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We are from the Chicagoland area. My hubby, myself and the kid are taking a vacation to Dallas, Austin and Houston for a week's time to explore the possibility of settling down in one of the three cities. The main reason is to escape the extreme winters. We love, love, love our city but find it hard to survive in the long winters.
I need your help in suggesting good neighborhoods with good schools, extracurricular activities and amenities.I know that these cities are big and it is impossible to learn about the cities in a week. But I will try to do as much as possible because this trip might be a life changing one. We are both in IT and our kid goes to the Elementary school. He is in to music and sports. We would like to visit the neighborhoods that would be good for the kid. Buying a home next year in the city of choice is the plan.
We will be landing and taking off from DFW. For that week, we will driving between the cities and staying in hotels.
Pl provide your valuable suggestions about the neighborhoods, good school districts, places to see for sightseeing etc.
Really excited about this trip. Looking fwd to escape from the winter in Chicago for a week.
Thanks in advance.
Lots of Chicago & Midwest transplants in D/FW & boy I mean LOTS. They seem to gravitate there over Austin & Houston for some strange reason. Being in IT Dallas may offer just what you're looking for in a city.
Houston gets more transplants from the other Southern states like Louisiana, Mississippi, & Florida. Also a lot from the East Coast & California. The bulk of Houston's population though comes from other countries like Mexico, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Haiti, Africa, Vietnam, China, India, Indonesia, & Philippines. Just so much more international Vs. domestic migration down there its nuts. Houston has an unofficial "open door" policy meaning there is absolutely zero discrimination in H-Town. Its as diverse of a city you'll find, even when compared to its larger peer, Chicago.
Dallas can come off as pretentious & clickish. Austin tries way too hard to be hip IMO.
Austin gets transplants mainly from California, Washington State, & Colorado.
Last edited by Metro Matt; 12-24-2013 at 12:02 AM..
Lots of Chicago & Midwest transplants in D/FW & boy I mean LOTS. They seem to gravitate there over Austin & Houston for some strange reason. Being in IT Dallas may offer just what you're looking for in a city.
Houston gets more transplants from the other Southern states like Louisiana, Mississippi, & Florida. Also a lot from the East Coast & California. The bulk of Houston's population though comes from other countries like Mexico, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Haiti, Africa, Vietnam, China, India, Indonesia, & Philippines. Just so much more international Vs. domestic migration down there its nuts. Houston has an unofficial "open door" policy meaning there is absolutely zero discrimination in H-Town. Its as diverse of a city you'll find, even when compared to its larger peer, Chicago.
Dallas can come off as pretentious & clickish. Austin tries way too hard to be hip IMO.
Austin gets transplants mainly from California, Washington State, & Colorado.
This is BS, there are a lot of international transplants in Houston, true, but the BULK of Houston's population is still native born. Remember just because somebody is of Hispanic decent does not mean they were born in Mexico or are immigrants.
As to where migrants to Houston are coming from perhaps you can provide some credible stats instead of talking through your hat...
Domestic and international migrants are welcomed in Houston!
Last edited by Jack Lance; 12-24-2013 at 05:19 PM..
A fellow Chicagoan checking in on your research...
Quote:
Originally Posted by LKr
Hello,
We are from the Chicagoland area. My hubby, myself and the kid are taking a vacation to Dallas, Austin and Houston for a week's time to explore the possibility of settling down in one of the three cities. The main reason is to escape the extreme winters. We love, love, love our city but find it hard to survive in the long winters.
I need your help in suggesting good neighborhoods with good schools, extracurricular activities and amenities.I know that these cities are big and it is impossible to learn about the cities in a week. But I will try to do as much as possible because this trip might be a life changing one. We are both in IT and our kid goes to the Elementary school. He is in to music and sports. We would like to visit the neighborhoods that would be good for the kid. Buying a home next year in the city of choice is the plan.
We will be landing and taking off from DFW. For that week, we will driving between the cities and staying in hotels.
Pl provide your valuable suggestions about the neighborhoods, good school districts, places to see for sightseeing etc.
Really excited about this trip. Looking fwd to escape from the winter in Chicago for a week.
Thanks in advance.
Hello...my husband and I are from the Chicagoland area. We have friends that have moved to various parts of Texas over the last several years. From all accounts they are happy and settled. We are considering a relocation as well. Any luck with your visit and scouting of Austin/Dallas/Houston? Would love to hear your thoughts on the different cities thus far!
Hello...my husband and I are from the Chicagoland area. We have friends that have moved to various parts of Texas over the last several years. From all accounts they are happy and settled. We are considering a relocation as well. Any luck with your visit and scouting of Austin/Dallas/Houston? Would love to hear your thoughts on the different cities thus far!
Thanks!
My thoughts are coming from a Midwesterner versus specifically from Chicago (I originally am from Minneapolis though have visited Chicago - and I realize Minneapolis is different than Chicago), but take them FWIW to you and in the spirit of trying to be helpful for Dallas.
Overall, people seem friendly enough here and cost of living seems lower without giving much or any on the income front. In fact, I'm making the highest salary of my lifetime. Factor in no state income tax and it becomes a better deal. The no state income tax is somewhat offset by high property taxes and a somewhat high sales tax, but overall my perception is you take home more of what you earn.
Do not have much expectation of using public transit. While a light rail train exists, I don't get the impression it's anywhere near the "L". The commuter trains do go a ways out of the city if you end up living out of Dallas proper but I do not know if it's at all reliable. There are no commuter trains such as Metra (I think that's your commuter train from outlying areas into town).
Traffic can be a bear, so I would find job location first and then decide a permanent home. For what little hassle you might have in moving twice or staying in an extended stay hotel, it will be well worth it to not sit in what can be awful traffic, a lot due to construction in trying to build a bunch of freeways for everyone moving here. You really will not want to travel across town for a job.
On related note, DFW is a large city but it is very spread out - there is certainly not a compact feeling like in Chicago.
I have yet to find deep dish pizza...you might want to pack some frozen Gino's East pizzas with you when you come... Then again, given the spread out nature of DFW maybe it's here and I just haven't found it.
On somewhat similar vein, it seems DFW leans more to big box and chain restaurants and stores versus smaller independent shops that you might see more of in Chicago proper. Especially outside of Dallas proper, I don't think I'd look for much beyond chains. That's good or bad depending on perception, but something to be aware of...
Finally, get ready for HOT in July and August (in particular). The big catch is not only 100-105F during the day, but night time does not cool much. 11PM and it will still be 90F. Personally, I'm okay with that after too many years of brutal Minnesota cold (and I'm told just a few days ago friends and family had 6 inches of snow.)
My thoughts are coming from a Midwesterner versus specifically from Chicago (I originally am from Minneapolis though have visited Chicago - and I realize Minneapolis is different than Chicago), but take them FWIW to you and in the spirit of trying to be helpful for Dallas.
Overall, people seem friendly enough here and cost of living seems lower without giving much or any on the income front. In fact, I'm making the highest salary of my lifetime. Factor in no state income tax and it becomes a better deal. The no state income tax is somewhat offset by high property taxes and a somewhat high sales tax, but overall my perception is you take home more of what you earn.
Do not have much expectation of using public transit. While a light rail train exists, I don't get the impression it's anywhere near the "L". The commuter trains do go a ways out of the city if you end up living out of Dallas proper but I do not know if it's at all reliable. There are no commuter trains such as Metra (I think that's your commuter train from outlying areas into town).
Traffic can be a bear, so I would find job location first and then decide a permanent home. For what little hassle you might have in moving twice or staying in an extended stay hotel, it will be well worth it to not sit in what can be awful traffic, a lot due to construction in trying to build a bunch of freeways for everyone moving here. You really will not want to travel across town for a job.
On related note, DFW is a large city but it is very spread out - there is certainly not a compact feeling like in Chicago.
I have yet to find deep dish pizza...you might want to pack some frozen Gino's East pizzas with you when you come... Then again, given the spread out nature of DFW maybe it's here and I just haven't found it.
On somewhat similar vein, it seems DFW leans more to big box and chain restaurants and stores versus smaller independent shops that you might see more of in Chicago proper. Especially outside of Dallas proper, I don't think I'd look for much beyond chains. That's good or bad depending on perception, but something to be aware of...
Finally, get ready for HOT in July and August (in particular). The big catch is not only 100-105F during the day, but night time does not cool much. 11PM and it will still be 90F. Personally, I'm okay with that after too many years of brutal Minnesota cold (and I'm told just a few days ago friends and family had 6 inches of snow.)
Overall, happy I am here...
Really kind of funny hearing references to "the city of DFW" in the singular.
Really kind of funny hearing references to "the city of DFW" in the singular.
Valid point...
I'll blame it on my mindset back in Minneapolis - St. Paul. Technically, Minneapolis and St. Paul are two different cities, but it's really one metro area with city borders butted up to each other - so when people talk about "Minneapolis- St. Paul" (or I suppose MSP, but I don't hear anyone using that unless they're talking about the airport), it's speaking more of one city than two. Assuming no traffic, you can get from downtown Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul in about 15-20 minutes on I-94 (roughly the equivalent of I-30).
It took a bit of getting used to thinking of hearing "DFW" or "Dallas - Ft. Worth" and not thinking of it as one metro area. After I drove the 45 minutes from Dallas (Addison to be exact) to Ft. Worth I quickly learned you're really talking about very different areas.
@GBCommenter thank you for your feedback!! We will take your advice on the deep dish pizza as well!!! We're still doing lots of research and hopefully planning another visit soon (we were in Dallas for a visit last spring). The goal is to NOT spend another winter here!
We moved from Chicago after college and chose Austin. No regrets. As with really any city it's very different than Chicago. There is no Italian food even remotely close to back home and very few places that sell Italian beefs though not neatly as good. We gotta get Portillos to open up out here..I mean Arizona and Cali have had Portillos open up so why not?
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A fellow Chicagoan checking in on your research...
Then again, given the spread out nature of DFW maybe it's here and I just haven't found it. 
