What's Jacksonville, Florida like?

Its a big city with a small town mentality. Could have been great,should have been great,but its been run by the Good Ole Boy network my entire life (Im 59) . There are pockets of very cool areas (Riverside,The Beaches) but they are surrounded by a sea of deplorables. You would think being a big navy town that would have influenced the demographics and culture,but nope. Most navy people cant wait to get the hell out of here.

Its a big city with a small town mentality. Could have been great,should have been great,but its been run by the Good Ole Boy network my entire life (Im 59) . There are pockets of very cool areas (Riverside,The Beaches) but they are surrounded by a sea of deplorables. You would think being a big navy town that would have influenced the demographics and culture,but nope. Most navy people cant wait to get the hell out of here.

It is the epitome of Florida-bland. What is Florida-bland you say? Glad you asked. Much of what we understand as “Florida” is the result of corporations deciding on architecture, color palettes, landscaping, residential property names, and the like. What they have achieved in Florida and in Jacksonville in particular is to create an environment that is simultaneously totally banal and inoffensive but not unpleasant. (I would link to the great French and Saunders sketch “Florida retirement” but I can’t find it anywhere.). Now I have lived hardcore Florida - a sojourn in Miami, which is as hardcore as Florida gets; and after that experience I can say that I am not unappreciative of the genteel banality that Jacksonville offers. I’m sure I’ll move away eventually but it suits my needs now.

I've got close friends who are going to move nearby, St. Augustine. Anybody have thoughts about that area?

I hate to see them leave, but they want to be near the beach. Once arrived, their job situations aren't spectacular, to say the least, yet their eventual plan is to build a house. I don't get HOW they can afford this, but they're under some impression that it can be done for $400K.

Sigh.

[quote] Is it worth visiting?

No. There is absolutely no reason to visit here if you don’t have business here.

[quote]is it a deplorable shithole?

Jacksonville had the reputation as the right-wing counterweight to liberal South Florida for many years, but significant relocation of offices from the Northeast has flooded the area with transplants and the county has just recently started trending Democratic.

[quote] I've got close friends who are going to move nearby, St. Augustine. Anybody have thoughts about that area?

The Old City is cute enough and has a slight Key West vibe but it’s basically a tourist trap and the surrounding area is basically a Northern Boomer colony.

Nearby St Augustine is very pretty - the oldest city in the US. The historic district was orginally a walled Spanish city. The architecture is beautiful. It is really only good to visit for short stays as there isn't really much to do after touring around for a couple of days. The beaches nearby are nice.

Gross. Run, don't walk. I am a Florida native and have always hated it. While I do not care much for Florida in general, of the coastal cities on either the Atlantic or Gulf - Jacksonville is one of the lowest down on my list. It's a very, very dirty and run-down city.

You mean you like Daytona better?

R4 Your friends are in for sticker shock if they think $400 k will go very far in St. Augustine. Theyll pay most of that for a decent lot. I love it there and have been countless times,but in the last 10 years (pre covid of course) its insufferable. Its literally choked with tourists . Theres a long line for everything and its expensive as hell . I grew up going there in the 60s-70s when it was so much more funky . Lots of hippie shops and street performers and funky boutiques. All gone . I just cant deal with it anymore,wich saddens me because I do love it so .

Interesting how repubs don't go on and on about the high crime rate. Just looked it up and Duval County has the second highest in Florida

Im from FL to and I agree with r8. Jacksonville/Duval is the bottom of the list if you are just looking to live or visit a coastal Florida city. Much of it like someone took the worst parts of Atlanta and dropped them on the coast. The rest is boring Florida greater metro suburb life.

It's the largest red city in America . That says a lot

Did we learn nothing from The a good Place. Jacksonville is the Florida of Florida.

OP, I'm pretty sure you're out of luck. Trump cancelled the GOP convention in Jacksonville.

ASt Augustine should be so much better. But meh. Jacksonville has lots of sketchy areas. Only redeeming quality is the hot Hispanic immigrants and PR/DR. And gay bars.

Is Jacksonville worth a specific trip? Not really.

Is it a potentially interesting stopover or detour for a few hours along the way when you're heading to or from somewhere else in Florida? Sure.

As others have noted, it's not a *bad* place, it's just not a particularly exciting place. I doubt whether many people are just burning with desire to move there, but it also seems like most of the people who already live there are reasonably content.

It's big enough to have an Ikea, which is more than you can say for Tallahassee or Naples/Fort Myers. It has a NFL team, but not baseball, basketball, or hockey (so, Canadians won't want to live there).

Floridians rarely travel to Jacksonville for anything other than family or business, but I suppose it's not inconceivable that Jacksonville's in-state tourism might perk up once Virgin/Brightline is finally running there in a few years, and getting there from Miami/Ft. Lauderdale becomes a relatively painless 4-5 hour trip instead of a grueling 6-8 hour slog through gridlock (the trip to Jacksonville from Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, or Tampa/Sarasota/St. Pete is *just* long enough that pretty much any trip that doesn't occur overnight is going to involve gridlock somewhere along the way bad enough to add at least an hour to the driving time).

Jacksonville Beach is nice. Nice airport, too. R3 gave an accurate description of the city.

R13 didn't know it was the largest

R19 Jacksonville is the largest city in America by land area.

R20 - yeah, but that's some gimmicky bullshit. They just kept expanding the city limits - a lot of which has little to no population. It also includes some wildlife and state park areas.

Its density is 1200 people per square mile - that's not much. "Biggest city in America" - fucking goobers who think that's going to impress anyone or believe it.

Once upon a time it had a fun bathhouse across from the huge First Baptist Church, with an enormous greco-roman indoor swimming pool. At least that's what a friend told me.

R22 a lot of priests into that I'm sure

1939 Hendricks ave R22 ! Lord did I have me some times at those tubs ! They just closed recently ,like a year ago. I was sad ,it had a lot of memories.

I remember having a stopover in Jacksonville back before jetways. They opened the plane door and every person on the plane with curly hair had it go 'Whoop!'. Unbelievable humidity. Also, there was apparently a manufacturing plant of some sort very close to the airport and the air stank!!! Doubt it's improved any since..... Hard pass.