I've been in Waco nearly 20 years and what it is now compared to even five years ago is amazing. I can't speak to Florida, but I've always liked living here. I've felt it to be a good place to raise kids. I like that Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin are about 90 minutes away and Houston and San Antonio are only 3 hours. The number of restaurants and shops and fun things to do downtown had increased a lot and we even have a distillery and several breweries and wineries (not sure how covid will affect all of them though). Housing is higher compare to salaries thanks to fixer upper, but it's better than in a lot of other parts of Texas.

Whether may be something you need to consider. Waco is drier than a lot of other places and we do get fairly hot in the summer often. Winters are usually mild though and hurricanes rarely make it this far inland to affect us in any meaningful way. Tornadoes are a risk but they are rare.