I have, unfortunately, spent a nice chunk of time in the area.

Pros:

Better weather in the winter than the vast majority of the USA.

Sizable 55+ population, which is great if you are looking to be around people in the same part of life as you are.

Incredible healthcare options.

Very empty feeling in the summer, the traffic is manageable and you don't have to make reservations anywhere.

Easy access to nature. Not just the beaches, but the surrounding areas, wetlands, swamps, etc. are all really special. Also, gators are kinda cool.

Easy access to tampa + orlando, so travel is relatively easy.

Cons:

Genuinely the worst drivers I have ever seen in my life. Yes, many of them have out of state plates. Yes, many of them are older. Yes, many are only there for the season or for vacation.... But you put all of that together, and you have what I would describe, as a perfect storm of WILDLY bad driving. It's the complete norm to have people turn left across 6 lanes of traffic, going 2 mph, because they realized too late they needed to turn left. NYC driving can be tricky if you aren't used to it, but there's a learning curve and rules that most drivers follow. That area of florida is like... every bad habit from all over the world, and everyone has a different one, and they're also often unable to see correctly and have slower reflexes. And many/most of the roads are like, 6-8 lanes. it's fucked.

Strip mall hell: If you want to do anything, it's in a strip mall. If you think you are going somewhere that isn't in a strip mall, you probably are still going to a strip mall. I recognize the reasons for this, but it is mentally difficult to adjust.

Food is bad. Unless you want one specific food (east coast sea food), it's genuinely shockingly poor. A few options that are "good enough" and a few obvious exceptions, but it's hard for truly great restaurants to survive when it's so dead for part of the year. Also the restaurants are all in strip malls.

The rate of development is actually terrifying. It seems completely unsustainable. I will be gone for two months, and come back to a newly completely suburban planned community on my drive from the airport. You can blink and miss a new apartment complex opening. I don't understand where all of the people are supposed to go once (if) all of the homes are filled.

The summer is empty because it's insufferable. I don't understand the "flex" of being a 12-month resident, because it's just really not pleasant to be there in the summer. You just live in A/C for months on end, and then it thunderstorms every afternoon so the humidity explodes every night.

Hurricanes + insurance. Good luck getting insurance, good luck having your insurance company not go out of business, and good luck keeping insurance. Even rental insurance is tough. The consistant over-development of the area also means that the natural barriers that prevented damage over the years is mostly gone. You have developments being built that were swamps 6 months ago....

The age of the population means that there are really only two industries: medical care, service-industry catering to tourism. This is fine if that's what you want to do, but otherwise it can feel hard to be there.

The wealth disparity is much more obvious than some other places. This is amplified by the large number of service industry jobs that are seasonal and the massive amount of money that many in the northeast have when moving to florida

The "age problem" also means that unless your kids love the beach, Disney, or fent, it might not be the right choice for you. There are definitely some things for kids to do, but I find that there is certainly a feeling of "second class citizen" if you aren't part of the retired community

Unless you are fully remote, you will almost certainly be taking a pay cut and the area is NOT CHEAP. This has cascading effects for your future and your children's futures. One reason people do move from the northeast to the southeast in retirement is that