A Diverse city with good and bad points
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10/28/2016
Like any city, Fort Lauderdale has it's good points and it's bad. On the good side you can't beat the weather here, especially October to June. No snow and no winter stress to deal with. Nothing better than going to the beach on Christmas Day.
The city, and Broward County as a whole, is very diverse. If you have issues with living around different races and sexual orientations this is not the city or county for you. Very large black, Latin and Gay population here. People from all over the world come to live here, especially from South America, Cuba, Canada and the islands.
Most people are very friendly and welcoming, but as in any city you have your bad seeds as well. There are gangs and there is crime. Property crimes are high here but we don't have the gun violence here that they do in cities like Chicago or Detroit. No "Thirty five shot in a weekend" stories here.
There are the beaches, shopping and plenty of activities of every kind. If you are a young single or couple who enjoys living in a diverse place then you will like it here. If you are a family with kids I will be honest and say that the public schools are not the best unless you live in the far western suburbs of Weston, West Sunrise, Coral Springs, Wellington or Cooper City. These areas were developed as family suburbs and there are tons of kids and tons of kids activities. Most people with kids who live on the eastern side of Broward send their kids to private schools.
It is very expensive to live here, a modest one bedroom apartment in a decent area is $1300.00 a month. The new upscale complexes in the downtown area start around $2,000 for a studio. Avoid the areas adjacent to I-95 on either side of the highway all the way through Broward, not good areas. If you are gay, Wilton Manors and Oakland Park are the cities for you.
Broward is a blue county so if you are really conservative you probably want the west coast of Florida or north of Palm Beach County on the East Coast.
Housing costs are around $300,000 for a decent small house up to the multi millions. Insurance costs for home and car are very high. If you are coming from out of state, it will take a year to get used to living here, South Florida is unlike any other part of the country.
JW | Oakland Park, FL