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I currently live in Atlanta and was wondering how you would compare the two cities. A company contacted me for a position in Houston and so I might be flying out there for the interview but wanted to do some research first as to what Houston is like.
I think the things that I'd like about Houston from what I know are its diversity, proximity to the coast, and to New Orleans (my favorite city).
The things that concern me are the sprawl of Houston, lack of community (ie. gated communities, not many walkable neighborhoods), and pretentiousness. These are all things that really make Atlanta not so appealing to me.
Anyways, I wanted to get the boards opinion on how you would compare Atlanta and Houston.
I lived in the Houston area for 5 years while attending college. I lived in the Clear Lake/Nasa area, SE of Houston and commuted to school at U of H.
1. Climate: Houston is more humid and hot than Atlanta. The leaves on the trees never change and drop, so that lack of seasonal change drove me nuts.
2. Traffic: From my perspective, the traffic was better in Houston than Atlanta. I still sat in traffic in Houston on I-45, but there were more alternate routes to take if you got stuck somewhere. Houston has more loops around the city (610, Beltway 8, Highway 6), while Atlanta just has 285.
3. Sprawl: I think Atlanta and Houston are pretty comparable regarding sprawl. Like I mentioned before, I lived in the Clear Lake/Nasa area and it seemed to take forever to get north of the Houston metro area. If I wanted out of Houston, I had to drive forever to get out of it. I used to drive between Dallas and Houston quite a bit, and the distance between the two metros seemed to get smaller and smaller as both areas grew and spread out.
4. Community: I really don't remember tons of gated communities or stuff like that while in Houston, but I'm sure they are there. Houston isn't terribly pedestrian friendly either, but it seemed better than Atlanta. At least the neighborhoods had sidewalks, which I hardly ever see here (at least in my part of town).
I wouldn't say Houston seems pretentious at all; everyone seemed pretty laid back there.
I hope this perspective helps. Overall I would say Houston and Atlanta are pretty comparable. There are things I miss about Houston, but I could say that about all cities in which I have lived.
I'm interested to see what others' experiences are of both cities. Good luck with your decision!
I live in Atlanta, but have worked extensively in Houston (ie, months on end each year) and would say the two cities are very, very similar. Sprawl - check, strip-malls/chain restaurants - check, heat/humidity - check, traffic and crazy drivers - check. Agreed with previous posters that it is definitely hotter and WAY more humid in Houston than Atlanta. I found the people to be about the same. I personally prefer Atlanta, but then again I am biased. The west side of Houston, over by Memorial Park seems really nice. I also liked the area over by Rice Village. You really need to spend the coin to fly out there and see for yourself first, though.
Chiefs Fan and Spacelord hit it on the head exactly with their comments.
I had to spend a little time out there due to a family illness a while back. In some ways it's simply a more humid, more spanish-speaking version of Atlanta. In others it's a bit different. both cities are really "business towns" and less play or tourist towns. But one thing is for sure, if you like urban and suburban sprawl with TONS of cookie cutter shopping centers with the same generic chain stores - EITHER city is your paradise. If you want "character" and uniqueness - you don't want either place (San Antonio or Austin maybe...).
Some things to remember in recent history, too. After Katrina, Houston opened their stadium and welcome matts to those evacuating. The THEORY was that after things leveled out, the people would leave and go back home to New Orleans. Well, that didn't happen. Instead, most stayed. So Houston quite literally overnight adopted something like 290,000 people many of whom immediately entered the welfare system and/or overloaded varied public services, and in some cases with some individuals, immediately added to the crime stats of the area. If you do some creative Google searches you'll find some news articles about how the "helping hand" backfired on Houston and they've suffered for it since that time. I remember how the Mayor of Houston was on TV immediately after Katrina with his arms open and everyone branded him a "hero" for his generous and outwardly helping nature. After all was said and done though, the hit to Houston was such that I had read comments in reports that he later said, "Oh, what did I DO to the city????". Some people predicted the troubles ahead of time... in case no one picked up on it when it happened, the Mayor of Atlanta was LESS than vocal about taking in the evacuees, and only a few very small shelters were prepared, silently, in Atlanta to take people in. Even with that, we adopted about 80,000 new residents in the metro area afterward, and while many were good additions to the population, there was for a time an increase in certain crimes in the area. Ok, enough of that, but you get the point - Houston CHANGED after Katrina.
** Note, this is in no way a slap to the real victims of Katrina - but we have to be real and acknowledge that there was a certain element of criminal behavior and scams that went with some of them, and place like Houston got the full brunt of it, as well as Atlanta. **
So that being said, I was there before Katrina. Even so, there was nothing about Houston that made me go, "Oooo wow, I can't wait to come back here again". They had less of a problem with bums downtown than we have in Atlanta, but they have fewer trees in the neighborhoods, and every time I turned around some huge bug was trying to dive-bomb me.
The people? Laid back for the most part. Conservative by nature. And yes, learn Spanish.
Location: The land of sugar... previously Houston and Austin
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Houston is only an hour from the beaches (Galveston). Atlanta is much more inland.
Houston is not pretentious at all, save for a few specific areas (River Oaks, maybe a few others) but nothing like Dallas for example.
Business and accomplishments (like in medicine) are king in Houston. We don't care as much about what you wear or drive. People looking for cures for cancer or who start their own successful business are more respected than socialites or the fashion-forward.
Like Atlanta, there is sprawl in Houston too.
New Orleans is a 5-6 hour drive.
The walkable neighborhoods are Montrose, West University, a few others inside the Loop.
Things did change after Katrina, mostly the crime rate going up, but a lot of that is dying down now as those people are getting caught and staying in jail (unlike what was happening in N.O.) or leaving to go back there once they discovered it's a lot harder to carry out their criminal activities in Houston than back in N.O.
But one thing is for sure, if you like urban and suburban sprawl with TONS of cookie cutter shopping centers with the same generic chain stores - EITHER city is your paradise. If you want "character" and uniqueness - you don't want either place (San Antonio or Austin maybe...).
I'm offended, lol. If there's one thing Houston has, it's character. Don't know all that much about Atlanta, but Houston is full of history and unique opportunities. Generic homes and shopping centers describes only a small portion of that city.
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So Houston quite literally overnight adopted something like 290,000 people many of whom immediately entered the welfare system and/or overloaded varied public services, and in some cases with some individuals, immediately added to the crime stats of the area. If you do some creative Google searches you'll find some news articles about how the "helping hand" backfired on Houston and they've suffered for it since that time. I remember how the Mayor of Houston was on TV immediately after Katrina with his arms open and everyone branded him a "hero" for his generous and outwardly helping nature. After all was said and done though, the hit to Houston was such that I had read comments in reports that he later said, "Oh, what did I DO to the city????". Some people predicted the troubles ahead of time... in case no one picked up on it when it happened, the Mayor of Atlanta was LESS than vocal about taking in the evacuees, and only a few very small shelters were prepared, silently, in Atlanta to take people in. Even with that, we adopted about 80,000 new residents in the metro area afterward, and while many were good additions to the population, there was for a time an increase in certain crimes in the area. Ok, enough of that, but you get the point - Houston CHANGED after Katrina.
Not even. Katrina refugees area roughly around only 2% (100,000-150,000) of the entire metropolitan population. Houston had its own serious problems before anyone came over here. The crime that went up was largely speculated to be Houston natives against Katrina evacuees or Katrina evacuees amongst themselves.
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The people? Laid back for the most part. Conservative by nature. And yes, learn Spanish.
Again, this speaks for a small portion of a very large city.
Like I said, in the other forum, once you get a chance to experience each city, you see that off the paper there are very, very few similarities between Houston and Atlanta. For starters, Houston is a much much larger city and Atlanta is smaller. Aside from its southern quality, Houston is more comparable to Chicago.
I grew up in Houston and lived there for 18 years. I've been here in Atlanta for the last 5. Both cities have sprawl, yes, but Houston is much less densely populated than Atlanta. When you drive around in Houston you'll see lots of open space and unoccupied land. Houston is VERY flat. If you like all the hills and trees of Atlanta, you will probably miss the green-space. Houston is kinda like a big concrete slab. One of the things I like about ATL is the lack of billboards that litter the highways. Houston is really bad about this. Houston is also set up in more of a grid than Atlanta is. I think Houston has better schools than ATL. Like one of the above posters said, Houston only has two seasons, hot and hotter. I've lived in Texas, Fl, and GA and I think Houston had the worst humidity by far!! The smog is also worse there than in Atlanta. I do think the people, in general, are nicer in Houston.
If I had to pick between the two, I would pick Atlanta and send my kids to private school.
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BTW mpope, Houston is MUCH younger than Atlanta. I wouldn't say Houston has more character than Atlanta.
Houston is much less densely populated than Atlanta.
Actually, the population density between the cities is about the same. Houston is just much wider with much more people.
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Like one of the above posters said, Houston only has two seasons, hot and hotter.
Not true. It can get very very cold in the winter and the fall. And Galveston Island's temperatures tend to be cooler than the city's.
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The smog is also worse there than in Atlanta. I do think the people, in general, are nicer in Houston.
Big business=big smog. You'll find that in all major cities. It can only be expected.
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BTW mpope, Houston is MUCH younger than Atlanta. I wouldn't say Houston has more character than Atlanta.
Never said Houston had more character than Atlanta. But it certainly doesn't have less. Atlanta has more of a classic southern feel, and Houston has all the character you could expect from a big city. The problem is that it has dozens of hidden gems that many people don't know about because they don't care to know. But that's fine with me. Houston is its own little secret, but if everything it had became well known, it would prove to be one of the most fabulous cities in the world.
And Houston is not much younger than Atlanta. Houston was founded in 1836. History tells us that the land (of Atlanta) wasn't handed over to the government by the Americans until 1835, so they're about the same age.
Where were you where the leaves didn't fall? There's plenty of seasonal change here.
I lived in Seabrook and Webster and the trees never dropped their leaves, at least in the 5 years I lived there.
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