Naples or similar for family?

[Sweetbottoms]

Lived in Naples for 34+ years and left 6 years ago and so glad we did. Best decision we made. Since we left its been totaled by 2 major hurricanes, the summers have gotten longer, the corruption worse. They have someone on the school board in favor of and advocating for hitting handicapped children to make them behave. No thanks. Don't need that around my children.

Destin and Naples are two different worlds. You cannot compare one to the other, at all. You may not mind the heat but it can be relentless, and you can have triple digit heat indexes from Feb-Nov with unrelenting humidity. I grew up in it and when we left, I couldn't even stand to be outside anymore. Naples used to be an even 6 and 6 with summer/nice weather. Now its more 10/2. My kiddo didn't want to play at parks etc because its like pea soup and drains you just to sit in the shade. Something to consider is when those hurricanes come through, as they always, will be prepared to be in Aug triple digits with 90% humidity with no power for weeks sometimes. No gas, no refrigeration, no a/c, no food on the shelves at the stores and limited access to them when they get it in. It became a drag year after year after year wondering "is this the year we lose it all".

RSW is a major airport, couldn't tell you how it would work out flying to Europe and such, but it certainly has flights out and its reasonable distance to Naples.

[seabreeze88]

Here 's a piece from the Miami Herald dated Feb 24th 2023, that might be of interest to OP:

"This Florida city was just named best place to live in the U.S Miami isn’t even close.

Scholaroo, a nonprofit educational research company and scholarship website engine, has released its list of the best U.S. cities to live in in 2023, and Naples, Florida was No. 1. The study analyzed 151 American cities and rated nine main indicators of happiness and satisfaction: crime and safety; affordability; economy; quality of life; health care; education; employment; leisure and entertainment; and infrastructure.
Naples ranked at the top for health care, with the highest number of hospitals, and the highest number of public schools. It ranked in the top two cities in terms of bridge safety, but also had the single highest median home value of the cities the study examined. It’s a nice enough place to live — if you have the money. Meanwhile, Miami ranked a dismal 124 out of 151 cities, despite the fact that just last year Time magazine called it one of the best cities in the world and last month Forbes reported it was among the best places to live in the country. Those publications were apparently talking about some other Miami. As far as Scholaroo is concerned, this Miami ranks second worst in terms of education, and it also scored poorly in affordability and economy.

Other Florida cities that were ranked include Tampa (14), Melbourne (21), Pensacola (33) and Fort Myers (38). The only other Florida city in the top 50 was Jacksonville at No. 46. Here are the best and worst city rankings from Scholaroo:

BEST CITIES TO LIVE IN 1. Naples, Florida 2. Carmel, Indiana 3. Naperville, Illinois 4. Amherst, New Hampshire 5. Portland, Maine. 6. Alpharetta, Georgia 7. Madison, Mississippi 8. Papillion, Nebraska 9. Leawood, Kansas 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts

WORST 10 CITIES TO LIVE IN 142. Baton Rouge, Louisiana 143. Detroit, Michigan 144. Poughkeepsie, New York 145. New York, New York 146. Modesto, California 147. Oxnard, California. 148. Memphis, Tennessee 149. Los Angeles, California 150. San Jose, California 151. San Francisco, California"

[movin1]

I lived in Naples, FL and in and around the Chicago area. I left both places for reasons. Scholaroo and other websites that list "best places to live" don't take into account things I did, like weather and cost of living (property taxes, power bills, etc). The weather, taxes, crime, and traffic in the Chicago area made me try Naples as a place to live. The weather and lack of things to do in Naples led me to try Las Vegas. After five year here, I still like it here better than IL or FL. Chicago is a beautiful city with lots of things to do, great restaurants, art, museums, entertainment etc, but you pay dearly for it and you can't get out much in the long winter season. Naples is nice, but there's not much to do other than golf and the beach, and the weather is too humid many months of the year to enjoy doing outdoor activities. Just my opinion for what it's worth.

[JPrzybylski07]

Originally Posted by seabreeze88

Here 's a piece from the Miami Herald dated Feb 24th 2023, that might be of interest to OP:

"This Florida city was just named best place to live in the U.S Miami isn’t even close.

Scholaroo, a nonprofit educational research company and scholarship website engine, has released its list of the best U.S. cities to live in in 2023, and Naples, Florida was No. 1. The study analyzed 151 American cities and rated nine main indicators of happiness and satisfaction: crime and safety; affordability; economy; quality of life; health care; education; employment; leisure and entertainment; and infrastructure.
Naples ranked at the top for health care, with the highest number of hospitals, and the highest number of public schools. It ranked in the top two cities in terms of bridge safety, but also had the single highest median home value of the cities the study examined. It’s a nice enough place to live — if you have the money. Meanwhile, Miami ranked a dismal 124 out of 151 cities, despite the fact that just last year Time magazine called it one of the best cities in the world and last month Forbes reported it was among the best places to live in the country. Those publications were apparently talking about some other Miami. As far as Scholaroo is concerned, this Miami ranks second worst in terms of education, and it also scored poorly in affordability and economy.

Other Florida cities that were ranked include Tampa (14), Melbourne (21), Pensacola (33) and Fort Myers (38). The only other Florida city in the top 50 was Jacksonville at No. 46. Here are the best and worst city rankings from Scholaroo:

BEST CITIES TO LIVE IN 1. Naples, Florida 2. Carmel, Indiana 3. Naperville, Illinois 4. Amherst, New Hampshire 5. Portland, Maine. 6. Alpharetta, Georgia 7. Madison, Mississippi 8. Papillion, Nebraska 9. Leawood, Kansas 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts

WORST 10 CITIES TO LIVE IN 142. Baton Rouge, Louisiana 143. Detroit, Michigan 144. Poughkeepsie, New York 145. New York, New York 146. Modesto, California 147. Oxnard, California. 148. Memphis, Tennessee 149. Los Angeles, California 150. San Jose, California 151. San Francisco, California"

Hogwash. Naples definitely isn’t the best city to live in. It’s definitely not the worse by any means but those studies are so dumb.

[Sweetbottoms]

Originally Posted by seabreeze88

Here 's a piece from the Miami Herald dated Feb 24th 2023, that might be of interest to OP:

"This Florida city was just named best place to live in the U.S Miami isn’t even close.

Scholaroo, a nonprofit educational research company and scholarship website engine, has released its list of the best U.S. cities to live in in 2023, and Naples, Florida was No. 1. The study analyzed 151 American cities and rated nine main indicators of happiness and satisfaction: crime and safety; affordability; economy; quality of life; health care; education; employment; leisure and entertainment; and infrastructure.
Naples ranked at the top for health care, with the highest number of hospitals, and the highest number of public schools. It ranked in the top two cities in terms of bridge safety, but also had the single highest median home value of the cities the study examined. It’s a nice enough place to live — if you have the money. Meanwhile, Miami ranked a dismal 124 out of 151 cities, despite the fact that just last year Time magazine called it one of the best cities in the world and last month Forbes reported it was among the best places to live in the country. Those publications were apparently talking about some other Miami. As far as Scholaroo is concerned, this Miami ranks second worst in terms of education, and it also scored poorly in affordability and economy.

Other Florida cities that were ranked include Tampa (14), Melbourne (21), Pensacola (33) and Fort Myers (38). The only other Florida city in the top 50 was Jacksonville at No. 46. Here are the best and worst city rankings from Scholaroo:

BEST CITIES TO LIVE IN 1. Naples, Florida 2. Carmel, Indiana 3. Naperville, Illinois 4. Amherst, New Hampshire 5. Portland, Maine. 6. Alpharetta, Georgia 7. Madison, Mississippi 8. Papillion, Nebraska 9. Leawood, Kansas 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts

WORST 10 CITIES TO LIVE IN 142. Baton Rouge, Louisiana 143. Detroit, Michigan 144. Poughkeepsie, New York 145. New York, New York 146. Modesto, California 147. Oxnard, California. 148. Memphis, Tennessee 149. Los Angeles, California 150. San Jose, California 151. San Francisco, California"

Thats funny. Naples is far from a family friendly place. Just watch the new coverages of families being harassed by HOA's cause their kids rode their bike in the parking lots or drew with chalk on some sidewalk. Number 1 for those with millions to spend and nothing to do but be miserable to others, golf, and sit on the beach. For the rest of the town they're struggling to rent 1 bedroom apartments, have no hope of ever buying there, and can't afford to leave cause the basic necessities to live there take up all their $. Is it safe? Sure. Thats one piece of a huge puzzle. It has the highest number of public schools ? Cool they sit with no books in the libraries and teachers being threatened for even thinking of mentioning Anne Frank. Such a free family friendly town in such a free state with nothing but restrictions and threats on everyone.