Compare & Contrast Parker County, TX

[PhinneyWalker]

Originally Posted by RonnieinDallas

Yeah a lot of people do it. A lot of Lockheed employees live in Parker County which is on the western side of Fort Worth. Weatherford it’s self doesn’t have a lot of industry. It also lacks any large concentration of white collar employment. There are 2 hospitals and a lot of large car dealerships. I assume most people commute outside of the community for work or work for a small business.

I-20 and I-30 probably weren’t too bad 10-20 years ago but with all the growth and development I bet that commute will start to get worse and longer. Plus, you’re looking into the sun both ways.

Fort Worth is also sort of limited in industry. They don’t have the large corporate and tech presence Dallas has. They also don’t have as many financial service jobs. Fort Worth’s bread and butter has always been pork barrel federal spending on defense. Lockheed and Bell are big there. American Airlines is way over on the Far East side of Fort Worth. Downtown Fort Worth is frequently overestimated as a job center. A lot of the big names in downtown pulled out over the last decade and many of the office buildings are or have been converted to other uses. At one time downtown Dallas had more vacant office space than Fort Worth had in total, in the entire city.

Gosh, that is true! I never even thought of that! Ugh....I hate long commutes!

I was thinking only recently that the pile up I see on I30 headed west from a couple of miles or so east of downtown all the way past Ridgmar Mall had to be from people working in Fort Worth, Arlington, and perhaps even further east. The older I became, the less I wanted to commute for work or anything else. I have had a small 2/1 near the university for many years now, but the real property market is pushing me further out (albeit not as far as Weatherford!), so now I am very seriously thinking of downsizing to what will fit into a tiny garage apartment just so I can afford the rent and remain in this area. There is an old sort-of-joke that the three most important things in real estate are location, location, and location. I could not agree more.

[ChristieP]

I will disagree. I worked in healthcare in/around Fort Worth for over 15 years. Healthcare is a huge sector of the local economy. Colleges/universities /higher education also have a significant presence (TCU, Texas Wesleyan, A&M Law, TCCC). There are also quite a few oil and gas, and engineering firms in Fort Worth.