FLORIDA SUCKS! Why People Are Moving to Georgia and NOT Florida!
Living in Georgia vs Living in Florida
Georgia and Florida. Two neighboring states that are alike in some ways but also have some significant differences.
As a realtor, I’ve worked with families making the move from Florida up to Georgia and today we’re going to talk about some of the differences between these two states.
I’m Tim Trevathan, with Tim Trevathan Homes and Keller Williams Realty. I’m a realtor in the Metro Atlanta area. My phone number and email address are below on your screen. If you are considering moving to the area, please give me a call or send me an email. I would love to help you find a great home for your family.
Okay, let’s start with probably the most obvious difference between Georgia and Florida.
The Beach. Georgia is obviously landlocked except for a small section of coast down by Savannah while Florida is a peninsula surrounded on 3 sides by water. To put that into perspective, Georgia has 110 miles of coastline compared to Florida’s 1,350 miles.
At its widest, Florida is only 120 miles wide, and wherever you go in Florida, you are always within 60 miles of a beach. In contrast, the closest beach to Atlanta is Tybee Island near Savannah, about 250 miles or about 4 hours away.
One of the most popular beach destinations for Atlanta is Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, it is also around 4 hours away. The other popular beach destination for Atlantans is the Destin, Florida area and that is a little over 5 hours from Atlanta.
Do keep in mind those drive times are without traffic. So, depending on the time of day and whether you are traveling on a holiday, you can easily add an hour or more to those travel times.
For us Atlantans, the beach is easily doable for a long weekend, and possible for a short weekend trip if you really need your beach fix, but you just can’t beat Florida for easy beach access. In Florida, you can be spontaneous and head to the beach for the afternoon and you just can’t do that here in Georgia.
Now, let’s talk about mountains. What Georgia lacks in beach access it makes up for in mountain access. From Atlanta, the North Georgia Mountains are an easy 1–2-hour drive depending on exactly where you live and where you are going. That makes it very doable to take a daytrip up to a vineyard, spend your Saturday hiking, or heading up to the mountains for an entire weekend very doable.
In contrast, Tallahassee, one of the northernmost cities in Florida and a straight shot down I-75 from Atlanta, is around 6 hours from the Blue Ridge, Georgia, a popular spot for Atlantans to visit. Florida is 500 miles long, so the further into Florida you go, the further you get from the mountains.
If you love the mountains, it’s a whole lot easier to spend time there if you live in Atlanta compared to if you live in Florida.
Another big difference is weather. Florida and Georgia are both hot and humid. There are, however, a few key differences.
While Atlanta does have a long, hot, humid summer, we also have four distinct seasons. We have a long summer, short but beautiful fall, a short and mild winter, and a short but beautiful (and pollen filled) spring. During winter, Atlanta doesn’t get much snow. We do usually get snow flurries at least once a year, and sometimes get up to a couple of inches of accumulation. Our “big” snows don’t seem like much to folks from up north, but we sure do get excited about them!
How much winter you get in Florida really depends where in Florida you live. In southern Florida, you’ll hardly even notice winter and won’t need to own more than a light sweater. In northern Florida, you won’t see snow but temps can feel chilly a handful of days during the winter.
The average January high in Tallahassee is a mild 65 degrees, in contrast to a balmy 74 degrees down in Miami or a chilly 53 degrees here in Atlanta.
Another weather difference is hurricanes. If you live in Florida long enough, you will most likely experience wind or hurricane related flooding to at least some degree. Thankfully up here in Atlanta, direct hits from hurricanes aren’t something we have to worry about.
We do sometimes see tropical storm force winds and rain but that is nothing compared to the hits that Florida takes from hurricanes. Thanks to our topography, it is also very rare that we have to deal with storm related flooding here in Atlanta.
We do, however have pine trees. Lots and lots of pine trees and large oak trees. It isn’t super common, but they can uproot during storms if the ground gets too wet. I’ve lived here for years and haven’t had a tree fall on my house or any of my friend’s homes. Like I said, it isn’t super common but common enough that you do see it on the news from time to time. If you don’t want to have to worry about that possibility, I would suggest looking for a home with no tall trees in the yard.
Let’s move on to home styles. When you think Florida homes, what do you picture? Probably a stucco or cement home that is one or two stories, right? Because the water table is so shallow, basements are not a thing in Florida.
What is a thing in Florida, and I wish was a thing here in Georgia is lanais. Think a planned area of your home with screens instead of solid walls. Here in Atlanta, screened-in porches stick out from the main structure of the home and are usually 1-side exterior wall and 3-sides screens.
In Florida, lani’s are part of the main home’s structure. Sometimes you’ll see 3-sides exterior walls and 1-side screen, or you may see larger lani’s that extend past the home and into the yard as well.
They are everywhere in Florida. In fact, it is hard to buy a home in Florida that does not a lani. I wish screened-in porches were that common here in Atlanta as it makes it so much easier to enjoy your outdoor space when you don’t have to worry about bugs.
The other awesome thing about Florida homes is the large screened in enclosures covering swimming pools. Here in Atlanta, if your home has a swimming pool, it is out in the open and you’ll be dealing with bugs and leaves. In Florida, most home swimming pools are screened, which means mosquito free enjoyment of your pool.
Here in Atlanta, you’ll see many, many traditional 2-story brick homes on basements. If your home isn’t brick or stone, it will most likely be covered in cement siding, vinyl siding, or wood siding.
Not all homes have basements; starter homes tend to be built on slab foundations, but at higher price points you’ll find most homes are built on walk out basements.
Home construction is different too, primarily due to differing building codes as a result of the hurricane threat in Florida as well as the increased risk of termite damage in South Florida in particular. Here in Georgia, most homes are timber frame construction. In northern and central Florida, you’ll find some timber frame construction, but in south Florida you’ll find almost exclusively concrete block construction; designed to help homes withstand termites and storms.
Here’s another big difference between Georgia and Florida: Taxes. In Georgia, we pay a state income tax. The exact tax rate depends on your income. In Florida, there is no state income tax. So, if you are moving to Georgia from Florida, you’ll want to check what you’ll be paying in income taxes when calculating your take-home pay and thinking about a comfortable monthly mortgage payment.
Overall, housing in Georgia is about 5% cheaper than housing in Florida, but whether that will be true for you depends on where in Florida you are moving from. Compared to the Metro Atlanta area, if you are coming from Miami or elsewhere in South Florida, you’ll likely find housing here to be more affordable than you are used to. On the flip side, if you are moving from somewhere like Jacksonville, prices here may come with a little bit of sticker shock.
As a whole, life in Georgia is about 1.7% cheaper than life in Florida.
Let’s talk about food. In Florida, there’s no shortage of great seafood. If you like seafood, you can’t get any fresher than freshly caught. We do have seafood here in Atlanta of course, and its only a few hour drive to the beach so seafood can still be very fresh when it gets here. But we don’t have nearly as many seafood restaurants as you’ll find in Florida and of course in Atlanta we don’t have the option to dine by the ocean or gulf while you enjoy the catch of the day.
We do have lots of sweet tea, biscuits, and other Southern food staples that aren’t quite as popular in Florida. It is also hard to beat fresh Georgia peaches in the summer.
Georgia and Florida are both great states. Florida may have the beach, palm trees, year-round summer, and Disney world, but here in Georgia we’ve got four seasons, peaches, sweet tea, and mountains. If you want to call Georgia home, please reach out. Give me a call or send me an email and I would be honored to help you find the right home for your family.
