Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am a petroleum engineer currently working in OKC, which i do not like all that much. I am 26 yr old single male, originally from Pittsburgh who likes to be active, go out to bars, go to sporting events, eat healthy, meet new people, and travel.
OKC is much to small for me (1 sport team, not that many young professionals, i could go on and on) and i was wondering which city would be better for me: Houston, Dallas, or Denver. I would want to live in the young professional areas i.e. midtown-montrose houston, uptown dallas, and lodo-cap hill denver.
I have been to all those cities but only for about 1 week each.
I like to snowboard and hike and that sort of stuff, but i also love the water (beaches and wake boarding).
I would be making a lil more money in houston and have more opportunities in houston as well.
Here is what i have come up with so far for pros and cons on these cities.
Houston pros - would make a lil more money, nice weather 9 months out of the yr, biggest city on this list, close to lake conroe & galveston for boating, driving distance to dallas, austin, san Antonio, corpus christi, south padre, new orleans. also lot of diversity and nationalities.
Houston cons - hot and humid in summer, no NHL team, very spread out, need a car for everything, not 4 seasons, traffic
Dallas pros - bunch of lakes close by, does have NHL
dallas cons - metroplex also spread out, possible tornadoes & hail, traffic
denver pros - mountains and everything associated with them, NHL, more walkable city, very fit and active
denver cons - most expensive city on the list, very isolated city, not much boating in colorado (at least when comparing to dallas and houston)
any of the above cities i think would be a great improvement to OKC!!! So if you were in my shoes where would you move?
I didn't even think oil business was prominent up in Denver.
There's an area immediately North of the Denver city limits called "Commerce City".
It's a huge, ugly area (not talking mess, it's true) with no grass, and ugly shack-like homes,
and old abandoned cars on the sides of the road and in front of peoples' dirt yards.
And somewhere in the middle of it all is a GIANT oil refinery, or refineries.
Houston is known as THE energy capital of the world. You'd have many more work options in this city than both Denver or Dallas have put together. Dallas lakes aren't anything to get worked up about, but you do have a very valid comparison between snowboarding/surfing advantages in Denver and Houston respectively.
Not saying it's like living in NYC or anything, but depending on your work/living situation, you could easily go without using a car for long periods of time in Houston. For example, living Midtown and working Downtown would not necessitate a vehicle. The light rail is going through massive expansion and the bus routes are being completely re-planned to become much more efficient as well. Both projects have roll-outs in the next few months.
Yes, it's hot in Houston. It's also hot in Dallas. However, you also have to deal with the snow and ice in Denver, which pretty much never in Houston. The whole city shuts down for ice on the roads, no joke.
I live in Denver (have been here 2 years) and am from Houston, and I'm also familiar with Dallas as well. First off, I think you have done a pretty good job with your pros and cons lists for all these places. Right off the bat, when I am faced with a choice of 3 things, I try and eliminate 1, so with that said, if I were you, I would eliminate Dallas. I say that because of its proximity to OKC (which you say you don't like and there are lots of similarities in topography and such) and also, as a PP pointed out, the summers there are almost as bad as Houston AND you get ice a couple of times every winter.
That said, as a PP mentioned, Houston is the energy capital of the world. Given that you are PetE, I would chose it. It is a huge city with world class culture, food and diversity. It is also close to the water and easier for interstate (not to mention Int'l) travel than Denver. But, the heat and humidity really do wear you down. And, frankly, even though I am from there, I find it to be a sprawling, ugly mess-but still home
Denver is awesome! Best place I have ever lived. It is a mid sized city, and it is geographically isolated. The city itself is not exactly gorgeous, but you can reach the foothills in 30 mins and ski areas in 90 mins. There are tons of young professionals here, and yes, the population (as a whole) is healthy and active. The winters are NOT THAT BAD. I did not believe it when I moved here, but it's true. Snow in the city tends to melt rather quickly and there are plenty of sunny and mild days in the winter. Having said that, I do know that they get blizzards here, but it's been a few years and I haven't experienced those.
I think you can't go wrong with Denver or Houston. Both growing by leaps and bounds right now, and deservedly so.
I am a petroleum engineer currently working in OKC, which i do not like all that much. I am 26 yr old single male, originally from Pittsburgh who likes to be active, go out to bars, go to sporting events, eat healthy, meet new people, and travel.
OKC is much to small for me (1 sport team, not that many young professionals, i could go on and on) and i was wondering which city would be better for me: Houston, Dallas, or Denver. I would want to live in the young professional areas i.e. midtown-montrose houston, uptown dallas, and lodo-cap hill denver.
I have been to all those cities but only for about 1 week each.
I like to snowboard and hike and that sort of stuff, but i also love the water (beaches and wake boarding).
I would be making a lil more money in houston and have more opportunities in houston as well.
Here is what i have come up with so far for pros and cons on these cities.
Houston pros - would make a lil more money, nice weather 9 months out of the yr, biggest city on this list, close to lake conroe & galveston for boating, driving distance to dallas, austin, san Antonio, corpus christi, south padre, new orleans. also lot of diversity and nationalities.
Houston cons - hot and humid in summer, no NHL team, very spread out, need a car for everything, not 4 seasons, traffic
Dallas pros - bunch of lakes close by, does have NHL
dallas cons - metroplex also spread out, possible tornadoes & hail, traffic
denver pros - mountains and everything associated with them, NHL, more walkable city, very fit and active
denver cons - most expensive city on the list, very isolated city, not much boating in colorado (at least when comparing to dallas and houston)
any of the above cities i think would be a great improvement to OKC!!! So if you were in my shoes where would you move?
Any feed back would be much appreciated!
I might also suggest Lafayette, LA or Baton Rouge, LA for oil jobs. My cousin's boyfriend has only an 8th grade education and was making $4,000 a month working on the oil rigs outside of Baton Rouge (on the ocean of course). Fail on me for going to college, when I could make more in construction, lol.
Both cities are fairly large and have lots of nightlife options because they are college towns. Lots of young professionals as well who stay after completing college at LSU. Many local sports teams including LSU of course, and the New Orleans Saints just an hour away. Cost of living would be considerably cheaper too. Only problem might be the hot and humid summers, like they have in Dallas.
The better question is, "When the bust happens, where do I want to be?". Denver is a HUGE boom/bust economy and when the bust happens (think sometime over the next 20 years, not next week), where do you want to live?
I will never recommend anyone move to Houston. It's got nasty traffic, nasty weather and terrible sports teams. I can't imagine anywhere worse for Millennials based on what the press says about them.
That leaves Dallas or Denver. If you can keep away from the pot, Denver is the better pick. If you get laid off in an oil bust, it's pretty much a one-way ticket out. There were massive layoffs back in the 1980s and basically caused the City of Aurora to become the "bad part of town" due to large amounts of residential foreclosures and half-built business buildings. Most of the commercial areas are fine now but when Denver's ghetto was gentrified a few years ago, the residents moved to Aurora as it was one of the few places they could afford. You need to get about a 50% raise moving from OKC to Denver to maintain your standard of living. The housing costs are astronomical and some areas are as expensive as Williston, ND on square footage basis.
BTW, whoever said the Suncor refinery was big has no idea. That place is a pip-squeak in the oil industry. It only processes 98 Kbbl a day and thats an awfully good day.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
