Why isn't Jacksonville the most sought after city in Florida? (Miami: rental, house)

[remirosie123]

HI ALL,
MY family and I moved here about a year ago and we love it here. We are in our fiftues, but feel much younger and there is alot to do her ein Jax contrary to what others say, to name a few:
Hannah Park
Rail Trail
Camping,
Biking trails all over Jax
Jumbo Shrimo, Iceman, Jags and UNF sports are always fun
Riverside Avondale areas to est, walk around, bike or just see the sights and walk along the river,
Concerts at Daily's Place
Florida Theatre for plays ,musicals etc
Beautiful beach areas fro Ponte Vedra to Atlantic Beach
Friendly people all over this area
Lots of restaurants
Dog friendly
Many FB groups for jax activities of all ages
and much much more

Anyone who says it is boring here needs their head examined LOL

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by remirosie123

HI ALL,
MY family and I moved here about a year ago and we love it here. We are in our fiftues, but feel much younger and there is alot to do her ein Jax contrary to what others say, to name a few:
Hannah Park
Rail Trail
Camping,
Biking trails all over Jax
Jumbo Shrimo, Iceman, Jags and UNF sports are always fun
Riverside Avondale areas to est, walk around, bike or just see the sights and walk along the river,
Concerts at Daily's Place
Florida Theatre for plays ,musicals etc
Beautiful beach areas fro Ponte Vedra to Atlantic Beach
Friendly people all over this area
Lots of restaurants
Dog friendly
Many FB groups for jax activities of all ages
and much much more

Anyone who says it is boring here needs their head examined LOL

Well, if a person is into rodeo, livestock, western wear, JAX sure isn't it. We found out that we are not "beach" type people, being that we only went to the beach four times in 10 1/2 years. We are back in Colorado, where we should've never left at all.

However, there are those that not just like JAX, but love it. And, that's fine, but most definitely not us. Took 10 1/2 years to find that out. LOL

[remirosie123]

Originally Posted by LoveBoating

Well, if a person is into rodeo, livestock, western wear, JAX sure isn't it. We found out that we are not "beach" type people, being that we only went to the beach four times in 10 1/2 years. We are back in Colorado, where we should've never left at all.

However, there are those that not just like JAX, but love it. And, that's fine, but most definitely not us. Took 10 1/2 years to find that out. LOL

Hi there,

Not sure the rodeo situaton, but my co worker went to some type of rodeo a few weeks ago, she said it was fun, but cannot recall where it was exactly. We are not super into the beach really either(but the restuarants and fun places on the beach are really great), but theres so much more as stated in my post. I heard Colorado is nice, I need to get there soon, but will wait until it warms up, cold and me are a no, though I am enjoying Jax temps right now LOL

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by remirosie123

Hi there,

Not sure the rodeo situaton, but my co worker went to some type of rodeo a few weeks ago, she said it was fun, but cannot recall where it was exactly. We are not super into the beach really either(but the restuarants and fun places on the beach are really great), but theres so much more as stated in my post. I heard Colorado is nice, I need to get there soon, but will wait until it warms up, cold and me are a no, though I am enjoying Jax temps right now LOL

Lake City has a pro-rodeo, that we went to. As far as I know, all other rodeos are in central Florida, south of Orlando. And, we knew what we were returning to, when we moved back her to Colorado and winters, but as we each get older...........well, you know what I'm talking about.

However, we did love boating (power) on the St John's River. Use to go out of Goodby's Landing and head to JAX Landing, tie up and have lunch. Had fun going to the old/out of business Latitude 360 on Phillips Hwy on Friday/Saturday nights after having a Mexican dinner. Went to The Town Center for breakfast and a few other things sometimes. Never went to the nightclub Mavericks, at the Landing. Just too "Rednecky" for us. We did keep quite busy when we lived in JAX though.

[brickpatio2018]

I don't get the comments about crime in Jacksonville. When I look at crimegrade.org maps, there are huge swathes that are dark green which is the map color for maximally safe. Basically everything south of Butler Boulevard and east of I-295 are dark green/ultra safe, which appear to be huge areas.

There are some red (dangerous) areas on Philips Highway on the east side of the river, (although sometimes the map is wrong because it doesn't seem to account for high-volume commercial areas that have few residents).

The west side of the river is slightly more spotty (e.g. Blanding Blvd, Lenox Ave, Cedar Hills Estates) but there are safe parts also.

I guess I'm wondering if the east side of the river such as San Marcos is dangerous or are the comments on this site referring mostly to the areas north and west of downtown.

I read an article that Jacksonville has one of the fastest growing economies and had a major company move from New Jersey to Jacksonville recently. I'm wondering if that is starting to translate in terms of growth in the downtown area. (That company located their new headquarters in the suburbs near Butler and Southside I believe).

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by higgins45

We are leaving St Johns area after three years due to the poor job market. Tampa, Orlando, and possibly Miami have a much more diverse job market than Jax.

Jax job market tends to revolve around the Navy base, hospitals, and call center type jobs. If you are retired, or in these fields, you can make it work. Didn't work for us.

Medical Marijuana user? In what dimension is Jax less diverse economically given the evidence points opposite.

[wrat]

Originally Posted by brickpatio2018

I don't get the comments about crime in Jacksonville. When I look at crimegrade.org maps, there are huge swathes that are dark green which is the map color for maximally safe. Basically everything south of Butler Boulevard and east of I-295 are dark green/ultra safe, which appear to be huge areas.

There are some red (dangerous) areas on Philips Highway on the east side of the river, (although sometimes the map is wrong because it doesn't seem to account for high-volume commercial areas that have few residents).

The west side of the river is slightly more spotty (e.g. Blanding Blvd, Lenox Ave, Cedar Hills Estates) but there are safe parts also.

I guess I'm wondering if the east side of the river such as San Marcos is dangerous or are the comments on this site referring mostly to the areas north and west of downtown.

I read an article that Jacksonville has one of the fastest growing economies and had a major company move from New Jersey to Jacksonville recently. I'm wondering if that is starting to translate in terms of growth in the downtown area. (That company located their new headquarters in the suburbs near Butler and Southside I believe).

Crimegrade.org can be pretty deceiving as it shows unpopulated areas as red (highest crime) just for example it shows the Loxahatchee wildlife refuge as red

[Monello]

Jax schools can be sketchy. Back when I was stationed there, my sons' first middle school was Mathew Gilbert. It was touted as a math, science & technology magnet school. But it's full of 15 year old 8th graders that create an unsafe environment where little teaching is accomplished due to constant student disciplining. 1 semester of that place was enough for me. Glad I got transferred shortly after that educational nightmare began. Educational diversity is a recipe for disaster for any student that wants to learn.

Even though this was years ago, I see on great schools that MGMS is still underperforming with a 2 out of 10 rating. https://www.greatschools.org/florida...Middle-School/

[civis8]

Things I don't like about Jax metro:


- just too many mobile homes

- why would someone put a naval base in the center of a city?

- good schools are very rare, literally just a few zip codes out of whole area.

- St Augustine zoo park, what I stinky s.h., should be closed for good

- it's allowed to drive cars on the beach where adults and kids swim, and dogs can **** there as well, why??

- current RE prices are nuts, I see listings bought 2 years ago, and now re-selling at x2 price, I just don't get why people buy into such crazy market which will obviously sink in 6-8 months.

[socalbee]

Originally Posted by civis8

Things I don't like about Jax metro:


- just too many mobile homes

- why would someone put a naval base in the center of a city?

- good schools are very rare, literally just a few zip codes out of whole area.

- St Augustine zoo park, what I stinky s.h., should be closed for good

- it's allowed to drive cars on the beach where adults and kids swim, and dogs can **** there as well, why??

- current RE prices are nuts, I see listings bought 2 years ago, and now re-selling at x2 price, I just don't get why people buy into such crazy market which will obviously sink in 6-8 months.

All excellent points. In addition, IOHO the City is simply too big and the traffic is terrible. One good thing is Mayo Clinic though.

St. Johns County is way better and still a nice place to live. For how long, I am not sure. Excellent Schools, Great Healthcare the further south you go, and good access to Jax if needed with at the moment at least, somewhat tolerable traffic. Homes are more expensive though, but like everything else in this country you get what you pay for.