Pittsburgh compared to Dallas (Houston, Plano: transplants, sale, houses)

[Pghfamily]

We may be moving to Texas for a job opportunity and I'd like to know the differences besides the obvious: No horrible winters, warmer, Dallas is a bigger city, etc). We have lived here our whole lives so any advice or comparisons that aren't obvious would be great.
Also when looking at housing plans online, I notice that all the houses around 350000-500000 have no yards. I don't want a big yard - ours is about .6 acres but these houses are bigger than mine and on .25 acre and are all right up on their neighbor....Is that normal?
What is Dec - Mar really like? I see its gets colder which is fine as this winter ours lasted Nov - Apr (with snow - ugh).

[Johnhw2]

I live in Plano now and lived in N. Hills of Pittsburgh while working several decades ago.

Your yard would be considered large in most of DFW area. We have fenced yards too for the most part which was rare where I was in Pgh. DFW area is fast growing where Pgh was not at all when I was living there. Thus in the DFW area you see a lot more new construction retail and office and schools not to mention homes which you have seen online. DFW is a fast paced place compared to Pgh which seemed sleepy mid west to me.

DFW is diverse with people of all backgrounds have moved here for work, they do not tend to live in the same area to the extent I saw in Pgh. I worked in Lawrenceburg area. Only in Pgh and NJ where I also lived was I asked "what are you?" Lived in Oklahoma and Tx for my first 30 years and no one every ask that of me but it was ask often in Pgh.

Drivers here are agressive unlike the Pgh drivers who were the politest Ive experienced. In large part because of the all blind entrances to major roads where you are blind because of a big hill and a curve and vegetation.

Summer weather is our bad season as its hot and lasts all summer and into September often. The rest of the year here is great weather.. dont tell when you experience we are already crowded enough, growing at the rate of 150k population increase each year. The fall is noticeable but nothing like the spectcule I saw N of Pgn each year as I headed up to Cooks forest and Bradford etc.

People are pretty friendly here but every one is busy. Stil a lot of churches here but less of a dominant force it once was due to all the transplants.

DFW economy is booming. Jobs are plentiful and one can see career growth in most fields here is that is your goal. With the boom comes traffic and road construction and as the city pushes further out suburban living on the city edge is increasingly further out. But jobs follow

There are many job centers in DFW and they keep moving toward the areas where the growth of population is occurring. One example is Toyota NA moved its HQ from S. Ca. The built a campus of 100 acres for 4 to 5000 employees here. This area is 20 miles north of DT Dallas yet still a good 10 miles from the edge of current suburban development to the north.

Property taxes are high here figure on about 2.4% of sale price as property taxes although they can vary widely by location. No income tax here as I paid in Pgh. Cost of living here is better than the big coastal areas but is going up as the boom continues.

I could go on but wont to get feedback from you on what else you want to know.

[Pghfamily]

I live in the Cranberry/Wexford/Mars area so everything is new and beautiful and crowded - lol. Definitely different thatn decades ago. Route 19 and 228 have so much on them and all the housing plans are gorgeous. Never knew my yard was big - lol. I guess less to take care of down there.
I lived in the East of the city and now in the North for the past 10 years and no one ever asked me what I was so maybe that was where you lived or a generational thing....

And drivers are aggressive and not nice - LOL. Traffic is was worse - image more drivers and the road patterns are bad - they can't keep up with the growth.


I appreciate your feedback. We were hoping for a job on the East coast so this threw us for a loop. Never considered Texas as I no one that lives there...

[Johnhw2]

I lived and worked in N NJ for 6 years right after Pgh. It was a good experience. I got an MBA at night school at Rutgers while living there. I strongly prefer DFW and Houston where I worked most of my career when not in the NE as Ive mentioned.

I know that area of Pgh has grown dramatically. I know several Pgh families who live in DFW now. They all miss Pgh and family they have remaining there but none plan to move back.

Texas was a surprise to all those I iknow who moved here. It doesnt fit all the stereotypes I suppose.

I can not understate the growth going on here with that 150k population grown each of the last few years. An example is the new development I mentioned, where Toyota located, it is 250 acres in size. Develoment started on it less than 4 years ago and now it is all developed save 25 acres remaining. It is not spec buildings it has large campuses for Chase and Liberty Mutual as well as the one I mentioned Toyota built. To help give a scale of 250 acres .that is the size of DT Houston, a top 5 city in size if you dont know it much.

Im sure you see homes here do not have basements as most in Pgh did. No split entries as I lived in and my wife hated lol. We haad granite window sills if you can imagine that and we were not in a we were not in a high end area. We were in Shaler township.

The biggest difference is winter weather. I moved from Houston to Pgh in April one year. We had been running ac since early March. In Pgh we ran our heater until late May. Summer and fall in Pgh area was awesome but late fall and from say Nov until May it was pretty damn cold. Less snow than I expected however. But I remember one 4th of July picnic, we froze as a cold front moved in and no one thought to check the weather. We were in McConnell mill park which you may know. Now this was a normal spring for Houston but we were in Pgh while the winters were rough. We had a stretch of 10 days with the highs below zero.

Welcome to Tx and DFW let me know if I can help in anyway

[calgirlinnc]

No Wegman's, AKA the world's best grocery store.