Why do most older people retire to Florida and not the RGV? (Houston: vacation home, live)

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

Who wants to retire in Houston though? I can always visit MFAH but that's not gonna be the biggest draw for me when I'm in my retirement stage.

Also Corpus as a city isn't really the best or charming and South Padre is built truly as a resort town. Not really a functional living place. Plus you share a metro with Brownsville and Harlingen. I'm good on that area.

Also Miami is not the top destination for retirees in Miami. There's so many other small nicer cities to retire in in Florida that Texas just can't compete. Houston's bad traffic, rising cost, faster pace would seem less than ideal for someone looking for retirement. I rather take Sarasota at that age than a big metropolitan area.

That's the thing. Florida has dozens of mid-size cities that are retirement meccas. Sarasota, Naples, Clearwater Fort Meyers, Cape Coral, Bradenton, St. Petersburg, etc. and that's just the central Gulf coast.

What does TX have? Galveston, Corpus, and South Padre and then the interior border towns of the RGV?

[turf3]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

That's the thing. Florida has dozens of mid-size cities that are retirement meccas. Sarasota, Naples, Clearwater Fort Meyers, Cape Coral, Bradenton, St. Petersburg, etc. and that's just the central Gulf coast.

What does TX have? Galveston, Corpus, and South Padre and then the interior border towns of the RGV?

East Texas, Hill Country, and the Trans-Pecos are all areas I'd consider for retirement. I'd much rather live in any of those areas than anywhere in Florida.

[Spade]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

Who wants to retire in Houston though? I can always visit MFAH but that's not gonna be the biggest draw for me when I'm in my retirement stage.

Also Corpus as a city isn't really the best or charming and South Padre is built truly as a resort town. Not really a functional living place. Plus you share a metro with Brownsville and Harlingen. I'm good on that area.

Also Miami is not the top destination for retirees in Miami. There's so many other small nicer cities to retire in in Florida that Texas just can't compete. Houston's bad traffic, rising cost, faster pace would seem less than ideal for someone looking for retirement. I rather take Sarasota at that age than a big metropolitan area.

Yeah I was going to say that Miami being a haven for retirees may have been true in the 60s or 70s. It hasn't been though since the 80s. Palm Beach yeah but many retirees head to SW Florida. The areas South of Tampa towards Naples.

Texas has nothing that can compete with Naples, Cape Coral (Ft. Myers area), Bradenton, Sarasota, Port Charlotte areas and especially Destin and Ft Walton Beach.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by turf3

East Texas, Hill Country, and the Trans-Pecos are all areas I'd consider for retirement. I'd much rather live in any of those areas than anywhere in Florida.

Well yes, Texas is an enormous state. But we were talking about the subtropical zones of RGV vs Florida.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by Spade

Yeah I was going to say that Miami being a haven for retirees may have been true in the 60s or 70s. It hasn't been though since the 80s. Palm Beach yeah but many retirees head to SW Florida. The areas South of Tampa towards Naples.

Texas has nothing that can compete with Naples, Cape Coral (Ft. Myers area), Bradenton, Sarasota, Port Charlotte areas and especially Destin and Ft Walton Beach.

Don't forget The Villages in central Florida. It has the largest annual sales by far of any masterplanned community in the U.S., and it's entirely age-restricted. You want to know why Rust Belt states are losing congressional seats? The Villages are part of the reason.

[Redlionjr]

Originally Posted by turf3

East Texas, Hill Country, and the Trans-Pecos are all areas I'd consider for retirement. I'd much rather live in any of those areas than anywhere in Florida.

I'm from East Texas and while it does avoid a lot of the things that bigger Texas cities have you really have to like the culture of deep south/East Texas to enjoy the area. You have to really like having access to rural areas/ forest lands/ camping/ fishing/ etc. to want to live in East Texas are a retiree. Most people I know of that retire in East Texas have some kind of connection to the region. But East Texas is no different than other parts of the deep south in it's offerings and landscape. Hill Country I guess would be the overall best location in the state but again the smaller size cities in Hill Country don't compare to Florida and their offerings. Trans- Pecos nah I'm good.

[pbjyum]

Originally Posted by H'ton

OP has to be a troll.


Hmmm...Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, etc. or the RGV?

Its a clear troll attempt. I visit RGV quite often as I have lots of family that live there...RGV or Florida? Hmm such a hard decision...

OP, are you Hispanic? do you speak Spanish? have you been there for a considerable amount of time? Its a different world down there from the rest of Texas that's for sure.

[malcorub16]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Because Florida is an easy drive and a bazillion cheap direct flights from the Northeast. RGV is not any of those things. How many direct flights do you think there are from LaGuardia to Harlingen? Compare that to how many airlines and flights you can get to Orlando or Palm Beach or Tampa from cities in the Northeast.

Besides, if you are going to go all that far to the RGV, might as well just stay on the plane another 45 minutes or so and wind up in Cozumel or Puerto Vallarta.

Bingo! The RGV is very isolated in terms of land travel and the airport. Everything requires a connecting flight in Dallas or Houston.
Flights from Florida up the East Coast are easy pz.

But, RGV does still get it's fair share of RV'ing American and Canadian Snow Birds AKA Winter Texans as do places like Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma.

[kemahkami]

Originally Posted by citidata18

1. Florida has lower property taxes.

2. Florida has less "extreme" weather swings in the winter

3. Florida has way more *CLEANER* beaches.

4. Better access to medical care / specialists

5. Less culturally homogeneous (outside of Miami)

#2 is definitely the most pertinent, because of how extensive the influence of climate is on the growth and development of a given location. That much was poignantly demonstrated with the winter storm earlier in February. The US is perhaps the most inhospitable climate of all the large and/or populated territories on Earth - if it isn't the cold waves that plague the territories east of the Rockies, then it's the prolonged aridity and water-stress seen in much of the land further west. The US can't hold a candle to Africa, Australia, EU, Latin America, and southern/eastern Asia when it comes to large swaths of benign climate regimes, and it really shows in various facets ranging from biodiversity to cultural practices and development. So the US is really lucky to harbor the industrial might and intricate global supply chains that it does - remove that insulation, and you'll quickly see why the land corresponding to the modern day superpower lacked in complex ancient civilizations to the likes of the Aztecs, Incas, Maya, Romans, Indus, etc.

I-10 serves as a decent dividing line, although a bit rough - wherein areas around and south of the Interstate represent the (overall) great climate respites compared to the hot mess further north. Florida is clearly king by proxy of offering the most tropical experience anywhere in the US mainland - ideal for agriculture, architecture, biodiversity, culture, recreation, etc and other elements of successful civilization (and, by proxy, winter escapees). But southern Texas is still an overall decent region compared to the bulk of the country - places like Corpus and the Lower RGV are ripe for general growth in the future, especially when healthcare needs link up with the biotech and medical innovations taking shape in the Houston area. Such is often the case with these logistical factors (#1, #4, and #5), they tend to follow logically from the burgeoning and attraction facilitated by the setting factors (#2 and #3).

Originally Posted by WRM20

Texas beaches are clean, they just don't have white sand.

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Ya'll trippin. It's laughable to compare any portion of the Texas coastline with Florida. I frequent both and there's 0 comparison whatsoever. Even Port Aransus area, where there is a stretch of white sand and decent water has nothing on Florida.

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

Are you equating "clear" with "clean"? Remember, TX has the longest stretch of "wild" coastline in the lower 48 - Padre Island National Seashore. Is it not "clean"?

The South Texas beaches, from Port Aransas down to South Padre, are all decent. Actually, they represent one of two areas outside of Florida in the contiguous US that offer attractive, warm water beach experiences. There is a shoreline current emanating from Mexico that brings in warm, clear water, most prominent during the warmer half of the year with stronger trade winds patterns. Overall, I'd put the South Texas beaches in line with eastern Florida north of Jupiter - so places like Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, Daytona, etc.

[C24L]

Originally Posted by DorianRo

Its soooo much cheaper in South Texas.

I think part of the reasons are that the Valley is isolated compared to Florida for people from the Northeast and the beaches are better in Florida than Texas.Also, the RGV is not in the best area for people with medical needs which is important for a lot of retirees.