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Living Here
We asked respondents three questions about living in Brevard County to see if their perceptions of the community factors would change their behavior if they had the chance to do it again.
Is Brevard County a “Cool” Place to Live
Respondents were first asked if Brevard County was a “Cool” Place to Live. “Cool”, as it turns out, is in the eye of the beholder and 64% of respondents answered yes. As with the other data we have seen, the older you get the “cooler” it is and 3 out of 4 married people thought it was a “cool” place to live versus only half of single people. Some other interesting findings are:
- Mid Career Hires (73%) report higher scores than New College Grads (54%)
- Only 52% of 19-25 year olds think it is a “cool” place to live
- Asians (31%) and Blacks (43%) report significantly lower scores than Whites (67%) and Hispanics (64%)
- Almost 4 out of 5 married, white respondents over the age of 40 say it is “cool” place to live
- 87% of married, white women say it’s a “cool” place to live
To review some of the verbatim comments of respondents, please click the link provided below.
 Show - Hide Verbatims
- I love the beach so I am happy!
- It's cool if you like the beach and relax. If you are an "on the go" person Brevard lacks things to do.
- We should take better advantage of our waterfront resources. Many of our beachfront parks are simply beach access with parking and bath facilities. It would be "cool" if we had a pavilion on the water where boats could pull up as well. You see this more in cities and unfortunately Brevard has no real cities. We have this long stretch of water and, except for restaurants that dot the waterfront, there is no place cool to go out on the water save for the water itself.
- Brevard County needs to keep growing its social and entertainment and cultural activities to keep the younger crowd coming in and not leaving for Orlando and surrounding areas.
- Brevard County is a "cool" place to live if you have a family. Some different shopping and interesting bars restaurants would be good to make it a "cooler" place for the young professionals.
- From the perspective of a married parent with a young child who likes the proximity to river and ocean, Brevard is a cool place to live. Single people under 30 may not share that view, preferring more of a nightlife atmosphere. It would probably be "cooler" in most everyone's opinion to continue to focus more effort on rejuvenation of the Melbourne downtown area and on clustered waterfront social retail commercial developments.
- I am kind of glad it's not a "cool" place to live. That keeps insane population growth down.
- Work to create a feeling of welcome for the recent college grads who come here to work. Based on the advertising for the county, and the living community designs, clearly, the county is catering to the retiree crowd. They need to bring in retailers that appeal to the younger residents—I do almost all of my major shopping in Orlando because the malls in this area are pathetic.
- Take a look at Orlando, for example. They have a lot of really nice apartment communities that they put a lot of thought into making a fun place to live. The cost of living there is very comparable to the communities here, but most of the apartments here in Brevard are simple box buildings that have nothing to them except a coat of paint. I know a lot of people that work at Harris that commute from Orlando because it offers benefits such as this. I know that the places I lived in Tampa beat the pants off of the options we have here in Brevard, and for the same cost.
- Brevard is getting there but still has a way to go. Need to widen industry base to bring in different types of people (creative types—communications, advertising, marketing firms).
- Create a centralized downtown district to party and go out, preferably somewhere along the waterfront, including things such as clubs, bars, movie theaters, restaurants, boutiques, etc. Right now the only place to go out is in Orlando.
Would You Recommend Brevard County to Others?
We then asked respondents if they would recommend Brevard County to their friends and 78% of respondents said yes. However, a review of the verbatim comments shows that they would recommend the county to friends, but with reservations. Interestingly enough, when asked what they would tell their friends about the county, ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ respondents had the same things to say about the county—a qualified recommendation to friends based on the simplicity of life in the county and its convenient location relative to other places in the state.
A review of the segment data shows the following:
- Hispanics (86%) and Whites (79%) are more likely to recommend than Asian (58%) and Blacks (52%)
- 84% of Married people would recommend Brevard County to friends; 72% of Single people would recommend Brevard County to friends
- 69% of Single New Hires would recommend Brevard County to friends
To review some of the verbatim comments of respondents, please click the link provided below.
Show - Hide Verbatims
- I think this is a great place to live and raise a family.
- Good place to work. Travel elsewhere on weekends and holidays.
- I would recommend friends to move to Brevard County if they want to live a very simple life (doing without restaurants, entertainment, and options in most areas).
- I would tell them that if you are looking for a great place to start or raise a family, Brevard is great! However, friend, you will need to take many trips to Orlando, Miami, Tampa, etc. for many activities or events. (If you're from "the big city", some things will be a welcome relief. Others, however, will be sadly missed).
- It is tough to find entertainment, but if you have a good circle of friends, it is not so bad. There are water sports and athletics that you can be involved in all year around. It is somewhat of a laid back community that is overly busy, and does not have too much traffic. The commute to work can be very short and is not too stressful. But if you do not have a significant other and if you are a male, your chances at finding an intelligent mate in Brevard is not impossible, but slim.
- Brevard County is fun, affordable, and great location giving you the opportunity to travel to all of the major tourist spots within Florida easily.
- This is a good company to work for, but the only downside is where it is located. Anywhere else and you would have to start turning people away.
If You Had the Chance to Do it Again, Would You Move to Brevard County?
Lastly, we asked respondents if they would move to Brevard County again 81% of respondents said they would do it again. Some of the highlights from the segment analysis are as follows:
- 3 out of 4 people in all age categories would do it again
- Whites (83%) are more likely to move to Brevard County again than Hispanics (77%), Asians (77%) and Blacks (65%)
- 86% of married people would move to Brevard County again
- 77% of single people would move to Brevard County again
The two primary reasons that such a high percentage of people indicate that they would move to Brevard County again are the interesting nature of the work they do and the company they work for. At the same time, they expressed a number of concerns about living in the county in the verbatim comments.
To review some of the verbatim comments of respondents, please click the link provided below.
Show - Hide Verbatims
- I am concerned with meeting people with similar interests and meeting someone to form a relationship with.
- My only concern right now is that I won't be able to afford a house by the time I can get a down payment together.
- My concern is that the school system will provide quality education for my sons.
- When I first moved here, I was worried about not having a lot to do. The "pace" of life is much slower than where I've previously lived. Now, I'm worried about Melbourne growing faster than its infrastructure (schools and roads) will support.
- My concern about living here is housing. I am a renter and presently looking for housing options. Housing has become too expensive and consequently, I must look outside the area. The question now is "should I consider moving my family back to where I came from in order to afford housing or stay and take an astronomical mortgage for 'average' housing?
- My concern about moving here from Silicon Valley was the slow pace of life, the lack of diversity, that Brevard was a technology void and if I lost my job it would be very difficult to replace it with the same pay in the county...and the lack of mountains!
- My concern about living here is the lack of respect for diversity expressed by some of the students in my child’s school.
- My concern about living here is that I do not want my kids to be the diversity in an area.
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