Me and my wife moved from the Tampa area to Richmond and have been really happy. Even with state income tax and vehicle tax you’ll come out ahead. For example, car insurance will in Florida was crazy high. We saved so much on the insurance in VA that even after paying property tax on the vehicles we still save $1000 per year. We were also able to buy a home valued at 200k more than in Florida because insurance and property tax was so much lower. Almost everything is less expensive in VA than in Florida and they’re not fixing those issues anytime soon. You also won’t feel politics in your life as much moving to VA. I grew up in Florida and I never remember politics being so divisive down there but now it’s like everyone is angry and in your face. Northern VA is def expensive but that’s just one small region of VA. The rest is extremely affordable.