Living in Florida – Top Cities in NW Florida to Raise a Family

So, you're moving yourself, you're moving your family out here to Northwest Florida, and you're curious, where's the best places to bring your family? Well, in this video, we're going to go over exactly that. We're going to give you the top 6 that you should consider when moving out here. So, stick around.

So, let's get into it. Let's talk about the best places for families or to raise a family here in Northwest Florida. Now, you make sure that we don't get in trouble. All of this data, you can check which we got from niche.com. This is not all the data, but this is a summation of that. So, if you want to call me out, this is the best place to do it. We're also going to throw in some other information that we did research as well. Just want to give you that information right up front. So, this encompasses three different counties let's talk about it. What is number one on the list to be rated for their public schools, housing, good for family rating, crime and safety, diversity, and of course, the population is there. So, let's go into it.

1. NICEVILLE

First one for Niceville. Alright? The public school is actually rated "A". A, right? Their high schools ranked probably one of the best in Northwest Florida. It's actually ranked 49 in the entire state. The state has 2,227 here in the state of Florida. That's pretty amazing. That's where a lot of families want to go because of the school systems. Just know if you go to Niceville, if you end up in a place, just next to it, called Valparaiso, you'll still be able to get in there. So, those two cities will will help you out. The housing is rated at an "A-", which is an average between $372,000, at least at the time of this video. Good for family ratings? Hey. Crime and safety is a "B". Diversity will be a "B+". Population 15,619. Alright, let's move down the list. We got number two.

2. GULF BREEZE

Gulf Breeze has a public school rating of "A". Their high school, that's actually ranked 16th out of 2,227 here in state of Florida. Housing? It's a "B+". Why? It's more expensive. Average out there is going to be $403,000. Good for family rating? Hey. Crime and safety, "B-". Diversity, "B-". Population out there in Gulf Breeze area, 6,725. Next up!

3. MIRAMAR BEACH

Now, Miramar Beach is ranked in public schools as a "B+". So, their high school is actually ranked 108 of 2,227. It's housing, "C+". Why? It's expensive. That is $542,000 is your average single family home price. Good for families? "B+". Crime and safety, there's really no data because there's not a whole lot of it out there to measure. We got a couple of those. Diversity is a "B". Population is 8,815. Alright, Moving on!

4. MARY ESTHER 

It's public school's rating of "A-". Now, their high school is ranked 145 out of 2,227. One thing to note about Mary Esther is, Mary Esther doesn't actually have its own high school. So, it actually sends them over to Fort Walton Beach for Fort Walton Beach High and that's where that rating came from. Now, housing is a "B+". It's because the average out there is about $279,000 for your single family home. Is it good for families? Absolutely. Ready to day. Crime and safety? No data for this. Again, there's not enough data to measure. Diversity? It's an "A". Population, 4,370. Now, Mary Esther's pretty interesting because it's close to everything without being incorporated. So, you have access to it. So, the cost of living is actually pretty, pretty far down. It's more kind of suburbia than anything else, so definitely why it's up there in the ratings.

5. SHALIMAR

Next, we have Shalimar. The area specifically was ranked number 5 for an area called Lake Lorraine. Now, their public schools is rated in "A-". Their high school is ranked 174 out of 2,227. Now, again, Shalimar doesn't have high school. Well, where they do send them is the northern part of Fort Walton Beach called Choctawhatchee or Choctaw as a local seem to say or some locals don't say it at all, so maybe it's just me. Alright. Their housing is rated "B+" with an average of $279,000 per the single family home sales. They're good for families, it's rated an "A-". Crime and safety, again, no data. There's not a whole lot of that to measure. Diversity, again, is an "A-". Population 7,495. Now, we talk about diversity and how that's really measured. You can probably imagine what that is. But the reason that that happens is because of this area. We have all these military bases, which bring people, like myself into this area and we figure out how lovely it is and we end up staying here. And because of the military and the diverse nature of the military, it kind of brings all these people in. They love it, they end up retiring or just sticking around. And then, we end up here for a while. So, it really kind of gives to the character that this area has and gives a lot of diversity throughout it. If that's something that you like, great! Because it's also a mesh with a little bit of Florida vacationers and the southern hospitality that we get that kind of comes in from the Georgia and Alabama area since we're just south of that. So, it's pretty interesting to have all those things.

Alright! Last but not least, we're going to get into number six, which is Destin.

6. DESTIN

Destin has a public school rating of "A". Now, normally for public schools, they send the high schoolers over to Fort Walton Beach High. However, Destin does now have a high school. It is a private school, but it is a high school that they do have out there that is continuing to grow, it's fairly new. For housing, it's rated to "B-". Why? Again, it's expensive. And we got an average of $490,000 for your single family homes. Is it good for families? It's rated an "A-". We're good for families. Crime and safety. Again, no data. There's not a whole lot. If there is any that we've looked up, it's usually all property or petty crime rates. But again, you can look that up on your own. Diversity, B+. Population 14,482.

So, there you go. There's your top 6 across all three counties, and hopefully you got some good information from that. Again, if you want more info on this, you want to really know more these specific areas. My suggestion is go to check out this website. Go to niche.com or niche.com depending upon where you're from and how you want to say it. And then go into the reviews. Go into the reviews for the schools. Go into the reviews for the areas. It's really going to give you a good feel and honest feedback, the best one that we found about that area. Now, if you want more information upon that, reach out to a local person here. If you're looking to move here, reach out to a local real estate agent. You can reach out to my team here or you can reach out to anybody that you'd like and be happy to kind of walk you through with these areas and what to anticipate. Depending upon your specific situation as much as we legally can. Right?

Alright. So, that's all that we do have for you. If you have any questions about anything we did mention here, please feel free to call/text us at 850.320.7757 or email us at Admin@WhittemoreGroupRE.com