Dallas suburbs vs. Ft. Worth Suburbs -- info (Fort Worth, Arlington: apartments, homes)

[gigi4112]

Hi - we're probably going to be relocating to Texas (from Chicago), due to a job transfer with my husbands company. Can anyone offer some insight on the two cities mentioned above? I have 2 kids, one in 1st grade, so schools are important. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[leighland]

Originally Posted by gigi4112

Hi - we're probably going to be relocating to Texas (from Chicago), due to a job transfer with my husbands company. Can anyone offer some insight on the two cities mentioned above? I have 2 kids, one in 1st grade, so schools are important. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Dallas 'burbs such as Arlington are more like North Chicagoland burbs, like Schaumburg. Ft Worth Burbs are more blue collarish, like South of Chicago proper-think Blue Island, Oak Lawn, etc..

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by leighland

Dallas 'burbs such as Arlington are more like North Chicagoland burbs, like Schaumburg. Ft Worth Burbs are more blue collarish, like South of Chicago proper-think Blue Island, Oak Lawn, etc..

If you were to post this in the Texas forum, you would get better and more detailed answers. To answer your question, though, the northern suburbs of both cities tend to be white collar, and the southern suburbs not so much (though there are exceptions). The two cities have grown together so much that there's not much difference between their suburbs. BTW, Arligton is considered a Fort Worth suburb and it is more working class.

[doctorjef]

I wouldn't want to overstate the proletarian nature of Arlington. It's got plenty of bourgeoisie therein residing. To echo what was said above, Arlington is a suburb of FW; it's in the same county, Tarrant. The next burb due east, Grand Prairie, is in Dallas County and is a Dallas burb. I'd say that's pretty much how it works. Historically, I would have seen Grand Prairie as more working class than Arlington.

[doctorjef]

And to continue on this subject, aren't there plenty of affluent neighborhoods within the FW burbs of Richland Hills, North Richland Hills, and Hurst-Euless-Bedford? Seems to me you've got the usual mix of social classes in these little cities. You could probably say the same thing about the Dallas burb of Mesquite, and on another thread here someone recently said that Grand Prairie has some quite nice, affluent neighborhoods, even though I've always thought of it as a populated by blue collar neo-nazis.

[Westerner92]

I was making general statements but indeed, you are right doctorjef. I just thought the comparison of Arlington to Schaumburg was rather inaccurate.

[momof2dfw]

First and foremost: Where will the job be? You do NOT want to live in a "burb" of Ft. Worth and the job is in Far North Dallas or somewhere on the other side of the Metroplex. To even begin to answer you it would REALLY REALLY REALLY help to know this.


FYI, Arlington is a "burb" of Ft. Worth. It has NEVER been considered a burb of Dallas. It is also a blue collar city as is Grand Prarie. Both have a small pocket enclave of higher end homes but overall, blue collar. Arlington is also home to a large university and has MANY MANY apartments. It can be a very "transient" area. I wouldn't pick it as the traffic is HORRIBLE! It was bad enough before Jerry built JerryWorld out there with Six Flags, Texas Rangers and everything else. Throw in no mass transit and it is a transportation nightmare. But all of this is worthless if the OP's husbands job is going to be on the other side of either Dallas or Ft. Worth.

[doctorjef]

momof2dfw is correct about the need for further info, since we are talking of a very large area. BTW, I always think of Haltom City (FW burb) as the quintessential working class suburb.

[slalinh]

Since I lived in FW for many years and only went to Dallas when necessary, I would say FW handsdown. NRH, HEB are lovely areas....centrally located, access to everything. I have a daughter who lives in NRH.......good choice. Also, there are parts of south Arlington that are far from blue collar.......can't say alot for the public schools anywhere. Arlington does have a certified Montessori School that is outstanding. I have a g-son going there...is 5 and he loves it and so do his parents. Only way to go.

[BigDGeek]

Unless you are working in the northern suburbs of Fort Worth I would not recommend living there for the sole reason that 820 going through North Richland Hills is a nightmare and is not going to improve anytime soon.