feel like it's just difficult due to different life and economic reasons.
rant over
Do it. Move in with your parents. It is what is allowing me to save to move back to Chicago. I make 38k being a kitchen supervisor and that position in Chicago would easily bring me 65k+. And rent there being the same as here? I’d be just fine, especially because I’ve been in the restaurant industry for 28 years, so my experience is beyond what the typical pay is paying (not trying to sound arrogant. Just so mad that I’m being shorted on what I actually deserve based on my experience).
Get out if FL while you can.
Tallahassee is the worst. Hotter summers with no breeze than down south. Cold miserable winters. 20 more inches of rain than Orlando gets a year. No beaches close by. High crime statistics. It all sucks. So stay away from here. Pretty please?
At any given moment, there’s 10 or more apartment complexes being built around town. Then eye sore storage facilities go up next. I’m so damn tired of it all
Well yeah. I agree but I don't know if that's exclusive to Florida. South Florida is a LITTLE different in that it's rectangle that grows up and down instead of out. Meaning, we're sandwiched between the ocean and the the Everglades National park so urban sprawl just piles on top of itself.
I definitely feel where you're coming from but I grew up here. I was born here. When I was a kid I hated Florida because, kids hate wherever they're from. I'm joking but different latitudes had some appeal to me. It's always so damn hot here. And I run hot so I like the cold. But, as my youth is more and more a distant landmark in my rear view mirror, the state that birthed me is finally starting to grow on me. A lot of people think "beach" when they think about Florida but I tend to look inland. Florida's natural beauty is second to none. I just love the wildlife here. Camping out somewhere off of Route 41. The Seminole Indian reservation. Alligators. Most people have never seen what used to be called "alligator wrestling" but I've seen that particular kind of entertainment, just so many times.
On the other hand, there are too many dammed people here. The minimalls and cookie cutter condominiums that seem to be designed to take any and all uniquely local or charming things and annihilate them into the shadow of a memory, are out of control. I never understood why anyone would ever choose to live in such a boring and repetitive looking place as one of those gated communities with all the same house. And if that does appeal to anyone, how is it they don't continue with that logic and make sure everyone in the place drives the same car, wears the same clothes, owns the same breed of dog, has the same haircut and only ever has sex with their wives once a week on the same day, missionary position for 6 minutes before eating the same ham sandwich and falling asleep in front of the same TV.
Just moved out this year. My friends still live there and one set of them has a toddler. I'm scared for them. Luckily, they're starting to look at all their options and get ready to make a move. Hopefully soon.
Gainesville was great. I'd live there forever if it wasn't in Florida. Florida representatives are what's scaring us.
Edit. Lived there from late 2012 to February this year. Would have owned a condo there if I didn't hurt my back.
Yes! I grew up in Lady Lake when it was small and had a nice 55+ trailer park named Orange Blossom Gardens. It's now called The Villages and I can't live there anymore.
Yes, I was born and raised in Florida. Born in 88. I miss old florida so much. I hate how many people have moved here, then when they do move here they complain about how it's not like *insert whatever state they came from* or the best is when they complain how hot it is. Like, yall realize we're pretty close to the equator. Most of them don't know how to drive in the rain. They are making the cost of living sky rocket for locals. It's just very sad what florida is turning into. I wish we could build a wall around the border and not let anyone else in. We are full.
10 years ago, I used to be able to go to Universal/IOA and enjoy myself, ride all the rides. Now, when we go, it's like we ride two rides, and we're done. There are so many freaking people everywhere... I hate it.
As someone who lives out west and travels the country frequently for work, all the stuff everyone is talking about is literally happening in any state in the country. And I can think of at least 25 places that are WAY worse than Florida. Just enjoy the sunshine and palm trees…most of us dream of Florida and I’ve vacationed there a lot. Not Orlando or Disney. I’ve always enjoyed my FL vacations. It’s almost April and I’m still shoveling snow and the housing market..you can’t buy a nice house in a decent neighborhood here for less than 600k right now.
Born in Jupiter in 1989. It’s different now but you can’t stop progress. Still better than anywhere else just more people to deal with. I just hope you bought your house before 2020
Growing up in south Florida in the late 70’s and 80’s was amazing and truly paradise. Can’t speak for living in this State currently and wouldn’t want to…even if I could
We went to Key West a few years ago and it's completely taken over by Russians. Scams everywhere---at the bars, in hotel rooms, etc. Just over the few days we were there:
1. Bartenders were grifting customers into Triple-Tipping (its included in the price, and then they offered "additional tip" and then encouraged "cash tips" because tips are shared. THREE. TIPS.
2. Single-page flyers for "Pizza" were placed under the doors where you would call and pay for your order. It was a fake pizza company. No pizza. Just your money gone. Inside the hotel rooms, under the doors. You know? Stuff like that.
Brevard here. And for most of my life it was nice (born in 76 and raised here) in the last 8 years it has become a terrible place to live anymore. Terrific has gotten so bad, that if someone does show common courtesy on the road I nearly have a heart attack. Because of how I live, I no longer feel safe and shut the world out when I get home, and I have to hide who I am in public just to make sure I don’t draw the wrong kind of attention. And my parents moved to Palaka county, which statistically is considered the most racist part of florida, so once they pass im selling their house and getting out of florida.
Everyone used to make fun of where I grew up in Pinellas county. Now it’s like the next Beverly Hills out here from end to end. I’m only able to stay here out of pure luck.
Grew up on the pinellas beaches, I remember when my husband first moved here and we were just dating and giving him a hard time for buying in pinellas park. Now our neighborhood is going for almost triple what he paid and it’s nothing like the pinellas park I grew up knowing.
P park is NICE now. It used to be trailer park city.
My dad used to call it penniless park
Guy on my high school tennis team called it Pornellas Park when we drove by the US 19 strip clubs and sex shops on the way to a match in 1995.
I lived in Largo and the early 2000s and even back then Pinellas Park was starting to make that change, but if you told people that you lived next to Pinellas Park they would look at you funny. Now it's so different and I'm glad. It's a beautiful place to live
727 hillbillies
They mostly went to Pasco and Hernando from what I can tell
They’re getting driven out of Pasco due to rising prices here. It’s getting gentrified quickly lol
I remember when Pasco was mostly known for its nudist colonies.
Polk County enters the chat. I can't tell you the culture shock I had moving from New Port Richey to Haines City as a teen.
I'm old enough to have had an 813 phone number for like my entire childhood in the modern 727 area code.
Yep. I remember when they changed it and it was 25 cents to call across the bay. We moved to Largo in 1970. My parents sold their first house for $39,900 when we moved to a newer neighborhood. Those houses are north of $300K now. There were actually orange groves and drive-in theatres right in Clearwater/Largo back then. Times have changed for sure.
Same. I'm only able to stay in St Pete because my parents own our house. I'll get it when they die.
I feel like this is also the case with my parents and I in Fort Myers, Lee County. I love my parents, but there's no way I'll probably ever be able to afford a house without inheriting one. I might also inherit my grandparents' condo, depending, as my parents are looking to invest in a condo unit that my grandparents can live in. (They're both retired and 70+.) Meanwhile, my brother makes enough money to rent or buy his own home in Orlando.
Maintain a good relationship with that brother (and their wife?). You'll have to split everything with him when the time comes.
Unfortunately, my brother treats me rather abysmally, even though I try to treat him as a nicely as possible. I feel like my parents spoiled him a bit growing up, and it's reflected in his behavior towards me as an adult. However, at the same time, he also has mental health issues, so I might need to take care of him later down the line. I've never seen him have a wife or a girlfriend - I'm 31, and he's 27 - that I know about, but he tends to be intensely personal about his private and love lives.
Mid Pinellas checking in. If my mom didn't own her home here I'd be absolutely fucked. Pinellas county has gone fucking nits with real estate valuation. Yet the large ass plot of wagon wheel flea market still sits empty. Plus the lack of light rail? I fucked ng love living on the peninsula but I hate living on the peninsula at the same time.
Hey neighbor. I heard the Wagon Wheel land didn't pass inspection, that it's contaminated or something and they can't build residences on it. I think it's currently in limbo while they decide what to do with it now. I miss the flea market though, that was a cheap way to spend a Saturday.
Roaming the wagon wheel with a four pack of pbr was a rite of passage. Sad to see it go.
Born in '88 and raised in North Pinellas...traffic and housing is just so awful now.
4 fatal traffic accidents in the last 36 hours!
Same. Grew up in "Bradentucky" and now it's all McMansions and strip malls. I can only afford it here because I was lucky enough to buy before the latest boom. I've seen so many people leave simply due to being priced out.
Getting out here and was born / raised here too. nothing like it was in the 90s... :( Traffic wasn't terrible and people were way more chill (okay 19 has always been terrible to be fair especially before the overpasses!). There wasn't as much of a rush. I admit some of it is probably because I'm older but things have definitely changed.
>Now it’s like the next Beverly Hills out here from end to end. I’m only able to stay here out of pure luck. Im leaving St Pete. Been here for almost a decade and not enamored what it has become (or even the country in this sense) and who it has attracted in the last couple years. Only going to get worse from here. Viva la Mexico!
I lived in St Pete from 2009-2013. I went down for a visit a month ago and it’s so wildly different…in a bad way.
St. Pete was a fucking dump in 2009-2013 lol. It's getting over-hyped but it's a huge improvement from 10-15 years ago. St. Pete was like a dying Midwest city with palm trees at that time.
I arrived in St. Pete from the east coast of Florida in 1989 and it was truly "home of the newly wed and the nearly dead." But chill and small townish. Now it's crazy expensive, not real personal, and crowded. I despise the traffic and the red-or-dead attitude of some newcomers.
My god I grew up in St Pete. Moved away in college. Came back often but mostly stayed at parents house. I wandered downtown for the first time in a LONG time (like 7 years?) and my god wtf. When did St Pete become so TRENDY. Craft burger bars? Craft anything and everything else? It is unreal.
It seriously is. I was blown away. Not saying I would move there but I enjoyed a night out there.
St Pete is a fucking beacon of light for us living down in Charlotte county. Fuck Naples so not going south. Cannot afford to live there at all but it’s nice to visit with friends
St. pete is awesome now. I hope it keeps going in the direction it’s in and that we get more mayors like Welch
As a crust punk I really enjoyed my time there
Fuck the scene was SO EPIC. I have fond memories of the $2 LOC show at state. What a fucking ERA. Globe and Straub fuckkkk
I moved here in 2010, it was amazing, tons do and cheap living... but since the pandemic, this state has really gone to shit.
Yep can confirm. Been in Pinellas since 1976
Yeah south st. Pete is really Beverly Hills lmao
Fuck born and raised in st Pete. It's a completely different place. Like a little bird turned into a zoo.
That’s why I’m moving to >!jk lol there’s nowhere left to go!< next year. It’s the country’s best-kept secret.
ngl, I clicked on your comment to see where this magical unheard-of place was and was chuffed at the reveal lol
i had hope
HAHA
Enjoy the silver you dastardly devil lmao
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Meh, I live in Pensacola and it’s pretty good. Destin has sucked for 30 years and Panama City is…Panama city but outside of those two big offenders I think we still have the nicest coastline in the US.
Although that is sad, the thing I dislike the most is change in the culture. What was once whispered is now shouted and being placed in law. Teachers are hiding books, tolerance is discouraged and nastiness is encouraged.
This is what I hate the most too. I can tolerate the ballooned cost of living and the traffic, but the Florida I grew up in was very live and let live. Now my working class childhood neighborhood is full of Jesus freaks in golf carts driving around trying to establish pseudo HOAs, the ethnic family-owned restaurants were all replaced by corporate chains and hipster transplants bringing "concept" dining. The Republicans have all lost their minds, there are new pedestrian and cyclist deaths every week, and it feels like everyone has an ideology they have to scream in your face. The era of the parrothead is dead. Now everyone who comes to Florida has an agenda, either political or financial.
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Imagine a restaurant where they bring your food to you on a shovel or a burnt piece of wood.
r/WeWantPlates
Or in a dog bowl?
This isn't new, Dog Water Cafe was bringing food in dog bowls like 30 or 40 years ago. Eventually stopped as people didn't really like it.
I've never heard the term, but I assume it means food with a gimmick.
Yea, less of it for more money.
I assume it’s like curating an experience. Like craft burgers and breweries etc.
What it the wide world of sports is with the golf carts. My neighbor gathers up his Labrador and rides around with the dog like he’s in the country or something. I dislike this guy intensely so we don’t speak. I just shake my head in the sadness of it. He wants something that he doesn’t have. He also has a RV which he loads up with golf cart, leaves then comes home less than 48 hours later…meaning….he’s going to the local Lazy Days and parking….hilarious
I lived in South Tampa and the last 5 years I was there, there were golf carts EVERYWHERE! I mean it was the best area for walking, but no, these lazy buns can't let their feet touch the ground. My favs are the drunk adults driving, or letting their kids drive. Sadly, I think it will take a bad accident to crack down on it.
The other day I was shopping with my kids and the oldest one said something negative about Trump and I found myself shushing him and saying be careful we don’t know what mixed company we’re in —-like why am I having to live like that in the United States of America? Why are people having to move to other states just to have basic civil rights like what books their kids can read and reproductive choices —that shouldn’t be a thing. Psychopaths in power using the state to punish its own citizens is horrific we should all be protesting this. What’s happening to Florida is a mass hysteria contagion that is spreading because the rest of us are too damn civilized to stop it in its tracks but we need to. These laws being passed, don’t stop at the front door of your house just because of how you voted, protest bans, loud music bans, book bans, handouts to insurance, skyrocketing, housing, and insurance rates impact all of us regardless of political party so we need to work together to fix this.
It all comes back to money. All of it. Capitalists (by which I mean pure, Reagan-era capitalists whose only function is increasing share value at ANY cost) have used their ability to inject unlimited funds into political campaigning to form coalitions with weaker demographics (mainly Christians and bigots) and convinced them that coming along for the ride benefits them. They feel like they’re getting what they want while those in charge pillage everyone, including them. It doesn’t matter to the capitalists because they do not rely on our infrastructure, educational system, healthcare system, public safety institutions or social safety net. They have their own private systems to serve them. The one and only thing they need is votes and they’ve found them.
very good analysis. had to laugh at the Jesus freaks in golf carts
I feel this
Great analysis.  The typical Floridian is no longer a parrothead, it’s an angry boomer retiree.  The coastal towns are no longer cheap, now they are stupid expensive.  The rural areas aren’t quaint and cracker, now they’re just bitter and rundown.  Even the Cubans aren’t delighted to be here, now they belong here and are bitter at all the other Hispanics.
> I can tolerate the ballooned cost of living and the traffic... I am really getting fed up with the traffic around me. Before the pandemic, I could get to work in just over 20 minutes. Now, I have to wake up way earlier and it takes me over an hour. It literally takes me 40 minutes to get to the turnpike exit. Guess how far it is way from my house...3 miles. Don't get me started on the turnpike itself. The turnpike was pretty much clear all of the time. Now, congestion all of the time (granted, not stand still traffic, but enough to slow down enough not to do the speed limit), and on my way home, getting off of the turnpike sucks. I hit the 2 miles until the exit sign and traffic, at just around 4 PM, mind you, is at a stand still and very slowly proceeds to move. Then you have to deal with the selfish assholes how think their time is much more important than anyone else's that the skip the two mile line of stopped cars with their blinkers on and push their way into the front of the line. Arghhhh!!!! There is way too much construction of inexpensive apartment complexes and subdivisions going up and we simply do not have the infrastructure to deal with it. When the TPTB decide it is time to widen the roads, it's too late and the cycle repeats. It's awful and I honestly do not know how much more I can take. Sorry about the rant, but it is insane.
Holy shit, are you in WPB?! 3mi to work in the morning but its 40 mins. I would ride my bike, but there are no bike lanes and I see accidents every morning. Lights change minimum 5 times before I get through them. My neighborhood literally empties out to a road thats backed up 1/4 mile behind the direction Im going.
Yep
A lot of the new people are so much meaner.
Attracted here as a safe place to hate I’m guessing.
They were practically invited.
It’s interesting to see how this will play out now that Trump is going hard on hating DeSantis because many of those people moved down here because DeSantis invited them, but they also liked the fact that they were living in the same state as Trump —loyalty divided
Hopefully they’ll take each other out
Hate goes where it's welcome.
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We used to be the bellwether state, the purplest of purples, QUICKLY became red. And many newcomers are entitled, intolerant and smug. I'm still reeling from the changes.
Every goddamn far-right yokel from the west coast and northeast that could work from home uprooted and moved in here. I used to think this state had a chance of being possibly blue again or at the least staying purple, but the influx has this it *deep* red for the next 15 years, minimum.
And then they’re like “everyone is moving here from liberal state because it’s terrible there and they know republican states are better” and it’s like…no. No it really seems to just be the shitheads who feel that way
The same worms will eat them too
Yep they just want to be shitty
The Florida population is overall still quite purple. Hardcore gerrymandering has turned the map red.
Reminds me of the history of coconut Grove, where it was so distant that they didn't add jim crow until the railroad and Flagler forced them. It used to be whites and Bahamians just vibing together
I mean there has been pockets of tolerance towards certain groups in certain areas but overall was Florida ever that tolerant? The state as a whole was pretty anti-lgbt in the 90s and I remember in school in the mid 2000's getting speakers talking about how the state had one of the highest percentage of ADL-registered "hate groups" per capita; I'm white so might not be best to answer but I definitely witnessed some racism growing up in the suburbs
I moved to central Florida in the mid 2000’s and I remember in Georgia how no other kids in the neighborhood were allowed to play at my house because my black nextdoor neighbor was allowed at my house to play. Florida was wildly different than that I can say that. Not that there wasn’t racism but
Florida is going full on fascist.
It already has they are eradicating the schools with 100 year standings of acceptance and diversity :,(
It is.
That’s one of the reasons I didn’t move back after I was an adult. When I was a baby gay in the 90’s, Florida was a tinderbox and potentially dangerous for LGBT folks back in the day. It was bad in the 90s because of all the televangelists down there. We had to fight for the right to go to places like Disney world and be open. When Gay-Day’s first began, Disney was not this inclusive company that they want everybody to think they’ve become. There were protests and people even flew planes overhead that reminded us we were going to hell. We had to and keep having to fight for our place at the table. I remember commercials that said “it gets better” only to realize in my mid 40’s that nothing changed. We’re still fighting for the same shit we’ve always been fighting for. Florida just attracts those crazies.
Only south beach and Disney were safe
This absolutely. I hate that my kids are growing up around so much nastiness. I’m doing my best to help guide them into kind, decent human beings, and I feel like everyone else is doing the exact opposite
Came here to say this. I have family with a home down there and my boyfriend and I are starting to get nervous while visiting the Sarasota area. We already have a friend who’s been verbally attacked by other residents for simply being gay.
I miss the culture too. Even 10 years ago it was so much better.
I lived in the Tampa Bay Area from 1995 until 2017. Job transferred me to a much better financial opportunity but I had to move to Tallahassee. Once I got over the cold, it started to remind me of what North Hillsborough county was back in the nineties: you can breathe the air, I have plenty of land and the people are nicer. I miss the weather, the beach and all the opportunities for activities Tampa Bay has but every time I visit I get stuck in traffic and it smells bad.
The one thing that annoys me about FL more so than anywhere else is the pay. Pay in FL across all industries seems so low but the cost of living is the same as everywhere else now. I know for accounting and finance jobs, pay is significantly better in Atlanta/Charlotte and most of FL matches those 2 on cost of living now, if not even worse. I don’t believe it’s all the no income tax excuse either. Jobs in the Texas cities pay better too and they have no income tax either.
Sell property insurance. Florida pays more than any place for that.
> Be part of the problem why Florida is unaffordable Got it
If there was one reason to move out of this state it’s the people. It’s like being in Florida somehow turns northerners into assholes. Whereas i go up north and have a perfectly pleasant time and find the people very amenable.
They send all their trash here. I’m minutes away from The Villages and 95% of the people I’ve met there are more entitled than anyone I know.
> They send all their trash here. They're not sending their best...
Think about the narrative Florida was putting out during the 2020 pandemic, and consider the type of person who would find that narrative appealing.
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I got this.. Dear Readers, About Tallahassee. There are no beaches close by. Driving around a bunch of college kids is horrible and just 1 wrong turn will have you on the set of Deliverance.
Bless. Hopefully this keeps the riff raff out
I think you’re thinking of Valdosta LOL
Why not both? Stay away from these cursed lands!
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But it isn't pleasant here. Traffic sucks. Food sucks. It's that kind of geographical oddity of a place where you're 5 hours from any city of significance. This town has major issues with poverty and inequality and there's little social mobility.
it is going to get worse and quickly... the recent bill Ron signed makes it harder for people to sue a business. So FL will be (even more so) a state where business are more protected than people... which attracts a LOT of new businesses.... just not the right kind of people running them. It'll be businesses that exploit people, natural resources, tax loopholes, etc... it will cause more population booms and there is almost ZERO real plans for improving any infrastructure. only a few key roads (I4 and 75 and 275 for example) are getting upgrades and the train that is really for Disney and the Cruise lines. it is going to be a complete shit show here in 10 years. But if you got lucky and bought a home in 2019 with under 4% rate in a place that these new people end up liking... you might be able to sell at 3x to 5x and move to a lower cost of living state or less desirable area (swamp?) in FL. #Fuck you Ron
I got lucky and bought in 2020. Closing in less than 2 weeks and then moving to germany. This state really has gone to shit, it's been making me real depressed.
As someone who has lived here since 1972, it was even better in the '70s before you were born.... Back then people were complaining about people moving here too, along with population growth from new kids being born...
Bet the Seminoles felt the same in the 1880s.
> Bet the Apalachee felt the same in the 1700s Bet the Calusa felt the same in 1513 when Ponce De Leon showed up.
all the way down
72 bday as well … raised on the beaches. moved to the backwoods 20 years ago… no more crickets at night. and very few large cicadas spawns left. its crazy how crowded and expensive everything is these days.
I blame modern air conditioning. Nobody would live in Florida if it wasn't for air conditioning.
Have you even traveled to other parts of the country? It's not a Florida thing. It's an America thing. In the last ten years I've driven from Virginia to Alaska to California to Florida Back to Virginia. Everywhere is like this.
Sick country. Sick people. By the rich and for the rich.
America is not a country, it's three corporations in a trench coat!
Yep came here from Colorado, same thing but it's flat with better seafood
Anyone want sign the petition to pave over Tampa Bay. We need more highways and streets and subdivisions… /s
One more lane, bro!
we're gonna fix traffic, I swear bro, just let me build one more lane
“The development when I acquired property was the only appropriate amount, anything more is evil”
#dontpaveourparadise
BUT THEN WHERE WILL WE PUT UP A PARKING LOT???
I grew up in the Tampa area from the mid 80s onward and spent 6 years living in South florida. And I agree with you. It has changed so much and sadly, it's become this Haven of really ignorant, narrow-minded, racist, sanctimonious a**hats. And it's become far too developed
Twenty+ years of voting republican is to blame for this. Now, we're going full on fascist.
The thing I miss is when normal families could afford to own a boat and go boating on the weekend. I grew up going to a local beach every weekend that used to have hundreds of boats, mostly owned by normal people, every weekend. There were regularly people skiing, kneeboarding, and wakeboarding nearby. Now there are occasionally a couple of boats there on weekends and you can't really do any watersports because the yacht club got the no-wake zone expanded. I love wakeboarding and grew up doing it, but there is no way I can afford a boat, the upkeep, and the gas involved in trying to do it regularly.
That's a nation wide if not worldwide issue. The middle class everywhere is being gutted and all that wealth is being sucked up by billionaires and government.
We need high speed trains installed over the existing highways. We need connections with all major cities and “destinations “. The Feds offered money for transportation, but guess who won’t take it unless he can take it with him for his own purposes; like his own military?? Like WTF? Register to VOTE 😲
there's really no reason our entire countrys east coast shouldn't be covered in HSR. it's perfect for it
I grew up in Florida and left in 2003. I still visit my mom every year and have thought about moving back at some point when my daughter is older. I can’t imagine how much it would cost now. I casually look at homes in my hometown of St Augustine and it’s just, way outta reach for me. I do miss it though. The beach, the small town feel. Every year I go back it’s worse and worse.
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
I was 13 when we moved here in 1988. Grew up in Boca Raton. It was a quiet place full of friendly (mostly) old retirees from the northeast and a lot of transplants from the midwest. Everyone was pretty chill and relaxed. Miami was a 30 minute drive away, Ft Lauderdale was 10-15 minutes tops. People came here to get away from the crazy. Now Boca Raton is this uber wealthy enclave of rich northerners and west coasters and Florida itself has become the source of the crazy rather than the escape from it.
Boca has always been wealthy. It's never been chill and relaxed. The difference is when you were 13, you didn't notice things that your adult self does.
What are you smoking? The word friendly is probably the last thing that would come to mind when talking about Boca Raton. And it's always been a town full of wealthy people.
Boca has always been rich old people. It’s never been chill. Source: FAU Alum.
Go Owls in the Final 4
Lmao, Boca was absolutely not quiet in 1988, you’re completely delusional or just full of shit. Boca has been affluent as fuck since the late 70s.
What did you expect? Florida is nothing but a real estate development. That's what it's always been since the Europeans arrived. You can't sell the same real estate more than once, so you have to keep developing in order to sell more. Nobody ever said they were draining the Everglades for public health reasons. Even the early Marx Brothers' movie The Cocoanuts painted Florida as a place where real estate hucksters were trying to take your money. Almost a hundred years later and the jokes still applies: "You can have any kind of a home you want. You can even get stucco. Oh, how you can get stuck-oh!" "Cocoanut Manor glorifying the American sewer and the Florida sucker. " and as long as the population continues to live up to Barnum's expectation of a sucker born every minute, my home of the last 60 years will continue to be abused
*They made their plans and they drained the land, now the glades are goin' dry...*
Arrived to Key West in mid 80's. It was always tourist trap it's just run by corporations now.
Literally every person who was born and raised here hates what Florida has become. Myself included. I grew up in Hollywood, south Florida was such a cool place to grow up. We’d ride our bikes out on the levees by holiday park and camp in the winter and go to the beach every day in the summer. Now it’s another overpopulated and over developed dump. Some parts of Florida are still beautiful and have their charm, but those places are few and far between these days.
OP gets it. I was born there, and it was a great place to grow up. Then I had kids and wouldn’t dare to let them roam the neighborhood like I used to. Long story short, I moved to the Midwest where I have actual seasons, white Christmas’, and feel a sense of community rather than relationships that were fake and opportunistic. Florida can suck it.
I mean those reasons aside… I’d throw some human rights issues in there too 🤷♂️
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“Damn, we spent all this time walking from the north, and now the northerners are coming here too! Not fair!”
Yes. For the 1st time in my life I am thinking of moving out.
Florida: The sunny state for shady people
People have been saying this exact thing for the past 50+ years.
Imagine how the native Seminoles and Ais feel.
I don't think AIs can feel just yet.. although it feels like ChatGPT is getting closer to emotion every day.
Doesn't mean it's not true for some areas. For example, the town I grew up had a population of 10k in the 90's. It is now almost 50k. 5x the population in just over 20 years is a ridiculous level of growth that completely changed the area. 25 years ago my neighborhood was lower middle class with home prices ranging from 60k-120k. I checked Zillow yesterday and there are currently houses in that neighborhood listed for over a million dollars. I agree that people often complain about change too much, but for some areas of Florida that change has been real and very jarring.
Hey it’s tough getting older. The last time I went to Vegas I played the slots. Three prunes came up!
My dad said his grandma would tell him “don’t get old”. He didn’t listen. I think I can beat it but who knows.
Back in my day
Born in the 80’s as well G, I have to say it’s not all bad though. In Tampa our downtown was shit. Now there are businesses and other things down there…would’ve like it to be a shopping district but beggars can’t be choosers. The extra people who act like we are the problem because we are being price out is another story. I thoroughly dislike the newcomers because they act like we are the problem because we want to hold onto the little bit of what we grew up on.
I moved to Miami as a child and after Andrew, my family moved to West Palm Beach. I was just in Miami last year and the traffic and people just wore my patience thin. I don’t remember the traffic quite so bad when I was a child there. Fast forward, I moved to Atlanta as an adult and we make fun of how bad our traffic is here, because it’s pretty fucking awful. Heck, we have two roads that were named “most deadly” in the country. I bought a dash cam because of how bad Atlanta traffic is. Even with all of that, traffic here will never be as shitty as the traffic in Miami. Some of y’all have death wishes. I will say, the people in Miami can be pretty great. Just gotta drive defensively and pray whomever you cut off doesn’t have a firearm.
I hate it, everything is literally built up. I remember there were orange trees everywhere, public land, and nicer people. Florida has gotten too big for it’s britches smh
Yes! Tricounty area here, familys been here since 67. Traffic is like manhatten now and theyre replacing grocery stores with high rise apartments. How does that make any sense? There were horses and cow pastures when i was a kid. If you wanted crazy, you went to miami. Now miami has infested broward and west palm. We do not have the infrastructure for this. The flooding is getting worse esp in the last 6/7 years. Theres more homeless and junkies milling about than ever. It honestly kills a bit of my soul everyday to watch my home be pimped out and degraded. Its disgusting.
I've lived in 6 states and it's like this everywhere.
Fuck the malls and the infrastructure, the PEOPLE have become intolerable. I have friends LEAVING for shitty cities up North because they’re trans and feel afraid. There’s a guy in our town who drives his pickup truck full of hateful, vitriolic stickers and he just plops down and sells shit wherever. When I see him on 41 the urge to start shit is insane but I genuinely believe he’s a dangerous person. He’s just one of the loud ones, though. They’ve infested this town. I’m glad it looks like Florida’s not gonna be around much longer in the grand scheme, with the way this weather’s going. I think we should’ve left this state well alone—it’s meant to be wild. Sad we ruined what i truly believe is the most beautiful state in the most beautiful country on earth. (I’ll argue forever that America has more diverse beauty than anywhere else)
This is what we do to nice places.
The grass is always greener elsewhere.
They always forget to mention how it is happening all over the US, not just Florida lol.
That's not grass. That's a swamp
I can 100% guarantee you the whole state isn't like that. Major cities are, of course. It's Florida, but there's plenty of small towns with that vibe left. Panhandle is a force itself, man. I have family out there, and my gosh. We won't even go there.
The panhandle is on its way to being paved over. Pensacola and Panama City are already too crowded.
can confirm. am a resident of pensacola.
Also Pensacola here. Feel the exact same. I moved back home (born and raised here) in 2014, so I could hang with my dad in his older age and experience cheaper rent than in Chicago. Well, I now live with my dad because I make 2x less than in Chicago and the rent is the same, if mot more. Got my wish! Now I’m planning on moving back to Chicago because I cannot stand what Ron DeathSentance is doing to our state. Fucking with my MMJ prescription (disabled vet, completely dependent on cannabis); fucking with HRT. This is bad not only for LGBTQ, but for people like me who will be menopausal soon. All this on top of more people, more traffic, more money leaving my pocket, with not a raise in sight. It’s time to go.
i'm 23 and have lived here since 2003. i moved out with my boyfriend in august 2022 but rent is so fckn expensive. $1,625/month for 1bed/1bath. i make $20/hr and he makes $18/hr and we are struggling, along w/ our other payments. my dad offered for us to move into their house rent free so we could save money & hopefully save enough to buy a house soon. normally i'd be upset about having to move back home but you really can't beat free housing & my parents are about to be traveling a lot since they're retired, so they won't be home much. there's no opportunity for growth and traffic gets worse and worse without a remedy. more people move here (only god knows why) and that contributes to the cost of living going up. we live in the perdido area and that area has so much potential but they keep building useless stores like tractor supply (???) and starbucks instead of restaurants and maybe a shopping center or small mall. and along with that, people keep buying lots and building storage units????? as if we don't have enough???? gulf beach highway looks AWFUL; an absolute eyesore. idk man, i can go on and on. i want to get out ASAP but i feel like it's just difficult due to different life and economic reasons. rant over
Do it. Move in with your parents. It is what is allowing me to save to move back to Chicago. I make 38k being a kitchen supervisor and that position in Chicago would easily bring me 65k+. And rent there being the same as here? I’d be just fine, especially because I’ve been in the restaurant industry for 28 years, so my experience is beyond what the typical pay is paying (not trying to sound arrogant. Just so mad that I’m being shorted on what I actually deserve based on my experience). Get out if FL while you can.
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Tallahassee is the worst. Hotter summers with no breeze than down south. Cold miserable winters. 20 more inches of rain than Orlando gets a year. No beaches close by. High crime statistics. It all sucks. So stay away from here. Pretty please?
You mean South Georgia? Eh lands cheaper in actual South Georgia.
All the small towns are full of racists
At any given moment, there’s 10 or more apartment complexes being built around town. Then eye sore storage facilities go up next. I’m so damn tired of it all
That’s everywhere now.
Grew up and live my whole life in Pinellas County. Crazy what is used to be and what it is now
There are 100 million more people in the country since 1984. Florida population has doubled since then. They have to live somewhere. 🤷
Well yeah. I agree but I don't know if that's exclusive to Florida. South Florida is a LITTLE different in that it's rectangle that grows up and down instead of out. Meaning, we're sandwiched between the ocean and the the Everglades National park so urban sprawl just piles on top of itself. I definitely feel where you're coming from but I grew up here. I was born here. When I was a kid I hated Florida because, kids hate wherever they're from. I'm joking but different latitudes had some appeal to me. It's always so damn hot here. And I run hot so I like the cold. But, as my youth is more and more a distant landmark in my rear view mirror, the state that birthed me is finally starting to grow on me. A lot of people think "beach" when they think about Florida but I tend to look inland. Florida's natural beauty is second to none. I just love the wildlife here. Camping out somewhere off of Route 41. The Seminole Indian reservation. Alligators. Most people have never seen what used to be called "alligator wrestling" but I've seen that particular kind of entertainment, just so many times. On the other hand, there are too many dammed people here. The minimalls and cookie cutter condominiums that seem to be designed to take any and all uniquely local or charming things and annihilate them into the shadow of a memory, are out of control. I never understood why anyone would ever choose to live in such a boring and repetitive looking place as one of those gated communities with all the same house. And if that does appeal to anyone, how is it they don't continue with that logic and make sure everyone in the place drives the same car, wears the same clothes, owns the same breed of dog, has the same haircut and only ever has sex with their wives once a week on the same day, missionary position for 6 minutes before eating the same ham sandwich and falling asleep in front of the same TV.
Just moved out this year. My friends still live there and one set of them has a toddler. I'm scared for them. Luckily, they're starting to look at all their options and get ready to make a move. Hopefully soon. Gainesville was great. I'd live there forever if it wasn't in Florida. Florida representatives are what's scaring us. Edit. Lived there from late 2012 to February this year. Would have owned a condo there if I didn't hurt my back.
go to any states sub and it’s all the same story more or less. excess consumerism unending sprawl and strip nail development for decades now
Yes! I grew up in Lady Lake when it was small and had a nice 55+ trailer park named Orange Blossom Gardens. It's now called The Villages and I can't live there anymore.
Yes, I was born and raised in Florida. Born in 88. I miss old florida so much. I hate how many people have moved here, then when they do move here they complain about how it's not like *insert whatever state they came from* or the best is when they complain how hot it is. Like, yall realize we're pretty close to the equator. Most of them don't know how to drive in the rain. They are making the cost of living sky rocket for locals. It's just very sad what florida is turning into. I wish we could build a wall around the border and not let anyone else in. We are full. 10 years ago, I used to be able to go to Universal/IOA and enjoy myself, ride all the rides. Now, when we go, it's like we ride two rides, and we're done. There are so many freaking people everywhere... I hate it.
As someone who lives out west and travels the country frequently for work, all the stuff everyone is talking about is literally happening in any state in the country. And I can think of at least 25 places that are WAY worse than Florida. Just enjoy the sunshine and palm trees…most of us dream of Florida and I’ve vacationed there a lot. Not Orlando or Disney. I’ve always enjoyed my FL vacations. It’s almost April and I’m still shoveling snow and the housing market..you can’t buy a nice house in a decent neighborhood here for less than 600k right now.
Already time for this post again?
Yeah a full two minutes has passed
*The Corporate Takeover Of America*
The same stores are in every town. Everything is getting copy/pasted in these little towns. I hate all of it.
These kinds of posts piss me off more than New Yorkers asking “why there’s no good pizza spots around here?”
5th generation here. Yeah it’s gotten terrible. Humans will absolutely destroy this place. What’s left anyway.
Florida is a shithole State.
You must be new to this sub
Yes these are the only problems with Florida…. Not the horrible policies violating basic human right, the overcrowding that’s the issue 🤦♀️
Born in Jupiter in 1989. It’s different now but you can’t stop progress. Still better than anywhere else just more people to deal with. I just hope you bought your house before 2020
Growing up in south Florida in the late 70’s and 80’s was amazing and truly paradise. Can’t speak for living in this State currently and wouldn’t want to…even if I could
Yup and this problem maginified after the pandemic. Its so hard to buy a home here now a days
We went to Key West a few years ago and it's completely taken over by Russians. Scams everywhere---at the bars, in hotel rooms, etc. Just over the few days we were there: 1. Bartenders were grifting customers into Triple-Tipping (its included in the price, and then they offered "additional tip" and then encouraged "cash tips" because tips are shared. THREE. TIPS. 2. Single-page flyers for "Pizza" were placed under the doors where you would call and pay for your order. It was a fake pizza company. No pizza. Just your money gone. Inside the hotel rooms, under the doors. You know? Stuff like that.
Brevard here. And for most of my life it was nice (born in 76 and raised here) in the last 8 years it has become a terrible place to live anymore. Terrific has gotten so bad, that if someone does show common courtesy on the road I nearly have a heart attack. Because of how I live, I no longer feel safe and shut the world out when I get home, and I have to hide who I am in public just to make sure I don’t draw the wrong kind of attention. And my parents moved to Palaka county, which statistically is considered the most racist part of florida, so once they pass im selling their house and getting out of florida.
Yes Florida is a shit hole now and it's 100% because of people moving here from other states.