The most liveable place in Florida?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

Considering future options. Currently I live in San Francisco, which is rapidly becoming intolerable for a person who just wants to relax and be left alone. Prefer smaller cities or large towns. Best combination of:

Weather: not so hot as to raise blisters, and tolerable humidity
Least danger from hurricanes
Least long-term danger from rising water due to climate change
Least danger from things that will eat me
Politically and religiously relatively neutral or liberal

Does this fantasy location exist? Is either coast desirable, or how about the many inland lakes? Is the state as nutty as Carl Hiaasen makes out (and he’s not the only one)?

#2

Well you ruled Florida right out

Humidity is High a lot of the time, can be very high over 100%
Nothing in Florida technically has the “least” danger from hurricanes or high water

I’ve never been eaten by anything though, not even gators, they really prefer to avoid people mostly.

Cant tell you about politics or religion, neither are allowed at my house.

#3

You might be happier in Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona.

#4

I think most of Texas is ruled out due to weather or politics, ditto Arizona, but parts of New Mexico might work.

Other areas of California would work, as would Oregon or Washington.

#5

Hot Springs, Ark. The retirement capital of the world. Fun things to do. It’s a big small town.

#6

May I ask why you singled out Florida? Based on your list it seems like it would be right near the bottom in terms of ranking states.

#7

I like the idea of being on the ocean, an ocean where you can actually go in the water (unlike here, where the water temperature always requires a wetsuit). I also like the idea of those offshore islands (I guess that’s what they are) along the Atlantic coast that maybe protect the coast from weather and make protected places for water activities. That sort of thing.

Maybe I should aim for somewhere in the Hawaiian islands, but I think I prefer the mainland.

#8

Much like Florida I think you might be running into a bit of a wall if ‘tolerable humidity’ is a significant concern.

#9

If you can afford SF, you should be able to afford Santa Cruz.

#10

Maybe wait till the volcano goes to sleep?

#11

Hawaii has a beautiful climate. Never cold but never too hot.

But the cost of living in Hawaii is very high.

Hawaii also has growing problems with its crime, drugs, and homeless rates.

#12

True. The highest point in Florida is Sugarloaf “Mountain”. Here’s a picture of its majestic heights.

Florida has a lot of things going for it. But verticality isn’t one of them.

#13

One word: tradewinds.

I have the advantage of having been to various of the islands a few times. On one trip we met a couple vacationing from Florida, and we asked why they would fly all that way just for more sunshine. They said they wanted to escape the humidity.

But yeah, expensive, and dependent on other places for just about everything.

#14

They are called barrier islands. You’ve touched on a subject near and dear to Mrs. BLTC and my hearts as we are also looking for a place at some point south of the horrible winters that infest the Capital Region of NY…

We’re from MD, so very familiar with OC, MD and Assateague Island, MD. OC is very touristy, fun on a weekend kinda place to go, but, not to live, IMHO…Assateague is beautiful, definitely worth a visit, but as a National Park, they kinda discourage people from living there…

We have a family home on the Outer Banks of NC, Duck specifically, it’s horrible, please don’t move there…we’re really horrible people, it sleets constantly, year round, and there’s nothing to rent…:p…nah, it’s awesome, it’s our little part of paradise, and while the water is generally in the 70’s and sometimes in the 80’s (it was for us a couple of weeks ago), when the wind blows off-shore, it can drop into the 60’s very quickly as the Labrador Current is just off-shore…the same is true for Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head, but as you go south, it does get warmer on a more consistent basis…

Further down in Rodanthe and Avon, it’s still beautiful, not as crowded as KH, KDH or NG, but it’s isolated, we actually looked at some places down there this year, the prices were good, but a hospital is pretty far away, if a hurricane blows up, you either have a long evacuation or hunker in place…Same for Hatteras, beautiful, but out there…

Below Ocracoke Island and Cape Lookout, the coast line and the barrier islands turn east-west, and much further west, the water gets much warmer consistently, there’s Atlantic Beach, Emerald Isle, then moving south, Surf City, Topsail, and Wrightsville Beach, Sea Breeze, Carolina and Kure Beach…

The coast line again turns east-west, and there is Oak Island, Holden Beach, Ocean Isle and finally Sunset Beach just above the SC line…

We are actually partial to Oak Island, still growing, still quiet enough, the water is warm, and more importantly, affordable for us…

Please, this is not an exhaustive list of the NC barrier islands and towns, there are many more, but that part of our country is absolutely beautiful, temperate, yes, hot in the summer, but nowhere near as bad as FL, the spring and fall in Duck is fantastic, and that’s one of the more northern towns…Corolla is about 25 minutes north of Duck…

#15

Humidity of over 100% is, of course, impossible. But, that said, my experiences with various locations in Florida have almost uniformly included considerable humidity, regardless of time of year. I imagine that there could be somewhere in the state that’s not bloody humid, but I’ve never been there.

#16

To be honest, Walt Disney World came into my mind when I read the title.

#17

Nah, it’s possible. “100% humidity” is defined as the molar concentration of water vapor in the air above liquid water in a closed container. But there are weather conditions that create humidity a little bit greater this “100%” definition. I believe a fog can do this. A little more info here.

#18

As much as I would love to have you as a neighbor, **Roderick Femm ** , you deserve better :slight_smile: Aside from the cold water and the crowds, can you expand more upon why you want to leave SF? It seems to me there are many parts of CA that have the things you’re looking for and if you can afford to live in your current place, you should have a pretty large choice of alternatives.

In any case, you asked about FL and it’s pretty much the opposite of everything on your list. I think you would have a very hard time with the weather, especially after being in SF. Of course I don’t know you; maybe you’d take to it quickly but since you mentioned it specifically, you’d definitely want to stick to the northern portion of the state.

Not too much danger of being eaten by sharks or gators or land critters but the mosquitoes are a real pain in the ass. I mean that literally; they have bitten me through spandex lycra shorts.

I’ve lived here 25 years (for reasons too long to get in to here)so I’ve had to make the best of it and there are some things that I like but I would never recommend to anyone to relocate here. It’s the poster child for the old saying “it’s a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there”.

#19

Nah, the humidity in Hawaii isn’t bad or that noticeable. Trade winds help. Hawaii is basically the ideal climate, 82 and sunny year round, with frequent rain.

The bad things about Hawaii as others have stated is 1. Cost, 2. Reliance on outside shipments for everything (Hawaii would have a very ugly “societal shutdown” scenario that would act out very fast), and 3. Lots of homeless people and property crime if you live on Oahu.

Oh, also it has volcanoes, gets earthquakes and tsunamis and can be hit by a hurricane.

I think you could mitigate a lot of the problems by living on the big island far enough away from the coasts, and having a healthy stock of food/gas/water in case supplies get interrupted.

That would ameliorate problems 1, 2, and 3, pretty much, but you’d be living a pretty rural life. But you’d be in a perfect climate with amazing scenery and weather, fantastic beaches nearby, and you could have a bunch of coconut, banana, lychee, and mango trees on your property. Sounds good from my end!

#20

We just moved from New York City (15 years) to Vero Beach and couldn’t be happier. We’re right on the ocean (Atlantic side), it’s only a town of 20,000 people, and everyone is friendly and welcoming. I play tennis every other day and delight in the fact that I now have a driveway. I can’t say it’s not humid, though; it’s really freaking hot right now, and I heard it will only get worse in August. But, we have central air and a car with AC, so it’s not too bad.

They were threatened last year with their first hurricane in 10 years, and even that shifted courses and went up the Gulf coast. Politically we’ve seen a few Trump stickers, but nothing that’s been thrown in our faces. Since we registered as Democrats we’ve been getting mail for local Democrat events, so at least we know there are enough here to have a group.