What is attracting California and west coast folks to DFW? (Dallas: crime, house)

[_Charles_]

There has been in influx of folks from California / west coast to DFW the past few years.

I am curious what is the attraction? I know that Californians are used to having the mountains and scenic desert on one side and the Pacific ocean beaches on the other.

And you folks are also used to reliably mild weather. DFW has hot summers and relatively cold winters. There are no beaches or mountains nearby here in DFW. So what is the attraction?

Understand I am not criticizing anyone or anything - I am just curious and want to understand.

[NW2TX]

We are from the West Coast and brand new to the DFW. We came for a job. The west coast economy is very hard hit. No matter what the news says. We are from the PNW and wintered in CA and All three states on the coast have horrible economies right now. I am guessing that is driving a lot of moves like ours. We had always wanted to check out Texas and this was where most of our job offers came from.

[MaryS80]

California runs almost the entire length of the west coast, the weather varies wildly from San Fran, to San Diego.

I think cost of living is a big factor. Everything costs more in California, especially housing. For others its culture, like minded people tend to want to be around other like minded people. DFW is home to many large companies, some move here because there job makes them.

[Debsi]

More affordable cost of living + lots of jobs.


First, we decided we had to leave California. Second, we selected our new location. Many places in the country meet the first criteria above, but not the second.

[lh_newbie]

They moved here to be close to me, of course! Duh - what were you thinking?

[Grainraiser]

Most folks I know see what type house they can buy here compared to CA and make the move. I know many people who took thier equity and purchased a home here cash.

[calmdude]

Fourteen years ago, we choose Dallas over SoCal mainly because of housing. Other factors - beaches / liberal / conservative / food/ etc - had positives and negatives and, for us, cancelled out. Once does spend a lot of time in the house. Plus, an extra thousand or so in monthly cash flow from lower house payment can easily buy you a trip to SoCal or Europe for that matter. Plano schools are good and it has lower crime than the Valley area in general.

[austinnetx]

No income taxes.
State government well run - 10 billion dollar surplus.
Much lower cost of living.
Healthy job market.
Diverse population.
Family friendly state.
Victim-freindly courts and good police.


Please don't move here and screw it up is all we ask.

[wannabeaTexan]

I'm moving from Seattle because of cost of living, weather and change of scenery period, having lived here all my life. My dad is from Texas too and so I have family down there, which makes it feel a little less unknown than some other place I could move to.

[grindin]

COL is cheaper.

Lots of Californians here in the ATL too. It seems like half of Oakland and a quarter of LA is here.