I see a lot of anons flocking to Florida and Texas. This is great. Both are very free places. I moved my family here around 4 years back from NY and figured I’d make a post about the factual differences living in 2 polar opposite places politically speaking. Please keep in mind I did NOT live in NYC. When I say NY I am talking about a suburban area for one of the other cities (Syracuse-Albany-Rochester-Buffalo).

Guns- there is no comparison. Not going to say much here. Getting a CPL is NY is damn near impossible if you’re not current or former law enforcement. Florida was a 3 hour class followed by one shot into a water barrel. Still not constitutional carry and could be better, but much more palatable than NY.

Income- NY was definitely higher paying in just raw numbers. After taxes tho the gap greatly decreased. I still made more in NY adjusted for taxes and cost of living. Florida cost of living has been skyrocketing. It’s not some cheap place to live contrary to popular belief (unless you live in some poor rural area in the north or non-metro Orlando center of the state). Jobs pay best in/near the big cities like elsewhere. Overall at this point I’d say cost of living is a draw. I would have said differently a few years back but now it’s about the same. One noticeable difference is the middle class. NY def had a stronger (larger) middle class. Florida is very rich and poor, with a much smaller middle class America inbetween. I don’t mean this as a negative though, it’s what happens when you let nature take it’s course and don’t tax people to death to take from the rich to boost up the working poor

Education- We don’t home school. I know. I know. I know. We still send our kids to public schools by need, not choice. Would love too homeschool but it’s not practical income wise at this point. The kids are def exposed to much less liberal ideas down here, although it’s not perfect. They aren’t hammered with CRT or LGBTQ propaganda, but they also aren’t taught conservative ideals either. When you take the social part out and look purely at raw academics (math, reading abilities, English, etc), I hate to say this but schools in Florida are pumping out dumber kids than the north. My kids math for example down here is a solid 2+ years behind what he was learning up there. Reading skill levels of classmates are also greatly lagging. If I left it up to the public school system here it wouldn’t be pretty. Florida public schools are notoriously bad, so it wasn’t a surprise at least. All in all I’m glad the kids are where they are, but academically they would suffer if it wasn’t for all the extra hours my wife and I put in to educating them.

Taxes- not even a comparison. Florida has way cheaper property taxes and no state income tax. Blows the north out of the water. I definitely hand over way less money to big brother.

Social life- once again Florida blows NY out of the water. The population as a whole is more conservative so it’s super easy to find like minded friends.

Covid restrictions- as of today I’d say a draw, there aren’t really restrictions anywhere anymore. Was just up visiting family and barely anyone wore a mask or anything in NY. Nothing is shut down, anyone trying to tell you that is selling you ocean front property in Iowa. You didn’t hear or see much of anything abt Covid. However keep in mind we are a full 2.5 years post the start of the scamdemic. For all of 2020 and 2021 Florida was light years ahead of NY freedom wise. Those are 2.5 years of life no one can get back so spending it free was a hugeeeeee plus that cannot be understated.

Hope this helps anyone on the fence. In summary I don’t regret the move on bit. However my advice would be don’t go into it expecting the south to be the promised land. While better we still have a ways to go and areas to improve. No where is going to be perfect. However regardless of where you are you can make it better by getting involved and fighting for our liberties and freedoms!