Possibly moving to Florida. What areas are good and which are bad??

Any place you are going to move is going to have its good areas and bad areas. The first question is what type of city are you looking to move to. South Florida is great once you get the lay of the land but if you are from the Midwest or a small town you will probably hate it. It can be quite a culture shock moving to tri-county area (Dade, Broward and Palm Beach) for some people. Plus the tri-county area is very expensive to live in right now. There are going to be good and bad neighborhoods in Orlando and Tampa as well. This is going to be a problem with any of the larger school districts. If you are going to pursue jobs in any major city in Florida you are going to have to learn a little bit about the area to find a place you like.

I have lived in small town Virginia, New York City and now in South Florida. I don't think that I was in any more danger in one place than the other. Crime happens anywhere.

To narrow your search you may want to examine the school districts and job openings. You could potentially feel safer at home but spend your day terrified at work or hate your job. I would examine the openings available and then look to see what housing is available for those jobs.

With all that said, you may want to look at openings in Melbourne and Palm Bay. Its a nice area that is just starting to grow and the housing will still be reasonable.

I went down there last year thinking of relocating, and after my visit I wasn't impressed. The only place I found was around Bradenton, that's on the gulf side I'm not sure of the county. I had people that used to live there tell me to stay away from Miami and N. Palm Beach, Windemier is where Tiger Woods lives so that must be nice and Palm Beach, but you won't be able to afford those places on a teachers salary. Good luck

I know that my mother taught in Tampa (public and private) and never really found anything she liked. I know that the suburbs of Tampa are nice like Lithia, Brandon, as well as a little further down Bradenton and Sarasota. However, there are schools in the panhandle that are the best in the state. Try Destin. Although the cost of living is not cheap it is not high either.

I would suggest Sarasota. It has plenty to do for your age. As long as you stay out of down town, it is safe and beautiful! Bradenton (mentioned above) is the next town north of Sarasota. It is okay, I guess. It is a pretty redneck area. There are nice areas there, I'm sure. Sarasota, by the way, is about an hour south of Tampa.