Hello from California, maybe a move to Texas?

[DANNYY]

Originally Posted by IrwinFamily

Thanks LAnative,
He's definatly not going to be working an office job, he works as a derrick hand and hopefully operator soon, on a production rig.
We are looking for more country life than city anyway. I have no idea what prices are like and what we can afford with Texas oilfield wages and Texas rental prices. But we are hoping to be able to rent at least a 3 bedroom nice sized house with either a really large yard or a small bit of land, in a desirable safe location.

The big Texas cities are out of the question for this.

Just what LAnative said, Midland/Odessa is a good one coming to mind.

[debzkidz]

There is a lot of activity in the Barnett Shale right now, which is going to be more around the Ft Worth area. There are wells actually being drilled in the city and all around the surrounding suburbs. You might look in towns like Wichita Falls, Mineral Wells, Bridgeport, Abilene and also some of the smaller towns in West Texas like Andrews, Big Spring, San Angelo.

[jaxart]

The highest wages paid for roughneck/roustabout work is going to be in the Gulf of Mexico offshore oil rig industry. That usually implies locating along the Gulf Coast in the Houston to Beaumont areas.

[h152cc2]

I work in the oil industry as an engineer. There are oilfields all over texas (Barnett shale--DFW, austin chalk, beaumont area-east texas, south texas also has lots of wells) . But I would agree with a previous poster that the best opportunity for work would be in the midland/odessa area (permian basin). I've been to Bakersfield and I can safely say that the closest thing to Bakersfield is Midland/Odessa (except housing is cheaper!)... Unfortunately you will run into illegals here as well though.

Good luck!

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by LAnative10

I would look at the Midland/Odessa or Lubbock areas. That seems to be where the wells are themselves.

Wrong. Well...you're right about Midland-Odessa, but the oil industry is virtually non-existant in Lubbock. For some reason, it is a common misconception.

[IrwinFamily]

Thanks everyoen for the info!
We are unfortuatly more confused now than ever. My husband met someone at work that used to live in Midland and Odessa ad he says that they are almost identical to Bakersfield. We arn't going to upo and leave if there isn't going to be a big difference. Ugh. Well back to the drawing board.

[jaxart]

Originally Posted by IrwinFamily

My husband met someone at work that used to live in Midland and Odessa ad he says that they are almost identical to Bakersfield.

IMO, Bakersfield is much greener with all the farm fields in the area. Midland/Odessa is very arid with some irrigation well type farming. The lands surrounding both towns is dotted with oil/gas wells. A look at aerial photographs on Google will show the extent. I believe the climate is about the same - with Bakersfield possibly a bit more humid with all of the irrigation.

East Texas contains the oldest and once the largest producing wells in the state, and there is still significant activity in that part of the state. I just signed a mineral rights lease on land in far east Texas to a gas exploration company. East Texas is heavily wooded, very humid and hot in summer, mild year around.

[debzkidz]

When I lived in Midland, I knew a family that moved there from Bakersfield. They always said Midland reminded them of Bakersfield. Not so much is appearance, but in the general feel of the town.