Hi Moms,
If anyone lives in Panama City, Florida (or nearby), I am interested in what you think about living there. Currently, I live in a nice suburb of Dallas with my family (husband and three young boys). If we possibly move to Panama City, what would the quality of life be like? Are there nice neighborhoods with excellent schools? Do you like living there? Excellent school districts are very important to us. Thank you for your advice!
The only part of Panama City I know is the strip (having been stationed in Pensacola, we'd occasionally go clubbing) . Where even on non-break weeks the traffic can be so jammed that the passengers can get out of the car, go to a restaurant, use their bathroom, grab an order to go, and their car has only moved 1-2 spaces. Then you trade drivers so the driver can go pee & eat. School breaks are much worse.
I've lived in Panama City since 1996. It's a big town with a "small town" feel. Most people are very helpful and friendly & for the most part it's a very "family friendly" place to live. We do get spring breakers and all that entails. I usually stay away from the beach during that time. LOL My daughter went to Northside Elem then we moved to Lynn Haven (an outlying town of PC) and she went to Mowat Middle School and Mosely High School. These are all 'A' schools. Like most places, there are good areas to live and bad ones. Some areas are also dependent upon your income. BayPoint is a nice gated community and Kings Point is another "high end" community. Both are nice and family friendly. There are also older neighborhoods that are very well maintained and good for families: St. Andrews, Forrest Park, Briarwood, ect. You'll just have to come look around. I know this answer is a bit "general" so if you have any specific questions are particular schools or areas, please feel free to shoot me an email. Hope that helps.
Hello,
My husband and I moved to Panama City 7 years ago from San Diego. Panama City was an accident, but that's an entirely different story.
We are a medium sized town, Air Force base on one end of the community and a Navy base on the other. Our beaches are beautiful, and despite what you may have heard on the news, there are been NO OIL on our beaches. We are a 2 part community. You have the "town" side, which is more old school and "the beach" it's a little more upscale, but it's also where all the tourists are during the beach season.
As far as school, there is only 1 district, Bay District Schools. Here in Florida everything is rated by the FCAT. In my opinion it is not a very good rating of what the kids are truly learning, but they have to teach to the test to a certain degree because funding and such is based on FCAT scores. So far we have been happy with the schools here.
This community has really grown on us and we have decided this is our base of operations no matter what may come in the future.
Good Luck,
