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By the way, is there a reason you HAVE to live in Plano proper? Allen, McKinney, Murphy, Wylie, Fairview are all nearby with excellent schools. If you are in western Plano, Little Elm is a great bedroom community, abutting the northeast side of Lake Lewisville, a 30,000 acre lake. About 23 minutes north is Lake Ray Roberts, slightly larger than Lake Lewisville and more rural. North of Lake Roberts is Lake Texoma bigger than Lewisville and Roberts combined.
I read someone mentioned food. I'll give Boston the edge on Italian and seafood for sure. Pizza, meh. I think THAT particular Italian creation is better up north but its not like all DFW has is Papa John's and Pizza Hut. Pizza choices have gotten a lot better with more artisan shops open these days. But we do have a 600 mile state coast line here too. Its 60 minute flight to Dallas for delivery.
It's not an issue of height. The Ouachitas and Ozarks are far more captivating than anything you'll see in Texas hill country, which is why legions of Texans flock there to visit and buy property. They aren't known for sheer height because they were formed by erosion rather than geographic uplift, but unless you go out to far west Texas you won't find anything as impressive within a few hours drive.
Sorry, but like the Texas gulf coast, I found the hill country around Austin quite underwhelming as well. Doesn't hold a candle to the Ouachitas and Ozarks, not even close.
You do realize the Hill Country is not just Austin, Its bigger than CT and RI. Garner State Park out by Uvalde, Government Canyon State Park, Canyon of the Eagles at Lake Buchanan, Devil's Hole, tubing on the Guadalupe and other Rivers, swimming at Hamilton Pool.
Please keep in mind the SCALE of Texas vs. NE. The State is as big as France. To some extent, keep in mind the OP has remember the western U.S. is of a scale much larger than NE. There are really no small states when compared to those on the eastern seaboard.
The school stuff doesn't surprise me at all. My brother teaches 2nd grade and he is already getting emails from parents complaining that their kid who was in High honors in 1st grade is only getting a 90% after like, 2 quizzes, or like 5% of their grade or something. Could it be the teaching? From what he tells me the parents are morons. In my opinion you should Homeschool your kid if you want to micro manage their education that much.
The areas of the country that have lost alot of population tend to be due to a loss of industry or a change in technology that requires less people (farming, for example).
Texas is blowing up because they are willing to go into debt to build big projects so that suburban style housing remains affordable and because, just as importantly, they are willing to give corporations massive tax breaks to move here. At maturity it will look pretty similar to California, which already did both of the above back in the day. It's almost like a growth ponzi scheme...you cant grow indefinitely.
I hope we can keep growing, and push as much of that growth as possible into high yield urban areas to hopefully better weather the storm of eventual decline.
Debt for Texas isn't a problem. The State has been running multi-billion surpluses since the turn of the century. Also the tax breaks are tied to job creation. If the jobs target is not hit the money has to be returned. And this past July, the state said economic growth has resulted in an unexpected windfall - What's Your Point? - Texas legislature budget surplus - Story | KRIV.
Texas won't look like California. They don't do things here like there. The state's economy is much more diversified now than 20 or 30 years ago and having a resource, (Oil and Gas) and the engineering tech to make it profitable, is something California doesn't have or won't employ. There's a reason a TON of California companies have flocked here, more so than any other state and it's not just tax breaks.
This thread was very enlightening, wanted to follow up on a few statements as we are also considering a move to DFW but we are coming from south of Philly. I was surprised to see statements about not much outdoor rec and the weather keeps people in 6 to 7 months of the year!! One of the perks I thought about moving to DFW area is that we'd be able to be outside MORE because of milder winters. My husband is an avid golfer and ice hockey player so summer is golf and ice hockey is winter. My son also plays hockey, soccer, lacrosse, golfs. Both trail ride and i love hiking around. (no mountains here so flat land is fine). My daughter plays tennis but will be in college so won't be here much anyway. I've only been keeping track of weather a few weeks as that is when possible job move came on the horizon. The biggest difference I see is the night time temp does not dip much but your day temps is just a few degrees hotter and today we are keeping in the 90's while Plano is coudy at 76. And looking at the coming week our temps are very similiar high 80's, low 90's. So now I'm wondering what DFW temps actually FEEL like? I'm sure you go into triple digits many more days than us but wondering how much hotter/humid it feels?? Also I was surprised at the references to high humidity??? I thought Texas was dry heat??? Am I wrong??? Guess you would have to know how mid-atlantic humdity feels like, it's very sticky feeling all over.
Sorry to hijack your thread OP! Good luck with your decision, it's a hard one!!
Your husband will be golfing quite a bit more here. I live a block from one golf course, a ten minute drive from another and a 15 minute drive from a third. Several PGA pros call Dallas/Fort Worth home and its the home for two of Golf Legends - the late Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson. Top Golf is also based here.
I grew up in Philly but am from Texas. With regard to hockey, the Dallas Stars have been very interactive with the DFW area partnering to open more than a half-dozen "Star Centers" hockey arenas for amateurs. In fact, they just opened one this past week in Mansfield, Tx, south of Fort Worth.
Texas summers in the DFW area are very long and very hot and humid - not as humid as some parts of the east coast but still, plenty humid. It's not a "dry heat" in north Texas in other words.
The milder winters are GREAT - to me, winters are one of the things I LOVE about north Texas. And spring in Texas is fabulous.
If your husband is a golfer, then he will probably be happy with the golfing throughout the year - except for the heat of summer. It's just hard to explain how hot it gets here - just absolutely oppressively hot and still and humid. But while it CAN get really, really hot anytime from May through October, generally that oppressive sort of heat tends to come around in July, August and sometimes September. Unless your husband and son are suckers for punishment, I doubt they will be playing much golf in July and August, but the tradeoff is that they WILL be probably enjoying golf in December, maybe January, and February!
Don't judge Plano/Dallas/Fort Worth by this next week's temps - this is hurricane season and we can get heavy rain associated with gulf storms this time of year, or at the least cloud cover, which lowers the temps pretty dramatically. But short of a tropical storm coming into the gulf, usually temps in early September are still hotter than Hades.
Very generally speaking, if it's 94 in Dallas, it feels like at least 98. Factor in all the pavement, concrete, buildings, etc. and the still heaviness of the air and the perpetually, perpetually huge Texas summer sky - filled with blue and that blazing sun - and you can see why we complain about the long hot summers!
I lived up and down the east coast till I was in my late twenties, so I am familiar with east coast humidity. Yes, Dallas is still really humid. Maybe not QUITE as humid, but still much more humid than dry. And hotter. Honestly, I love me some Texas but Texas summers are just incredibly hot - hotter than any other place I've lived.
Houston is humid, basically, any place on the Gulf Coast is HUMID. Dallas, is not really humid. Its semi-arid. Phoenix is desert so of course no humid. Spend a few days in Houston or New Orleans..THAT'S humidity!
We currently live in Boston area, Quincy precisely. Have a pending offer working in Plano. According to the comparison of cost of living, my income in Plano will probably have more stretch, but not much. Wife is a nurse, need to find a job in the area if we decide to move. The expected total income in Plano will be around $160k. We plan to buy a house regardless moving or not.
We have three kids in grade school (the oldest kid will go to high school next year). They currently play club soccer and ice hockey.
Wife strongly wanted to move because of the cold & long winter in northeast and because the public schools in Quincy is not as good as in Plano/Frisco, at least from the scores on websites such as greatschools.com. The kids strongly oppose the idea of moving of course. I am hesitating because of the hot summer in Texas, as well as the disruption of kids' school and sports.
What would you suggest?
Thanks in advance for the advice.
Just saw this tonight - hidden cost of home ownership by city included DFW and Boston.
Houston is humid, basically, any place on the Gulf Coast is HUMID. Dallas, is not really humid. Its semi-arid. Phoenix is desert so of course no humid. Spend a few days in Houston or New Orleans..THAT'S humidity!
I'm originally from New Orleans - yes, it's humid. Moreso than Dallas but as I said, Dallas is not as humid as the east coast for example, but it's a lot more humid than arid states.
Houston is humid, basically, any place on the Gulf Coast is HUMID. Dallas, is not really humid. Its semi-arid. Phoenix is desert so of course no humid. Spend a few days in Houston or New Orleans..THAT'S humidity!
Agree with most of what you posted on this thread, but have to say that semi-arid is a poor description of DFW’s climate. It is actually classified as a humid subtropical climate. It isn’t Houston (thank god), but it is still on balance quite humid with periods of very high humidity if the weather pattern brings in lots of gulf moisture.
Houston is humid, basically, any place on the Gulf Coast is HUMID. Dallas, is not really humid. Its semi-arid. Phoenix is desert so of course no humid. Spend a few days in Houston or New Orleans..THAT'S humidity!
Just because there are places that are more humid doesn't make Dallas semi-arid. Not at all. We are actually around the national average for rain/humidity, of course with well above the average temperatures. We also get ALOT of rain, like 3 feet a year. most of the west gets about 1/3 of that.
The fact that forests and trees will just spring up and grow here is proof that we are NOT in a semi-arid place. I grew up in what is classified as semi-arid and it's much less rain and humidity than here.
This is what a flat semi-arid place looks like, Eastern Colorado. In the arid and semi-arid west you will only get trees at water sources or at high elevation.
The DFW area is within Humid, Subtropical on the Koppen, though some place the metroplex within Hot Summer Mediterranean because of the heat island effect, presumably.
Debt for Texas isn't a problem. The State has been running multi-billion surpluses since the turn of the century. Also the tax breaks are tied to job creation. If the jobs target is not hit the money has to be returned. And this past July, the state said economic growth has resulted in an unexpected windfall - What's Your Point? - Texas legislature budget surplus - Story | KRIV.
Texas won't look like California. They don't do things here like there. The state's economy is much more diversified now than 20 or 30 years ago and having a resource, (Oil and Gas) and the engineering tech to make it profitable, is something California doesn't have or won't employ. There's a reason a TON of California companies have flocked here, more so than any other state and it's not just tax breaks.
California is even more diversified than Texas.
While I don't think Texas will become a California clone (baring natural disaster, no city in Texas is ever going to cost as much as LA, SF, or SD) It's pure hubris to think we can't and won't run into many of the same issues they have. It isn't that long ago that California was a Red State with lots of oil.
Debt for Texas isn't an issue because of accounting tricks which count roads as assets instead of the massive financial responsibility they are.
It's an even bigger issue for non highway roads. Cities like Dallas and Houston can't afford road maintenance within the life time of all their roads. Large parts of the cities, contribute less in property taxes than it costs to keep up their street, water, etc.
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