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Texas leads the nation in workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage, is the state with the highest percentage of minimum wage jobs, and also leads the nation in percentage of citizens uninsured.
And then after that you get to send your kids to some of the worst regarded public schools in the country.
No thanks, I'll stay up here in the wealthy, educated, progressive northeast.
Yeah, but here in NJ it is pretty much impossible for a college graduate in their mid 20s to even join the middle class without enough "experience", which is a thing prospect employers love to throw back as an excuse for no opportunity.
I see plenty of new jobs popping up here in NJ, but it is an either a or b situation:
A. If you don't have 7-10 years of "experience" of the given position, well you can forget about ever being considered.
B. It pays around $25,000 per year, whether it is salary or hourly rate. And every year you get a 10-15 cent raise per hour. And ZERO growth potential!
Co-worker family of 5 decides enough with NJ area relocating to TX next month.
He cites these concerns:
- Weather, snow, and humid weather.
- Cost of living and working in NJ increasing faster than income growth
- Taxes and fees raising quicker than inflation
- State penalizes large living space, taxes more for large homes.
Basically he just had a new baby and they are running out of space in an avg size home in NJ and he wants to get a bigger home without having to pay almost twice the amount in property taxes.
He said his home was purchased just $165k in 2003 and now valued around $280k but in order for him to move to a bigger home ideally for his family it would cost $400-450k.
He already found a house down in Dallas for $175k that's twice as large as his current and property taxes about 20% less than what he's paying while his salary takes no hit.
as long as he likes texas, then he'll like it. I couldn't take the texas heat personally, and i like 4 seasons. I'm a family of 5 and, yes, my home was in that $400-$450k range. had i been looking at a $115,000 profit in 11 years plus whatever equity i had built up, i don't think that would bother me too much.
A friend of mine had to relocate from NJ to Dallas about a year ago for his job. In about 2-3 years he'll have the opportunity to move back to NJ. He is already counting the days...
so why do you have such strong opinions? there are people who have actually lived in texas and nj giving their opinions. i think its silly to throw out ignorant opinions (especially so strongly) when you dont really know what its like to live there.
Texas leads the nation in workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage, is the state with the highest percentage of minimum wage jobs, and also leads the nation in percentage of citizens uninsured.
And then after that you get to send your kids to some of the worst regarded public schools in the country.
No thanks, I'll stay up here in the wealthy, educated, progressive northeast.
There are certainly drawbacks to any state and you hit upon one of them in your first paragraph. I'm a conservative but a very moderate one. Some of the more far right views make me cringe. Overall though, folks here are a bit more on my wave length and I try to take some of the views with a grain of salt.
About schools though....like anywhere it depends on where you live. I goggled one report of high schools ratings. Texas was number 12 just below NJ which was 11. Hardly terrible. Here in the north Texas region, many of our schools come out scoring 8, 9, and 10s on the Great School ratings. Unfortunately the school system we left in NJ did not rate as high. My kids had to do a bit of catch up when we moved here. Additionally at times I had to fight tooth and nail to get help for my kids in NJ. Here my son gets extra help after school ( at the school) three times a week. My daughter can get before and after school tutoring at the school. The teachers here are professional, highly educated and have bent over backwards to help my kids. We aren't even in the top rated school area in our county. If I walk just a few blocks from my house, it is a different school zone and one of the top ones in the area. Not sure if I want to buy in there since the school is super competitive and my kids are average students at best. The houses are also more expensive. Some of the families are very wealthy and I'm more of a middle class mindset. Very happy where we are.
Wealthy, progressive, educated NE? Again, come on down to Texas and check out places like Dallas. We have loads of transplants and folks from all over. Everywhere you turn you see a Mercedes, BMW or Lexus. Million dollar homes, etc. Highly educated work force. Sometimes I'm a bit sad not seeing more Texas here in Texas.
Look, I'm not one to bash NJ or any other state for that matter. Making sweeping generalizations about any state is not really fair. I did have to comment on the schools though. I can't be happier. My only concern is being able to buy a darned house. We are renting and unfortunately there are very few properties for sale. The ones that are listed go very fast. They aren't cheap either but certainly not as expensive as NJ.
I notice Texas-philiacs point out how "liberal" parts of the state are, mostly due to transplants from the coasts. No mention of the millions of rednecks & goobers in between.
Let's get real about schools too. Jersey's consistently in top 3 along with other "librul, commie" states like Massachusetts & Maryland. Have never seen TX anywhere near the top.
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