# Does anyone here live in Florida? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 18, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505 "2017-03-18T22:22:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GiovanniTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5ac83/32.png) [@GiovanniTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiovanniTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/1 "2017-03-18T22:22:42Z")
I am new to the forum and just figure I would ask generally if anyone in here lives in FL. And how do you like it? Personally I see most of it as a swamp where all the clueless seem to migrate, a good amount vote Trump. Trailer trash and hoodrats are at a high % as well. Not my thing in all honesty. I will probably only live here for another year or year and a half. I am in the Sarasota area. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/2 "2017-03-18T22:31:34Z")
Since the OP is asking for personal experiences, let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/3 "2017-03-18T23:15:25Z")
Hell, Sarasota is one of the GOOD parts. ---
**Author:** ![GiovanniTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5ac83/32.png) [@GiovanniTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiovanniTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/4 "2017-03-19T00:16:59Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Hell, Sarasota is one of the GOOD parts. You’re overall correct. Its not as bad as some but to ignore the problems it does have is still suicide just because its still not “as bad” as other areas around Tampa. Its not littered with trailers no, but then again theres also other problems too. The dominant society. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/5 "2017-03-19T00:33:44Z")
Not any more. Used to, just on the Florida side from Valdosta GA – what we called there “The Real Florida”. Suwanee River country. The town I lived in didn’t even have a motel, but there was one in the county… I loved it. None of the shit the OP is talking about. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/6 "2017-03-19T00:38:47Z")
Bradenton reporting. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/7 "2017-03-19T02:05:32Z")
Broward county here. The things you claim are in Sarasota are pretty common throughout the United States. I’ve not been to Sarasota since before the Great Crash of ‘07. But before that it seemed to me to be a generic US suburb with all the usual pathologies of workin’ class America. IMO/IME rural FL is no different from rural OK, GA, or MT to name but three of the 49 other possibilities. With all the typical pathologies. It’s clear the OP is unhappy with his surroundings. I’m real curious to learn where he thinks he’s going to go to avoid the things he’s upset about. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/8 "2017-03-19T05:13:07Z")
I’m a Pinellas County resident; lived in Lee County at one time. I’ve lived in eight of the lower forty eight states and every one of them have the same problems. Florida ain’t unique. ---
**Author:** ![keturah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e95f7d/32.png) [@keturah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keturah)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/9 "2017-03-19T05:18:49Z")
Duval. Your problem isn’t where you live, it’s who you are. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/10 "2017-03-19T06:15:07Z")
> [@keturah](#): > > Duval. Your problem isn’t where you live, it’s who you are. Agreed. If that’s where the clueless migrate and the OP is there, does that mean he’s clueless as well? Seems he thinks he’s too good for the place, yet there he remains. Say OP, what society is the dominant one in FL? ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/11 "2017-03-19T07:15:46Z")
I lived in Florida about 13 years ago for about a year. It was the first place I lived in the US after moving here. I didn’t hate it at the time, but in retrospect it was my least favorite place to live. I lived in Broward county too, just north of Fort Lauderdale. I didn’t really notice it being horrible for the reasons in the opening post. Mostly it was just kind of boring, and the sort of things it had to offer just weren’t of any interest to me. It did feel like an endless sprawl of strip malls and I never really felt it had a cultural identity or a bustling central city area like any of the places I’ve lived since (Atlanta, Berkeley, Sacramento, Bellevue). But of course that is just my perspective, and I don’t think it truly represents _all_ of Florida. Still, I would not pick Florida as a state to live in, and the idea of retiring there or anything like that is not one that appeals to me. If I was to pick my favorite US places to live so far I would pick Berkeley (and the Bay Area in general) if I didn’t account for the cost of living, and Bellevue (and the Seattle area in general) if I did. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/12 "2017-03-19T11:27:03Z")
I lived in the Jacksonville area on two separate occasions for a total of about 18 years. I was glad to leave the first time, and as soon as we returned (due to a job transfer) we began plotting our exit. My husband was able to find a job in Maryland about 2 years later, but I stayed a total of 4 years while our daughter finished high school. Once I got her settled at college, I left, only to return to visit family (inlaws live in Ocala, daughter in Orlando.) Personally, I didn’t like the politics and the overall attitudes of many of the people I met there. I didn’t like the bugs and the sand and the traffic. Far too many folks seemed to relish ignorance. I’m not saying where I live now is totally different - this county is very right-leaning and I’ve seen more than my share of idiot drivers. Still, I can’t imagine any circumstances that would induce me to return to Florida as a resident. If our family members leave the state, I’ll never return. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/13 "2017-03-19T12:07:47Z")
I happily live in the Orlando area and I too wonder what the OP is on about. Unless it’s “Wherever you go, there you are.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/14 "2017-03-19T14:11:13Z")
Going back to the OP it is true that urban/suburban FL has a higher percentage of Caribbean and Latin American immigrants than most of the rest of the US. Which sounds like one of the things he’s objecting to. And which he could avoid by moving to some state more north and inland. OTOH, he complains about Trump voters. Those two complaints are sorta antithetical. Ref [2016 United States presidential election - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election%2C_2016#Results_by_state) I see that if we rank order the states by percentage voting for Trump, FL ranked 26th. So if the OP randomly moves to another state he’s slightly more likely to move to a more Trump-favoring state, rather than a less Trump-favoring state. IOW he has more ways to make his problem worse than he does make it better. One wonders if he will return to grace us with further dollops of his thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/15 "2017-03-19T14:17:35Z")
Nassau County, for the second time. Also lived in Marion, Pinellas and Indian River counties. Locals seemed friendly enough. They leave me alone, I leave them alone. Plus, I love the heat. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/16 "2017-03-19T14:59:31Z")
I have friends who retired to St. Pete’s, which is apparently one of those blue islands in the midst of a red state, much like Austin, TX. They like it well enough, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/17 "2017-03-19T15:44:54Z")
Actually most of the US is that way. The vast bulk of the land area is red. A majority of the people in cities & suburbs are blue. Nationwide and even statewide in many states it nets to close to 50/50, even while most people find their local area is 80/20. Hence the massive frustration with “unaccountable Washington”. Actually it’s pretty accountable to the 50/50 nation even as it fails the 80/20 localities. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/18 "2017-03-20T12:58:03Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I have friends who retired to St. Pete’s, which is apparently one of those blue islands in the midst of a red state, much like Austin, TX. They like it well enough, it seems. This is correct. Also, though I don’t about your friends, “retiring to St. Petersburg” doesn’t mean what it used to. No longer “God’s waiting room”. I’ve been here twenty-five years and I’ll agree with the OP about the stupid people migrating here. Kind of surprised to hear him talk about trailer trash and hood rats in Sarasota. There’s plenty of that in certain areas, just like any other state but I always thought of Sarasota as being upper class (?) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/19 "2017-03-20T13:18:53Z")
Longtime Florida resident and almost everything about the actual state of Florida seems utterly unnatural to me: the heat, the humidity, the air pressure, the endless suburbia, the lack of hills. But the people seem about the same as people everywhere else, like others have said. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505/20 "2017-03-20T13:24:24Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Going back to the OP it is true that urban/suburban FL has a higher percentage of Caribbean and Latin American immigrants than most of the rest of the US. Which sounds like one of the things he’s objecting to. And which he could avoid by moving to some state more north and inland. > > OTOH, he complains about Trump voters. Those two complaints are sorta antithetical. Theoretically it is possible to object both to an immigrant and a Trump. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Actually most of the US is that way. Not that much point in finding pastures new then. The hints from others that the fault lies within ourselves and not the stars Brutus are both facile and condescending to the horizon of stupidity. There are many, many reasons who people don’t just jack it all in and move — like a bank clerk to a beachcomber in old novels — ranging from money, employment, family, obligations, cost of moving etc… And if it is himself rather than specific others everywhere, there is nothing wrong in having high standards and expecting more of ordinary folk. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-here-live-in-florida/782505.md?page=2)