I work not too far from Cape Canaveral (Titusville).
You might end up in a place like Cocoa Beach since there's not a lot of housing in Cape Canaveral.
The Positives
The weather. It's generally much better than people think, even in the summer time. The brutal summer months are August and September. But May thru July isn't really that bad. Especially if you work indoors. It's not too hot before 10 am and by 6 pm it's usually beautiful out. So if you work indoors, even those months are not an issue. August/September are due the humidity picking up. October - December are usually gorgeous, January - March you might get 2 weeks combined of bad weather. Otherwise it's nice. March - May are usually nice. It's a bit odd, but if you live here for a while you look forward to the cycles of the weather and the popularity. By March I'm looking forward to the summer weather and getting all of the tourists out of here. By mid-August, I'm looking forward to the fall and winter weather.
Outdoor activities. Tons of stuff to do and tons of people to do it with regardless of the time of year. Fishing? Certainly not a problem. You can go deep sea fishing, river fishing, pond fishing (tons of ponds around). There's other things going on such as bicycling, motorcycling, running, golf, tennis, outdoor basketball, baseball, etc.
Laid back atmosphere. Most people are very laid back, especially towards the beach
Cost of living. I lived in Atlanta before I moved to Orlando and the cost of living in Atlanta...known to be good for a major city...was significantly more than the cost of living in Orlando. It depends on where you move, but generally the coast is even cheaper than Orlando.
No Income Tax. Yes, that makes a difference.
Quality cities in the state of Florida. If you move here and like it, you can always make fairly quick and easy trips to other cities that are similar like Miami, Naples, Tampa, Jacksonville, etc. That's one of the things I didn't like about Atlanta. Especially when I became unemployed...I had no other recourse as the closest cities were Macon (awful), Columbus, Savannah (which isn't close and is awful), Augusta (horrendous). And most of those places had poor job markets. In Florida, you have similar job markets in other nice cities like Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Naples/Ft. Myers, etc.
One of the positives is that the state of Florida has an average amount of 4-year graduates per capita. Compared that to places like Atlanta and Boston (highest in the country) and the employers take full advantage of that and pay you scraps. Florida doesn't have that benefit.
The Negatives
Most people don't hang around the area for long. They'll be here for 3 years or so and then move somewhere else. Not easy to make long lasting friendships.
I don't think the crime is all that bad, but it's a bit unsafe in the sense that when I lived in Atlanta which had worst *total* crime...it was confined to areas that were well known and I had no business being in. Florida in general has more spread out crime.
Tourists. By the time March comes around your world is very different because of the tourism. Going to the pharmacy that would take no time at all from May - December can now be a long wait. Old people that can't drive, tourists that can't drive, etc....you look forward to them leaving.
You will probably have to drive long distances to do any type of quality shopping. Merritt Island isn't too far away and has some shopping. Viera is about 30 minutes away. Melbourne is about 45 minutes away. And I wouldn't say that those are the greatest places to shop for anything. Even for me living on the East Side of Orlando, I have to travel to the West side for better shopping.
Toll roads. They are everywhere. I don't mind them because having lived in Atlanta and in NYC in the past, if you told me I could pay $2 to drive 20 miles in 20 minutes...I would pay that every time. Even still, you can technically get to wherever you want and avoid the tolls, but it's going to take forever to do so. But many people hate the toll roads.
Changing your license over. It's going to cost you probably at least $500 to do so. In other states I lived in it was less than $100. And the better the car, the more expensive it is. Be warned.
But, I love living in Florida. Wish I had done it sooner.
YR
My apologies @
