Are you thinking of moving to Pensacola, FL? (Panama City, Niceville: transplants, low crime)

[Kentuckymom]

I have recently become a widow and since then my daughter has become pregnant with twins. She is my only child and she lives in Pensacola. I am currently going to school to become a medical assistant, and will finish in September. My intentions are to move to Florida (I don't want to miss out on seeing my grandchildren grow up), and simplify my life. Can someone give me some suggestions as to nice, small (one bedroom) apartments and perhaps jobs. Also someone from here in Kentucky who use to live and work in Pensacola years ago said that one has to live there for six months and establish residency before working there. Is this true?

[Kentuckymom]

Thanks, that is quite a mix of opinion. I'm not real sure what area of Pensacola my daughter lives in, but I have visited there, and I thought it was rather nice and somewhat quaint, and clean. I would like to live within 30 minutes of my daughter, so I don't know where she is in relation to Gulf Breeze. Enterprise Blvd. is where she lives.

[Dear Mayberry]

Originally Posted by jdpenny

You may want to rethink your move and move somewhere else. I moved here from Texas, have been here four months. I hate Pensacola. Low wages, high crime rate, the number of homeless here is staggering, high unemployment , high cost of living. Pensacola? It's not worth moving here.

Mod deleted

Pensacola is run by officers tat rule themselves,give charges to people that Morgan don't go over to see if some things going on and let's them make statements to paper to help prove there case wrvrn if its false.People run scared from cops instead of teaching my kids to call a cop I'm teaching them to look the other way,don't want my neighbor to be picked up for fighting then end up a kidnapper resisting arrest and get beaten up while waiting to see the darn Judge, false charges going on and people have a record seven grannies,its not funny its wrong,please don't move your grandma or boys here,they will be a statistic in a camp working for state of Florida,come for sun,leave on the run..good day.

[American1476]

Originally Posted by Dear Mayberry

Pensacola is run by officers tat rule themselves,give charges to people that Morgan don't go over to see if some things going on and let's them make statements to paper to help prove there case wrvrn if its false.People run scared from cops instead of teaching my kids to call a cop I'm teaching them to look the other way,don't want my neighbor to be picked up for fighting then end up a kidnapper resisting arrest and get beaten up while waiting to see the darn Judge, false charges going on and people have a record seven grannies,its not funny its wrong,please don't move your grandma or boys here,they will be a statistic in a camp working for state of Florida,come for sun,leave on the run..good day.

When I first moved here I received like 500 in tickets for BS it suspended my license and I got pulled over and they gave me another ticket well I didn't test it....the cops got to know who I was and now they are great to me they come at a moments notice and I have been pulled over in nefarious circumstances and not been bothered or told to go straight home the most important thing to remember is it respect the police, always show them respect and be honest and admit hey ya I screwed up, and take your ticket and go home...and call them when you need them...I like the cops here...they are just trying to keep Pensacola safe and outsiders at bay

[TheLarryMc]

ejuanrude1: It depends on what your needs are. If you are going to be stationed at NAS? Other job? Family? Fill in the picture a little.

[Scath]

Pensacola. Born and raised there, in Ferry Pass, which is the northeast section near Pensacola Bay. A very dead part of the world with low education and value on life. As others have said here, Gulf Breeze is far better, and, if you can afford it, Santa Rosa Island (Pensacola Beach) is gorgeous if sparse. But I like sparse. For the most part, Pensacola finds itself in the middle of ignorance. Its 20th century situation was more diverse when the city was surrounded by military bases, many of which have closed. The middle class was primarily made up of military implants while the poor were Southerners. In school, us Southern children were looked down upon by both teachers and fellow students because we were considered stupid, even though many of us couldn't make less than an A- if we tried not to study. I left Pensacola for Los Angeles in the late 1980s, but I have relatives who never left, and I don't believe much has changed except that now the Country Folk have been replaced with Rednecks, the difference being that Country people had some godliness and morality while the Redneck has none to speak of. I go back to Pensacola on occasion, but the dead feeling there is too depressing and I find myself longing to get out again. I've lived in several psychologically depressed areas of the country--Mobile Alabama, Pittsburgh, East Los Angeles County, New Orleans--but Pensacola is the worst of them all, if physically safer. Comparable bad cities in Florida are Daytona, Jacksonville, and Tallahassee.

Rating (5 being the best and compared to where I presently live, being St. Augustine, Florida)

2, Physical Safety
0, Quaintness of Neighborhoods
1, Economy
0, Education/Intelligence
0, Places to Walk/Run
1, Ease of Directions (all street names change every few miles)
5, Beaches (Navarre, Pensacola, Ft. Walton, Destin, Miramar, Frangista, Panama City)
0, Bookstores (three or four spread out over a 15-20 mile radius)
1, Friendliness of Residents
0, Grade School System
0, Ethnic Integration
1, Quaint Downtown Area (very small but historical)
1, University System (UWF--not a great school at all, Pensacola State College being far better)

[RichieRichJPN]

I have to agree with the OP and Scath on this one. They both summed it up nicely.

The only people who have ever said they liked it here are those who are born and raised here.
This place is definitely a low income area with so many low paying jobs in retail and fast food. Landrum Staffing practically runs a monopoly here and makes a killing from their contracts; paying good wages, generally at around $12 (as opposed to the general job market in this area), for jobs which otherwise pay much much more. So in essence that they're holding down the wages for the area and cutting individuals contracts before a year so employees don't get health coverage.
Six months residency is not required anywhere. Unless you have substantial qualifications, as like anywhere in the United States, HRM's or recruiters are not likely to call you if you're out of state especially for a low income - high turnover job.
If one were trying to be successful in Pensacola, they should look into doing something in any medical related field.

I also wouldn't consider Pensacola family friendly at all. Not a lot of parks or places to go outdoors except the beach. Unless you have the equipment like a boat or something to go off-roading, you're very limited. It's dull, depressing, and boring. This is a great place to start your children on the wrong track if you're raising a family here.

People here are extremely rude. Worst I've ever seen and I've been to at least 20 states and 15 countries around the world. There's no Southern hospitality here.

There's much more I can pitch in and give my opinions on, I just wanted to give some of my 2 cents.
Personally, I would NEVER... EVER!!!! recommend Pensacola to anyone!!!

[RichieRichJPN]

I do have to clarify to a little bit to help people understand why there's a lack of jobs.

Florida is seen as a favorable state to move to largely because of the "great" weather (hot all year year except for maybe 2 months of on and off cold) and cheap real estate. These are two components that make Florida a great place to retire to.
That in consideration, those who are job hopefuls and optimistic about obtaining a above satisfactory job will be greatly disappointed. You have to remember that with a large percentage of the demographic in Florida is considered an aging population, your retirees, that makes the target market economy based on a few things: Food industry and retail; medical. Aging retirees have more disposable income; therefore, they choose to eat out more. Retail affects everyone, so no surprise here. Medical - the older the person, the more likelihood that the person will face health complications; therefore, demand is created for the medical field.
Just a few other thoughts that I wanted to come back into the topic and touch upon. No point in giving opinions unless I have good reasons to justify them.

[JJAF]

Another factor people consider when moving to Florida is the NO State Income Tax and relatively low sales tax. They do seem to make it up though, when you try to register 2 vehicles and get the family drivers license when you move into the state...

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by RichieRichJPN

I do have to clarify to a little bit to help people understand why there's a lack of jobs.

Florida is seen as a favorable state to move to largely because of the "great" weather (hot all year year except for maybe 2 months of on and off cold) and cheap real estate. These are two components that make Florida a great place to retire to.
That in consideration, those who are job hopefuls and optimistic about obtaining a above satisfactory job will be greatly disappointed. You have to remember that with a large percentage of the demographic in Florida is considered an aging population, your retirees, that makes the target market economy based on a few things: Food industry and retail; medical. Aging retirees have more disposable income; therefore, they choose to eat out more. Retail affects everyone, so no surprise here. Medical - the older the person, the more likelihood that the person will face health complications; therefore, demand is created for the medical field.
Just a few other thoughts that I wanted to come back into the topic and touch upon. No point in giving opinions unless I have good reasons to justify them.

That may be true for FL as a whole, but Pensacola doesn't attact retirees like south FL does. The military has more influence on Pensacola's economy than retiree transplants.