Clearwater, FL
| U.S. News Ratings | |
| Population: | 109,905 |
| Crime: | Average |
| Cost of Living: | Average |
| Health Care: | Comprehensive |
| Housing Price: | Average |
| Income: | Low |
Wide, pristine beaches and beautiful sunsets have long made Clearwater a popular tourist and retirement destination. The community remains relatively quiet in the shadows of Tampa and St. Petersburg, larger cities that provide much of the culture and variety that retirees might want nearby. The city of 109,905 resident has warm winters, with January highs that average in the mid-70s, and hot summers, when highs are typically about 90 degrees but eased by ocean breezes.
Located at the northern end of a peninsula that is anchored to the south by St. Petersburg, Clearwater has the Gulf of Mexico to the west and Tampa Bay and Tampa to the east. The city is best known for the many watersides that are consistently rated highly for beach health, including sand and water quality. Clearwater Beach itself is a top-rated city beach because of its cleanliness, safety, and family-oriented activities. It has year-round lifeguards, and its popular fishing pier showcases artists, craftspeople, and weekend musical entertainment.
What helps make Clearwater Beach different from others is that its attractions are so close together. Residents and visitors can park their cars and easily reach the beach, restaurants, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, the fishing pier, and other draws. Clearwater and surrounding Pinellas County also have about 40 golf courses.
Clearwater is a livable community because it sees little traffic congestion, save for high-season backups on causeways to the barrier islands and beaches. Residents enjoy low crime rates, moderate housing costs, and the ready availability of healthcare, a product partly of the many retirees who already have made Clearwater their home. The area is also highly rated by Entrepreneur magazine as a good place for small businesses.
Several community theaters help to bring live entertainment to Clearwater, including the Royalty Theater, built in 1896 and the oldest theater in Florida still in operation. Ruth Eckerd Hall is a 2,100-seat center for performing arts with acclaimed acoustics.
The Tampa Bay area once had the reputation as a cultural desert. But that's changed over the past couple of decades, and within minutes of Clearwater are nearly 40 museums. In St. Petersburg, the remarkable Salvador Dali Museum houses the largest collection of the surrealist artist's work outside Spain. The Dali is planning to move to a new $35 million building in 2010. Also in St. Petersburg is the Florida Holocaust Museum, with an exhibit of a boxcar in which 100 people were crammed on their way to concentration camps.
St. Peterburg's offerings include the Museum of Fine Arts, with one of the most comprehensive collections on Florida's west coast, and Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry, which has more than 450 hands-on exhibits and activities.
Clearwater has not been without controversy, including the arrival in the 1970s of the Church of Scientology, which made Clearwater its spiritual headquarters. Some locals complain that the church's continued expansion has made other residents feel like a minority amid throngs of Scientologists dressed in crisp white shirts on city streets. But the church helped revive a moribund downtown, and tensions have subsided over the years.
Clearwater Beach has also changed in character in the past decade, losing many hotel rooms to condos. Efforts to attract new hotels have raised fears of adding to congestion along the beach. Many have been stalled for now by the economic downturn.
Clearwater is the spring training home of the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball team. Nearby are baseball's Tampa Bay Rays, the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League.
Loving winter sports doesn't mean having to shovel snow and defrost cars all winter. Clearwater residents can take skating lessons or play pickup hockey at the Clearwater Ice Arena or take in a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game. There's another ice skating rink in the center of the local mall. Retirees can attend a figure skating class offered by the Tampa Bay Skating Academy and get a tan at the beach in the same day.
Clearwater Christian College is a nondenominational Christian, liberal arts college located on Tampa Bay. Clearwater is also home to a campus of St. Petersburg College, primarily a community college that also offers some four-year bachelor's degree programs. Nearby are major universities including the University of South Florida and the University of Tampa.
Morton Plant Hospital is a 680-bed facility in Clearwater that provides care in more than 50 specialties.
Tourism is the major contributor to the local economy, but the area also has important segments in healthcare, manufacturing, and trade.
Home prices in Florida have been particularly hard hit by the downturn, with the median sales price in Clearwater falling to $167,000 in 2008.
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