Fabiana Muñoz
For the last decade, I’ve spent thousands of dollars trying to find a place that felt like home in California.
In college, I lived in Los Altos, a charming town about an hour south of San Francisco. It felt packed with cozy cafés and boutiques, but it didn’t have nearly as many weekend activities or recreation opportunities as bigger cities nearby.
Tired of the small-town feel, I headed to San Francisco to try out life in a big city. I liked my convenient access to public transportation and countless restaurants and events, but San Francisco is one of the most expensive cities in the US — and I felt it.
While paying far too much to rent just one room, I struggled to picture myself building a life here in the long run.
After graduating from college, my partner and I spent a few more years hopping around California, this time to Los Angeles County.
Eventually, our time in California came to an end — and we set our sights on Florida
Fabiana Muñoz
We enjoyed living in the relaxed coastal city of Torrance for a bit, then moved to Inglewood to be closer to work. Soon, though, we realized it might be time to leave California.
For starters, I was tired of dealing with traffic and congestion. Although my office was only 7 miles from our home, my commute to and from work took me 45 minutes each way. Many of my days were filled with smog, road rage, and noise pollution.
On top of that, it felt increasingly difficult to juggle our high living expenses in Los Angeles County (twice as high as the US average, according to data from HousingAnywhere). We knew we couldn’t keep up with them in the long run — and, at this point, we didn’t think we wanted to.
After six years in California, we moved to South Florida in hopes that a slower pace and support from our family who lived there would help us reset.
Our cross-country move cost more than anticipated, so we began temporarily living in our family’s house in Hialeah. It changed everything.
We realized a town in Florida just outside of a big city could be our perfect match
Fabiana Muñoz
Located in Miami-Dade County, Hialeah is a semi-large city with a population of just over 200,000 residents — but it’s also a walkable one with many pockets of newer suburban housing, parks, and trails.
After years of big-city traffic congestion, a walkable neighborhood felt like exactly what we’d been searching for. Our home just west of the I-75 highway is close enough to our local library and coffee spots that we can walk to them.
Plus, being right outside of a bigger major city keeps us from getting bored of suburban living. We can walk to our local grocery store and drive 40 minutes to downtown Miami for date-night drinks, shows, or events.
Although we’re saving on rent by staying with family, our general living costs are lower here than they were in LA County, too.
Soon, Hialeah helped me realize that I could see my future in an entirely different state and kind of have the best of both worlds.
After living here for almost a year, my partner and I now know Florida is a solid option for us and that we’d like to live in a walkable suburban neighborhood outside Miami.
We feel ready to settle down into our own place and are already exploring Hialeah and other walkable communities in the greater Miami area, like Miami Lakes. For us, any of them could be perfect.
The post I spent years in California searching for a city that felt like home — but I finally found it when I moved to Florida appeared first on Business Insider.
