Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't think he's serious about leaving Houston....He admitted that both Atlanta and Dallas is a better deal for him... But he's stuck...I think Dallas was the smartest move of the three..Not being Biased either...just going by what he mentioned as +'s for each city.
He probably feel that if he moves to Dallas and like it....people from Houston would call him out for thinking Blacks can be happy in Dallas without TSU or PV.
Last edited by dallasboi; 05-25-2020 at 04:31 PM..
People talk about how Black Atlanta is because...well..it is. I think the 4.4M ARC region (every county Fulton shares a border with except Forsyth, plus Henry and Rockdale) is a better representation of the region as experienced by most visitors. Although the demographics aren't drastically different from the MSA's, it is a little less White and a little more Black (and Hispanic) at 42.6% and 36.3% (and 12.9%) respectively. In 7 of those 10 counties (all except Cherokee, Fayette, and Cobb), Black people are 40% or more of the population, constituting a majority, plurality, or near-plurality. That's pretty Black for such a populous area and Black folks are visible in all the places visitors tend to frequent, starting at the airport. The rough equivalent to the ARC region in DFW would probably be the Dalllas-Plano-Irving metropolitan division of 5.0M and nearly similar percentages as the DFW MSA with 43% White, 17% Black, 8% Asian, and 30% Hispanic with Whites constituting a majority of at least 56% in each of the 7 constituent counties except Dallas County where Hispanics (of any race) are the ethnic plurality at 41%. And the catcher is I'm sure there's a sizable chunk of the Hispanic population in Dallas that identifies as White racially, officially or unofficially. So yeah, these things would explain why both places are perceived the way they are.
Sorry but you can't just leave out Tarrant county, home to Fort Worth and Arlington. Those two cities alone total 1.3 million residents, including 206,000 African Americans. You also exclude Collin county, contiguously north of Dallas county with one of the largest, most prosperous suburbs, Plano, in America. Plano, not a majority black city, has a black mayor recently re-elected, is home to more big corporations than Alpharetta/Roswell or the Woodlands - Toyota, Chase, Penneys, Capital One's 8 building campus, the PGA, Liberty Mutual, to name a few and as populated as Gwinnett County.
The feeling is different no matter how close they are.
I’ve met several people from Miami in Houston who say that Houston is much better for black professionals than Miami, even though Miami has more blacks than Houston. It’s all about feeling, culture, and influence.
Charlotte and RDU have the similar number of blacks, but Charlotte’s black culture is more dominant.
As an actual black person and insider, Houston feels much blacker than what the population suggests. Most people will agree. You see black folks literally everywhere in Houston in large numbers.
Since DFW and Houston are so close in black numbers, why do blacks from Atlanta favor Houston more? Simple. The black culture and influence are very strong in Houston. Houston packs a big punch in black culture to have 800,000 less blacks than Atlanta; it does very well to be in the same conversations with DC and Atlanta.
Basis for saying black people from Atlanta favor Houston? How many have even been to both metros to do a good comparison? The one thing that benefits Houston that no one seem to mention here is that Houston has a large HBCU, Texas Southern, and has another, Prairie View, within 30 minutes of the Houston city limits. Dallas only has a small one in Bishop. That can't be ignored in terms of drawing black people to Houston, at least for 4 to 6 years of study.
I get what you're saying, but the gap between Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham isn't quite as large since Raleigh/Durham have had prominent Black populations from the very beginning (the first two Black mayors in the state in the late 60s/early 70s were in Chapel Hill and Raleigh), probably even more so than Charlotte historically. But I do think Black families would be a bit more drawn towards Raleigh/Durham just as they are probably a bit more drawn towards DFW in Texas, whereas singles are more drawn to Charlotte and Houston.
Interestingly enough, TX and NC also have parallels in Wilmington/Galveston, Austin/Asheville, and Fayetteville/Kileen.
Austin/Asheville is not a good comparison. Austin city is bigger than Charlotte or Raleigh. Its more like Raleigh being a State Capital and known for its University and Tech jobs. Singles are not more drawn to Houston than DFW. Median age and marital status are not huge differences.
I don't know first hand but here are my educated guesses.
Houston is culturally Blacker and has long been a magnet for Blacks in the surrounding region, of which there are more compared to DFW. Also the energy industry has provided both a lot of blue-collar and white-collar (administrative, office-based) jobs, as well as healthcare with TMC and the port. Those fleeing Katrina also gave the region a big bump in its Black population.
I'd guess that Dallas has started outcompeting Houston for Black transplants for a few reasons:
1) Over time, Blacks have become more college-educated which has resulted in larger numbers of Black professionals who have been attracted to DFW's more diverse, corporate, white-collar economy.
2) DFW has seen much less boom-and-bust cycles than Houston and has had a longer streak of strong job growth that have included high-profile corporate relocations.
3) DFW can get some nasty weather (tornadoes, ice storms) but Houston has had higher-profile natural disasters in recent years.
4) Better overall branding and marketing. And Black folks all across the country love them some Cowboys and Bishop T.D. Jakes.
5) This one is probably less important, but I think DFW having predominantly Black middle/upper-middle class suburbs (Best Southwest) has been a draw; that makes for an immediate comparison with Atlanta/Dekalb and DC/PG.
Its those world famous Dallas Cowboys! Plus Houston lost its Amusement Park lol. Losing Astroworld was a big hurt, no matter your culture! I live in DFW but from Houston.
Its those world famous Dallas Cowboys! Plus Houston lost its Amusement Park lol. Losing Astroworld was a big hurt, no matter your culture! I live in DFW but from Houston.
.....You're gonna hurt somebody feelings......You can't be from Houston and say this stuff....
Sorry but you can't just leave out Tarrant county, home to Fort Worth and Arlington. Those two cities alone total 1.3 million residents, including 206,000 African Americans. You also exclude Collin county, contiguously north of Dallas county with one of the largest, most prosperous suburbs, Plano, in America. Plano, not a majority black city, has a black mayor recently re-elected, is home to more big corporations than Alpharetta/Roswell or the Woodlands - Toyota, Chase, Penneys, Capital One's 8 building campus, the PGA, Liberty Mutual, to name a few and as populated as Gwinnett County.
I wasn't including Fort Worth in that particular comparison, only Dallas and its more immediate sphere of influence which is more or less represented by its Metropolitan Division which includes Collin County. But statistically, the addition of Tarrant County doesn't really change anything when it comes to demographics vs the Atlanta area seeing as though it has a White plurality (46%) and the Black population is only 16%. Atlanta is still going to be significantly Blacker, with or without Tarrant County.
People move where the jobs are. That's been the case for a very long time.
Blacks were moving in droves to St. Louis, Cleveland and Detroit back in the 1920s - 1970s because they had a ton of good-paying manufacturing jobs, and now you hear a bunch of stories about children and grandchildren of those same blacks reverse migrating back to the Sunbelt. If you talk to blacks who still live in places like St. Louis, Cleveland and Detroit, I guarantee you they'll have a ton of close friends / immediate family who have moved to some place like GA, NC and TX fairly recently.
In Dallas' case, it has an crazy dynamic economy for white collar workers between its legacy oil / finance industry and all of the poaching of corporate HQs from high cost of business states its leaders have done over the past 20 years. It also has a respectable blue collar economy with its massive assembly plants for Lockheed Martin, L3Harris, Bell Helicopter and GM.
This isn't a knock on Dallas, which is a very fine city, but if yoy asked the average transplant, none of them will tell you Dallas was their first choice for relocation. They simply ended up there because it made sense for them and their families economically.
The same could have been said for Houston as well over the past 20 years before the initial oil colllapse in 2014. That place was literally printing money. But now, since the oil companies there stopped hiring in droves and mass layoffs seem to be looming, no one's really tripping over themselves to move to Houston any more. This is evident in the yearly census estimates since 2014 and how they showed a marked slowdown in the population increase.
That said, Dallas' problem for a lot of people is that it's grown so fast that it still has to play catch up with its cultural amenities such as theatres, museums, zoos, health care and higher education. I have no doubt these things will catch up organically with a CSA now of over 8 million people (the next 2 decades could prove to be a pretty magical time to be in Dallas), but it's going to take time. Houston still has it beat on this front, even if only marginally, because it is historically the larger and wealthier city.
I wanted to address cultural amenities first. Museums? Dallas AND Fort Worth have plenty of museums. The whole State Fair Grounds are exhibition halls and museums, including one for African Americans. Fort Worth has a officially designated "Cultural District" with several museums and the Will Rogers Coliseum. They just opened a 14,000 Dickies Arena too. The one great cultural attraction Atlanta has opened the last 20 years is the Georgia aquarium. Atlanta has some other great attractions like the Carter Center and the MLK Memorial but where's the great opera house or Performing Arts Center? I remember living there and Arthur Blank offered to donate $40milllion for a new Performing Arts Center if others stepped forward in the City. Couldn't come close to getting it funded.
Zoos? Compare to Houston and Atlanta, Dallas has the largest Zoo in the State of Texas (106 acres)and was expanded over five years ago. Houston Zoo is 55 acres. Fort Worth has an award winning zoo (64 acres). Zoo Atlanta - 40 acres.
Post WWII, the "Great Migration" was about jobs but also about escaping racial oppression. if good jobs were to be had in the South, fewer would have relocated. Some of my family moved to Chicago, Detroit, NY and Philly but some went west to Houston. Also, those drafted into the military got out of the south and never looked back.
Many people don't know but the first black mayor of Atlanta, Maynard Jackson, was born Dallas and lived there for part of his childhood before his Dad moved back to Atlanta.
Austin/Asheville is not a good comparison. Austin city is bigger than Charlotte or Raleigh. Its more like Raleigh being a State Capital and known for its University and Tech jobs. Singles are not more drawn to Houston than DFW. Median age and marital status are not huge differences.
You missed the point but it's not worth arguing since it was very minor.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
....He admitted that both Atlanta and Dallas is a better deal for him... But he's stuck...I think Dallas was the smartest move of the three..Not being Biased either...just going by what he mentioned as +'s for each city.
.....You're gonna hurt somebody feelings......You can't be from Houston and say this stuff...
