Los Angeles Texas Bound Honest Opinions needed (Houston, Dallas: best city, living)

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by CaliLady1

I am moving from Los Angeles to Texas. This is happening in the next 30days. I took a trip down to Houston Texas and found the area of Sugar land and Missouri City to be nice. After returning home I did a little additional research and realized that Dallas and Austin are also nice as well. True Texans would be able to shed light on which city would be a better move.
What I am looking for is honest opinions of any of the 3. I have been in the travel industry as a travel professional for many years and after returning to school to obtain my degree I want a change. After extensive research a job in energy is the way to go(it won’t happen here in Los Angeles) Which city would be best to obtain that Goal? (No I don’t have a job lined up yet)
Which city appears to have more jobs and a culture that accepts diversity?(mixed racial demographics ex African American, Asian, European etc..
Which city has a better price of living in your opinions?
Is the humidity in Houston horrible compared to the other cities? (Coming from California

Any advice that anyone could offer would be appreciated thanks so much!!

Energy: Houston way way way on top, followed by Dallas with Austin an incredibly distant third.
Diversity: the new Texas is incredibly diverse. Houston has most, followed by Dallas and then Austin. Austin prides itself on being more tolerant and inclusive, but I don't know how true that really is. Dallas is a bit country club however.
Cost: Hosuton and Dallas relatively cheap with Austin being way overpriced in any area you'd really want to live in. There are some affordable burbs in Austin, but they're just as horrible as the Houston burbs or the Dallas burbs.
The Humidity in Houston is ungodly. You really can't believe how awful it is until you've been there. Austin is a it more moderate and Dallas a tad drier than Austin.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Im a native Angeleno that now lives in Plano, Texas just outside of Dallas. I am Middle Eastern and my wife is Asian.

As far as cultural acceptance, that would not be a problem in Dallas (DFW as a whole), Houston, or Austin. All three are extremely tolerant of other cultures, races, and religion. One thing I will caution is that the rural areas and small towns in Texas are less tolerant than those in California (when I say small, Im thinking less than 25k). Urban, suburban, and even exurban areas of the large metro areas are very tolerant.

If your looking for a job in the energy industry, Houston has more of those than the others. DFW has a very diverse economy and Austin's economy is more technology based.

Houston is very humid and the most humid of the three, but the others are pretty hot too. DFW has the closest thing to 4 seasons of the three. Houston has the most moderate winter.

As for which is the best move, I would look for the job or school you want first then decide. All three are great places to live.

[14Bricks]

Originally Posted by Houston321

If you are going to be working in energy then Houston is the best bet. Yes it's hot. But I would urge you to move to Austin if you like the more hippie, liberal, trendy stuff. But if you do move here, please don't go on and on about how California had this, and California had that. That is very annoying.

^^^^^This. Especially the bolded part.

[clarksvillemom]

I wouldn't rule out San Antonio - it has a low cost of living, less humidity, not as diverse as Houston but very accepting. However, I very much doubt the energy market is as good as Houston. Plus side to humidity - your skin is never dry!

[Johnhw2]

I've lived in both DFW area now (Plano) and Houston (energy corridor) for 30 years. Both are good cities. O&G jobs in Houston are much much much more plentiful than in DFW.... for every 20 jobs in Houston there is one such job in DFW.

Summers both places are rough, too hot to enjoy, high humity or high temps in DFW both make it unfit for man nor beast in summers....but the rest of the year is a nice climate. Winters in Houston are very mild and the ones in DFW arent too bad by my standards but may hit you harder coming from mild winter LA.

Landing a job in the oil and gas business is tough, they need engineers and geologist. Far too few grads in those fields with an interest in workin oil and gas than there are needs. Pay and benefits and work itself is great in that industry (38 yrs as an engineer/executive with a large major oil and gas) but most dont have the math/science aptitude or want to spend most of college hitting the books not the bars so hence the shortage.... getting in from other fields isnt easy as they get many more resumes than they have openings.. Also they think engineers can run anything so its not uncommon to see an Engineer running an IT or Procurement or other groups in that industry.

Get a job before moving is sounds advice, try both cities to increase your odds of finding the right job faster. Both are good cities to live in.. not touristy scenic places but good people with a lot of diversity in background, ethnic etc.

Welcome to TX!

[HappyTexan]

Houston and then Dallas. Austin shouldn't be on your radar if you want to get into energy.

[Trainwreck20]

Yeah, SA is actually a bit of an 'emerging' energy city, what with wind, solar, and Valero HQing there. Lower cost of living than Austin with similar weather/topography. Austin does have some 'green' energy companies that run small operations here, but not sure on how likely to get hired.

But the answer is Houston.

[CaliLady1]

Thank You Happy Texan !!

[CaliLady1]

Thank you so so much. When I was traveling back home I was stunned at how beautiful San Antonio was, it was March and it was lush and green and I saw hills(thought Texas was flat.
Now you having me thinking even more>>LOL

[CaliLady1]

The only reason why I was choosing Houston was because I was told that city offers more jobs then others cities within Texas. Hope that is right. I may put this off for a couple of months as the options keep growing. Thank You so much for taking the time to give my your opinion.