I may have to move to the Panhandle of my choice being either AL or FL. I have an 8 yr old boy to raise so school is important. I am looking for an area outside of Pensacola or Mobile. Can anyone who has raised kids down there throw in some input, and I dont need an ivy school for my son. I would want to be about hour from the beach, but be able to get away from it too. Thoughts ??

Crestview has A+ schools and is 30 miles from the beach. Also no state taxes in Florida. Your also close to the Bama state line and pretty good hunting land.

Okaloosa Co. is pretty much a military county. Good schools, low crime rates, good wages. Beaches, boating and fishing.

Baldwin county alabama has a good school system as well. Really anywhere in that area that you mentioned would be ok, just depends on how far outside mobile or pensacola or how close you want to be.

I like daphne fairhope area. I've lived in pensacola most of my life and I'm tired of it. If I didn't have tons of friends and family here I would move.

Elberta. Great schools and just far enough away from the tourist scene. My wife and I are looking at a place there now.

Daphne is good, I'm partial to west mobile myself.

Private Schools I would recommend Rocky Bayou Christian School in Niceville. They also have a campus in Destin.

As Paschal mentioned, Crestview has some very good Public schools.

My son attended Elliott Point Elementary in Ft Walton and while it is a very good school, some of the teachers and the Principal, who is no longer there, were the Liberal Commie types that you read and hear about and they and I clashed on several occasions during his 6 years there.

As mentioned before Florida has no State Income Tax. The Okaloosa County area consist of everything from Cotton Fields, River Bottoms and vast Timber lands to Beaches, Bays and Small City life. There is always some sort of festival or street party to attend. My only complaint is the lack of freshwater fishing nearby.

Good Luck in where ever you choose.

Find the school names and then plug them into great schools.org

It will give you school testing results as opposed to the state averages. Also demographics on black to white to other minority ratio. Percentage amount of how many are on free lunch. Teacher/student ratio.

Can be a good research tool and answer a lot of questions without any bias.

Used to work in Mobile- everyone with kids that could not pay for private school lived in Daphne, Fairhope or Spanish Fort.
Don't have any Intel on Fl. Panhandle schools

I'll add this too. I work in Baldwin and Mobile counties 90% of the time. Seventy five percent of that is in their public schools. Baldwin is one of the best and Mobile is the largest in the state. If I lived in Mobile it would be west of the city. Very nice area out that way.

Having spent the majority of my childhood in NW Florida there is no doubt you can't go wrong with that area. It's a growing boys dream land if he loves to fish and his daddy would love it too. I spent the other half in south Louisiana but that's another story.

Thanks for the replies guys. Good info. Anyone know anything about Milton, FL ?

Pace is better than Milton.

People say Baldwin County schools are better than Mobile but, I really don't think they are any better than the schools in West Mobile...

There is no state income tax in Florida.

No way I would live in the Milton area unless I lived close to the interstate off Avalon. Highway 90 is a cluster from Milton to Pensacola unless you get on the interstate.

I can say you are correct without a doubt.

Crestview schools are mediocre at best. Niceville schools are, by far, the best in the area. PLew aND Bluewater Bay Elementary schools, in Niceville, are fantastic and ranked among the Top 100 in the state (remember this isn't Alabama, we have 20 million people in Florida so Top 100 is great), Ruckel Middle School in Niceville another Top 100 school and then there's Niceville High School, another Top 100 school. Niceville as far as quality of life is probably the best west of Tallahassee.
Pensacola has some nice areas but just got named as one of the Top 10 most dangerous small cities in the US. Lots of gang activity there, imported from NOLA after Katrina.
I live in northern Walton county. I like it here. 45 min to the beach, 30 to Niceville, Crestview and almost an hour to that hell hole called Destin. Most locals don't do Destin, lol. Hunting is fantastic for deer, turkey, quail, doves, ducks, etc and of course we have the bays and the GOM. I live the perfect distance from the beaches to stay out of the tourist trap from Jun to Aug, live where I hunt and still close enough to everything that it's convenient.
My kids go to Walton HS. It's a decent school but it could be better. My wife teaches there. Really the school helps but it's the student and parents that really make the difference.
It all depends on what you like, rural, semi-urban or urban. There is a huge difference between different areas of both Okaloosa and Walton counties. South ends are touristy with the beaches and tbe further north you go, the more rural the counties are. If I could choose the best place to raise a family and quality of schools, Niceville wins, hands down.
No state income tax, sales tax is 7.5% aND no sales tax on food at the grocery store. However our gas tax is pretty high and cost of living is higher. I still believe it's cheaper to live here than in Alabama. A 10.5% sales tax on groceries and everything else is insane!
I went to grad school at USA, but I lived on Dauphin Island, MS Marine Science, all of my classes except 2 were on the island so I really can't comment on living in Mobile. I can say its a nice town in some parts like most places.

Okaloosa County

1. Niceville
2. Shalimar/Valparaiso
3. FWB
4. Crestview
5. Laurel Hill

Walton County

1. Freeport
2. South Walton Beach area (SRB, Grayton, etc...) $$$$$!!!
3. Defuniak Springs
4. Paxton

Just my .02 cents on the subject

Are you retiring to the area or job transfer. That would make a lot of difference. I live close to DeFuniak Springs and about 20 miles SE of WCH. You can still get land at a reasonable price around here.

Job Transfer and will in and out of either Pensacola or Mobile Airport often. Thanks for the info on the land too.