Amarillo /Midland-Odessa /Abilene (Houston, Dallas, Austin: hotels, house, job market) - Texas (TX) - Page 3 - City-Data Forum

jellybelly66 · 07-17-2007, 11:05 PM

Jobs are many in amarillo,for minumum wage at $5.35 an hour.The people are very nice here.Summers are nice.We do get alot of injuries from ice in winters.We get big baseball size hail here in summer,which makes insurance on cars very exspensive.Many people waited 6 weeks to get shattered car windows fixed,because window installers could not keep up with so many windows damaged.Our roof was repaired 2 years ago from hail damaged. If you have a window business, move here....

shady12 · 07-19-2007, 10:39 PM

San Angelo is the nicest of the West Texas cities. There are actually trees, it's a little hilly, 3 rivers, 3 lakes, 1 in the city limits. Much prettier than Mid/Ode, Lubbock, Amarillo. I have only been to Amarillo once, but I did like it alright. I just can't take the unending flatness of the panhandle/Lubbock and the flat plain uglyness of Mid/Ode.

MerryBerry · 07-21-2007, 04:51 PM

Midland and Odessa have been called "ugly" in these threads. I don't think that is so. They are, in fact, virtual garden spots, where pride of ownership is very evident and people really work hard on their yards and take care of their trees.

If long, flat vistas are "ugly" to you, then most of the desert will be "ugly." It is very flat land in that area.

Amarillo is harsher in climate. I do not think they are able to grow as beautiful of landscapes as Midland/Odessa does. Abilene is a pretty town, but now you are getting on towards central Texas and I have known quite a few people to get "prickly heat" in Abilene, but never in M/O or Amarillo. Amarillo is having trouble with typical civil problems of smaller, isolated towns -- meth, for instance.

Midland is a very clean town, but if the sheriff quits, look for that to possibly change. He is a bulwark against crime and nonsense. Odessa does not fare as well because it does not have the strength of the populace behind it.

There are no strip bars and very few bars at all in Midland. Odessa has several raunchy bars and the trouble that goes with it. Odessa also has a small redlight area but Midland does not.

Wages are good in Midland. Even fast-food workers are earning $7.50 an hour, or more. However, the wages paid to college graduates are very low compared to these service workers' earnings. Midland College and Odessa College regularly advertise for positions requiring degrees and experience, and offer $6.50 an hour for them or $9 an hour for part-time hours.

M/O are now big enough that a downturn in the oil industry is not going to stop them. Additionally, Andrews may well get the Futuregen project and that means lots of money in the future for low-skill workers.

Housing is very affordable in all of the OP's original towns being considered.

Lucidus · 07-22-2007, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MerryBerry

M/O are now big enough that a downturn in the oil industry is not going to stop them. Additionally, Andrews may well get the Futuregen project and that means lots of money in the future for low-skill workers.

Good post, but I think you have made a factual error here. Penwell, west of Odessa, is the candidate site for FutureGen, an almost emission free experimental coal power plant. Andrews county is the candidate site for the High Temperature Teaching and Test Reactor (HT3R, pronounced as "Heater").

FutureGen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Print View: High-Temperature Teaching & Test Reactor (HT3R) - A new state-of-the-art energy research facility to be located in Andrews County, TX - Wed 24-Jan-07 11:30 AM at Midland College (http://www.spe-pb.org/en/calendarevents/printview.asp?calendareventid=270 - broken link)

Both of these projects have the potential to bring more high paying jobs to the area.

vantexan · 07-26-2007, 09:32 AM

I've lived in Amarillo, Lubbock, and San Angelo. Recently traveled thru Abilene and Midland. As far as looks go I'd pick San Angelo. But I prefer living where there's good amenities like a decent airport, large bookstores like Barnes & Noble, and large multiplex theatres. Places that have those generally have most everything else you would want. That rules out San Angelo and Abilene for me. They aren't bad places and have decent shopping, etc but just haven't reached the level of development I prefer. Of the remaining places I like Amarillo's very lush with trees and grass neighborhoods but the winter weather scratches it off the list for me. I'm currently living in Lubbock and while the amenities are good there's just an undercurrent of something I can't quite describe that bothers me. Tension, racism, anger, hard to say but I've felt it since I moved here 6 months ago. Don't get me wrong, there are nice people here. Also this is one of the most tornado prone areas of the country too. And due to the surrounding cotton fields Lubbock gets bad dust storms in the spring. I drove thru Midland July 4th, first time there since '98. I was surprised how much it had grown and seems to have about everything there. Definitely not attractive along the Interstate but there are nice areas. Midland/Odessa is the closest metro area to the Big Bend region which makes it a place I'm considering for a future transfer. And while the Midland/Odessa, Lubbock and Amarillo metro areas have about the same population size, MO is much more spread out. Doesn't feel like a big city, although Midland has by far the biggest downtown due to the oil companies there. Hope this helps!

shady12 · 07-26-2007, 10:23 AM

I hear what you are saying, but San Angelo is booming now as far as retail development goes. Supposedly a Borders and/or Barnes and Noble will show up soon. New stores/restaurants popping up all the time. We do have a large multiplex theatre. For the most part it compares well with the others in every other regard in terms of 'things to do.' And there is more outdoors-wise to do with the lakes, etc. And closer to DFW, Austin, San Antonio than the others. About 3 hours from all 3 cities.

cobolt · 07-26-2007, 10:57 AM

I lived in Amarillo for 13 years until I made a career move to the Pac NW 2 years ago. I found Amarillo to be a very good place. Housing is reasonable, the people are really great, and the winters aren't that bad. Some winters go without any sort of snow storm---sometimes just a dusting, sometimes you do get a whopper. It does get cold, but then it heats up as well. It does get very windy and the summers can get hot, but to me that is a small price to pay for what seemed to me, an easier way of life. I always found the job market to be sort of click-ish for some reason. The medical industry is very big there and the west side of town is growing in leaps and bounds as is the south--and yet, you can drive a couple of minutes and be on a farm road away from it.

As a single woman, I always felt safe there and would often return there after living in Phoenix, Florida, CA, etc because I felt like it was a good place to regroup. People are friendly and you drum up alot of conversations with the grocery store cashiers, etc. They have a respectable symphony, a new arts center downtown, and downtown is going through a revitalization. I just found it to be a good place overall.

teatime · 07-26-2007, 02:34 PM

Van,
I'm not sure how much time you spent in Abilene but we have three multi-screen theater complexes (12, 10 and 8) in the city, two drive-in theaters, and the beautifully restored Paramount Theater. And we have Books-A-Million, which is very big, and also Hastings which has a huge book section.

We have the typical stores and restaurant chains but what I REALLY like about Abilene is the number of local businesses and area chains. No way can I go to Texas or Logan's Road House (we have both) anymore for a steak when I can get an INCREDIBLY delicious steak at Joe Allen's for $8.99. Monk's Coffee downtown beats Starbuck's anytime, IMO. And, OMG, the new Beehive Restaurant has THE most incredible burgers and such! Their burgers are less expensive than Chili's and SO much better!

But, that's me. I don't like cities of concrete and the same old chain restaurants. Abilene has the chains most people want but the local businesses and restaurants abound, too. I like that, and I try to patronize the local establishments as much as possible. Yeah, we have a two-airline airport but why would we need more than that? DFW and Love Field are an easy 2 1/2 drive if you don't want to take the 27-minute plane ride to DFW.

shady12 · 07-26-2007, 06:10 PM

Yeah, Abilene is nice. And on the subject of restaurants, San Angelo has the chains too but has EXCELLENT local restaurants, and we have a lot of them. Supposedly people eat out more per capita in San Angelo than anywhere else.

vantexan · 07-26-2007, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shady12

I hear what you are saying, but San Angelo is booming now as far as retail development goes. Supposedly a Borders and/or Barnes and Noble will show up soon. New stores/restaurants popping up all the time. We do have a large multiplex theatre. For the most part it compares well with the others in every other regard in terms of 'things to do.' And there is more outdoors-wise to do with the lakes, etc. And closer to DFW, Austin, San Antonio than the others. About 3 hours from all 3 cities.

=========================
Thanks for letting me know about the bookstore. If either comes in I'll be moving to San Angelo. The construction on the movie theatre was about to start or had just started when I left in '98. And you're right, San Angelo is well situated for travel within Texas.