As Bill pointed out... Higher Education where you have an influx of students from other states who want to escape for the climate.

I've found when spinning tales 'it doesn't have to be true, just plausible and told with conviction'.

HMMMMMMM I still have a home in AZ that I am trying to sell and came here to my home that I bought 2 years ago to test out.........So what do I notice ? Gas is cheaper but most likely a WASH as You drive farther for errands.......yes groceries are higher than AZ As Frys "kroger" is not really here but aldis and walmart are much better than Publix and you just buy whats on sale.........Restarants seem to be cheaper to me than back home where they are kinda mostly high end places that are ususally packed and prices are high for food items.........Electric seems cheaper to me here.........I did not have a HOA gas or need landscapers and more water use so all those things along with Insurances car and home are more pricy.......Drs are retiring also back home and getting out or cutting back................Weather? Well its LESS HOTTER here than back in AZ that is for sure!!!!!! Even with the humidity its not as bad as you all complain about which I then laugh at you...........Go live in the desert right now you will come crawling if not running back to Florida.......HOT IS hot and ours is very deadly due to the dryness.......STORMS? well AZ has had some pretty bad storms thru the years and we get tons of flooding when it does rain and lightening there is equally as bad...lots of microbursts too.......BUT there isnt nearly as much to do back there like here either........so its not goes without saying no place is really perfect anymore as the US is evolving and not for the better either........the whole world has gone nuts along with everyone in it just pick a place that suits you for now.......

well dont bother to go to arizona as its not that great anymore and thats why I came here...........you wont like it there either and its a blue state with all the californians coming in there to buy homes and really jacking up the prices.............good luck you wont like the north either

76% of statisticians agree with that and 67% of economists.

When I moved to FL, my real estate taxes went from $12000/year to $1700/year.
My state income tax went from $2000/year to zero.
I do just fine with an extra $12300/year.

Moving vans
 

I don’t see a lot of moving vans headed for NY, NJ, Illinois, California, etc etc. to find the good life. Florida is certainly too hot but everything I read has it in the top five, if not #1, states to move to in the country. When I look at all the bad things in this world that I want nothing to do with Florida is very low in all those categories. Maybe I’m getting a little bitter in my old age but there are a lot of people in this world I don’t like and there is less of them in Florida.

Interesting point. The more I think about it the more I think that there is more truth in it than we realize.

I once heard the average week in TV described as "six Saturdays and a Sunday". There is little challenge to living here. After a few months here I found myself unconsciously inventing stress so that I'd have something to worry about when I got up in the morning.

Old habits are hard to break.

There is a name for this. The 'Death Spiral' has been forecasted in some areas for over a decade.

Not only is it a Death Spiral, it is a failure in leadership. Bad policies don't work, so let's double down on them! You can't build a paradise in a Welfare State. See Atlas Shrugged, it was ahead of its time.

Number 6 is real too!
 

The weather in Florida can be dangerous and it’s a valid negative. Even in The Villages. For example : About two weeks ago there was a menacing electrical storm, which went on for half an hour with nonstop lightning. Two homes caught on fire. I mean there’s a lot of lightning here, even without being a full-blown storm. So I don’t downplay that. And then there’s the oppressive humidity.

But like everything else, you have to weigh the pros and cons. Plenty of people see the pros outweighing the cons of living in Fla. 😎

Very well said. There's a happy place for everyone, lots of options. For us its TV.

This is so true of so much information on the Internet. Just yesterday I saw an article in my Google newsfeed that listed Minnesota and Colorado as one of the worst places to retire.

article here

Without knowing the underlying source (and motivation) of any sites data, I always take it with a healthy dose of skepticism.

True words.

I remember a quote from Paul Harvey, decades back, but it was as true today--perhaps even more so--than it was when it was spoken. "We cannot stand around with our hands in one another's pockets, and expect to get rich thereby".

There are always people moving from and to anywhere. When you read an article realize WE would not read it and they would not print it if it said DUH, I have nothing to say.

In the end it is your choice. The population of Florida is growing. The Villages is one of the fastest cities in the United States. Perhaps, part of the problem is so many choices. Sort of like Dunkin Doughnuts, people wait on line and wait till they get to the counter to decide how many and which ones.