What is attracting California and west coast folks to DFW? (Houston: sale, insurance)

[Lake Conroe resident]

The ultimate retribution for places like Santa Barbara that freeze out everyone but the ultra-rich... they may have to wash their own dishes someday. Or... the restaurant raises the price of their menu items so they can just throw the dirty dishes away.[/quote]

This is very true, which leads me to this question...I go to Santa Barbara, Solvang, Cambria, Carmel etc.. a few times a year and I see McDonalds, Taco Bells, Target, Wal Mart, Hotels etc where folks are working for $8-$10 an hour. I mean there's no place even remotely close to these locations where there is affordable housing so where do all the people who work in these establishments live?? With gas being $4+ a gal how far can one travel for one of these jobs?

[FarNorthDallas]

I have a family member who spends part of the year in California and he says these low income people live 8 to 9 people in an apartment.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

I have a family member who spends part of the year in California and he says these low income people live 8 to 9 people in an apartment.

So this is what the Dust Bowl Okies in the 1930's crawled to California for. Recent Mexican immigrants in Dallas don't live as badly as that. In fact, they didn't live that badly when they were still in Mexico.

[Canine*Castle]

I'm sure the low-income scenario is in Texas as well. It doesn't lack in homeless either. Texas ranks much higher than California in the poverty rankings too. I can't find any new statistics but in 2003, Texas ranked 7th and California, 18th.

Good grief, in my county there are fathers who have 14 + children. Of course, they're probably not all living together because they have different moms, but this kind of crap is all over this country.

California once was the American dream, but years have passed, things have changed, and I don't believe there is anywhere in this country that one could consider a true American dream. That's just my opinion, so please don't go ballistic.

[rb4browns]

Originally Posted by Canine*Castle

I'm sure the low-income scenario is in Texas as well. It doesn't lack in homeless either. Texas ranks much higher than California in the poverty rankings too. I can't find any new statistics but in 2003, Texas ranked 7th and California, 18th.

Good grief, in my county there are fathers who have 14 + children. Of course, they're probably not all living together because they have different moms, but this kind of crap is all over this country.

California once was the American dream, but years have passed, things have changed, and I don't believe there is anywhere in this country that one could consider a true American dream. That's just my opinion, so please don't go ballistic.

Keep in mind, poverty can be a relative thing. In many cases, what sometimes passes for poverty here (people owning a vechicle, TV, etc.) is living high on the hog in many other parts of the world. Even within the US, someone making wages aking to the poverty level can live more comfortably in a lower cost of living area such as Texas than they would in Southern California.

[caligurltotx]

That CNN story is what scares me!! I do not want to be 70 yrs old and living off of SS only to survive. That is truly a sad story and so many more than we will ever know is facing the same situation. She is very fortunate to be in Santa Barbara, a city that seems to care. If she ended up downtown L.A. on skidrow it would be a totally diff look.

And it's true that so many Californians are only one pay check away from being in their car too.
That was a very interesting question someone posed about how the workers in Santa Barbara get there to work for min wage jobs? I never thought about it. There is a college there so maybe they are college students???

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by rb4browns

Keep in mind, poverty can be a relative thing. In many cases, what sometimes passes for poverty here (people owning a vechicle, TV, etc.) is living high on the hog in many other parts of the world. Even within the US, someone making wages aking to the poverty level can live more comfortably in a lower cost of living area such as Texas than they would in Southern California.

I was thinking about that in the Texas vs Cali measures of poverty. The differences in cost of living between Tx and Cali are so drastic that you have different wage levels to define it.

In terms of 8 people living in a room in Santa Barbara, that doesn't happen in DFW. I have heard of resettled Third World Asian immigrants with a family of 8 or 9, but the resettlement agencies usually rent two apartments for them.

I'm sure the low-income scenario is in Texas as well. It doesn't lack in homeless either. Texas ranks much higher than California in the poverty rankings too. I can't find any new statistics but in 2003, Texas ranked 7th and California, 18th.

We have to take that with a grain of salt, since we don't understand what those stats actually mean. Especially when we're comparing not Tx and Cali as a whole, but coastal Southern Cali to DFW. As I said, the particular definition of poverty that the stat uses may or may not be realistic or relevant.

Even if you consider poverty within a large state such as Texas, a statistic such as percentage in poverty is meaningless, since poverty is not distributed uniformly across Texas. The Rio Grande Valley and the DFW area are not the at the same level of affluence. In California, the differences in cost of living are so wide, that you have to define poverty differently in different parts of the state to get a meaningful number. You end up comparing a meaningless Cali number to a meaningless Tex number, and the two numbers are meaningless for different reasons.

[DWong]

Originally Posted by austinnetx

No income taxes.
State government well run - 10 billion dollar surplus.
Much lower cost of living.
Healthy job market.
Diverse population.
Family friendly state.
Victim-freindly courts and good police.


Please don't move here and screw it up is all we ask.

Couldn't have said it better myself... I did leave out the last one in my posts.. victim friendly courts and police... yes.. in CA our liberalism as run crazy!

[DWong]

In terms of 8 people living in a room in Santa Barbara, that doesn't happen in DFW. I have heard of resettled Third World Asian immigrants with a family of 8 or 9, but the resettlement agencies usually rent two apartments for them.

oh yes you're right... you won't see many to a place in TX. In TX you can rent an apartment in a decent part of town for what??? 600-800 no? Anywhere in CA in the major metros.. 800 will rent you a room if you're lucky.. But keep in mind, our central valley's and desert areas have the same cost of living (almost as DFW) where housing is affordable! And in many ways they're alot like DFW. Hot summers, and mild throughout the year. CA gets a bad rap that it's pricy everywhere... not always the case. I grew up 3 hrs from LA and 2 from SD... you can buy a nice house on 1/6 acre for 300k or less!

We have to take that with a grain of salt, since we don't understand what those stats actually mean. Especially when we're comparing not Tx and Cali as a whole, but coastal Southern Cali to DFW. As I said, the particular definition of poverty that the stat uses may or may not be realistic or relevant.

Even if you consider poverty within a large state such as Texas, a statistic such as percentage in poverty is meaningless, since poverty is not distributed uniformly across Texas. The Rio Grande Valley and the DFW area are not the at the same level of affluence. In California, the differences in cost of living are so wide, that you have to define poverty differently in different parts of the state to get a meaningful number. You end up comparing a meaningless Cali number to a meaningless Tex number, and the two numbers are meaningless for different reasons.[/quote]

I'm gonna have to agree on this as well and here's why. Poverty is measured by income if I"m not mistaken and does not take into consideration where you live? Well, income in TX and CA is very different. Our biggest industry has moved to services. There you're gonna make minimum wage to maybe $12 a hour. Many service jobs are 40+ hours bc most work more than one or 2 places. They're low paying, but job a plenty. Keep in mind our minimum wage is approaching $8 an hour and our waiters here in CA make that PLUS TIPS! (so wonder why that burger and fries cost you $12 here...?) Anyways, yes making $15k a year here in CA maybe put you over the federal poverty line, but then again... $15k in TX you're by no means doing well, but you can have some kind of a living. Again, you probably don't own a home or even rent, but can make some ends meet. $15k in CA, believe me you are broke (I've been there.. believe me) 1/2 my income was to rent.

[DWong]

Originally Posted by Lake Conroe resident

The ultimate retribution for places like Santa Barbara that freeze out everyone but the ultra-rich... they may have to wash their own dishes someday. Or... the restaurant raises the price of their menu items so they can just throw the dirty dishes away.

This is very true, which leads me to this question...I go to Santa Barbara, Solvang, Cambria, Carmel etc.. a few times a year and I see McDonalds, Taco Bells, Target, Wal Mart, Hotels etc where folks are working for $8-$10 an hour. I mean there's no place even remotely close to these locations where there is affordable housing so where do all the people who work in these establishments live?? With gas being $4+ a gal how far can one travel for one of these jobs?[/quote]

Well, there are places where you can live but you're gonna have to travel far. Keep in mind that $10 a hour here on a two income family does rake in $57k a year in income. Now, you're struggling on that kind of scratch in CA, but livable. Or stay in town and rent (oh by the way, our Gov does have low rental housing for families).

Ok, this may drive some of you nuts, but my friend personally knows someone who is 19 single w/ child and lives in an apartment that would rent for $2100- she pays $400. Why... Government will help you here! Wonder why we always have deficits eh? Go figure!