20 Things To Know If You Are Moving To Tampa Florida!

Before moving to Tampa Florida, there are few things you should know first to help you fit in with the locals. Many find Tampa as the best place to live in Florida because of the endless things to do and cost of living, but if you want to get a good feel for what its like living in Tampa Florida, my list of "20 things you should know" will certainly be helpful! 

If you're moving to Tampa, Florida, there's a few things you're probably gonna want to know other then, Hey, they have sunshine, boating, and beaches. I'm a local born and raised here, and this is gonna be a fun video, 20 things about Tampa you should know.

Welcome. So in this video, I'm giving you a very different version, not a need to know type video, more like a, if you're living in Tampa, Florida, these are some random tips that will help you feel like a local and understand the area a little bit better.

Number 1: When moving to Tampa, a lot of people try to figure out where to live and ask what are the best communities and what about new construction homes? So let me break down Tampa a little bit for you. The city of Tampa is an older area with older homes. I'm talking about most homes are early 1900's to mid-century and most communities or neighborhoods are pretty much just on the grid. There are no defined walls or subdivisions, et cetera, most areas just freely flow into the next and if you didn't see the sign that said welcome to this neighborhood, you really wouldn't realize you crossed from one into the next.

This doesn't go to say it's not a good neighborhood or unsafe neighborhood, in fact, some of the most sought after areas and safest neighborhoods are indeed in the city. But it helps you understand the layout of the city a little bit better. As you move outwards from the city limits, our first suburbs start about 15 minutes out with homes built in the 1970s and our current day popular suburbs. Newer construction or new construction and the new growth are located to the North and to the South-East of Tampa, about 35 to 45 minutes.

Number 2: Depending on your thoughts of what Tampa might look like or should look like it may catch you a little off guard. Some have even called it ugly. I don't take offense to this. I was born and raised here, so it's still my beauty queen, but I understand where they're coming from in a way. While Tampa is a thriving city, it is also very quaint and what I call mom and pop in a way. So big town versus a small city feel.

Much of it is still stuck in the seventies and eighties, which by the way, great era, old powerlines and neighborhoods, and everyone takes the back roads through neighborhoods. During these high traffic times, the beaches still have hole in the wall karaoke bars, and honestly my weekly attire is board shorts and flip flops. It's just a whole vibe that no one really cares when in actuality. We just live like we're on vacation and most of the locals are very intertwined and have a strong bond in the community.

Number 3: Pro sports. Most of you know, I'm a diehard Tampa sports fan, and I'm a big supporter of all of our pro sport teams, but not all locals have that same enthusiasm living in a city that has four local professional teams is absolutely godsend. But let me tell you who is actually popular with the locals.
You wouldn't think it, but hockey is king here in Tampa.

The owner of the Lightning, Jeff Vinik is a big supporter of the community and invests heavily not only in the team, but also in the city. Locals love that and love the Lightning even more. And while hockey just seems weird in Tampa, we have a few recent Stanley cups under our belt and watching a live game at the Amalie arena is absolutely electric.

The Bucks takes second place. While Tom Brady has given the team a nice, significant boost, the locals have had issues with the team's owners in the past. We love going to the Rays games, but being in St. Pete. has always stirred the pot a little bit for locals here, and they think that the stadiums should be in Tampa and fourth place, well we have a soccer team called the Tampa Bay Rowdies. But let's be honest. It just, isn't a big following.

Number 4: What's up with the weather in Tampa? Well, cliff notes here, we aren't scared of hurricanes. We actually throw hurricane parties. We are the lightning capital of the U.S. There's a ton of sunshine and yes, it gets humid and hot as hell in the summer, but realistically it never hits a hundred degrees and three quarters of the year.

It might actually be perfect weather, but here's a local tip. We get something like two thirds of all of our rain in the prime summer months. It's pretty much every day. Sometimes when the forecast says it's not gonna rain, it does, and vice versa. So always, and I mean, always have an umbrella in your car and ladies in the summer, a hair tie and a ponytail is your best friend. We all understand, we actually kind of like it.

Number 5: A lot of you ask about schools because, well, if you have kids and their education's kind of important when searching for the right school, unless you are set on private schools. You have to look for a school of choice, then look up the assigned school zone on a map to make sure your new home is in the specific boundaries for your child to register.

Things are pretty easy when looking for a home in the suburbs, because they typically have more consistent school ratings for various reasons, but in the city, most schools have been around for decades and they're either established and have a long history of great academics, or they could have a long history of bad ratings.

So no matter the situation. The population is not growing at a substantial rate as the land is all pretty much built out and there isn't a distinct need for new public schools in the city. My reasons for pointing this out is that many locals that choose to live in the city find themselves loving a specific neighborhood.

But dislike the assigned school and end up turning to local charter schools as the next best option. Both of my daughters attend a charter school for preschool and loved it. Most of my neighbors have their kids in the nearby charter school that ranges from Kindergarden to eighth grade.

Number 6: Tampa is not all sunshine and beaches. Most don't realize this, but Tampa is the most versatile city and has so many different lifestyle options. The best part is you don't necessarily have to choose just one, Tampa's a thriving city. Yet 30 minutes to the West are literally some of the best beaches in the country. Then, if you drive north 40 minutes, you're in the country with cattle and horses and around the corner from you, you can float down the fresh Springs, like in Weeki Wachee. To the east of Tampa headed down I-4, within 15 to 20 minutes from downtown you'll run into more pastures with thousands of acres of cattle in citrus farms.

Best part is the Seminole Hard Rock Casino is right there and it's like the top five largest casino in the country. It's not that uncommon to take my girls to the beach in the morning. By afternoon, we're out in the country, blueberry picking and horseback riding.

Number 7: Tampa is a city surrounded by the Tampa Bay. The Bay is great for boating, but Tampa really doesn't have beaches. Our main beaches are on the Pinellas county side from St. Pete all the way North to Clearwater beach, unless you live in St. Pete or Clearwater, understand you're at least 35 minutes away from the beach, but not all is a loss. We have beautiful sunsets and great boating options.

Number 8: boating and fishing in Tampa. So, as I just mentioned, Tampa is surrounded by water. We have a ton of waterways from ponds and rivers to bay and Gulf access. If it floats, we have it here, kayaks, canoes, jet skis, paddle boards, even Aqua bikes are always out on the river. If you like boating, there's nothing better than dropping your boat in the river and cruising through downtown into the open bay.

Fishing in the bay is off the charts. If you want to nail some grouper or snapper, you can go a little further out to deeper water. I told you I would give you some local advice. So if you like boating yet, don't want all the maintenance and storage, et cetera, that comes along with boating. We have a ton of boat clubs here that are really easy to join.

Freedom Boat Club is a good example. Basically, there's a sign on fee of a couple thousand dollars then an annual fee from then on what I love about it is that you can choose from a fleet of boats based on what you want to take out that day. It's washed ready for you just sitting there at the dock when you're done, no cleaning, anything, you just pay for the gas that was used.

One day, you can grab a pontoon boat and just float with some friends down the river. Next day, you can get a insure boat or a center console and go fishing with some buddies on the flats.

Number 9: I have two daughters, three and seven years old. Overall Tampa's a pretty family friendly city. While my wife and I love going out a few times a month without them kiddos, I would say 90% of the time we go out as a family museums to the beach, to dinner on the Riverwalk movies on the lawn at night football games, concerts, parades, even to the breweries.

I know that last one sounded weird, but seriously, there are a few breweries that have kid games. A few that are even geared towards bringing your dog. The theme is dogs and beers. So there's actually one you could check out called two shepherds tap room.

Number 10: Now, most don't know this, but our beer game in Tampa is getting pretty strong. I'm not sure of the official count, but pretty sure in Tampa bay we have plus or minus a hundred breweries and I'm not complaining. Two of my local favorites have to be Cigar City Brewing, which also happens to be one of the most popular, and Copper Tail Brewing. Copper Tail has really done a great job with not only their beer, but the atmosphere as well.

Number 11: We have great small towns nearby with a really nice quaint vibe. Downtown St. Pete and downtown Tampa are truly, always battling it out for the spotlight in recent years, leaving some of those smaller nearby areas out of the headlines, which is great for locals. Make sure to do your homework, but nearby areas like Dunedin.

Tarpon Springs. They all have a great little main street. And Annamaria island is a local's favorite getaway for a long weekend at the beach where golf carts just take over the roads and life is just easy.

Number 12: Traffic. Yeah, we have it. Tampa's growing at a fast pace and I can't deny we have traffic, but it's not LA traffic. What you need to know is that every area of Tampa is high residential and sorry for the French, but we have crap for mass transportation, which means everyone's driving a car because it's high residential. Our busy times are situated around the times, school start and end. So 7:00-8:00 AM and 3:00-5:30 PM are busy times.

During these times learned the local traffic patterns and avoid busy roads and learned the back roads outside of these times. For the most part, we shouldn't really have a problem.

Number 13: The size of homes. This is something I had to learn, but after taking hundreds of phone calls with people moving here from another state up north, and mainly from Midwest, I soon realized we don't build homes the same size that y'all do overall.

I would say the average home here is around 23 to 2,600 square feet. Even new home builders focus on like 2,500 to 3,000 square feet. I mean, they do build 4,000 square foot homes, but I get calls from people moving here, trying to downsize from 5,000, 6,000, even 8,000 square feet. Like it's no big deal and that's not including your basement.

We don't have basements here. The only thing I can think of is that we don't have that much stuff. No winter clothes, and we don't spend that much time indoors. Tampa begs you to go outside and have fun. We are locked doors during winter or an entire season. We also don't have a ton of winter gear, bathing suits. They fold up pretty easy and you only need a few of them.

Number 14: Tampa has always had strong hospitality service and professional industries, but we're becoming a tech hub in 2021 Forbes named Tampa as the number one emerging tech city in the U.S. We currently have over 50 software and I.T. companies, and we're responsible for over 25% of all of Florida tech jobs. We're anticipating to add another 2000 jobs in 2022.

Number 15: Tampa is an amazing travel hub while Tampa is full of things to do all year round every now and then it's just nice to get away. Good thing for those of you that live here, we have cruises that lead to the Caribbean and Mexico, weekly from our port, and we have Tampa international airport, which is so easy to fly in and out of.

Number 16: How about learning something new for kids and adults alike, Tampa and surrounding cities like St. Pete are loaded with museums. We have Mosi, the science museum, the Glazer's kids museum, art and history museums galore. Just the other day, the Tampa history museum had an exhibit on pirates and treasure from the Florida coast and the Caribbean and my daughters loved treasure hunting.

So we popped in to check out the exhibit. They got to see each treasure from a few old pirate wrecks and swords and old pottery and on and on. And it's neat having local museums just to learn from and have it at your fingertips.

Number 17: Tampa's a pretty down to earth type city. We have a very Florida esque type chill vibe, and it's neat because I've traveled to bigger cities like LA and New York, Miami, Vegas.

While those are fun cities, I feel like you always have to be on. You always have to be dressed up and things are moving at a high pace. We're not that, celebrities frequent Tampa and many of them actually live here and you see them mixed in with the locals all the time. We have farmers' markets on weekends and flip flops or sandals somehow make it into everyone's wardrobe from beach wear to date nights.

You know, you are a local when you have that flip flop tan line on your feet. 

Number 18: Tampa is a very lively city, while you can absolutely find peace and tranquility. Overall tampa's a very vibrant and alive city and there's always something going on. Many of the cities in Florida are great, but a lot of those cities are quiet after like nine, 10:00 PM.

Not that you wanna always be out late, but for example, my wife and I go for evening runs on Wednesday on the river walk and. We look for a late dinner and maybe a few drinks afterwards. What sort of like our date night, but we ended up walking the remainder of the river walk at 10:00 PM one night and restaurants were still taking people in. I love that there's still things happening and the city just doesn't shut down because it's midweek or because it's 10:00 PM. Much of Florida is very much like that, but Tampa gives you options.

Number 19: How about them 55 plus communities. Now, maybe you are at the age where you want to be in the suburbs, but you don't want them kids all over you at the pool. We have some killer 55 plus communities and they are loaded with things to do and even have their own onsite event coordinators. From pickle ball, to wine clubs, communities like Dell Webb and the Esplanade are phenomenal options. For those of you that wanna stay active, have your own space and want a little more of the maintenance free living.

Number 20: Tampa is a social city and it's very, very easy to meet other people. I'm a rare bird being born and raised here. And most people that live in Tampa are transplants from somewhere else. There's a ton of social clubs, meetup groups, and even events to just meet other people. Another option could be gyms or CrossFit types, cause we have a ton of active groups here. My wife and I joined a run club a few years back that always started and finished at a local Irish pub. We all have a cool down beer after the run. It just kind of makes it fun. My 88 year old aunt, she still drives and goes dancing on Fridays. She's in a Thai Chi group and she's in a travel group with others that are her age and they go on cruises and bus trips to other states monthly.

Tampa is just an amazing city to live, and there are endless options for things to do, making it easy to meet others when relocating here.

Video Credit: Tampa Florida Living