Looking to move to Dallas... Need Advice... (San Antonio, Fort Worth: 2013, safe area)

[Bova Fett]

Greetings, My wife and I are fleeing Florida, the Yankees have ruined this state, and we are looking at the Texas triangle because we heard that its a good place for people like us to move. We are Florida natives and are looking to live with other Southern natives that share our cultural similarities and general outlook on life.

Florida, minus the extreme northern counties, has become a sunny version of New Jersey. We hate it, and we refuse to raise our children in this crap hole.

We have been told by many that this triangle is a good place to move to because there are a ton of natives, local culture is strong, strong economy, plenty of high paying jobs for those that have degrees, good k-12 schools, and great colleges.

Is this true? We plan to come out to Dallas next November and stay for 2 weeks to check out the city, its suburbs, and other cities within the triangle.

Texas Triangle (Dallas at bottom point, Texarkana at right point, and Oklahoma City at the top point)

[bencronin04]

Dallas(the city) is actually fairly liberal. Once you get into the suburbs you will find a more conservative base. I can't really help you out with this in regards to Texarkana nor OKC.

[bencronin04]

This map should help:

Interactive Map: Is Texas Turning Blue? | Center for American Progress Action Fund

[Considering Coming Back]

Originally Posted by Bova Fett

Texas Triangle (Dallas at bottom point, Texarkana at right point, and Oklahoma City at the top point)

Sorry to break it to you, but that is not the "Texas Triangle": Texas Triangle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Texas isn't "southern", either. It's Texas. And that's different.

You may also be worried to learn that many of us "natives", as you put it, are Hispanic. We look and sound similar to Mexicans even

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Bova Fett

We have been told by many that this triangle is a good place to move to because there are a ton of natives, local culture is strong, strong economy, plenty of high paying jobs for those that have degrees, good k-12 schools, and great colleges.

Native whats? Texans? LOL...not in DFW. Not anymore. We're being swamped by out of staters. I have this conversation frequently:

Them: "So, where are you from originally?"
Me: "Dallas."
Them: "No, where did you live before?"
Me: "I was born here."
Them: "Oh wow, you're the first person I've ever met who was born here!"

Strong local culture? What does that mean?

Strong economy? Eh...depends on what industry you're in.

Plenty of high-paying jobs? Again, depends on your industry. And how lucky you are, and who you know. And to a certain extent, your ethnic background. (In my industry, not being Indian or Chinese is a handicap.)

Good K-12 schools....eh, I suppose....as good as public K-12 education can be in Texas, which isn't good on the national stage.

Great colleges? DFW is actually short on top tier universities, at least for undergrads. UNT, TWU, UTA...they're OK, not great, not terrible. You can do better than SMU and TCU for undergrad and both are private and pricey. UTD has very good undergraduate programs but it focuses strongly on business and technology. There are some excellent graduate schools here; UT Southwestern is a world-class medical school and UNT has a good med school. SMU has a good law school and a good business school if you want to get your MBA but it's quite pricey.

If you're looking for a safe area with a relatively low cost of living and decent schools, you can certainly find that here though.

[bencronin04]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

Good K-12 schools....eh, I suppose....as good as public K-12 education can be in Texas, which isn't good on the national stage.

Most of what you posted I tend to agree with, but not this. DFW has multiple high schools ranked year after year in the top 100 public high schools in the nation across multiple publications.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by bencronin04

Most of what you posted I tend to agree with, but not this. DFW has multiple High Schools ranked year after year in the top 100 public high schools in multiple publications.

2 of those are DISD magnet schools and your odds of getting into them aren't great. Another is HPHS and yet another is Plano West and those are out of most peoples' price ranges.

[ChristieP]

The pay scale for work really varies depending on what industry you are seeking employment. I can tell you that Oklahoma pays significantly less in all of the healthcare fields when compared with DFW,and so does east Texas.

If you are looking for conservative local politics, then you need to look at Tarrant County, and the Fort Worth suburbs. We are the only major metro area in Texas that is still strongly Republican.

[bencronin04]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

2 of those are DISD magnet schools and your odds of getting into them aren't great. Another is HPHS and yet another is Plano West and those are out of most peoples' price ranges.

You're still neglecting the fact of what you and I both posted. Most "high preforming" schools on those lists(not just texas) and magnet, charter, prep or high income area serving schools. It's just a fact of life and the school system. Sorry you don't like it, but facts are facts and the metro area has many high preforming high schools and districts even held to national standards.

[Bova Fett]

Originally Posted by Considering Coming Back

Sorry to break it to you, but that is not the "Texas Triangle": Texas Triangle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Texas isn't "southern", either. It's Texas. And that's different.

You may also be worried to learn that many of us "natives", as you put it, are Hispanic. We look and sound similar to Mexicans even

LOL, apparently there are two of them. I've spoken with dozens of people who swear that its OKC, Dal, and TA.

Race has nothing to do with it, culture is where its at I'm also familiar that Southern and Texan are two different things, but at their heart they share the same values. If I like Dallas, then I'd be glad to assimilate into a Texan.

The blue thing has me worried a bit... but from what I've read, Dallas is a purple city, which means that its about 50-50 red/blue, and with the failures of the Democrats over the past 6 years Dallas could easily tip back to blue. Its no Oklahoma City, but it sure ain't Miami or San Antonio either. So there is hope.