Help! Relocating to Florida
 

I currently live in the DC area, and I want to relocate to Florida. I want to be closer to the ocean. I need help from FL residents. Where is the best place in FL for a single 31 year-old female to move?

I'm currently in school studying Computer Science, so I need to consider universities. My employment background is in healthcare (insurance, admitting, finance). I do not have kids. I want to move somewhere safe enough, close to the beach, cheap, and away from the big party scene like Miami. Also, hurricanes scare me, but I can suck it up. Anything to get away from this snow. I prefer somewhere that do not get as much hurricanes. I was thinking Jacksonville.

Every place gets hurricanes...just a matter of time. I would do some reading in this relocation forum:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/florida/

Never mind, I see you've already posted on City-Data.

Fodor's is a travel forum, not a relocation forum. Maybe someone will chime in with a good answer, but it's not really the area of focus here.

These questions <B>happen quite frequently here</B>. I live on the beach in Florida and I moved here from North Arlington.

The "best place" is likely NOT going to be "cheap" AND "close to the ocean" down here so you need to get used to that.

Please consider that today, at 6PM, the temperature was 94degrees in Ft. Lauderdale. The low temperature hasn't been lower than 80 degrees for a month or more. Are you up for that?

If you want to relocate anywhere, you need to travel there for at least a couple of days and visit and drive around. Look at the scene. Read the paper, etc. Do some research.

You need to answer a few questions:

What's your housing budget? (As someone noted, "cheap" and "close to the beach" don't go well together.)

Re the beach, how "near" is "near"? An hour? 10 mins?

You mentioned J'ville. Do you prefer an urban area?

What makes you think one part of FL is less susceptible to hurricanes than another? I'm sure some areas have been hit more than others, but that's not a predictor of what's coming.

"What makes you think one part of FL is less susceptible to hurricanes than another?"

That's actually true, statistically. Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties are more likely to suffer a big hurricane. Nassau, Duval and St. Johns counties are less susceptible.

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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

O_V: I realize that, as I pointed out. What I also pointed out is that the past isn't necessarily a good predictor of where hurricanes will hit in the future.

Think long and hard about this. I want to move back to the northeast in the worse way. Your pay will not be as good, the beach is expensive, drug crime is bad right now. I hate summer here. It is so hot you burn your feet on the sand getting into the water. Did I mention this is a red state?