It’s certainly got more senior citizens and beach bums than your normal town, but it’s oretty nice. I can’t say what it would mean to raise kids here, but my wife’s cousin and my godson here seem to be getting by just fine. Plenty of good restaurants, though focused more on beach dining, good amount of museums (Dali and ringling brothers come to mind), plenty of family friendly things to do outside of the beach, and you have plenty of pro sports, shows, and other night time entertainment.

Other than that, what BI said. Treasure Coast.

I personally like Pinellas County (Clearwater and the beaches) better than Tampa. Treasure Island is great, and so is Madeira Beach, which is right across John's Pass. It's touristy, but if the beach is your thing, it's pretty great. Tampa is easily accessible, and the Rays are in St. Pete.

for the reasons you stated. I wouldn't want to be there mid-Summer, but then again, I don't want to be in Illinois when the progressive income tax passes after they just added $1.4 billion/year in expense with the minimum wage increase they passed. But hey, at least we won't have any nasty tort reform or pension reform, and we have legalized marijuana and big expansion of gambling to look forward to.