For the most part I gree with Dolores post, however, the cost of living here in the DR is much less than that of Florida compared to a similar standard of living. It will be much higher in fact in the Palm Beach, Miami area.
I currently live here in the DR but before that we lived in FL. I have visited Spain before and from what I can tell Spain is somewhat between the US and DR in terms of conveniences, etc. Therefore, coming to the DR will definetely be a backwards step with you in that regard, not to mention high end medical care, etc.
The other issue is finding work: in Florida, if you are a professional that will be easy - in the DR, impossible for the most part.
The positives about the DR is the weather and the most part the friendly people. American people tend to keep to themselves and if one is used the the Latin friendliness, it will certainly leave a dry taste in your mouth. However, if one lives in a heavily hispanic populated section of town, things could different, at least in one's neighborhood.
Private education here is good, albeit characterized by a strong atmosphere of elitism among it's students, after all, only the affluent can afford to send their kids there and in the Dominican society, there is a definite feudal type class based structure, ie. if you have money one is automatically better than one who doesn't. Somehow they associate money here with personal value, ie. the more money you have the better, more superior a person is. Special kudos are also "won" by those with money of lighter skin. Nonetheless, to a lesser extent, with respect to this elitism, this can be found a lesser extent in the States. However, racism is still alive and well much more so in the US than in the DR. It is here but it is practiced by a small minority, so it may be possible to not see awhole lot of it depending on the circles in which you associate.
Also, if one has a job here and relativley fluent, life can be quite pleasant and will actually be much less hectic than the US. Driving around in Florida will actually be more stressfull in the long run than here in the DR, once one learns the rules of the road here. the propblem with the US is everything is so spaced out that one seems to spend a large majority of their life in transit, not to mention people are just getting to be downright nasty back home(road rage) or completely oblivious to their surroundings for talking on the phone, watching a dvd or the gps, while driving.
Hope this helps
A su orden