Is Texas economy really that good, or is Texas a bit overrated?

[RoninAmok]

Originally Posted by Prairieparson

I can't believe the discussion in this thread. My guess is that many people on this forum have very little knowledge of the actual job market. Minimum wage state?. I've been in Texas since 97, and the job market remains very good. Not as good as the mid 90's but still very good. Resturants aboud, people drive SUV's trucks, nice cars. I didn't know anyone in the oil and gas industry when we lived in Richardson, but most people were doing pretty well. There's great schools, with well paid teachers. There's a big high tech industry, Texas Instruments, EDS, IBM, Cisco, Nortel Networks, and a bunch of others have facilities in Dallas, and other cities in the area. Yes, some people work minimum wage. What's wrong with that. Its an earning wage, for training. Even my son, who is handicapped and works part time at a theatre, just got a bump to $8.50. Are wages lower in Texas than in California or the east coast. Yes, but the cost of living is much less than those areas. When I worked for Countrywide Home Loans about 10 years ago, one of the trainers in Plano was offered a job in California, but she figured out that she would need at least a 45% pay increase to stay EQUAL to what she was making in Dallas, just based on the cost of living, taxes, insurance, real estate cost etc. You can still buy a nice ranch house in the Dallas suburbs for $150,000, and there's no state income tax. Figure that all in when you compare.

Ok , then start comparing apples to apples. They're both BIG states and just as the sociodynamic factors of DFW don't bear comparison to say Marfa , well that same thing is true when you compare the Bay Area or the L.A. basin with the rest of California.

And frankly being from Texas and in Calif I get a bit irritated as regards all the stereotypes thrown around about both 'States.

And guess what , there are one HELL of a lot of places in Calif where you can buy a nice house for way under the 150k mark.

[Johnhw2]

The question is it booming compared to what. By measure of jobs added over any period from 2007 until now it is booming compared to other locations. The drivers are it didnt get too hyped during the real estate bubble and the bubble occured to a lesser extent here as well as the real estate bust so fewer homes are under water (worth less than their mortgages). So adding jobs and not having the signifcant home value loss as well as having manufacturing jobs like oil and gas/electronics etc means it is a sane economy where you can get a job if you have a good work record and you can live on the pay of the jobs here. This last point is huge, if you take a lower paying job here you can still make it compared to the flyover coasts of this country. Many are rushing here because of the job prospects so there is competition for jobs, but a good employee can find work in Tx today

[texasdreamin]

Originally Posted by RoninAmok

And guess what , there are one HELL of a lot of places in Calif where you can buy a nice house for way under the 150k mark.

Where? I live here and I can't imagine where ANYONE would find a home "way under" the 150k mark. Unless maybe you are talking 25 years ago.