I've spent a lot of time researching a new city to move to (leaving Chicago) and it looks like Texas is a good place to go. Lots of sun, jobs and moderately priced homes. So out of the big cities and their surrounding suburbs in Texas which do you think is the best?
POLL: What's the best location in Texas?
- Thread starter Arkitech
- Start date
DingDingDao
Diamond Member
- Jun 9, 2004
- 3,044
- 0
- 71
Depends on what you want. I lived in Dallas for 5 years, and have spent a lot of time in Austin and Houston (have friends that live there). If you're looking for a fun singles life, and lots to do at night and stuff, Austin is great. For raising a family, Dallas is excellent, especially for a new family. Frisco, a new suburb, has excellent schools and the housing market is good. Could you maybe tell us exactly what you're looking for?
If I could move anywhere in Texas........
1.San Antonio neat town nothing special but its not 5 million people like #2 is
2.DFW includes Arlington, Plano, Garland.......has almost everything youll ever need except mountains
3.Houston really this would be my last choice but I cant afford to live in Austin, which is where we would move in a second if we could, and I sure as hell wouldnt live in El Paso or Corpus
Good luck
1.San Antonio neat town nothing special but its not 5 million people like #2 is
2.DFW includes Arlington, Plano, Garland.......has almost everything youll ever need except mountains
3.Houston really this would be my last choice but I cant afford to live in Austin, which is where we would move in a second if we could, and I sure as hell wouldnt live in El Paso or Corpus
Good luck
HardcoreRobot
Lifer
- Nov 7, 2000
- 16,403
- 3
- 81
Austin > *
Lived in houston (boring / ugly) and went to college in Austin.
San Antonio is a nice place to visit
I woudnt say the same for Dallas .
These are just MHO as a 22/m. A lot depends on what lifestyle you want to lead and what you look for in a place.
Lived in houston (boring / ugly) and went to college in Austin.
San Antonio is a nice place to visit
I woudnt say the same for Dallas .
These are just MHO as a 22/m. A lot depends on what lifestyle you want to lead and what you look for in a place.
I'm not looking to raise a family just yet, basically me and the wife are burned out from our current jobs. We're hoping to find an inexpensive house and pay cash for it and then look for part time work. We don't have any bills so we're thinking of just taking it easy for a few years, do a little part time work and maybe invest in real estate on the side. I don't care to much about bars, but I would like to be fairly close to an area where I can get to a Best Buy, Fry's Borders, etc.. every now and then.
Based on what you said - inexpensive housing, your best bet would be Allen or maybe Carrollton. Carrollton is like 32nd in the safest cities in the US, and is about in the very center of the DFW metroplex. It's aging in some areas but there's still a lot of very nice housing to be had for relatively cheap.
Allen is a little suberb that's slowly growing. It's just north east of Plano (mostly super rich, but there are some ghetto areas of Plano) Housing there seems to be super cheap - my friend - his 3 brothers all own houses within 2 minutes of each other, and they're pretty nice houses for the money they paid for them. (Albeit, two of their houses have a relatively small backyard) It's also just 15 minutes away from downtown and pretty close to all the locations you described above. (Frys, BB, etc)
Honestly - Dallas isn't "happening" on the social scale - we do have all sorts of sporting events, Deep Ellum (local hangout spot with lots of bars and where people go to on the weekends), The West End, etc. I don't know how old/young you are, but if you're looking to just party nightly, Dallas aint for you. If you're looking to just have some fun on the weekends, it's probably ideal.
Frisco like mentioned above is booming right now - it used to be a nothing small city filled with old people until they built a mall and instantly, it grew overnight. Housing isn't exactly cheap from what I heard - with the rush to be in Frisco, developers have a premium on the housing. It's a nice area though, although the roads in that area aren't exactly great. (121, the main inlet in and out of Frisco is a 2 lane highway :| )
Allen is a little suberb that's slowly growing. It's just north east of Plano (mostly super rich, but there are some ghetto areas of Plano) Housing there seems to be super cheap - my friend - his 3 brothers all own houses within 2 minutes of each other, and they're pretty nice houses for the money they paid for them. (Albeit, two of their houses have a relatively small backyard) It's also just 15 minutes away from downtown and pretty close to all the locations you described above. (Frys, BB, etc)
Honestly - Dallas isn't "happening" on the social scale - we do have all sorts of sporting events, Deep Ellum (local hangout spot with lots of bars and where people go to on the weekends), The West End, etc. I don't know how old/young you are, but if you're looking to just party nightly, Dallas aint for you. If you're looking to just have some fun on the weekends, it's probably ideal.
Frisco like mentioned above is booming right now - it used to be a nothing small city filled with old people until they built a mall and instantly, it grew overnight. Housing isn't exactly cheap from what I heard - with the rush to be in Frisco, developers have a premium on the housing. It's a nice area though, although the roads in that area aren't exactly great. (121, the main inlet in and out of Frisco is a 2 lane highway :| )
anytown in texas with less than 20000 people, and live outside of town just within range of dsl/cable internet.
it really depends on what you want, best location changes on what you can do.
I prefer the central Texas hospitality (think Waco area), I've been many places throughout the US and in comparisson, the vast majority of Americans are down right rude.
it really depends on what you want, best location changes on what you can do.
I prefer the central Texas hospitality (think Waco area), I've been many places throughout the US and in comparisson, the vast majority of Americans are down right rude.
You don't have Irving/Las Colinas area in your poll. It's a suburb of around 180k people smack dab in the middle of the DFW metroplex between Dallas and Fort Worth. The northern part of the city is really nice and is a decent commute to either downtown Dallas or Fort Worth (opening up your job options more). I currently live in Fort Worth but if I was to move, north Irving would be where I'd be.
As for being close to Fry's, there's one in Irving, south Arlington (cheap housing but crappy neighborhoods, I should know since I grew up there and my parents still live there), Garland (crappy), and Plano (lived there for 3 years, nice and close to alot of good restaurants, this would be my 2nd choice after Irving).
As for being close to Fry's, there's one in Irving, south Arlington (cheap housing but crappy neighborhoods, I should know since I grew up there and my parents still live there), Garland (crappy), and Plano (lived there for 3 years, nice and close to alot of good restaurants, this would be my 2nd choice after Irving).
Rowlett sounds like a pretty good area for you, bout 15 min from Town East Mall in Mesquite which has a Circuit City, Best Buy, and Car Toys and other various electronics place around each other... about 15 min from Fry's in Garland. Local Tech Area would be plano/Richardson bout 20 min away...I grew up in this area it was pretty nice place.
I now live in Arlington for the time being there is a Fry's off of I-20 bout 30 min from Dallas. It's a 45 min drive for me to where I work in Richardson. I like the area I just do not know anybody so I can't really comment on social events other than Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth ~ bout 20 min drive
I now live in Arlington for the time being there is a Fry's off of I-20 bout 30 min from Dallas. It's a 45 min drive for me to where I work in Richardson. I like the area I just do not know anybody so I can't really comment on social events other than Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth ~ bout 20 min drive
CPA
Elite Member
- Nov 19, 2001
- 30,322
- 4
- 0
exactly. Home prices are excellent. No matter what part of the city you live in, you don't have to go to far for anything. Traffic is not good on the West side, but they're expanding the highway. Plus you can always play chicken with the new downtown train (aka, The Death Train) - highest accident rate in the country, woohoo...
Grapevine.
Its next to DFW Airport and housing is cheaper than surrounding areas(Colleyville, Southlake, Irving, Los Colinas), except it gets all the benifits of them. Colleyville(Schools), Southlake(Shopping and Resturants), etc etc. Its truely in the middle of the metroplex, 17 miles toFort Worth, 19 miles to Dallas.
Grapvine is the best bang for the buck suburb of Dallas/Fort Worth.
Its next to DFW Airport and housing is cheaper than surrounding areas(Colleyville, Southlake, Irving, Los Colinas), except it gets all the benifits of them. Colleyville(Schools), Southlake(Shopping and Resturants), etc etc. Its truely in the middle of the metroplex, 17 miles toFort Worth, 19 miles to Dallas.
Grapvine is the best bang for the buck suburb of Dallas/Fort Worth.
suburbs of houston aren't bad, and are probably the cheapest housing you will find since the area is growing so quickly
whew lots of suggestions, thanks fellas. Sounds more and more like Texas will be the place for me. One of the things I hate is commutes, I spent the last 10 years in Illinois driving an hour plus back and forth to work. At my worst I was doing a 2 hour commute in one direction, so wherever I end up at I refuse to drive more than 15 minutes to get to work. Being close to jobs is a big factor for me.
houston is horribly polluted.
dallas is a yuppie's paradise.
san antonio is a craphole.
austin is by far the best, though the traffic sucks, though thats the same for all 4.
it basically goes
1. Austin
2-4. The lesser of 3 evils, probably DFW 2nd, just for the fact that its not as humid as Houston, no hurricanes either.
oh and no matter where you go in texas, learn spanish.
b/c in 20 years, thats going to be what the majority of people in TX will be speaking.
CPA
Elite Member
- Nov 19, 2001
- 30,322
- 4
- 0
You live in Oklahoma and you call Houston a wasteland? climate is horrible? sweat just looking outside?
I can agree with some of your observations, but pollution is not a big deal if you live outside the small downtown district, which 99% of Houstonians do.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 21K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
-
Facebook
Twitter