The main thing to learn is, don't live near Lake Okeechobee or in the area of the Everglades. That takes care of the top 4 and the suburbs of Miami, Opa Locka, Homestead (a military town) and a couple of east coast towns, Cocoa, Ft. Pierce and Palatka. Last time I took the Autotrain we were delayed hours because we hit two people on the tracks high on drugs in Palatka. If looking just at crime, Panama City Beach is a big spring break town, a lot of transients. Lake City is where I-10 and I-75 meet, they probably have nothing for the youth to do, other than take meth, it's everywhere now.
The best place I found as far as cities go, would be Pensacola. It's in the panhandle, out of the way of the winter tourist, actually summer is the season. The average summer tourist is from the lower conservative states such as Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, etc. There are some winter tourist, usually Canadian because 50 degree highs aren't bad for them and they can find bargain prices. The permanent residents are many retired military since Pensacola is home to Naval Aviation. Even though it's a military town, most of the service men are commissioned officers making top pay and usually college educated.
I lived in Pensacola a while back for six years and it was a great place, and since then they've added a civic center. Big time shows can now appear where before it was a one hour drive to Mobile, and that isn't that greatest place to visit. Beaches as nice or nicer than Clearwater. Of course the only negative is it seems to be in the hurricane target area more times than not. I went through only one while there. Home prices aren't bad, you'll find stick built with brick veneer is the main building style. Swimming pools don't have birdcages, but fenced in yard is required if you have a pool. Vinyl pools are the most popular and are about 1/3 of the price you would pay in TV. Golf courses aren't so many, most are very cheap or public. There were two malls, but one has closed and one was remodeled, oddly the nicer newer mall was the one that closed. I found nightlife and restaurants were good. It's a Jimmy Buffet type lifestyle.
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