Name: Gainesville, FL
Rating: 0.0

( 30 Ratings )

Living in Gainesville, FL

Ranks better than 84% of areas Follow

Population

133,611

Median Age

26.4 Years

Gainesville Area Facts

Gainesville has a Livability Score of 84_/100, which is considered exceptional
Gainesville crime rates are 39% higher than the Florida average
Cost of living in Gainesville is 2% lower than the Florida average

What do the locals think about Gainesville?

48%

Family friendly

48%

Public transit is accessible

26%

Walkable to grocery stores

35%

Yards are well-kept

48%

Lots of parks

35%

Walkable to restaurants

Friendly neighbors

Safe at night

Pet friendly

Streets have sidewalks

61%

A quiet area

35%

Sense of community

Based on 23 votes from AreaVibes users. Take the poll

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Gainesville Reviews

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Boring With No Real Career Opportunities for Non-UF Students 1 rating By Anonymous ( May 08, 2021) I lived in Gainesville most of my life and never really felt at home. There is an empty, soulless feeling in this town, almost like it belongs in a horror film. I found it difficult to make friends in all my years there. As someone else mentioned, there are quite a lot of cliques ...Read More - backwoods families that have been here a long time and do not welcome outsiders, hypocritical bible-pushers, snobby, rude students spending their parents' money and driving dangerously around town, and then there are the absolutely obnoxious in your face UF Gator football fans. There is Gator EVERYTHING and you cannot get away from it. The whole town revolves around it. God forbid you not be a Gator fan. It is difficult to advance in most careers unless you get your foot in the door as a low-paid intern from UF or just happen to know someone at the company. All of the major companies hire UF students at low pay, which also keeps the salaries low. This is terrible for adults that are not students or anyone else looking to advance their career. It is almost impossible to make a decent amount of money in a lot of cases, which makes it extremely difficult to move out. There really isn't much to do aside from the occasional visit to one of the museums, the mall, some walking trails, parks, or restaurants. They are nice, but get boring quickly. Additionally, Gainesville is about a 2 hour drive from anything else interesting in the state such as theme parks, a larger city, or the beaches so there are no advantages with location. I spent many years feeling very trapped in this city and am so happy to finally be out. I would say the only thing good about Gainesville is a nice variety of restaurants with good food. It's a good place to stop for food along the way to a nicer place. Don't stay long because it might trap you and suck your soul away. Read Less

College Students Only 2.5 rating By Lady_Koolaid ( Feb 24, 2018) Gainesville is a good place to be if you are a college student, as UF has some of the best programs in the nation, and even the community college here is number one in the country. Not only that, but everything in the entire city, from Public transportation to housing to discount ...Read More at the movies, is built for the students. But, if you're an adult, and just an everyday citizen living in the city, working, and paying taxes...you might find yourself wanting to run away screaming. Being surrounded by a sea of endless 19 year olds gets exhausting. You start to feel like a kindergarten teacher who never gets to go home at the end of the day. Not to mention, it makes the job market impossible. Why hire full time a worker who needs/wants benefits and higher pay, when they can just higher a couple of part-time employees who just want the job for beer money? Or why hire you, when I have 18 applicants behind you that have brand new Ph.Ds and are willing to work for the same pay? It can be a fun town. But only if you're young and don't really have a lot of responsibilities, after that it gets exhausting and the environment will be at a disservice to you. Read Less

Horrible city. City management and county should be fired. Start over with hope. 0.5 rating By Angel garcia ( Jan 21, 2018) This is not a friendly city. Everything geared towards university and extracting money from student. Cost of living is high and certainly not worth it. Job market and livable wages are none existent. Everyday living - you find very unfriendly people and a large portion are bigot ...Read More s. A lot of propaganda. You live here for any length of time - you too will learn to despise it.High crime, high drug use. No solutions just B.S. . Read Less

What it is 1 rating By Anonymous Reported ( Jun 16, 2017) Gainesville is a horrible city town to live in. The students might like parts of it but their not staying long enough to get to know how it really is nor do they get the actual living here perspective. The town has domestic abuse issues (some resulted to death) linked to drugs li ...Read More nked to student desocialization (lonely girl on campus) linked to employment abuse resulting to desocialization. Victum blaming and continued survival abuse so the survivor looks unstable and unable to live a normal and fulfilling life post testominoy of the drugs and abuse. Also post providing information while on scene of a drug bust to an attorney or while in court and provided verbal confirmation and was told to come in here with me. I am an educated alumni of The University of Florida who has yet to become employed with salary, health benefits, and an income sustainable to support a life after graduating UF. I have applied to Gainesville postings and all over the state. The most common statement or assumption is you would think being a graduated of the home town university would make you a prime prospective employee, well better think again. I mean atleast not when your a home town domestic abuse survivor regarding the home town organized drug crime which does flow through the students. The school atmosphere was not friendly at all to me and I am hidden away I am guessing to be forgotten about? Once you take a step back from the drugs really really your called a hater, jealous you have no money and job, problems happen on your job once do get job of people trying to figure out if your the girl, your retaliated against by streets and "normal people" false claims are made. You try to document and be perfect in everything so when people do start harassing again or the cycle starts again you can hopefully not become a victum another decade, it is the worst experience and I should of chosen another university. The abuser uses the other girl and I guess her seated judge connections or whoever she knows as a means to have an escape to reside with and sell his drugs to while she helps him move to all the friends however they do it is a social thing. I guess is going to be another decade affair? Apparently it is called a "PSA = public service announcement" that we all work so we do not sell drugs. What better way to cover drugs than to have a source of income? So because their all employed the situstion becomes organized crime and another reason why the survivor does not get hired because their all the people working the positions?Home of thes gators is said to be crip territory from what I have heard growing up here, so I guess would explain the blue color? There are shootings and rapes. The dealers prefer to date school girls or atleast get what they can from them while there her in school. Nursing is a big part of Gainesville and when people think of hospitals they think supportive financials so drug dealers dates these girls to account where the money is coming from. This is all done on a mutual introduction basis, who knows who. Ever been a ride along to a dealer would be shocked at how go from the ghettos of east and sw gainesville to a rich neighborhood as sunrise or gainesville gulf and country club or to a business to drop off cocaine. The clubs are according to which drug scene part of and are really not mature at all; maybe there are also students who are partying and not involved in the local (not so local) matters. The only way to move from here is to have a job to have the money to leave it s a cycle. Read Less

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Horrible city. City management and county should be fired. Start over with hope. 0.5 rating By Angel garcia ( Jan 21, 2018) This is not a friendly city. Everything geared towards university and extracting money from student. Cost of living is high and certainly not worth it. Job market and livable wages are none existent. Everyday living - you find very unfriendly people and a large portion are bigot ...Read More s. A lot of propaganda. You live here for any length of time - you too will learn to despise it.High crime, high drug use. No solutions just B.S. . Read Less

What it is 1 rating By Anonymous Reported ( Jun 16, 2017) Gainesville is a horrible city town to live in. The students might like parts of it but their not staying long enough to get to know how it really is nor do they get the actual living here perspective. The town has domestic abuse issues (some resulted to death) linked to drugs li ...Read More nked to student desocialization (lonely girl on campus) linked to employment abuse resulting to desocialization. Victum blaming and continued survival abuse so the survivor looks unstable and unable to live a normal and fulfilling life post testominoy of the drugs and abuse. Also post providing information while on scene of a drug bust to an attorney or while in court and provided verbal confirmation and was told to come in here with me. I am an educated alumni of The University of Florida who has yet to become employed with salary, health benefits, and an income sustainable to support a life after graduating UF. I have applied to Gainesville postings and all over the state. The most common statement or assumption is you would think being a graduated of the home town university would make you a prime prospective employee, well better think again. I mean atleast not when your a home town domestic abuse survivor regarding the home town organized drug crime which does flow through the students. The school atmosphere was not friendly at all to me and I am hidden away I am guessing to be forgotten about? Once you take a step back from the drugs really really your called a hater, jealous you have no money and job, problems happen on your job once do get job of people trying to figure out if your the girl, your retaliated against by streets and "normal people" false claims are made. You try to document and be perfect in everything so when people do start harassing again or the cycle starts again you can hopefully not become a victum another decade, it is the worst experience and I should of chosen another university. The abuser uses the other girl and I guess her seated judge connections or whoever she knows as a means to have an escape to reside with and sell his drugs to while she helps him move to all the friends however they do it is a social thing. I guess is going to be another decade affair? Apparently it is called a "PSA = public service announcement" that we all work so we do not sell drugs. What better way to cover drugs than to have a source of income? So because their all employed the situstion becomes organized crime and another reason why the survivor does not get hired because their all the people working the positions?Home of thes gators is said to be crip territory from what I have heard growing up here, so I guess would explain the blue color? There are shootings and rapes. The dealers prefer to date school girls or atleast get what they can from them while there her in school. Nursing is a big part of Gainesville and when people think of hospitals they think supportive financials so drug dealers dates these girls to account where the money is coming from. This is all done on a mutual introduction basis, who knows who. Ever been a ride along to a dealer would be shocked at how go from the ghettos of east and sw gainesville to a rich neighborhood as sunrise or gainesville gulf and country club or to a business to drop off cocaine. The clubs are according to which drug scene part of and are really not mature at all; maybe there are also students who are partying and not involved in the local (not so local) matters. The only way to move from here is to have a job to have the money to leave it s a cycle. Read Less

Avoid It! 0.5 rating By GP89 ( Apr 16, 2016) Avoid ever moving to Gainesville or anywhere using GAinesville Regional Utilities. They are terrible and will take you for all you're worth. They're the only utility available in Gainesville therefore they use their monopolistic stance to charge an arm and a leg. I even called an ...Read More employee out on that and they tried to say the only place that doesn't have a utility monopoly is in TX which I know for a fact is either a lie or misinformation as where I'm from has two utility companies available. Read Less

Total Waste! 0.5 rating By watch it ( May 09, 2015) so i moved to gainesville because i was promised by local employers the opportunity for work and education. only to find out the employers are underhanded and fire people just before they qualify for benefits and the local population is under the impression that they are the cool ...Read More est thing since sliced bread. all in all gainesville is one of the most ridiculous and pathetic places i have ever lived. dont even get me started about the college kids that goes without saying. so if you are thinking about moving here because either youve heard its good or someone has actually promised you something DONT COME. its all a scam. Read Less

Gator Infested!! 2.5 rating By cali_45 ( Feb 23, 2013) Overall Gainesville is just a regular, sleepy, small town for people who just want a regular life. Most people here are college students who are die-hard gator fans and if you tell them any different prepare to get bashed. This place is college football infested and they put so m ...Read More uch attention on the football team. There will not be a day where you won't see people wearing gator stuff. If you go into Jcpenny's they have a whole section for just gator clothes. It's ridiculous. Don't dare wear another team logo here. If you hate the gators don't bother living here. Another thing I noticed is that there are alot of snooty college students.(I'm a college student too who attends a community college here. They all like being in cliques, but not everyone is like that. Only certain frat house students and blondes who think they're too pretty and cool to hang with minorities. They too are gator die-hard fans. The driving here is CRAZY. since there are so many young drivers here none of them know how to drive and pedestrians having the right-away doesn't apply here. If you don't want to get hit by a car just let them pass. They will pruposely speed up so you won't go. Other than that, Gainesville isn't that bad, just try to avoid the crazy gator fans and a few snobby UF students. Read Less

Gainesville, FL - The Orange and Blue 5 rating By Anonymous ( Jul 06, 2010) I've traveled to Gainesville, Florida many times when I drove a shuttle at the airport in Jacksonville, Florida. I think the most amazing thing about the city of Gainesville is the people. They all have a sense of pride for their football team, The Florida Gators. Everyone was al ...Read More so very friendly. It was almost as if you knew the people there forever. You'll see plenty of orange and blue in town.

There is a lot of nice Gainesville restaurants to choose from. A lot of them have outside tables on a patio to sit at and enjoy what's going on around you. I enjoyed eating at the Swamp while I was there. Famous for their burgers, this place has a lot to offer. Good food, great music and live entertainment. This place is located in walking distance to UNF. It's a great place to enjoy some tasty food.

Sports bars a big thing in this fired up little city. And it's no surprise with it being know as the Gatornation. With big screen TV's everywhere there's no way you're going to miss any action of a local football game here. More beer than you can think of too. Once you visit Gainesville, Florida, you won't be disappointed by anything. Read Less

Compare Gainesville, FL Livability

Gainesville, FL

Gainesville is one of Florida's best known college towns, and the thriving community of 125,000 plus sure does love to cheer on the Gators as they battle in-state foes Florida State and Miami. Gainesville is a great place for families and children since it has a top-of-the-line education system and a number of attractions that are specifically geared toward little ones. Home prices in the city are in line with prices you would expect to pay in reasonably sized cities throughout Florida. The city has pleasant weather throughout the year with temperatures rarely dropping below 50 degrees during the winter months.

Gainesville Regional Transit is the provider of public transportation in the area, and they offer about 40 routes to serve the needs of the city. Some of these routes only run on college football game days though, so it pays to check the app ahead of time to make sure you get to where you need to be. Getting around Gainesville by private vehicle is easy, and the city rarely experiences traffic like you would find in Orlando or Miami. Interstate 75 is the main freeway that connects Gainesville with neighboring cities.

Those who are looking to buy a home or rent a home in Gainesville will be happy to find out that the area is known for the quality of its public education. The Gainesville School District has an excellent reputation for performance on statewide testing, and the district is consistently recognized for the quality of the teachers that it employs. Speaking of employers, the area's top companies are the University of Florida, Nationwide Insurance, and SumTotal. All three offer a large number of residents' income that helps support a comfortable lifestyle.

The Kanapaha Botanical Gardens are owned and maintained by the university, and they offer a glimpse of exotic plants from around the globe. Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park is an interesting attraction that will provide a glimpse into the activity that used to take place on this land thousands of years ago. The Florida Museum of Natural History Exhibits is another must-see attraction that offers insight into the history that makes this region unique.

If you are looking to rent a home or purchase a home, Gainesville offers a number of wonderful communities that will make you feel welcome. Landmark Woods, Appletree, and Florida Park are just a few of the many communities in Gainesville that have a reputation for being warm and hospitable.

Gainesville offers its citizens great municipal services, good schools, outstanding restaurants, and a college town feel that is tough to beat. If you and your family are looking to relocate in search of the good life, you may want to call Gainesville home.