Sugarland (Houston) or Alpharetta (ATL)? (taxes, job, beautiful, living)
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We are looking to get out of Chicago due to the crazy cold winters and the cost of living. Currently considering to relocate to either Sugar land (Houston) or Alpharetta (ATL). Hoping to secure some insights/comparisons on both these cities. Appreciate your inputs.
1. Schools/Collages (we have three kids)
2. Cost of living
3. Crime rate (We are looking to live in the burbs not downtown)
4. Weather
5. IT Job market/career opportunities – Very Important – We don’t have anything lined up yet.
I'd go where ever you would be able to find a job. ATL metro is prettier no doubt, so if that's important to you then I'd choose that. However, the Houston metro has a brighter outlook and buying/renting while the prices are down.
I'd go where ever you would be able to find a job. ATL metro is prettier no doubt, so if that's important to you then I'd choose that. However, the Houston metro has a brighter outlook and buying/renting while the prices are down.
I wouldn't really say Houston has a brighter outlook at all...right now, a large part of it's economy is going down the dumps relatively speaking and Atlanta's economic forecast looks very great.
I wouldn't really say Houston has a brighter outlook at all...right now, a large part of it's economy is going down the dumps relatively speaking and Atlanta's economic forecast looks very great.
Sure, if you call a slowdown from rapid-fire boom growth "going down the dumps". Exaggerate much?
Besides, the current slowdown is just yet another cycle dip. Energy always goes through these rollercoaster rides, and Houston has diversified it's economy enough since the last actual bust that occurred 30 years ago to where what's happening now is just a little down-time to play catch-up on infrastructure and improvements before the next inevitable energy sector boom hits.
#1 Austin
Drum roll, please, for this legend in its own mind, a mildly entertaining university town and state capital with fever dreams of greatness, a city whose entire purpose for breathing is to not be like everything else around it. When you're trying to set yourself apart from a place as large and as bold as Texas, you have to work really, really hard. Which could explain why everyone walks around here looking so stressed. Sprawling Austin is one of those unfortunate places that seems really smashing on paper. And then one ruins things by going. You have now been advised.
Instead, try If your precious snowflake mind can tolerate a little diversity of thought, Houston -- our nation's fourth largest city, if you didn't know -- is currently the place to experience Texas at its most interesting. Sure, this is a city so ugly that sometimes you may be tempted to put a bag over its head, but Houston is also an impressively creative and very fun town, with good museums (the Menil Collection, the Contemporary Arts Museum), plenty of good food -- Austin's own golden boy, Tyson Cole, opened Uchi here recently -- good drink (start with Anvil & Hay Merchant), plenty of music and -- best of all -- fun-loving locals who are generally anything but uptight.
I wouldn't really say Houston has a brighter outlook at all...right now, a large part of it's economy is going down the dumps relatively speaking and Atlanta's economic forecast looks very great.
#1 Austin
Drum roll, please, for this legend in its own mind, a mildly entertaining university town and state capital with fever dreams of greatness, a city whose entire purpose for breathing is to not be like everything else around it. When you're trying to set yourself apart from a place as large and as bold as Texas, you have to work really, really hard. Which could explain why everyone walks around here looking so stressed. Sprawling Austin is one of those unfortunate places that seems really smashing on paper. And then one ruins things by going. You have now been advised.
Instead, try If your precious snowflake mind can tolerate a little diversity of thought, Houston -- our nation's fourth largest city, if you didn't know -- is currently the place to experience Texas at its most interesting. Sure, this is a city so ugly that sometimes you may be tempted to put a bag over its head, but Houston is also an impressively creative and very fun town, with good museums (the Menil Collection, the Contemporary Arts Museum), plenty of good food -- Austin's own golden boy, Tyson Cole, opened Uchi here recently -- good drink (start with Anvil & Hay Merchant), plenty of music and -- best of all -- fun-loving locals who are generally anything but uptight.
Or I'm being objective. Look at all of the layoffs already in Houston. No one in their right mind thinks Houston will be at what it was over the last 2-3 years. You clearly do not understand Economics.
There have been some layoffs, but it hasn't exactly been devastating layoffs. When these energy companies announce layoffs, not all of them are in Houston. The economies of Atlanta and Houston are not comparable because the Houston economy is much larger and the per capita income is higher. With this temporary slowdown, Houston won't be growing as fast as it did, but still will grow faster than most metros. It definitely won't decline. I don't know where you get this idea that the Atlanta economy will surpass Houston in 2 to 3 years. That's just not going to happen.
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