SATX_BQ98 said:
Have a job opportunity in Tampa area. Wife and kid are apprehensive about moving. How is life for a family with a HS freshman to be? Lots of things to do? quality of life? Moving from San Antonio, and have never lived outside Texas.
I live in the Tampa area, have for 21 years now. The answers to your questions can vary of course depending on what you and your family's interests are. There's plenty of stuff to do and stay busy with especially if you're active outdoors.
If your kid is into sports he'll find a team for pretty much any sport. Tampa area itself is a big sports town. We have the Bucs, the Rays, and the Lightning are just as popular here as the Bucs believe it or not.
Outdoor activities trend more towards the water -either salt or freshwater (although you obviously have to be careful about swimming in freshwater). My only complaint with the outdoors here is that I'm a hiker and camper. The landscape and terrain doesn't lend itself to very exciting hiking, and the climate makes camping between March and November miserable. My son and I head up to Georgia and Tennessee to do our camping and hiking. But if you're more of a fishing and out on the water type of person you'll love it.
And of course you have the beaches extremely close and all the amusement parks in Orlando only an hour away.
The area is growing fast so there are growing pains, with housing and traffic being the biggest ones. But all the amenities seem to be keeping up (stores, etc).
Not to get too political but if you're of more of a conservative nature then Florida is trending in the right direction for you. I can't tell you how happy I was that I lived in Florida during the pandemic. My day to day life changed very little during that time.
That said when I retire I do plan on moving to the hills of Tennessee or North Carolina but that's just personal preference. I am glad to be living right now in Florida, making my career and raising my son here.
