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I lived in Tampa for ~10 years (South Tampa for ~6) before moving to Seattle in '19, and the explosion in prices since I left is absolutely insane. It was alrea

I lived in Tampa for ~10 years (South Tampa for ~6) before moving to Seattle in '19, and the explosion in prices since I left is absolutely insane. It was already overpriced, and now it's just absolutely unhinged. It's not even materially more affordable than Seattle when it comes to renting. I also can't imagine how people can rate it the best place to live, given the complete lack of public transit and awful road infrastructure.

yamtaddle 4y ago
Has something changed, or is Forbes taking bribes for that best-cities list? I mostly know Tampa as the Florida city that's useful in a joke when someone needs a widely-understood-to-be-terrible city in Florida.
- Firmwarrior 4y ago
  That's interesting, I visited last year and it seemed OK. Everything was way cheaper than the SF Bay, it was clean and easy to drive around, plenty of variety for shopping and restaurants. Not as fancy as silicon valley, but being half the price made up for a lot What this thread really makes me think is that I need to look into moving back to Seattle.. if Seattle is still half the price of the Bay and only a short flight away, maybe I can find a decent job without too much of a pay cut, haha.
  - boring_twenties 4y ago
    > if Seattle is still half the price of the Bay It's not. > maybe I can find a decent job without too much of a pay cut You can. I have two friends who started at new jobs in Seattle in the first half of 2022. Both are making over $500k.
    - Sebguer 4y ago
      It's probably 80% of the price, maybe a little less or more depending on the neighborhood, at least in terms of apartment costs.
    - Firmwarrior 4y ago
      Man, that sounds great! I'm at a bit of a disadvantage since I only work on C/C++ OS/driver stuff, so there aren't as many openings around for me.. Maybe I should pivot to something a little higher up the stack
      - boring_twenties 4y ago
        I don't think it's a disadvantage at all. Maybe in terms of sheer number of openings, but many of those openings, you probably wouldn't enjoy filling. If you have any interest in securities trading, you can definitely make top dollar with those skills.
- andrew_ 4y ago
  Have been here 10 years and never heard a joke where Tampa was the butt since being here nor in my 30+ years living in the north. Perhaps you just have a bias?
  - yamtaddle 4y ago
    I've never even lived in Florida, it's just a pop-culture thing. Like how Ohio's a go-to state for "boring" in similar contexts. [EDIT] I mean I guess the other possibility was that it was never true. I've been briefly a couple times and the city seemed pretty unremarkable, either way, but I wasn't there long and only saw a small part of it.
  - Sebguer 4y ago
    John Oliver uses it a lot in the way GP described. Tbh, Tampa is definitely the best of Florida's cities, so not sure why beyond wanting to avoid the usual targets.
- munificent 4y ago
  > I mostly know Tampa as the Florida city that's useful in a joke when someone needs a widely-understood-to-be-terrible city in Florida. Finally, Jacksonville's time to shine.
  - yamtaddle 4y ago
    Ah, good point, I forgot about Jacksonville, LOL. Of course thanks to the "Florida man" law the whole state gets a fair amount of negative attention.
matwood 4y ago
> I also can't imagine how people can rate it the best place to live, given the complete lack of public transit and awful road infrastructure. The lack of cold weather, and no state income tax goes a long way.
- Aloha 4y ago
  Washington has no state income tax.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - andrew_ 4y ago
    Totally different vibe in many ways between WA and FL.
- Sebguer 4y ago
  The oppressive heat every day of the year is far worse imo, but definitely to each their own!
  - mikedelago 4y ago
    Absolutely, the heat here is simply awful. Can't go outside without constantly sweating.
  - prottog 4y ago
    Indeed, to each their own, but certainly by any reasonable standard there are a few very pleasant months out of the year in Tampa.
    - andrew_ 4y ago
      s/pleasant/unpleasant If that's your position, I wouldn't call it reasonable. Central Florida is paradise. As they say, if you can't take the heat...
andrew_ 4y ago
The lack of public transportation doesn't bother me in the slightest, and compared to northern states, the roads here are vastly superior. All in all neither are issues for me and my quality of living is exponentially higher here than it was up north. Glad you found a spot that works for you, got to love the ability to do so.
tru3_power 4y ago
Same thing is happening in East Orlando. Lots of big developers are buying up land in popular urban areas and building mixed use commercial real estate properties. Only thing is the roads can’t handle it and there is no public transit.
mikedelago 4y ago
I'm in one of the suburbs slightly north of orlando. Rent last year went up $400, and I'm guessing it'll probably be similar with this next year. I've been wanting to move out of this state for years now, but it feels like everywhere else that's comparable in the US is just as expensive if not more. It's a huge pain for my SO and I
- prottog 4y ago
  Are your jobs portable, either remotely or by virtue of being in demand in most places? If so, you could easily take a leap into a lower-tier (in size and/or stature) city. You're right that anything comparable in quality is in fact likely comparable in price as well. I personally moved from a tier-1 major metropolitan area to a tier-3 small city, because I found that I stopped caring for the "big city amenities" that made living in the former worth it despite all the pains in the ass. I'm quite happy with my choice.
  - mikedelago 4y ago
    I work remotely, but unfortunately my SO is in-office with the commercial real-estate industry. We looked at a small town in AZ (~40,000 people, iirc) that was beautiful and affordable, but unfortunately it didn't seem like she'd have many job opportunities in that area unless she's able to get a remote role or she wanted to drive to Phoenix or Flagstaff every day.

yamtaddle 4y ago

Has something changed, or is Forbes taking bribes for that best-cities list? I mostly know Tampa as the Florida city that's useful in a joke when someone needs a widely-understood-to-be-terrible city in Florida.

Firmwarrior 4y ago
That's interesting, I visited last year and it seemed OK. Everything was way cheaper than the SF Bay, it was clean and easy to drive around, plenty of variety for shopping and restaurants. Not as fancy as silicon valley, but being half the price made up for a lot What this thread really makes me think is that I need to look into moving back to Seattle.. if Seattle is still half the price of the Bay and only a short flight away, maybe I can find a decent job without too much of a pay cut, haha.
- boring_twenties 4y ago
  > if Seattle is still half the price of the Bay It's not. > maybe I can find a decent job without too much of a pay cut You can. I have two friends who started at new jobs in Seattle in the first half of 2022. Both are making over $500k.
  - Sebguer 4y ago
    It's probably 80% of the price, maybe a little less or more depending on the neighborhood, at least in terms of apartment costs.
  - Firmwarrior 4y ago
    Man, that sounds great! I'm at a bit of a disadvantage since I only work on C/C++ OS/driver stuff, so there aren't as many openings around for me.. Maybe I should pivot to something a little higher up the stack
    - boring_twenties 4y ago
      I don't think it's a disadvantage at all. Maybe in terms of sheer number of openings, but many of those openings, you probably wouldn't enjoy filling. If you have any interest in securities trading, you can definitely make top dollar with those skills.
andrew_ 4y ago
Have been here 10 years and never heard a joke where Tampa was the butt since being here nor in my 30+ years living in the north. Perhaps you just have a bias?
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  I've never even lived in Florida, it's just a pop-culture thing. Like how Ohio's a go-to state for "boring" in similar contexts. [EDIT] I mean I guess the other possibility was that it was never true. I've been briefly a couple times and the city seemed pretty unremarkable, either way, but I wasn't there long and only saw a small part of it.
- Sebguer 4y ago
  John Oliver uses it a lot in the way GP described. Tbh, Tampa is definitely the best of Florida's cities, so not sure why beyond wanting to avoid the usual targets.
munificent 4y ago
> I mostly know Tampa as the Florida city that's useful in a joke when someone needs a widely-understood-to-be-terrible city in Florida. Finally, Jacksonville's time to shine.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  Ah, good point, I forgot about Jacksonville, LOL. Of course thanks to the "Florida man" law the whole state gets a fair amount of negative attention.

matwood 4y ago

> I also can't imagine how people can rate it the best place to live, given the complete lack of public transit and awful road infrastructure. The lack of cold weather, and no state income tax goes a long way.

Aloha 4y ago
Washington has no state income tax.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- andrew_ 4y ago
  Totally different vibe in many ways between WA and FL.
Sebguer 4y ago
The oppressive heat every day of the year is far worse imo, but definitely to each their own!
- mikedelago 4y ago
  Absolutely, the heat here is simply awful. Can't go outside without constantly sweating.
- prottog 4y ago
  Indeed, to each their own, but certainly by any reasonable standard there are a few very pleasant months out of the year in Tampa.
  - andrew_ 4y ago
    s/pleasant/unpleasant If that's your position, I wouldn't call it reasonable. Central Florida is paradise. As they say, if you can't take the heat...

andrew_ 4y ago

The lack of public transportation doesn't bother me in the slightest, and compared to northern states, the roads here are vastly superior. All in all neither are issues for me and my quality of living is exponentially higher here than it was up north. Glad you found a spot that works for you, got to love the ability to do so.

tru3_power 4y ago

Same thing is happening in East Orlando. Lots of big developers are buying up land in popular urban areas and building mixed use commercial real estate properties. Only thing is the roads can’t handle it and there is no public transit.

mikedelago 4y ago

I'm in one of the suburbs slightly north of orlando. Rent last year went up $400, and I'm guessing it'll probably be similar with this next year. I've been wanting to move out of this state for years now, but it feels like everywhere else that's comparable in the US is just as expensive if not more. It's a huge pain for my SO and I

prottog 4y ago
Are your jobs portable, either remotely or by virtue of being in demand in most places? If so, you could easily take a leap into a lower-tier (in size and/or stature) city. You're right that anything comparable in quality is in fact likely comparable in price as well. I personally moved from a tier-1 major metropolitan area to a tier-3 small city, because I found that I stopped caring for the "big city amenities" that made living in the former worth it despite all the pains in the ass. I'm quite happy with my choice.
- mikedelago 4y ago
  I work remotely, but unfortunately my SO is in-office with the commercial real-estate industry. We looked at a small town in AZ (~40,000 people, iirc) that was beautiful and affordable, but unfortunately it didn't seem like she'd have many job opportunities in that area unless she's able to get a remote role or she wanted to drive to Phoenix or Flagstaff every day.