Tampa is Boring - 3/13/2024

The people in Tampa are fantastic but the city is a total bore. All events are always in South Tampa and never elsewhere, ie, North Tampa. The north end never experiences large gatherings, concerts, etc. totally boring here.

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Nice - 10/18/2022

I've lived in small towns before and now for the past 25 years in this large metropolis. It's a very nice city. Lots of jobs, shopping restaurants, churches, Busch Gardens and proximity to amazing beaches. The people are quite friendly

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I love Tampa. Why are Miami reviews counting for T - 1/24/2022

This is my favorite city that I have ever lived in. I am reading all of these terrible reviews for Tampa, but then when I read what people are writing, they are actually writing for Miami. Why are the Miami reviews counting toward Tampa? Anyway, this is my favorite city that I have ever lived in. I have lived in different cities in Europe, Washington DC, and New York. Tampa is hands-down the best. By Tampa, I mean Tampa Bay Area, not just the city proper. St. Pete is amazing too and that is a part of the Bay Area. You have cities, nightlife, amazing beaches, amazing suburbs. The culinary scene is incredible. You can find pretty much anything you’re looking for. However, if you were moving from the New York area and wanting this to be a clone of New York, with a Jewish deli on every corner, that’s not going to be it. There are several amazing delis, but the Jewish deli is not a corner stone of life here, so if you can’t live without a deli sandwich being available every 20 steps you take, then this is not a place for you. However, if you don’t need deli sandwiches to survive, the culinary scene here is amazing. I do think it is a bit lacking in the number of choices available for Ethiopian food and Afghan food though. Everything else is great. The topography is amazing too. You have your choice of freshwater lakes, rivers, Gulf, you name it! The weather is amazing in the water is warm. The only bad weather season we truly have is late summer/early fall. It rains a lot in the summer, but it’s not like the rain up north, where it’s gray and it drizzled all day long. when it rains here, it’s beautiful all day, then suddenly the skies open up and the wrath of hell comes down on us, and dumps 8 inches of rain in an hour, then it’s all over and it’s sunny again. So don’t be fooled by the inches of rainfall. It takes one hour to get the number of inches of rainfall in Tampa that it would take two days to get in DC or NY. I have never in my life seen an atmosphere that is both equally urban and outdoorsy like I have here. The number of water sports and cycling in swimming and other things that you can do are amazing. The people are nice. There’s a whole lot of diversity, which is nice. In a lot of places, diversity is only focused on the African-American and Hispanic population. However, by diversity here, I mean diversity in all sense of the term. Beyond racial diversity, there is cultural diversity. There are a lot of West and East Asians, West and East Europeans, there are Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist, Sikhs, and immigrants from so many different countries. There is this on top of a large Hispanic population from all over. There’s a good amount of political diversity. Most people tend to be very socially liberal here. Economically, there is a mix of liberal and more conservative. This is a progressive place, but this is also a place where you won’t get canceled or shunned for being a liberal or for being more conservative. There are not a whole lot of far right people, which is good. Most of the right wingers are the socially liberal fiscally conservative type. If any of what you see above offends you and you’re in the mood to scream at somebody and tell them they are stupid and ignorant for not sharing your beliefs, that won’t fly here like it does in places like DC in New York. So if verbally attacking people who don’t think like you is a favorite hobby of yours, might want to go somewhere else. The economy in Tampa is extremely diverse too. There is no single industry that brings most of the money here. There’s finance, there is law, there are entrepreneurs, there’s a great taxing, Tampa is huge on healthcare too. There’s a lot of finance here as well. There’s also a big military base. Tampa and St. Pete are very walkable. If you live in the city limits, or on the beach communities, you won’t need a car for the day to day living… unless you work further away. However, living down here, you will need a car for other things, like going to the beach or commuting to other areas of the city, or even the suburbs. The public transportation is nonexistent outside city limits, unfortunately. There are self-driving buses and trolleys within city limits, but if you want to go outside of the city, you are on your own. The buses run, but they aren’t necessarily safe. The kind of people that I see stepping off the bus are people freaking out, smacking themselves in the faces, talking to themselves… not the type of people that I feel safe around. Tampa is constantly growing. Bill Gates and Jeff Vinnik are throwing a lot of money into the city. There are no city taxes and no state taxes for income, which is amazing. If you plan to move down here from a high tax state, please do not try to turn Tampa or Florida into a high tax hellhole like the one you came from. You see how those cities and states are doing now. Not well. And it’s not gonna stop after the pandemic. People are very into charity and giving down here, and helping the community as a whole. If you just join city specific Facebook pages, anytime somebody post some thing about not having enough food or struggling, people on Facebook who don’t even know that person are having groceries delivered to that person‘s door. People down here love to give and to help their brothers and sisters who are struggling. They would rather give directly to people who need it than give their money to the government in the form of higher taxes, have the government take 50% of it, waste the other 30% and only see 20% go to the people who need it. So please don’t get your panties in a bunch and think that people who want to keep low taxes here don’t want to pay taxes because they don’t care about the poor. They care deeply. People down here are really into being physically active and working out, which is cool. The average age in Tampa is early 30s. Saint Pete area, and the downtown region, is the same. However, you will find people of all age groups. What you won’t find much of his retirees. For some reason, people have a stereotype That this area is full of old people. That may have been true 50 years ago, but it’s not now. If you go outside of the city and outside the suburbs of the Tampa St Pete area, there are more older people. Also, certain parts of the Clearwater/Palm Harbor/ Dunedin area definitely skew older. If you a huge nightclub person, you might find that Tampa/ St Pete are lacking. There are night clubs, of course. There is Ybor, which is full of them. There are others too, but the nightclub scene is surprisingly small considering the size of the city. I think that will probably change, but I could definitely go for some more swanky night clubs. I don’t know what else to say. I love it here. After all the places I’ve lived, I would never want to live anywhere else.

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Danger, hazardous to health. - 12/14/2021

I lived here all my life and I can ONLY think of other places I would rather be. I’ve traveled the country for many things and even traveled internationally for business and in my 20 years of life there hasn’t been a worse place to live in Florida. Section 1: infrastructure. The city demonstrates a total lack of proper planning and locational understanding, with confusing roads that lead in wavy unfocused routes to roads that you can tell we’re made in the 30’s and have just been paved over, the southern tip of Tampa floods at even the slightest downpour making driving nearly impossible in some areas, with main roads flooding from an overcapacity drainage system that hasn’t been maintained or updated since the 90’s. The major roads tend to have nonsensical center turn lanes and the number of decrepit and abandoned buildings is absolutely deplorable. Not only that but the most cultural part of the city is Ybor where outside the tourist areas seems to simply be a Party district mixed with lower income housing. The amount of poorly maintained buildings is also incredibly high, with some places that look as though they haven’t been detailed or thoroughly cleaned in DECADES. Not to even begin on the massive buildup of towering condos and apartments for “high class” individuals being built within spitting distance of houses that look like they sell crack (and some probably do) the entire city has very little in regards to actually pleasant views, with views of old Tampa bay clouded by the mountains of soil the phosphate mines heap like giant pimples on the land, and the rest being either concrete jungles or a rampant green jungle. As for important locations such as stadiums concert stages and arenas the events are almost always in downtown and cause traffic problems all over Tampa when they happen. Section 2: amenities. The city has a number of problems with amenities, from the monopolized electric/gas amenities coming purely from TECO who are generally unhelpful and very frustrating to deal with, to the city’s Purified water, which is constantly full of Sediment and often stinks, the hard water leaves spots everywhere and causes your showerheads and faucets to become caked with chalk like sediment. I run through a 3 month water filter in a month with average levels of usage. In addition to this there public transit system isn’t even a joke, it’s practically nonexistent. It’s substandard for even a similar town like Newport Richey or port Richey a half hour north of Tampa. The only real transit systems are the buses and in Clearwater/Ybor the trolley. That’s literally It. Section 3: TRAFFIC. Hardly a day goes by without a Horrible likely fatal car accident somewhere in Tampa. There’s probably an average of 30-50 accidents a day, maybe 60 on a holiday. Everyone’s constantly driving well over the speed limit sometimes over 50 MPH over (looking at you veterans expressway drivers) constant bumper riding, people going 15-30 UNDER the limit, the number of people who don’t use signals is more than people who do, people constantly force themselves into lanes or try to block people merging, people ignore hazards and try to scare you into moving when unsafe at turns, road rage is constant, in the spring the love bugs cover your windshield and can make it hard to focus, in summer it pours like the oceans falling on you and everyone loses their MINDS, in fall it rains occasionally but it’s mostly just hot and bright, and in winter it’s cool and dry mostly with the occasional wild fire, no matter what season though people lose their minds over nothing. The amount of uninsured drivers is skyrocketing, and at night on the weekends there are street racers at every gas station being loud and obnoxious from 6 in the evening till 4-5 in the morning (excluding sunday nights) the light cycles are constantly a pain and some just don’t make sense, driving is also a problem because of the constant Jaywalking by homeless and regular pedestrians alike. If you drive a bike, be the most vigilant driver on the road in Tampa, I have seen more bikers killed here than anywhere else I’ve been. Also, rush hour is usually 07:00-09:00 then 13:00-15:00 and then again from 17:00-20:30, don’t expect to really get anywhere fast in that. Section 4: Environmental Dangers. Tampa really doesn’t have that many Natural environmental dangers, except the occasional feral pet packs and the alligators in the lakes there’s not much to worry about, notice I specified NATURAL environmental dangers. The man made ones are a serious threat, if you live here and don’t have a gun, your crazier than the crackheads. The Tampa bay’s water is tainted by radioactive waste, a byproduct of the phosphate mining industry that is also in the aquifers now to thanks to poor management, meaning when you drink the water (waste management purified or straight from the well) your drinking radioactive water. Not enough to give radiation sickness yet but enough to be concerned, and After that the people are crazy, in the ghetto and slums you’ll find many homeless druggies and lots of crime, from **** and murder to robbery and shoplifting the ghettos are to be avoided at all costs, being in a car won’t protect you. There’s also large amounts of racism on all sides both to and from POC. The city just like the rest of Florida has a huge drug problem. Especially for things like Flakka, LSD, PCP, Methanphetamine, and crack cocaine. In addition human trafficking is a major problem, definitely don’t let your kids out of your sight or out of the sight of a trusted adult, even in good neighborhoods. Section 5: The Police and Sheriff’s. Out of the entire US Hillsborough county (one of the counties in the wider Tampa area) is probably one of the best police forces, with huge community outreach and constant crime fighting they are always vigilant and will always be supportive of the community, the city of Tampa is pretty similar as well, though the response time of the city police is significantly higher than the Sheriffs response time, with one example being: at 8 PM one night while I was driving I had a handgun pulled on me driving down a moderately lit road, when I called 5 minutes later after having gunned it away the police took 2 hours to come retrieve my statement. Alternatively, when a neighbor in Hillsborough had a domestic problem and the police were called, it only took 10 minutes for 2 squad cars to be parked out front and engage the situation. However no matter what the police in Tampa and the outlying suburbs are always professional, courteous, and helpful. Section 6: Cost of living VS Pay Tampa is a high cost low income city, meaning if you don’t have a high paying job coming into the city your going to be stuck working multiple jobs paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet, it’s not uncommon for a 1 bed 1 bath in a decent location to be between $1,500 and 3.3k a month. Literally just look at R/Tampa. Also, Minimum wage isn’t even half the cost of living from 2 years ago, with waiters and delivery making even less ($5.68 an hour) if you don’t tip someone might not eat that week. Gasoline and AC/Electricity skyrocket in summer months and don’t ever really go down to a reasonable price, and living without AC will be horrible at best and possibly fatal at worst, with summer heat reaching 110’F with 95% humidity in some places it’s a serious threat of heatstroke and heat exhaustion. Section 7: activities. There really isn’t that much to do in Tampa outside of Busch gardens, Lowry park zoo, Clearwater marine aquarium, see the sports teams play (lightings, Buccaneers, and the rays) or go to the clubs in Ybor, it’s definitely not a place for people who like to explore, camp, or go for a casual drive. Section 8: hurricanes. We don’t get ‘em, like ever…. Even the hurricanes know to avoid this place. Section 9: purposefully ignorant people Many people here refuse to see any problem and hold Tampa up like the golden child, pretending anyone who is from out of state that doesn’t like it here is snobby and entitled when at the end of the day they go and complain about the same damned thing when they get home. Section 10: Education So the kids here are literally just evil too each other, and the schools don’t really do anything about it except punish anyone who says the school isn’t doing a great job. Literally, speaking from first hand experience, this place is F*******, homeschool your kids if you can, and encourage them to learn social skills outside of school, because I wouldn’t put baby hitler in school here. (For the record teacher here are hit and miss on quality, either they are great and do a seriously good job or they suck and don’t care about the kids at all) Section 11: food. If nothing else the Cuban food in Tampa is Phenomenal, with things such as the Cuban sandwich and Cuban coffee being staples, when I finally escape this trap state it will be the only thing I’ll miss. Section 12: Tampa international airport. One of Tampa’s few redeeming factors Tampa international is a top of the line beautiful airport with a streamline design and almost everything you could want/need available inside the terminal, the airport has a few parking and pickup/dropoff issues but outside that it’s pretty good! Closing statement: Tampa sucks, if you like it here congrats, you like to settle for dirt poor quality of life, or are one of the rich folks who helped ruin it for everyone else. Enjoy the sinkholes that’ll keep popping up till the city fully collapses, since the limestone/sandstone honeycomb of caves under the state weren’t designed to handle these cities weights.

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Run Away, Run Away!!! - 10/11/2021

Definitely the worst city I have ever lived in. The people here are scum, and if they aren't scum yet, they become it. All sites lie. The price for housing is so much higher than the rest of the country. The streets throughout haven't been maintained in decades. The underground water and sewer systems are on the verge of collapsing- to which the solution is to raise the price of utilities over the course of 5 to 6 years, and hide that money until theres enough to fix it. I do not believe it has that many years left. You can immediately tell if it's a good part of town, or if you better hit the gas pedal and fly out of there. Because of rapid rise in uncontrolled housing, utilities etc, there are a lot of homeless people. And they aren't in the city, they find shelter in the suburbs, areas you might not expect them in - and the city doesn't help them. Everything is just old here. Unkept homes, areas of empty buildings for blocks, where life hasn't touched in years. Trash everywhere (both the kind you throw away, and a lot of the people here too). Local sales tax sky rocketed to 8.5% (highest in florida.... where Orlando ranges between 6-7%). Even Uber rides are more expensive here. Lowest cost on even the shortest trip no matter which time or day, you'll find no less than $9. Leaving from the airport, then expect to throw down between $16-$40, even if just going down the street. Utilities from Electric to Internet, are all controlled by monopoly companies (TECO - Spectrum). If you happen to find an area where you get a choice, however, you'll still be choosing the monopoly b/c the competitors can't keep up. They'll boost about themselves being lowest cost saving you, the customer money on one bill. And then next month's bill, you're now paying for a new fee tacked on to everyones' bill, and the cost per KW has risen. In the 3 years I've been here, single, my electric has always ranged between $50 to $85, and now suddenly, during a non-summer month with their new fee, I'm pushing close to $100. And lets not forget trash fees - usually these are about 8 times what you'll pay in water. I'm charged between $39-$45 a month. (much higher than other cities in Florida). In conclusion, Tampa sucks. It's dirty. It's old. High crime. Over priced. And has the worst care with pets I have ever seen, with thousands missing a day due to negligence on the owner's part. I would highly recommend scratching this rat's hole off your list and implore everyone to look elsewhere. Once you're here, they trap you to stay.

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Eh, not terrible - 9/26/2019

I lived here during college and while it was kinda dirty and run down in the Fowler/Fletcher area, there's certainly a lot to do.

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If you're unhappy here, it's probably you. - 12/30/2018

I was born in Tampa, and while I've traveled extensively I've always come back to my hometown. One of the first things you get used to as a kid growing up in Florida are the new people. You can usually tell who you're dealing with after meeting a transplant, most falling into one of three categories. 1, miserable people. These people try unsuccessfully to move away from their misery, never knowing they're it's source. These are the people who hate everything they see here, we're stupid, never is done right here, etc, etc. Just ignore them, there's nothing anyone can do for them. 2, assimilators. These people get it and are here to enjoy Florida. They seek out locals and live the lifestyle. They'll go fishing with you, eat the food, never complain about the heat, and genuinely seem grateful to be here. 3, the colonizers. These people are truly destructive and arrogant on a scale that hard to sum up. Even though Europeans landed in Florida many years before the places they come from were found, they behave like Florida is a wilderness and set up to tame and polish it. They don't understand why things aren't exactly the way they are back home and assume the reason must be that Floridians are too dumb or lazy to recreate the great civilization they came from. Ironically, no other place in the country is more wealthy or cosmopolitan than Florida, and the never-ending flood of people fleeing the political and economic failers around the rest of the country are glaring proof. Tampa, in particular, is an interesting and unique city. As with any large city, you can find seedy elements. But being focused on them says more about you than our city. It would be impossible to do real justice to Tampa's history in this format, but I can throw out some bullet points to spark interest. Everything in Florida is not new, in fact, Tampa was a modern city with electric streetcars in the 1890s. Commercial air travel was invented here with a flight across the Bay from Tampa to St. Pete. Speaking of St. Pete, no review of Tampa is complete without our neighbors. Tampa is the principal city but the area functions as a unit. We have more than our fair share of political boundaries in the Bay area but the region is organically one large cityscape scattered over a few counties. Truth be told that's our biggest weakness. This area needs better transit, badly. It's difficult to get a single government to accomplish much. Imagine how hard it is to get a couple of dozen on the same page. Not have a single dominant municipality is a major disadvantage for us. All in all this area is diverse and dynamic. Dozens of small communities with distinct personalities, urban centers, wild places and every modern convenience within easy access. Tampa International is consistently ranked among the nation's top airports. Several curses lines operate from the port of Tampa, Downtown. Our food scene is top-tear, second only to the great food cities like NYC, New Orleans, etc. Our seafood is unbelievable, and Floribean flavors are fun and easy to make at home and become new favorites of people who settle down here. Between Tampa and St. Pete there are weeks of museum and gallery visits, there are always several shows in the area. Music and theater, both indoors and out. The best local insight I can give is to find a friend with a boat. Whether you're island hopping or just traveling across the Bay, this area is smaller by boat.

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I should have done my homework... - 8/25/2018

Where to start. I haven't noticed a groundswell of anti-outsider sentiment because everyone is from somewhere else. Anecdotally (based on license plates I've seen) it does seem like the bulk of transplants are climate refugees fleeing from the frigid NE and Ohio. The irony of climate refugees fleeing to coastal Florida is not lost on me. I mention the number of transplants you'll find here because how you feel about Tampa (and Florida in general) depends on where you're moving from. I suppose if you shoveled snow in 28-degree weather for 4-5 months of each year, then Tampa may look like Valhalla. I relocated from a beautiful and temperate part of the country to Tampa for work. Generally, I find Tampa charmless and in many ways, I feel like I stepped back into 1986. Here's why: 1. Florida has some of the most aggressive drivers I have ever encountered. Weaving in an out of traffic at 30 mph over the speed limit, each time within 18 inches of your bumper. No signaling. Refusal to let you merge. Odd traffic control (making left-hand turns across 3 lanes of oncoming traffic zooming toward you at 50mph). Florida has some of the worst pedestrian safety in the country. It also has more uninsured drivers than any other state, a big problem with wrong-way drivers, and some of the highest car insurance premiums in the country (mine went up 40%). I wouldn't think about riding a bike here or even walking in parts of Tampa. I spent my first 3 months in near tears whenever I had to get in the car, which is important because... 2. You will have to drive everywhere. Tampa and surrounding areas do not have much in the way of mass transit. You will be in your car all the time, and much of what is interesting (parts of downtown, the beaches, St. Pete) is a 45-minute drive away. I had a friend visit me from my hometown and every time we wanted to go somewhere, we'd punch it into Waze and it was always 45-60 minutes away in what I have already mentioned are stressful driving conditions even under the best circumstances. 3. What isn't from1986 is the cost of renting. Buying is cheaper than renting and housing prices are a bargain here compared to many parts of the country. I didn't want to buy until I was sure I wanted to stay long term. Renting is not inexpensive and Florida has few tenant protections that you may enjoy in other more progressive states. A decent and safe 1 bedroom apartment in one of the many huge apartment complexes that dot this area will cost you at minimum $1,200 a month, plus nonrefundable pet deposits of $300-$400 each and pet rent (despite paying aforementioned deposits) of $20-$40 per month. I should have done my research a bit more carefully since this is easily obtainable info. As it turns out, I moved from a higher cost geography and took a large pay cut, but because of my relatively low fixed costs in my hometown, my monthly living expenses have actually edged up. Again, this depends on what you're used to. Do your research because the pay here isn't all that great. 4. Tampa is not a progressive city. There is a general lack of environmental awareness that befuddles me considering it's a state surrounded by water. For example, my garbage collector offers bi-weekly curbside recycling, but I had to provide my own containers and very, very few of my neighbors participate in this. I am from a part of the country where reduce/reuse is a way of life. I'm treated like an exotic creature for bringing my own bags to the grocery store. Piggybacking on this lack of environmental awareness is the general weirdness that is Florida. When I jokingly asked my cable installer if he had any advice for a new FL resident and he responded by telling me to buy a gun. 5. Tampa suburbs. Suburbs anywhere tend to be uninteresting places, but in Tampa, factor this by x10. I live in a suburb that doesn't have a downtown but is a confluence of highways lined with chain restaurants, outlet malls, and gated communities. You can get concerts in Tampa and Orlando, but other smaller cultural happenings are hard to find (smaller artists, bookstore readings, independent movies, small coffee shops, etc.) 6. Florida is a transient place. I've met a lot of people who moved here because they had great memories of summer vacations in Florida when they were growing up. I get it - nostalgia is powerful. Some move here and love it. A lot don't. Living in Florida is a little like living in Las Vegas - lots of people cycling in and out. That has an impact on how invested people feel in their local community. 7. The weather. Yeah, it's hotter than Hades from April through September. Surprisingly, this didn't bother me all that much. I have AC at home and at work and am generally not an outdoorsy person. If you want to be outside at 5 pm in August then you are in for a big surprise. I posted a photo of a summer downpour on my Facebook feed and one of my hometown friends mentioned how "refreshing" that would be. Uhh, no. There is nothing refreshing about warm rain when it's 95 degrees outside. Side note - FL landlords are not required to provide AC to tenants. Heat, yes. AC, no. Most do because they want to get their place rented. There are people that live here without AC but I don't know how they do it. My advice is likely relevant for people who value the same things that I do. Really examine those values before you move to a new city and consider how you live your life on a daily basis. Sure, the beaches are beautiful, but will you go every weekend or even monthly (the answer is probably not). What is your commute going to be like? Can you easily live your values here, whatever those may be (ie leaving a small environmental footprint, being able to support small businesses, etc.)

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Tampa is My Nirvana - 8/19/2018

Nirvana ... Shangri-La ... My heaven on Earth ... but beware the sinkholes! Must-See: Honeymoon Island State Park, Fort De Soto Park, Madeira Beach, Salvador Dali Museum, & St. Petersburg Metropolitan Community Church.

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I don’t know what we were thinking. - 4/26/2018

Median salary here is $55K but average rent prices for a one bedroom start at $1200 for maybe 600 square feet. Forget about living in a house. The only affordable ones are in the hood surrounded by crime. (Drugs, burglary, grand theft, etc. check the crime stats through the sheriff’s department.) The traffic is awful. It takes 40 minutes to drive 6 miles and car insurance continues to skyrocket because there are so many bad drivers causing accidents. Avoid I4/275 if you value your life. There’s weed everywhere and it stinks. Gentrification is the city’s number one priority. Rent prices have increased twenty percent in two years and the housing market is garbage. Everything is overpriced for what it is. The demographic is predominantly white people who try to act like they’re classy but really just enjoy white privledge and white people activities like Hockey and trashy bars in Ybor. There is a ton of racism in the area. A TON! It doesn’t matter what shade of off white you are, there’s a white person every ten feet who will side eye you or have some remark to make. The sherrif has so much time on their hands that they pull people over repeatedly in a five mile stretch for absolutely no reason. They profile drivers and do absolutely nothing when you call them repeatedly about neighborhood drug activity. This place is like Detroit with more uppity white people, a sporadic art community , overpriced and unsafe entertainment, the number one pastime here is drinking so, have fun avoiding people drunk driving along with texting and driving. It’s impossible to move out of this place because the major corps pay garbage wages. If Tampa isn’t careful, it’s going to end up like a lot of struggling former metropolises. There are a ton of places that are better to live. And they don’t have any good beaches. You have to drive at least an hour (20 miles) for a good beach. The suburbs are worse.

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One of the best places to raise a family - 3/14/2018

Tampa offers year round opportunity for family fun! Beaches, Sports venues, outdoor concerts, Busch Gardens, Lowry Park Zoo, close proximity to the Orlando attractions. Transplanted here 13 years ago from NJ and would never go back. Sure the summers can get hot and humid, but it's a far cry better than the ice and snow of the Northeast . Traffic can be hectic at times, but for the most part it is far less travel time here then any other major metropolis! Sunshine, palms and beach... nothing better...

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Pass if you are single, married, young, old,...... - 12/28/2017

Lived in Tampa for 10 years. Trying to save you from making the same mistake we made. As you drive North out of the airport, you hit I275 and I-4 and you'll see the biggest Confederate flag ever above it all. You'll look at your kids in the car and think "dear God, what have I done? From there it does not get better. Tampa is hard to love, hard to hate, it is simply lame. No arts, no culture, non educated population, full of rednecks, terrible salaries, lame downtown, non existent public transportation, no walkable areas, below par schools, dangerous to cycle anywhere, no green spaces, super aggressive drivers, rude customer service. Hot, humid, rainy summers; yeah, that season when kids want to be out. My kids could not last 10 minutes. If you've never experienced humidity; it's hell. And being able to wear flip-flops on January does not make up for that. You live perpetually under air conditioner. One plus, affordable housing. You can go to the beach so many times before it gets....boring. Moving the family back to the West coast.

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Tampa is no Silicon Valley or Research Triangle - 6/27/2017

If you are a well-educated professional and are looking for exciting job opportunities, Tampa is not for you! Companies and organizations are stuck in the 1990's way of doing things. HR units are the worst! Commuting to work in the Tampa area is a driving nightmare.

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The best of suburban, city, and beach living - 1/27/2017

I lived in Tampa for about a year and frequented the University of South Florida area during college because my boyfriend lived in the area. I love Tampa because the area is huge, and offers a great mix of city, suburbia, and beach terrain. The downtown area is fun to explore with unique areas like Channelside and Ybor City. There are also some gorgeous views from the downtown city streets because the whole area is bordered by Tampa Bay. If you're in the area during hockey season, my favorite thing to do is see the Tampa Bay Lightening play. Tampa really loves this team, and getting plugged in with their games and fans is a great way to get involved with the Tampa community. On the weekends, my boyfriend and I greatly enjoyed day trips to the beach, and our favorite spot to visit was John's pass because it was fun to visit the shops in the area, see the boats pass under the huge drawbridge, and the strip of beach always had entertaining people watching opportunities. There are also a number of unique locally-owned restaurants in the area that were fun to try. I highly suggest using Yelp to find a few new places to try! I gave this area 4 instead of 5 stars because I hated the constant traffic and confusing road construction, and I felt disconnected from the community at times.

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Need lots of Opinions and Feedback......Considerin - 11/6/2016

Hello Everyone!! I am 35 years old African American college educated professional single man that is considering a job transfer to Tampa. I have a few concerns and would like some honest respectful feedback. I have lived in Dallas for 5 years and it's just no longer my cup of tea. I have been to Tampa on vacation and liked the city but would like feedback on issues surrounding diversity, quality of life and possibly dating (women) in the Tampa area. Here are few questions you can answer for me and of course feel free to add anything else you feel would be of value. 1. Cost of Living? 2. Of course everywhere has it's dash of racism but in regards Tampa do most people get along or is there racial outburst among blacks, white, latinos and etc. 3. Would you call Tampa a singles town? 4. Low or High Crime Rate? 5. Weather and Air Quality? Good or Bad? 6. Lot's of bugs or not too many? 7. City Corruption among law enforcement and local government? None, Normal or Extreme? Thank you kindly looking forward to your feedback.

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Affordable but very hot humid and rainy summer mon - 10/9/2016

I’ve been living in Tampa for 12 years and unlike, some posters on here, I have no hidden agenda. Tampa is a great place if you’re looking for affordability. Houses are cheap and taxes are low (no state tax and homestead exemption for full time Florida residents). Beaches in nearby Pinellas County are among the best. However, expect to drive an hour each way to get to the beach. Now the cons – Hot humid summer - summers are very hot and humid. In fact they’re miserable and it pours heaving rain every afternoon. Any outside activities need to take place early morning or early evening. And all that heat and humidity breeds lot of bugs. Don’t go to any of the parks without bug spray or you’ll be mauled by mosquitoes. Very low wages – companies much lower compared to other job markets Terrible system of roads and traffic – many accidents due to poor/confusing signage Too many bad neighborhoods throughout central Tampa – local ole boy government has done nothing to improve the situation Minimal walk-able areas – expect to do lots of driving. A lot of strip malls throughout. There are a few walk-able areas downtown that are nothing to brag about. Overall, I would say Tampa is a good place if you want cheap affordable housing to raise a family if you don’t mind the brutal summers, traffic and can find work that pays a decent salary.

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Hate it here... - 9/17/2016

I've lived in South Florida for the past 10 years and while it was nice for many years, after My wife and I had a child we began to feel that maybe South Florida was not where we should be being that it's overcrowded, people are unfriendly, schools are bad and urban sprawl has caused many undesirables to start encroaching on neighborhoods that were once nice. (Coral Springs, for instance, was a great place until a couple years ago. Now it's packed with people, apartments are going up everywhere so it's only going to get worse, and crime has gone up considerably.) Instead of heading back to Pennsylvania, which is where we're from, we did a little research and found out that Tampa was a supposedly a good place for families, better cost of living, schools and really laid back. We decided to move. Boy were we wrong. It's honestly no different than South Florida and worse to some degree. Not as crowded, but the same rude people, the same horrid drivers, schools are poor. While there are good people here, (I've made some life long friends here), there is a ton and I mean a TON of trash living here too. I grew up in the military so I've been around and I can honestly say I have never disliked a place more than I dislike Tampa. We've got six months left in our lease and we're moving back to Pittsburgh. it can't come fast enough.

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Pass onTampa... - 9/16/2016

I''m originally from Pennsylvania but I've lived in South Florida for 5+years. I also grew up in the military so transitioning has never been an issue for me. I moved to Tampa From Fort Lauderdale for a job I couldn't pass up and I can tell you that I have never wanted to leave somewhere so bad in my life. They say South Florida is its own entity, separate from The rest of Florida. Wrong! Florida crazy is Florida crazy no matter where you are down here. It's just like south Florida, except not as crowded and you live in a swamp as opposed to a growing urban jungle. Maybe once, I would have thought Tampa was a great place to be, but that time has definitely passed. If you're thinking Tampa might be for you and your family, DO YOUR RESEARCH! I've got 6 months left of my lease and I swear it can't come fast enough.

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Quality of life gets worse every year in tampa - 5/26/2016

So you love to sit on roads during majority of day as though you are in a parking lot? Then this is the place for you. Regardless of how much construction has been done here, there are saturation points "everywhere" here. There is nice easy drive to the store or anywhere Elise. I lived here the last ten years and also between 85-88, and right now is the worse I ever remember. If you never have to get in a charm then perhaps not so bad. I never tailgate nor stop quickly yet have been hit five times all the other drivers fault, so has every friend I know. Drivers here get ruder every year, of all ages, all cultures, and sexes, people have just gotten nasty here. Trip from the Kennedy to carrollword less than 6 miles may take two hours, trip from Palm harbor to downtown Tampa now 2 hours to get parked, less then 20 miles to work, public transportation between counties is horrible, four hours to get to work for a short distance, ohm and buses stop on the main roads for there are no pull offs. I as here ten years ago for hurricane evacuations, forget it now, there is no way this tri-county area could Handle such an evacuation now. This place is a haphazard place of development, unplanned, and has become downright dangerous, going anywhere has no become no small task, if I were in the edge of the outskirts of Tampa, I could drive to another state faster than I can get across town. Very sad situation. Once again, population growth here just destroys another land mass here, go ahead Tampa government, incentivize business to come here for tax revenue to put in your coffers, while doing nothing that improves overall quality of life here.

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This city is amazing - 4/15/2016

I was born in and grew up in Fort Lauderdale and it was great, 1990s and all and the times were different, when teachers actually wore button up dresses and before cellphones, Internet, before all of that, the place was incredible, safe and family friendly I used to play outside every single day, bikes, scooters, playing with a tree you know before video games, Xbox, before all of that, when furbies were trendy remember that? I live there for nearly two decades and Ive lived all across the United States in nearly every major metro area in the US and I lived in Tampa for 3 years recently, moved back to south florida for a year and then moved back to Tampa. The quality of life is so much better in Tampa than South Florida, the people are still nice and still have manners, the drivers drive normal if you know what I mean and the place is just perfect. South Florida is only decent for people who have a lot of money or maybe if you're really, really attractive and really lucky you'll be a trophy wife or maybe you'll win the lottery but other than that the rest of the population is just barely getting by and it shows, they look miserable, it's written all across their faces and it was really noticeable after living in Tampa for 3 years. If youre not a trust fund kid from Palm Beach or a successful lawyer, doctor or golddigger youre probably working a minimum wage job at Target or stuck in a dead end job with a wife you dont even like and kids you regret barely scraping by with an average life and hating every moment of it but hey what can you do right? Thats how most people live in South Florida now, rat race, miserable and just getting by pretending to enjoy life but everyone looks miserable! Everyone I know from Fort Lauderdale who went to colleges in different areas of Florida and other states have not gone back to South Florida and have no plans of going back, some go back for a couple months and haul out of there as fast as they can because they notice after living somewhere else that South Florida is not livable anymore. There's no reason to live like that, with the rude people, crazy drivers and high crime rates, it's like a government experiment to see how they can drive you crazy down there, it wasn't always like that! But anyway this is a review for Tampa not south florida, the quality of life in Tampa is infinitely better in 2016 than South Florida, the people, oh my goodness the people are so nice and sweet and well mannered and respectful I feel like I'm living in a pretty perfect postcard like seriously I don't know why you'd love anywhere else in Florida, Orlando without Disney is um, well there's a reason Disney makes so much money, there's nothing in Orlando but Disney and UCF but Tampa is amazing it has everything you could want without feeling like you're in hell, actually quite the opposite it's beautiful, quaint, family friendly, safe you have USF and the military base, you have retirees and tourists from Canada, you have spring breakers but not the lunatics that go to Miami, actually nice, respectable and adorable people from up north. Sure there's only one Costco in clearwater and one in Brandon but I hear they're opening another one near west chase but don't quote me on it. I love it's so incredibly different and there's plenty of schools, restaurants, bars etc whatever you need and God did I mention how sweet the people are? I love Tampa and highly recommend the place to anyone looking for a medium sized metro area in Florida that is family first and yet has everything you need or want. Seriously I don't really want to leave!

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