Going to be moving there soon, looks like lots of crime. Any advice on areas to rent in before buying a house, specific places to stay away from, etc? Married with 2 dogs and no kids if that makes a difference. People on city-data seem pretty pessimistic but I tend to not take people serious if they consider tourist attractions like the Alamo and 6th street in austin as the positives for a great city to live in. Any input on living in this area? Any input appreciated.
I'm assuming you want to live on the beach, Jax Beach is nice, laid back, and pretty safe, Neptune Beach is also a good place, if you look in Atlantic Beach stay closer to the water, I've never heard good things about the Mayport area so I wouldn't look around there, and Ponte Vedra is really nice, it's expensive but you can find good deals. I live in Jax Beach and I love it, it's a great community. I couldn't tell you about in town I only cross the bridge for work and I have only lived here since February.
I've been in JAX beach for a few years now. Great town. Ocsurfer is correct. There is some crime but not too much worse than other cities. JAX is HUGE covering 3 counties so as you would imagine some places are safer than others.
Jacksonville, Fl. Yeah it would be nice to be near the beach but it seems the safer areas can be pretty pricey compared to further inland. Which is pretty much as expected. I haven't looked around in Neptune, Ponte Vedra did seems expensive but safe. What about the more historic hip areas like murrey hill, riverside, and springfield? How far are these from the beach? I also got to consider that my wife does not surf and is into arts, music, etc. Is there much going on closer to the beach in these terms? Kahuna and Pcsurfer, I am glad someone has positive things to say about Jax. We have been nervous as there isn't much good publicity on the net for the town. Then again happy people generally don't take the time to log on city-data and give props to their town.
Live here and grew up here. If you prefer to surf regularly, don't live in the "hip" areas further into town, it's a pain to get to the beach. Renting should not be a problem, so many houses/condos/townhomes for rent here. If you find that the beach properties are too expensive, try living on the west side of the intercoastal waterway. The neighborhoods that hug the west side of that are fairly safe and it's a quick drive, with just having to cross over the short bridge. Plenty of subdivisions with single family homes. Enter the following zip codes on Zillow: 32225, 32224, 32246, 32256... That's in order of going further away from the coast. The Arts scene here is in the Riverside/Avondale and San Marco areas. These neighborhoods are along the St Johns River closer to the Downtown area. I used to work in San Marco/Downtown and in order to get to the beach after work you would have to face the gauntlet of rush hour traffic on Interstate I-95 and Butler Blvd. There is a dense section of suburbs between the beach and downtown, so there is congestion whenever you need to commute between those two areas during the weekdays. Another option, depending on where you'll be working, is to live in St. Augustine. Good surf, good beaches, less aggro line-ups (east coast standards), and good art scene and culture
Went to schoolin Jax and lived at the beaches many moons ago. Moved back (Nassau County, Fernandina Beach) a couple of years ago. Married, a couple of crazy dogs and sons who visit and one moved down. We love the area et al. Neptune and Atlantic Beaches - oceanfront to Third Street have many rental options... South Jax Beach - has it's share of neat beachie rentals. But, if you're wanting a really laid back atmosphere and commuting 35-45 minutes isn't a deterrent I'd suggest the north side of the St. John's river. From Fort George up through Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach area. Way cool and way laid back and virtually zero crime to speak of. Good luck.
Awesome good info! St. Augustine looks rough for my wife's commute. The zip codes really helped with finding some gems. Any things to look out for in rentals here? Rodents, roaches, etc a big problem In the area?
In jax you generally want to stay away from the north side and certain parts of the west side. If you choose west side you have to go way west towards like baldwin area. Crime gets pretty bad. Schools are going to be a challenge.
As locals here say just dont live over the ditch(the intercoastal) But all the other info is right on. Cool vibe can get decent waves and mostly nice people. Atlantic and Neptune are pretty local cuz of no public parking. But south Jax Beach is where i live and i really love it here.
We moved to Jacksonville from the Houston/Galveston, TX area about 6 years. Married with two kids and we love it here. Houston's crime was way worse than it is here. Surf is way better than the upper TX coast too! Mid Aug. - December seem pretty consistant here. We rented first in Atlantic beach, east of A1A (other side seems sketchy). Then we bought a house across the ditch off Kernan. 10 minute drive to The poles, and 15 minutes to Jax Pier. If your looking for a place to stay, I'd say look between Kernan eastward, and between JTB(South) and Wonderwood(North). Kernan, Hodges, and San Pablo are the 3 main roads eastward, and all seem to have decent/nice neighborhoods. When are yall moving out here? PM me or reply back to this thread for more info.
pretty much mimic what everyone else has already said. stay the hell out of the 295 beltway, and south of Mayport. i live in 32224 (on the wrong side of the ditch) so my insurance is 1/2 of the beaches, mortgage is much cheaper and its <10 minutes to the pier and 15 to the poles. I wanted to live on the other side, but the cost was insane in atlantic beach/jax beach/neptune beach compared to 1/4 mile away in jacksonville proper Jax has a horrible reputation because the entire county(minus the beaches) is the city of Jacksonville. The "Urban core" is a hell hole but go east of Kernan/hodges, and you are in good shape. I steered away from the pier for about a year (grew up in va beach) and thought it had the same asshole vibe, and its actually pretty laid back. if you need anything else send me a PM
have fun surfing there ive been there and its pretty umm lets just say... imo ponte vedra and south is nice. st auggie is great might move there myself. ive been told that jax surfers have ego and are aggro but i havnt dealt with it. but heres what you get in jax https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW674qYoTf4
Great info. Looks like its definitely cheaper west of the intercostal water. Condos and apartments seem like less of a jump in price than houses. I don't mind surfing alone and try to find my own spots so I'm not concerned with surfing the pier. We were thinking of Houston before we decided to give up on Texas so it's good to hear that crime seems to be lower. We are moving in January it looks like. Thanks for the help
