Nurse looking to move from SF Bay area to Houston (Sugar Land: low income, 2013)

[Readytosettle13]

Hello all,

I currently live in the SF Bay area and I am planning to move to Houston in the near future. I have visited Houston before and I have found it to be very family friendly and a better cost of living. I am a nurse and my husband is a teacher and we have 2 children. We really like it here the weather can't be beat and I as a nurse will never make as much or have such a great union as a bedside nurse and I know these are things I will miss. But the cost of living, low pay for teachers, the subpar school system, and the constant increasing costs of housing are some of the things making me want to flee. I too have wondered are there people who have moved and regretted. Are there nurses who have moved and regret it? If so, why do you dislike it or regret the move? I have visited Houston and I definitely think it will give us a great lifestyle and a great place to raise our children but I do wonder if I'd ever want to return to the SF Bay area. Any information that you can provide would be helpful in finalizing my decision.

Thanks in advance.

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by Readytosettle13

Hello all,

I currently live in the SF Bay area and I am planning to move to Houston in the near future. I have visited Houston before and I have found it to be very family friendly and a better cost of living. I am a nurse and my husband is a teacher and we have 2 children. We really like it here the weather can't be beat and I as a nurse will never make as much or have such a great union as a bedside nurse and I know these are things I will miss. But the cost of living, low pay for teachers, the subpar school system, and the constant increasing costs of housing are some of the things making me want to flee. I too have wondered are there people who have moved and regretted. Are there nurses who have moved and regret it? If so, why do you dislike it or regret the move? I have visited Houston and I definitely think it will give us a great lifestyle and a great place to raise our children but I do wonder if I'd ever want to return to the SF Bay area. Any information that you can provide would be helpful in finalizing my decision.

Thanks in advance.

What do nurses and teachers make in SF? I think nurses do OK here but teachers make diddly squat.

[xiabelle]

Also, depending on what your husband teaches it may be harder than you think to find a job.

[Readytosettle13]

Htown2013

Well in the SF Bay area wit the highest cost of living and state tax, teachers make even less so you could imagine. And actually teachers make off pretty well in the state of Texas compared to many other states. And no state tax on top of that. You should look up what teachers make in other states you would be very surprised. Believe me I've done my research.

Xiabelle,

My husband teaches HS and MS math, always in demand.
Thanks for the replies

[War Beagle]

If you generally like the Bay Area, its people, culture, politics, etc., and are only looking to move for economic reasons, I would look elsewhere than Texas. Culturally and politically, you would basically be moving to a different country.

If you are looking to leave the Bay Area for those reasons, Houston might be a good match.

[jerbear30]

Houston is a lot cheaper than San Francisco. If you are talking about the Bay Area as a whole, it's still cheaper but not that much. Plus, you will not find the same kinds of cultural or natural resources here that you do there. We have nice stuff and Houston is a major city, but it is not at all a destination. Also, our ocean is brown/grey and littered with oil rigs. If you really, really want to save money then you'll be able to save more of it here probably. As for being "family friendly" I don't really see it. We have some nice parks, so does SF; we have some museums, so does SF; we have some suburbs, so does SF.

[Readytosettle13]

Thanks warbeagle and her bear30 appreciate the replies.
Those are things I do think about or worry about but just the thought of never owning a home or having to work 3 jobs in order to own a home worries me even more. But again I do think I would miss a lot of aspects of this city. When I visited Houston I felt that Houston had great culture and was very diverse which made me feel like it could be a good fit as well. Also the school system in Houston seems to be making big strides and changes compared to the Bay area, I feel and well I know that the bay area has a lot of work to do and my kids are only getting older. So that is another reason I'm looking to make a change. But again your replies are giving me lots to think about.

[RedRat44]

Houston has every political, ethnic and cultural variety present and people get along fine, are generally friendly and yes, you can buy a house here and life is cheaper. I made a similar move over 20 years ago for similar reasons from that area and have not ever regretted that I did. My family still lives in Nor CA and they're fortunate to have bought homes long ago and have good income and benefit from Prop 13 taxes due to having bought in the 70s, 80s and 90s. The whole state seems to have gone belly up. Taxes are very high and continuing, living costs, the low income people/low education level people continue expand so the future looks fairly bleak.

[shortel]

Well if your willing to work in the texas medical center you shouldn't have any problem finding a job assuming your credentials are good. Are you licensed to be a nurse in texas yet?

[crono_clone]

Several of our suburbs and master-planned communities (Woodlands, Sugar Land, etc) routinely make the "Best Of" lists in the state and in the country when it comes to raising a family, so you'd be right about Houston being very family-friendly. Of course, you'd still have to do your research and find the best place for you and your family, but in general becoming a homeowner in Houston is much more achievable than in SF.

Also, we don't have just "some museums", we have an entire Museum District as well as a Theater District (we're one of only 5 cities that has resident companies in every performing arts discipline and have the second-highest concentration of performing arts venues after NYC). Not only is family life much more affordable here, but you'd still have access to all the cultural amenities of a very large cosmopolitan city.