Gainesville, Florida

Gainesville has a reputation as a college town with moderate prices relative to most college cities. You can carve out a comfortable lifestyle here on a middle-class salary (like they pay at the University of Florida) and that’s a great thing for a city with the energy and services of a college town. Unlike some super-charged college cities like Cambridge, Berkeley or even Ann Arbor, or Chapel Hill, Gainesville remains a relatively quiet city in terms of cost of living for housing and expenses in general.

For that money, you get some great perks even if you don’t attend the university. World-class speakers, musicians, and a thriving arts scene surround the school, are available to locals, and give you incredible cultural value for your buck.

If you’re coming from the North or West it’s easy to not know that Gainesville ain’t on one of the Florida coasts. So if you’re dreaming of a day at the beach and then a night watching the Gators play ball you’ll be disappointed about that first part. Not being on the coast means you’re going to get hammered with mosquitos and humidity. If you can’t handle the heat, stay out of the Gainesville kitchen.

As was noted above the lifestyle of Gainesville is culturally interesting as a result of all that goes on around the university. Theater, music, speakers, and some serious sporting events throughout the school year are all available to anyone who lives in the area. While Gainesville has historically had most of its active nightlife near the school, downtown has developed quite a bit in recent years and there is now a pretty active restaurant and bar scene for those who want to steer clear of the university. All that said, if you aren’t a student then much of Gainesville is about families. The school system is strong and even though the city isn’t on the ocean it has amazing fresh-water springs nearby as well as a strong park system for the kiddos to run around when it isn’t too toasty.

To see what locals get up to for fun in Gainesville check out the calendar of events.

We highly recommend visiting Gainesville and staying in the community in a VRBO rather than a hotel to get a feel for living among the locals. You can receive discounted fares on travel via our partnership with Expedia as well.

Gainesville tends to be a one-trick pony on jobs. The University of Florida is the largest employer and a lot of the service economy exists to support students. The VA has a big facility there and there are regional administration offices for the state and county here as well so government jobs are big. Outside of that, there are mostly healthcare jobs. Education, government, and health drive most of the job opportunities here so unless you’re working remotely you’re going to need to get work in these industries.