Areas in Houston that are similar to Southern Orange County, California (Mission: 2013, crime rates)

[Houston Area Man]

If you had hills and mountains to Houston. It would be like California.

[usc619]

Originally Posted by Houston Area Man

If you had hills and mountains to Houston. It would be like California.

Doubt it, You tend to get better development out there. Lake Travis area and Collin County are the closest I've seen

[Houston Area Man]

Originally Posted by usc619

Doubt it, You tend to get better development out there. Lake Travis area and Collin County are the closest I've seen

California homes are very old. Houston suburbs have newer houses.

[Redlionjr]

Originally Posted by sonbi1

I grew up in Anaheim. In terms of planning and build, the key difference between LA/OC and Texas (in general) is (1) LA/OC has sidewalks everywhere, and (2) buildings will often abut the sidewalk creating a more urban feel (eg part of a strip mall will be next to the street, whereas in TX the entire structure will be set back from the street).

Otherwise most of OC is not special. Most of OC are mediocre strip malls and huge parking lots with the same chain stores as anywhere.

With regard to “bigger areas that are nice” it’s just a function of sheer size. Fort Bend County is probably the closest analog to OC. There are 800k people in FBC. There are 3.2 million people in OC. When I was a kid in the early 80s in Anaheim, it felt like FBC today. Things were still being built out. A ton of OC was just undeveloped empty land. In 30 years, FBC will be a lot like OC today, guaranteed.

Anyway what the OP wants only exists in pockets here. If the OP wants large contiguous areas that look like OC, then he should stay in OC because - at that scale - it only currently exists in OC. The LA metro area is massive and dwarfs everything in America except for the NYC tri-state area.

I actually agree with this. Which is why OP might be disappointed if he moved down here NOW. Fort Bend County has pockets of what you get in OC but you're right aside from the coastal areas it's not that much different than Fort Bend County. Hell it's some areas in the city limits of Houston that feel similar to suburbia OC.

But I think that large contiguous look is what makes OC stand out a little more and why I would suggest Collin County over Fort Bend County. Like you stated, FBC will get that contiguous look in due time but at the moment it's pockets.

[Raider Scott]

Originally Posted by Houston Area Man

If you had hills and mountains to Houston. It would be like California.

True!


I mean...we already have crime, congestion, sh*tty traffic, un-affordable housing, 4 buck a gallon gas and loads of homeless people so we are almost CA. LOL

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by Raider Scott

True!


I mean...we already have crime, congestion, sh*tty traffic, un-affordable housing, 4 buck a gallon gas and loads of homeless people so we are almost CA. LOL

The only thing here where Houston is nearly as bad as CA in is crime (where it’s worse here). The rest are incomparable. As a matter of a fact, in terms of homelessness, gas prices and unaffordable housing, Houston does much better than the majority of USA.

You basically just described large cities in USA.

[Houston Area Man]

Originally Posted by Raider Scott

True!


I mean...we already have crime, congestion, sh*tty traffic, un-affordable housing, 4 buck a gallon gas and loads of homeless people so we are almost CA. LOL

Traffic is not bad. Less crimes then other major cities. Unaffordable housing? Are you kidding? Gas is cheap here. Homelessness isn’t much of a problem here.

[TowerKing]

Originally Posted by dallasboi

You probably won't find it in Houston.....Houston does have pockets of nice.....But it's surrounded by riff raff.

Everyt time a North Texan says that the houston dallas rivalry is one sided, I smile and think of dallasboi

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by TowerKing

Everyt time a North Texan says that the houston dallas rivalry is one sided, I smile and think of dallasboi

That’s a popular North Texan quote that defeats its own purpose

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by Houston Area Man

Traffic is not bad. Less crimes then other major cities. Unaffordable housing? Are you kidding? Gas is cheap here. Homelessness isn’t much of a problem here.

I've lived in many different places. The problem with the crime in Houston is that while the overall numbers may not be as bad as other cities, it seems to impact more people in good areas than other cities. In other places, there are pockets where the majority of crime is concentrated in "bad areas", where most people just avoid, and relatively small amount spills over to the "good areas".

Houston crime seems much more random and widespread, with much more spilling over into "good areas" than any other city I've lived in. I personally know multiple people here who have been victimized, but I do not know a single person victimized anywhere else I lived.

I do not know why that seems to be such a problem here vs. other places.