[honestjar5]

Originally Posted by MOforthewin

If you like guns then TX is a MUCH BETTER state. FL has restrictive gun laws like no open carry, permit required to conceal carry, 3 day wait periods if no ccw license, etc.


Texas is now a permit less carry state, no permit needed for concealed carry.


I'm from Missouri so I find FL gun laws to be VERY restrictive. In Missouri it's similar to TX. MO no permit needed to carry a firearm. In FL concealed carry is a FELONY without a permit. In Missouri and Texas it's normal, legal behavior.

Wow, that comes as a surprise to me, considering that even here in WA we can open carry (although they were attempting for a while to make it illegal at rallies and protests). Thank you for the information!

[honestjar5]

Originally Posted by atxcio

Austin is very special and very expensive. Think everything great you could think of Texas without the bad.

Cannot recommend it on a budget, but if you are taking Seattle equity with you might be able to afford Austin.

Thank you, yes, we would love to move somewhere with a low COL, and coming from Seattle that’s almost everywhere. We don’t own currently, so we wouldn’t be starting with a huge pile of cash, though.

[honestjar5]

Originally Posted by Scottamemnon

Having lived in Texas (Houston) and now living in Jacksonville, I struggle with deciding which one is truly better all the time.

Here are my opinions of your questions, mostly based on my experience in the two cities... please note, Houston is usually considered friendlier and more welcoming, so this may not fully work for Dallas

-Cost of living - You will get a bigger house in Texas for your money, however it may not be a smaller mortgage because the property taxes are much higher. Texas, outside of Austin, does not appear to have as much of a massive upswing in prices as Florida currently. Personally I like the look of Texas houses better than Florida ones.

-Friendly people— Texas wins this hands down. Florida is filled with a combination of generally nice natives, and the worst collection of self entitled people from all over the US... so you could have awesome neighbors, or absolute jerks.

-Access to major airport— Depends on the city.. Orlando and Dallas are pretty similar in airports. Jax is much smaller.

-Healthcare quality and availability (esp women’s healthcare) - My wife has given birth in both states. Texas, loved it... although Houston is different because of the sprawling Medical Center bringing in a lot of great doctors from everywhere. Jax... HATED THE EXPERIENCE.

-Outdoor recreation - This depends on your tolerance for heat. Both places have good outdoor recreation, but Florida overall wins on this category because of access to the Ocean. Texas has coast too, but its not nearly as nice.

-Weather - Florida. Especially the upper half of the state. Texas gets a lot hotter in the summer. Both are nice in the winter though.

-Religious community- You will be fine in either state for this. Texas will have more Hispanic Catholic churches FYI.

-Safety - neither are great in this category. Texas seems to be having a rough time of it in crime in the big cities lately. In both locations you want to stay in the better suburbs to avoid crime. You are probably just as fine in Plano or Frisco near Dallas as you would be in St Johns County FL for example.

-Job opportunities - TEXAS wins easily. More pay, much larger job pool. Also if the worst ever happens and you lose a job, Texas pays 2x the amount on unemployment for 26 weeks vs only 12 in Florida(if you can get it with our horrible system).

-Schools? If you are looking at the good suburbs, I personally feel like Texas wins here. The schools seems to have a much larger amount of electives and clubs for kids for example. Places like St Johns county will not be too far off however.


If you want to be in Florida, I feel like it comes down to a general cheaper cost of living in much of the state compared to Texas. The beaches are much better than the ones in Texas. You will get more breaks from the heat being close to the shore, especially on the Atlantic side. This generally comes at a cost of Income potential, but not always. Also there is almost no social safety net here if things go wrong.

If you cannot tolerate extreme heat(>100 degrees for much of the summer), I would lean towards Florida even more.

As for Texas, if you have never explored Houston, it might be worth putting it on your radar. Coming from the pacific northwest, I would think towns with heavy tree canopies like The Woodlands and Kingwood would be very attractive.. they hit pretty much every other item on your list well also.

Typing this out makes me think I should consider Texas even more for my family!

This is very detailed, thank you! I will look into Houston!

[SkyperTyper]

Nay, try Tampa Bay, or esp down to Naples/Estero/Bonita


Orlando is becoming PuertoNYRico and very congested, and it ain't conservative, but all of FL is getting flooded by people like you who say they're conservative from places like CA, WA, NY, NJ and they aren't, they seem to be stealth progressives and are cleverly using feedback as "opposite market indicators" aka contrary market indicators.


I'm not falling for it.

[FL_Expert]

Originally Posted by honestjar5

Wow, that comes as a surprise to me, considering that even here in WA we can open carry (although they were attempting for a while to make it illegal at rallies and protests). Thank you for the information!

FYI, getting a concealed carry permit in Florida is very easy so don’t let it be a deciding factor.

[honestjar5]

Originally Posted by Scottamemnon

Having lived in Texas (Houston) and now living in Jacksonville, I struggle with deciding which one is truly better all the time.

Here are my opinions of your questions, mostly based on my experience in the two cities... please note, Houston is usually considered friendlier and more welcoming, so this may not fully work for Dallas

-Cost of living - You will get a bigger house in Texas for your money, however it may not be a smaller mortgage because the property taxes are much higher. Texas, outside of Austin, does not appear to have as much of a massive upswing in prices as Florida currently. Personally I like the look of Texas houses better than Florida ones.

-Friendly people— Texas wins this hands down. Florida is filled with a combination of generally nice natives, and the worst collection of self entitled people from all over the US... so you could have awesome neighbors, or absolute jerks.

-Access to major airport— Depends on the city.. Orlando and Dallas are pretty similar in airports. Jax is much smaller.

-Healthcare quality and availability (esp women’s healthcare) - My wife has given birth in both states. Texas, loved it... although Houston is different because of the sprawling Medical Center bringing in a lot of great doctors from everywhere. Jax... HATED THE EXPERIENCE.

-Outdoor recreation - This depends on your tolerance for heat. Both places have good outdoor recreation, but Florida overall wins on this category because of access to the Ocean. Texas has coast too, but its not nearly as nice.

-Weather - Florida. Especially the upper half of the state. Texas gets a lot hotter in the summer. Both are nice in the winter though.

-Religious community- You will be fine in either state for this. Texas will have more Hispanic Catholic churches FYI.

-Safety - neither are great in this category. Texas seems to be having a rough time of it in crime in the big cities lately. In both locations you want to stay in the better suburbs to avoid crime. You are probably just as fine in Plano or Frisco near Dallas as you would be in St Johns County FL for example.

-Job opportunities - TEXAS wins easily. More pay, much larger job pool. Also if the worst ever happens and you lose a job, Texas pays 2x the amount on unemployment for 26 weeks vs only 12 in Florida(if you can get it with our horrible system).

-Schools? If you are looking at the good suburbs, I personally feel like Texas wins here. The schools seems to have a much larger amount of electives and clubs for kids for example. Places like St Johns county will not be too far off however.


If you want to be in Florida, I feel like it comes down to a general cheaper cost of living in much of the state compared to Texas. The beaches are much better than the ones in Texas. You will get more breaks from the heat being close to the shore, especially on the Atlantic side. This generally comes at a cost of Income potential, but not always. Also there is almost no social safety net here if things go wrong.

If you cannot tolerate extreme heat(>100 degrees for much of the summer), I would lean towards Florida even more.

As for Texas, if you have never explored Houston, it might be worth putting it on your radar. Coming from the pacific northwest, I would think towns with heavy tree canopies like The Woodlands and Kingwood would be very attractive.. they hit pretty much every other item on your list well also.

Typing this out makes me think I should consider Texas even more for my family!

This is very detailed, thank you! I will look into Houston!

[bartman4566]

Glad to hear that if you are planning to come here (tx) you are conservative. Texas and Florida are going to be very different for you but you will find it VERY refreshing from what you are accustom to. It will fit your conservatism. Some areas not so much. Austin has been ruined by liberal hacks and Soros $$$. Dallas will make you somewhat sick as well so I suggest you do not live in the city. Try to get a place where you can be peaceful and live free. You will find that most areas the people are still friendly but do your demographic research.
As for the schools, go private or home school. The school system everywhere is corrupt and terrible things being taught have been identified here in Texas as well so its not safe IMO. They teach nothing about government anymore as they are trying to dumb our children down to make them just believe what they are taught. Granted this is not ALL are or schools but the larger districts such as DISD are out of control and should be dismantled and start from scratch.
Good luck and where ever you are, fight for your freedom and conservative values!

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by FL_Expert

FYI, getting a concealed carry permit in Florida is very easy so don’t let it be a deciding factor.

But many HATE being in a database and needing permission. If I lived in a permit less carry state again I would not even bother renewing my FL permit. I still have an AZ, FL, and VA permit from when I lived in Missouri before constitutional carry passed. Always good to have a backup permit in case one expired or suspended.

But so many states have permit less carry I wouldn't even get a permit again if I moved.

In FL backup permits don't work. If you're FL permit expired or suspended out of luck, They don't honor AZ permits for FL residents like other states do.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by honestjar5

This is very detailed, thank you! I will look into Houston!

I wished I had moved to TX. When my parents wanted to move somewhere warmer TX was one they looked at but have no family there.

I think I would have liked Houston or Corupis Cristi much better than here in FL. AS the other poster said, jobs pay much better in TX, more character it seems too and a more conservative state and younger too. Southeast TX weather similar to North FL. It gets cold there though but it's still tolerable at least.

It was all the flooding southeast TX gets though that was a turn off to them. Houston gets some bad flooding.

[EscAlaMike]

I'm a Central Florida native, and I'd stay away from Orlando. If you consider Florida, stick to the Jacksonville or Tampa Bay areas.