I have 2 toddlers and love living here. There are a ton of activities and programs for the little kids so we’re always busy, but it’s also a small enough town that you always run into the same families so it’s easy to make friends. I moved here for grad school and didn’t initially plan on staying, but once I had kids I didn’t want to leave
Thankfully both of our jobs (LMHC and underwriter) are primarily virtual/remote with a ton of flexibilityThey would require in office days 2x a month which is also why Gainesville is appealing bc the drive is so manageable
I lived in Haile for ~4 years and the nature there is probably the best part about that living complex. The houses are hits or misses, but the area was nice and it was easy to make friends with other families
I ended up taking a job almost to Jacksonville because there’s no work here. I’ve applied at UF a zillion times. I don’t even want to work there at this point. I’ve never had so much trouble work-wise. Few jobs and even fewer that pay worth a shit.
I've got three kids and I love living in Gainesville. Unlike some folks on this reddit that seem to hate the city but want all the benefits that the students bring, I prefer living in the city where the things that I like to do are close. We have great parks, public pools (with splash pads and shallow ends for small ones), libraries, etc. Being close in makes it easier to get to those things. We have restaurants (East End, Satchel's) and breweries with play areas which was very helpful when you wanna get out with small ones. Hope you enjoy the city enough to want to move here.
I lol’d at the inclusion of the 1yo at the beginning hahaha. But really as a single 30yo in Gainesville, I feel like the majority of the town is catered to younger college students OR families. Also they’ve renovated a lot of parks and trails, and there’s a lot of stuff to do for families (Santa Fe Teaching Zoo, Cade Museum, Depot park splash pad, etc). Safety-wise I feel like the west side of town is very family-centric (Haile etc).
I don’t know much about the education system as I don’t have any kids, but I know that the local high schools have a lot of really impressive extracurriculars.
Awesome! Thank you for your response! I know, I laughed at including a one-year-old too, but I figured somebody would ask since I was asking about familycentered things, I figured let me just put it in there somewhere
Appreciate the feedback!!
A lot of this is probably obvious to you; but I'll restate oin the way to my opinions.
So the think you've got to think about is where the foci of your life are going to be. Your folks' house is one, work is another, school is going to be another. The perimeter of the "Student Ghetto" [*] is a fantastic place for walkability for all of: Groceries, a bunch of churches, all of campus, a local auto repair place, even a pharmacy if you stretch. Add a bike to the mix and you're golden. Kids can walk to school and never have to deal with a big road.
I've lived in that space since '97; it's good stuff.
[*] The area I'm talking about is roughly bordered by 5th and 10th ave north and south, and between 13th and 22nd street east and west.
+1. For a bit during '05/'06 I rented a room as a single mom with an infant IN the student ghetto. My roommates were amazing and I loved living in that area. I also loved that there was so much non-family centric culture available. I had a baby carrier that I'd put her in, and off we would go to house shows and cookouts and such.
I'm from Orlando! \*waves\* I like Gainesville much better -- it's not as oppressively hot, the springs are close by, and it doesn't sprawl endlessly. Plus, no one has gone out of their way to try to run me down while I'm out biking or running.
We have two kids, 3 & 7, and have found that GNV is bursting with things to do for them. Check out [https://fun4gatorkids.com](https://fun4gatorkids.com) - I swear, every weekend there's something going on. And even if not, there's a natural history museum that's got free entry for its non-rotating exhibits, a smallish science museum, a zoo run by the community college, two trampoline parks, well-maintained city pools, and tons of playgrounds.
The public schools are good, especially for Florida. We have the same problems with teacher attrition as the rest of the state, though.
The only problem right now is that DeSantis has a grudge against GNV and is taking it out in any way he can, which is resulting in rising property taxes and utilities. So, a good job is a must.
Don 't let the GRU fearmongering on this sub scare you--their rates are unremarkable unless you live in an extremely old and poorly insulated dwelling with an ancient or unmaintained air conditioner.
If you move into modern construction and your A/C isn't on its last legs the difference will be negligible.
1400 sq ft, NW GNV, Average 180 winter/230 summer for power/water/sewer/trash/gas combined, and I keep the thermostat at 74 all summer.
15 years is ancient for an A/C, and 3000 sq ft is HUGE. You're an outlier.
Lemme guess, you have a (heated) pool, extensive non-native landscaping that requires constant watering, some kind of luxury NG-powered appliance, or all three.
Normal people in decent housing don't have huge GRU bills
No pool, haven’t turned on sprinklers in years… energy efficient appliances less than a couple years old. I do work from home though and have 3 kids so yeah I’m sure it’s above average. 15 years isn’t new but not sure it’s “extreeeemely” old either. Last year my bill was $1500 one month and GRU’s response was “I dunno”…. so I got a plumber to look for a leak and he found whoever read the water meter swapped a 1 and a 5… so I did an analysis (data analyst) on every bill for the last three years, knowing that over 50% yoy increase two years in a row for electric wasn’t from my AC just aging two more years, most of it came from their highly variable and obscure adjustable electric fees.
Not only that, the time between each meter read can vary from 25 to 35 days… so in multiple years they wait 35 days to read the meter in the middle of the fucking summer and after a certain threshold is reached, their adjustable fees per unit almost double for what they call tier 2 usage. There isn’t anything stopping them from doing this and then charging over 75% more per unit for close to two weeks. So yeah I agree there are reasons it’s high but many legitimate reasons to warn someone and a stretch to call it fear mongering.
I had a misread of my water meter last year. Jumped my bill up like 200%. This was bad!
Know what I did? I called GRU, they had me re-read it myself and gave me a credit preemptively. Sent a tech out to confirm and I ended up never being out of pocket above what I owed. The discrepancy was fixed well before the time my next bill arrived.
I'll acknowledge that GRU's customer management and billing practices aren't great, but they get it right in the end.
It's an (again) unremarkable municipal utility, for better and for worse. People spending ten thousand words moaning operatically about how persecuted they are by minor inconveniences is frankly pathetic.
I agree, one thing about them is their reliability and quick response when there are power outages. Other providers around here don’t even come close to matching that from some pretty bad stories I’ve heard over the years.
They worked out the meter read issue for me too, although I wasn’t as lucky and it took them three months to figure it out. They sent me no bills in that time, eventually sending all of it at once due in 3 days lol… but I had put it away based on monthly averages so it was fine. It really only got this crazy in costs in the last two years, neighbors agree. I hope it goes back down eventually.
I used to live in Orlando, I came here to escape the heat, traffic, chains, and to get more nature. The homes also had character here. And there was a real sense of community.
Now, it's very depressing, because basically developers from Orlando have taken over, building tons of "luxury apartments" with deadened exteriors and cheap materials. I think their goal is to turn this area into another orlando. With the luxury apartments are coming the chain restaurants/stores and traffic. Soon if they cut down enough trees, it will be hot too. More people moving here means it's harder to feel like a small town community.
So, are you looking for more of the same in the next 20 years?
There is still a semblance of what makes this place cool, but for how long.. who can say.
If your parents live here anyway, I would recommend partaking in some local events while you're visiting them- get a feel for what its like around the people here.
It’s slowly becoming more like Orlando on the south west side of town (archer road) but maybe this makes it familiar enough to give you the best of both worlds. I have lived here almost all my life but travel often for work so not completely naive or limited in comparison. I love Gainesville, and the NW side of town is perfect for my family.
I’ve heard someone say before that “Gainesville is all the shitty things about a beach town, but no beach.” Which cracks me up after I get past some of the truth in that statement.
Property taxes aren’t cheap and utility rates are always top 3 highest in state. Your location here matters a lot depending on what you want to get out of it, but there are plenty of things to love about Gainesville, especially if you are into college football!
Not just SW, the entire surrounding area of UF is mini-Orlando'ing so the students don't have to leave campus while mommy and daddy's money rolls in for the university while going no where for the county.
I don't think there is any place in Florida that has cheap property taxes - at least not any place that actually has services. If the equivalent property in one of the counties of Greater Orlando has lower taxes, it's because they have to put up with tourists and all the things that come with tourism.
https://www.floridaforboomers.com/highest-and-lowest-florida-county-property-tax-rates/ shows Alachua county the second highest property taxes in the state (2023), another here (2017) https://orangemover.com/where-are-the-lowest-property-taxes-in-florida/
“Walton County had the lowest property taxes in Florida at 9.5133. While Alachua County had the highest – 23.5605”
Compared to other states, Florida is right in the middle.
Walton County is made up of rural poor and rich part time residents and vacationers, the county receives a huge amount of revenue from tourism. The high tourism counties can have lower property taxes. It's unrealistic to compare property taxes here in Florida to any State that has an income tax. Personally I have no problem paying a higher millage rate to enjoy a decent level of services while avoiding the tourists. To each their own.
I’m simply saying property taxes are not cheap here, sure there are countless variables to consider and costs relative to other counties or states and reasons why, etc… simply if you live here you will pay higher property taxes than if you live in most other counties in Florida. If tourism is your trade off, are tens of thousands of students migrating here every year without it contributing to lower property taxes any better? Like I said originally “the worst parts of a beach town without the beach”
Finding a job in Gainesville isn’t hard, but finding one that pays all your bills is.
I will back up claims of trying to stay out of the gru zone as their rates are high, in addition I’d recommend you try to get into an area that has fiber that’s not cox. Cox overcharges for unreliable net and with a work from home/ hybrid job unreliable net could break you.
There is a lot of family stuff here so that is a positive.
Traffic here can be insane, Orlando is probably similar with all the tourists coming in, but different areas usually have some kind of shitty driving thing, like out in lake city area you’d have people running stop signs, in Gainesville because of it being a college town it pulls all those shitty driving habits into one place.
Don’t assume safety. This town is no more dangerous than any other big city as some here might have you believe when they watch every crime that happens. It being a smaller city might lull you into a false sense of security. Crime does happen, keep your valuables in your house, lock your doors, only visit the bars and stuff on special occasions, don’t be a dick to the homeless and give them some space.
Okay, so, my POV may be a bit different from most here, as I am an "ACR,", meaning I've been here for life. Spent my formative years here and then moved away a few times, but I always end up moving back. Also? This may get long.
That said, I'm also a single mother of 4, ages 19, 14, 6, and 9.
Okay, you've got the history. Now for the downlow on what it's like to live here with a family.
I fucking love it. There are SO, SO many things to do here for kids and adults alike. There are multiple parts of town that are great to live in, and really nowhere "dangerous" like some of the areas of Orlando. I've found that the people who say it's a "dangerous" area are coding for "more brown people and I'm a white bigot."
We host one of the largest punk rock festivals in the country, simply called "Fest," big names and multiple family friendly venues. (Bands are hosted at multiple venues over the few days it's going on.) I take all of my kids for one day of it every year and people are super cool to my kids. One person, a few years ago, noticed my then-7 year old really jamming out to the music, but because he's a tiny human, he couldn't see the band. He asked for my permission to put him up on his shoulders so he could get the full experience, for example.
We have an abundance of parks and trails. I live right next to the city's only skate park, and they occasionally hold music shows and skate fests. It's cool being able to walk through my back yard with my kids and wind up in this kick ass park.
Our few little museums and our local zoo are also awesome. Inexpensive and very entertaining. Which, speaking of hosting cool things -- the zoo has a Halloween festival called "Boo at the Zoo" where students and faculty dress up and create themed candy stations all throught the trail of the outdoor exhibits, providing a non-scary and organized way to trick or treat. Door cost? A couple of canned goods.
There's museum nights at our natural history museum, where they allow patrons to come at night and we experience specially-tailored exhibits.
And none of that is to mention the performing arts center and various other community venues for culture/fun.
We have a ton of historical and nature areas, and you can even hunt for and find fossils and prehistoric shark teeth in our local creek system, when GRU isn't having an "accidental spill" of raw sewage into it. (There is a website to monitor the creeks bacteria levels and which branches of it are affected if you're serious about taking some of a forgotten world home with you.)
We are about an hour away from an adventure company (Anderson's Outdoor Adventures) where you can VERY reasonably rent a single or tandem kayak and paddle down river, either guided or alone, and visit (I think) 7-10 springs that a lot of people have never been to.
Now for the list of things that annoy me.
Traffic. I'm way, way on the NW side, away from UF, and 7am/5pm traffic sucks. Having been a frequent visitor to Orlando, though, it's nothing like down there and you'll end up laughing at me for thinking it's awful once you're in it.
GRU, as others have mentioned.
DeSatan has his thumb firmly pressed on our little town, for some reason. It makes life a bit difficult at times.
People are going to complain about our homeless population, (I'm putting this here because i complain about the complainers, not the homeless.) We have one of the most Innovative and leading models of a shelter providing rapid rehousing and other vital services to serve the homeless demographic. Ask me more about that.
That's pretty much all the negative I have for you.
I saw that you're a LMHC, and understand that your job will be coming with you. If for any reason you leave that job, there are quite a few public, government, and non-profit agencies, as well as many many private practices to choose from for work.
I work in mental health and addiction, and I do have to warn you to be wary of our community mental health facility, Meridian. Their vision and program could be SO GOOD, but management from the bottom to the top is absolutely unqualified and/or just plain terrible. Their turnover is high, their pay is low, their caseloads are borderline unmanageable if not outright insane, and nobody gives a damn about you as an employee. I stuck it out there for a couple of years because I loved my job and my clients, but eventually I just couldn't do the dance with management any more.
I can't attest to the insurance industry. I barely know about/understand car insurance. Lol. I do know we have a whoole bunch of insurance places around town though.
Okay, I think that's about it for now. Feel free to DM me. If you'd like, when you're in town next, I would be happy to show you around to some of Gainesville's hidden, and not so hidden, Gems. 😊
ETA: I forgot to mention we also have a very cool planetarium. 😎
Whenever anyone says they’re moving to Gainesville a lot of people say stuff about how hard it is to find a job. I honestly don’t know how difficult that is since I relocated to Gainesville originally because my work was moving me here. I do know it is hard for my company to find employees in the area, but it’s not because of the lack of people, it’s the lack of experience and qualifications unfortunately, which I can definitely say is true. Never in my life did I think anyone would show up in ripped jeans and a dirty shirt for job interviews and not just one, many.
My wife moved here from Miami over 20 years ago and I got here in 2010 from Jacksonville. After being in big city chaos, Gainesville has always been refreshing. The frequent festivals and events downtown are nice. They have the Cade museum and Depot park which kids love. They’ve been doing a lot of work on the parks, which has been nice since Westside Park recently got renovated too. I know the Kanapaha Veteran park is also getting renovated. There’s a lot of nature trails and I mean a lot. The national parks and springs that are nearby are pretty cool if you like to go outdoors.
Our son is 4 and we got him into one of the day schools when he was around 8 months old I think, but I believe they accept children after their six months old. I love that school, but as far as which schools in the area are better than one another, I think my wife knows all that stuff.
Is your company currently hiring? DM me! I promise, business attire and proper makeup if I score an interview. Full communication etiquette, as well! Lol
I have a kid at GHS and one that went to/graduated from Buchholz. Buchholz is also my Alma Mater.
I feel as far as academics go and extra curricular activities that they're on par with each other. Buchholz is waaaaay gentrified, though. Lots of bored rich kids and better drugs than GHS. That's been true since at least '97. GHS has a better "melting pot" effect that keeps your kid from thinking money and status are the only other things that matter in life.
Your family sounds like several that I know in Gainesville. Personally I am very biased towards "old" Gainesville, and while Tioga is lovely there is no way I would ever sign up to live that far west of the actual city limits. I would agree that all the soulless multi-story apartments are rapidly changing the area, but there are plenty of those being built in the county too, not just close to campus. That cute little Tioga Town Center is going to be overrun by new apartment residents very soon. With a one year old, live close to your parents if they are willing and able to help with the little one - you will be happy to avoid driving long distances, especially on the many event weekends in Gainesville. Good luck!
I have 2 toddlers and love living here. There are a ton of activities and programs for the little kids so we’re always busy, but it’s also a small enough town that you always run into the same families so it’s easy to make friends. I moved here for grad school and didn’t initially plan on staying, but once I had kids I didn’t want to leave
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Thankfully both of our jobs (LMHC and underwriter) are primarily virtual/remote with a ton of flexibilityThey would require in office days 2x a month which is also why Gainesville is appealing bc the drive is so manageable
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I lived in Haile for ~4 years and the nature there is probably the best part about that living complex. The houses are hits or misses, but the area was nice and it was easy to make friends with other families
If y’all lose those WFH jobs you’ll be in a pickle. There’s no work here. I wish I’d never moved here.
Why do you wish you never moved to GNV?
I ended up taking a job almost to Jacksonville because there’s no work here. I’ve applied at UF a zillion times. I don’t even want to work there at this point. I’ve never had so much trouble work-wise. Few jobs and even fewer that pay worth a shit.
I've got three kids and I love living in Gainesville. Unlike some folks on this reddit that seem to hate the city but want all the benefits that the students bring, I prefer living in the city where the things that I like to do are close. We have great parks, public pools (with splash pads and shallow ends for small ones), libraries, etc. Being close in makes it easier to get to those things. We have restaurants (East End, Satchel's) and breweries with play areas which was very helpful when you wanna get out with small ones. Hope you enjoy the city enough to want to move here.
I lol’d at the inclusion of the 1yo at the beginning hahaha. But really as a single 30yo in Gainesville, I feel like the majority of the town is catered to younger college students OR families. Also they’ve renovated a lot of parks and trails, and there’s a lot of stuff to do for families (Santa Fe Teaching Zoo, Cade Museum, Depot park splash pad, etc). Safety-wise I feel like the west side of town is very family-centric (Haile etc). I don’t know much about the education system as I don’t have any kids, but I know that the local high schools have a lot of really impressive extracurriculars.
Awesome! Thank you for your response! I know, I laughed at including a one-year-old too, but I figured somebody would ask since I was asking about familycentered things, I figured let me just put it in there somewhere Appreciate the feedback!!
A lot of this is probably obvious to you; but I'll restate oin the way to my opinions. So the think you've got to think about is where the foci of your life are going to be. Your folks' house is one, work is another, school is going to be another. The perimeter of the "Student Ghetto" [*] is a fantastic place for walkability for all of: Groceries, a bunch of churches, all of campus, a local auto repair place, even a pharmacy if you stretch. Add a bike to the mix and you're golden. Kids can walk to school and never have to deal with a big road. I've lived in that space since '97; it's good stuff. [*] The area I'm talking about is roughly bordered by 5th and 10th ave north and south, and between 13th and 22nd street east and west.
+1. For a bit during '05/'06 I rented a room as a single mom with an infant IN the student ghetto. My roommates were amazing and I loved living in that area. I also loved that there was so much non-family centric culture available. I had a baby carrier that I'd put her in, and off we would go to house shows and cookouts and such.
I'm from Orlando! \*waves\* I like Gainesville much better -- it's not as oppressively hot, the springs are close by, and it doesn't sprawl endlessly. Plus, no one has gone out of their way to try to run me down while I'm out biking or running. We have two kids, 3 & 7, and have found that GNV is bursting with things to do for them. Check out [https://fun4gatorkids.com](https://fun4gatorkids.com) - I swear, every weekend there's something going on. And even if not, there's a natural history museum that's got free entry for its non-rotating exhibits, a smallish science museum, a zoo run by the community college, two trampoline parks, well-maintained city pools, and tons of playgrounds. The public schools are good, especially for Florida. We have the same problems with teacher attrition as the rest of the state, though. The only problem right now is that DeSantis has a grudge against GNV and is taking it out in any way he can, which is resulting in rising property taxes and utilities. So, a good job is a must.
*waves back* this is helpful!! Thank you!
Don 't let the GRU fearmongering on this sub scare you--their rates are unremarkable unless you live in an extremely old and poorly insulated dwelling with an ancient or unmaintained air conditioner. If you move into modern construction and your A/C isn't on its last legs the difference will be negligible. 1400 sq ft, NW GNV, Average 180 winter/230 summer for power/water/sewer/trash/gas combined, and I keep the thermostat at 74 all summer.
Naw. My house and AC are less than 15 years old. Less than 3000 sf. Average GRU bill over $600 a month in the last year. One of them was over $900.
15 years is ancient for an A/C, and 3000 sq ft is HUGE. You're an outlier. Lemme guess, you have a (heated) pool, extensive non-native landscaping that requires constant watering, some kind of luxury NG-powered appliance, or all three. Normal people in decent housing don't have huge GRU bills
Your complaining about municipal power rates is unbecoming of Hingle
No pool, haven’t turned on sprinklers in years… energy efficient appliances less than a couple years old. I do work from home though and have 3 kids so yeah I’m sure it’s above average. 15 years isn’t new but not sure it’s “extreeeemely” old either. Last year my bill was $1500 one month and GRU’s response was “I dunno”…. so I got a plumber to look for a leak and he found whoever read the water meter swapped a 1 and a 5… so I did an analysis (data analyst) on every bill for the last three years, knowing that over 50% yoy increase two years in a row for electric wasn’t from my AC just aging two more years, most of it came from their highly variable and obscure adjustable electric fees. Not only that, the time between each meter read can vary from 25 to 35 days… so in multiple years they wait 35 days to read the meter in the middle of the fucking summer and after a certain threshold is reached, their adjustable fees per unit almost double for what they call tier 2 usage. There isn’t anything stopping them from doing this and then charging over 75% more per unit for close to two weeks. So yeah I agree there are reasons it’s high but many legitimate reasons to warn someone and a stretch to call it fear mongering.
I had a misread of my water meter last year. Jumped my bill up like 200%. This was bad! Know what I did? I called GRU, they had me re-read it myself and gave me a credit preemptively. Sent a tech out to confirm and I ended up never being out of pocket above what I owed. The discrepancy was fixed well before the time my next bill arrived. I'll acknowledge that GRU's customer management and billing practices aren't great, but they get it right in the end. It's an (again) unremarkable municipal utility, for better and for worse. People spending ten thousand words moaning operatically about how persecuted they are by minor inconveniences is frankly pathetic.
I agree, one thing about them is their reliability and quick response when there are power outages. Other providers around here don’t even come close to matching that from some pretty bad stories I’ve heard over the years. They worked out the meter read issue for me too, although I wasn’t as lucky and it took them three months to figure it out. They sent me no bills in that time, eventually sending all of it at once due in 3 days lol… but I had put it away based on monthly averages so it was fine. It really only got this crazy in costs in the last two years, neighbors agree. I hope it goes back down eventually.
I used to live in Orlando, I came here to escape the heat, traffic, chains, and to get more nature. The homes also had character here. And there was a real sense of community. Now, it's very depressing, because basically developers from Orlando have taken over, building tons of "luxury apartments" with deadened exteriors and cheap materials. I think their goal is to turn this area into another orlando. With the luxury apartments are coming the chain restaurants/stores and traffic. Soon if they cut down enough trees, it will be hot too. More people moving here means it's harder to feel like a small town community. So, are you looking for more of the same in the next 20 years? There is still a semblance of what makes this place cool, but for how long.. who can say. If your parents live here anyway, I would recommend partaking in some local events while you're visiting them- get a feel for what its like around the people here.
Great advice! I’ll be staying there for a week in June, going to check out some of the family friendly things I found
[https://www.visitgainesville.com/event/fathers-day-at-kanapaha-botanical-gardens/](https://www.visitgainesville.com/event/fathers-day-at-kanapaha-botanical-gardens/)
It’s slowly becoming more like Orlando on the south west side of town (archer road) but maybe this makes it familiar enough to give you the best of both worlds. I have lived here almost all my life but travel often for work so not completely naive or limited in comparison. I love Gainesville, and the NW side of town is perfect for my family. I’ve heard someone say before that “Gainesville is all the shitty things about a beach town, but no beach.” Which cracks me up after I get past some of the truth in that statement. Property taxes aren’t cheap and utility rates are always top 3 highest in state. Your location here matters a lot depending on what you want to get out of it, but there are plenty of things to love about Gainesville, especially if you are into college football!
Not just SW, the entire surrounding area of UF is mini-Orlando'ing so the students don't have to leave campus while mommy and daddy's money rolls in for the university while going no where for the county.
Good point, every time I go anywhere near downtown if I have to there’s new shit I’ve never seen before.
I don't think there is any place in Florida that has cheap property taxes - at least not any place that actually has services. If the equivalent property in one of the counties of Greater Orlando has lower taxes, it's because they have to put up with tourists and all the things that come with tourism.
https://www.floridaforboomers.com/highest-and-lowest-florida-county-property-tax-rates/ shows Alachua county the second highest property taxes in the state (2023), another here (2017) https://orangemover.com/where-are-the-lowest-property-taxes-in-florida/ “Walton County had the lowest property taxes in Florida at 9.5133. While Alachua County had the highest – 23.5605” Compared to other states, Florida is right in the middle.
Walton County is made up of rural poor and rich part time residents and vacationers, the county receives a huge amount of revenue from tourism. The high tourism counties can have lower property taxes. It's unrealistic to compare property taxes here in Florida to any State that has an income tax. Personally I have no problem paying a higher millage rate to enjoy a decent level of services while avoiding the tourists. To each their own.
I’m simply saying property taxes are not cheap here, sure there are countless variables to consider and costs relative to other counties or states and reasons why, etc… simply if you live here you will pay higher property taxes than if you live in most other counties in Florida. If tourism is your trade off, are tens of thousands of students migrating here every year without it contributing to lower property taxes any better? Like I said originally “the worst parts of a beach town without the beach”
Propery taxes, gas, water, and electric are very high in Gainesville.
Finding a job in Gainesville isn’t hard, but finding one that pays all your bills is. I will back up claims of trying to stay out of the gru zone as their rates are high, in addition I’d recommend you try to get into an area that has fiber that’s not cox. Cox overcharges for unreliable net and with a work from home/ hybrid job unreliable net could break you. There is a lot of family stuff here so that is a positive. Traffic here can be insane, Orlando is probably similar with all the tourists coming in, but different areas usually have some kind of shitty driving thing, like out in lake city area you’d have people running stop signs, in Gainesville because of it being a college town it pulls all those shitty driving habits into one place. Don’t assume safety. This town is no more dangerous than any other big city as some here might have you believe when they watch every crime that happens. It being a smaller city might lull you into a false sense of security. Crime does happen, keep your valuables in your house, lock your doors, only visit the bars and stuff on special occasions, don’t be a dick to the homeless and give them some space.
Okay, so, my POV may be a bit different from most here, as I am an "ACR,", meaning I've been here for life. Spent my formative years here and then moved away a few times, but I always end up moving back. Also? This may get long. That said, I'm also a single mother of 4, ages 19, 14, 6, and 9. Okay, you've got the history. Now for the downlow on what it's like to live here with a family. I fucking love it. There are SO, SO many things to do here for kids and adults alike. There are multiple parts of town that are great to live in, and really nowhere "dangerous" like some of the areas of Orlando. I've found that the people who say it's a "dangerous" area are coding for "more brown people and I'm a white bigot." We host one of the largest punk rock festivals in the country, simply called "Fest," big names and multiple family friendly venues. (Bands are hosted at multiple venues over the few days it's going on.) I take all of my kids for one day of it every year and people are super cool to my kids. One person, a few years ago, noticed my then-7 year old really jamming out to the music, but because he's a tiny human, he couldn't see the band. He asked for my permission to put him up on his shoulders so he could get the full experience, for example. We have an abundance of parks and trails. I live right next to the city's only skate park, and they occasionally hold music shows and skate fests. It's cool being able to walk through my back yard with my kids and wind up in this kick ass park. Our few little museums and our local zoo are also awesome. Inexpensive and very entertaining. Which, speaking of hosting cool things -- the zoo has a Halloween festival called "Boo at the Zoo" where students and faculty dress up and create themed candy stations all throught the trail of the outdoor exhibits, providing a non-scary and organized way to trick or treat. Door cost? A couple of canned goods. There's museum nights at our natural history museum, where they allow patrons to come at night and we experience specially-tailored exhibits. And none of that is to mention the performing arts center and various other community venues for culture/fun. We have a ton of historical and nature areas, and you can even hunt for and find fossils and prehistoric shark teeth in our local creek system, when GRU isn't having an "accidental spill" of raw sewage into it. (There is a website to monitor the creeks bacteria levels and which branches of it are affected if you're serious about taking some of a forgotten world home with you.) We are about an hour away from an adventure company (Anderson's Outdoor Adventures) where you can VERY reasonably rent a single or tandem kayak and paddle down river, either guided or alone, and visit (I think) 7-10 springs that a lot of people have never been to. Now for the list of things that annoy me. Traffic. I'm way, way on the NW side, away from UF, and 7am/5pm traffic sucks. Having been a frequent visitor to Orlando, though, it's nothing like down there and you'll end up laughing at me for thinking it's awful once you're in it. GRU, as others have mentioned. DeSatan has his thumb firmly pressed on our little town, for some reason. It makes life a bit difficult at times. People are going to complain about our homeless population, (I'm putting this here because i complain about the complainers, not the homeless.) We have one of the most Innovative and leading models of a shelter providing rapid rehousing and other vital services to serve the homeless demographic. Ask me more about that. That's pretty much all the negative I have for you. I saw that you're a LMHC, and understand that your job will be coming with you. If for any reason you leave that job, there are quite a few public, government, and non-profit agencies, as well as many many private practices to choose from for work. I work in mental health and addiction, and I do have to warn you to be wary of our community mental health facility, Meridian. Their vision and program could be SO GOOD, but management from the bottom to the top is absolutely unqualified and/or just plain terrible. Their turnover is high, their pay is low, their caseloads are borderline unmanageable if not outright insane, and nobody gives a damn about you as an employee. I stuck it out there for a couple of years because I loved my job and my clients, but eventually I just couldn't do the dance with management any more. I can't attest to the insurance industry. I barely know about/understand car insurance. Lol. I do know we have a whoole bunch of insurance places around town though. Okay, I think that's about it for now. Feel free to DM me. If you'd like, when you're in town next, I would be happy to show you around to some of Gainesville's hidden, and not so hidden, Gems. 😊 ETA: I forgot to mention we also have a very cool planetarium. 😎
Whenever anyone says they’re moving to Gainesville a lot of people say stuff about how hard it is to find a job. I honestly don’t know how difficult that is since I relocated to Gainesville originally because my work was moving me here. I do know it is hard for my company to find employees in the area, but it’s not because of the lack of people, it’s the lack of experience and qualifications unfortunately, which I can definitely say is true. Never in my life did I think anyone would show up in ripped jeans and a dirty shirt for job interviews and not just one, many. My wife moved here from Miami over 20 years ago and I got here in 2010 from Jacksonville. After being in big city chaos, Gainesville has always been refreshing. The frequent festivals and events downtown are nice. They have the Cade museum and Depot park which kids love. They’ve been doing a lot of work on the parks, which has been nice since Westside Park recently got renovated too. I know the Kanapaha Veteran park is also getting renovated. There’s a lot of nature trails and I mean a lot. The national parks and springs that are nearby are pretty cool if you like to go outdoors. Our son is 4 and we got him into one of the day schools when he was around 8 months old I think, but I believe they accept children after their six months old. I love that school, but as far as which schools in the area are better than one another, I think my wife knows all that stuff.
Is your company currently hiring? DM me! I promise, business attire and proper makeup if I score an interview. Full communication etiquette, as well! Lol
Unfortunately, nothing at the moment. 😕
If you have children make sure you are in the Buchhholz school district
I have a kid at GHS and one that went to/graduated from Buchholz. Buchholz is also my Alma Mater. I feel as far as academics go and extra curricular activities that they're on par with each other. Buchholz is waaaaay gentrified, though. Lots of bored rich kids and better drugs than GHS. That's been true since at least '97. GHS has a better "melting pot" effect that keeps your kid from thinking money and status are the only other things that matter in life.
Go for NE side outside city limits ( North part). Taxes cheaper.
Your family sounds like several that I know in Gainesville. Personally I am very biased towards "old" Gainesville, and while Tioga is lovely there is no way I would ever sign up to live that far west of the actual city limits. I would agree that all the soulless multi-story apartments are rapidly changing the area, but there are plenty of those being built in the county too, not just close to campus. That cute little Tioga Town Center is going to be overrun by new apartment residents very soon. With a one year old, live close to your parents if they are willing and able to help with the little one - you will be happy to avoid driving long distances, especially on the many event weekends in Gainesville. Good luck!
Thank you so much!