Narrowed our relocation choices to DFW area of Texas and INDY suburbs. Need feedback from those of you familiar w/ both. (Indianapolis: insurance, house)
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This is kind of repost from another thread on this board dealing with specific question of relocating from Tx to Indiana. I posted there, but I don't think it will generate many replies, nor do i want to hijack a thread from another poster. Please forgive me for this repetition.
We are in the process of relocating from NYC/NJ area to ether DFW or Indy suburbs (likely Fishers/Westfield). I actually wanted to start thread of something like Plano/Frisco/Allen vs Carmel/Fishers (sp?) etc, but never got around to it. Well, here it is, particularly for those of you who have lived and worked in both. Knowing what you know now....where would you have gone, and would you have done something different? We are moving from Bergen County of Nu Joisy for sure.
Main headquaters of the company I work for is located in dowtown Indy, but there are offices in Austin and Dallas as well. Also, so far Thank God, I have an option of accessing my work from home, and hope it remains so as long as I'm employed here. My wife is getting back into workforce after being a stay at home mom for the past 4 and 1/2 years. So her future employment is very much a concern to us. She is in the field of accounting and has also background in computer programming (albeit not most recent one). So in our relocation, great schools and cost of living are priorities (in that order). I've been researching DFW area and to a lesser extent Austin forum. Both are great places to relocate to, IMHO. But Indy (suburbs) have been also on my mind a lot, and I still can't let it go. I can't put my finger on it, but somehow I feel that moving to Indy could be a better fit us. I really don't know why I think that but I do. Perhaps I'm not a big fan of a very hot wheather for a better part of the year (I know winters are nice and mild in TX). Also, we will leave some close family in Brooklyn, NY once we move. Indy is just a little closer, but for air travel not by 2 extra hours of flying. If all things were somewhat equal, and you had a choice of DFW suburbs or Indy suburbs which whould you have chosen, and more importantly, why? I really appreciate some feedback from some of you who have exp in this subject and lived/worked in both areas.
This is kind of repost from another thread on this board dealing with specific question of relocating from Tx to Indiana. I posted there, but I don't think it will generate many replies, nor do i want to hijack a thread from another poster. Please forgive me for this repetition.
We are in the process of relocating from NYC/NJ area to ether DFW or Indy suburbs (likely Fishers/Westfield). I actually wanted to start thread of something like Plano/Frisco/Allen vs Carmel/Fishers (sp?) etc, but never got around to it. Well, here it is, particularly for those of you who have lived and worked in both. Knowing what you know now....where would you have gone, and would you have done something different? We are moving from Bergen County of Nu Joisy for sure.
Main headquaters of the company I work for is located in dowtown Indy, but there are offices in Austin and Dallas as well. Also, so far Thank God, I have an option of accessing my work from home, and hope it remains so as long as I'm employed here. My wife is getting back into workforce after being a stay at home mom for the past 4 and 1/2 years. So her future employment is very much a concern to us. She is in the field of accounting and has also background in computer programming (albeit not most recent one). So in our relocation, great schools and cost of living are priorities (in that order). I've been researching DFW area and to a lesser extent Austin forum. Both are great places to relocate to, IMHO. But Indy (suburbs) have been also on my mind a lot, and I still can't let it go. I can't put my finger on it, but somehow I feel that moving to Indy could be a better fit us. I really don't know why I think that but I do. Perhaps I'm not a big fan of a very hot wheather for a better part of the year (I know winters are nice and mild in TX). Also, we will leave some close family in Brooklyn, NY once we move. Indy is just a little closer, but for air travel not by 2 extra hours of flying. If all things were somewhat equal, and you had a choice of DFW suburbs or Indy suburbs which whould you have chosen, and more importantly, why? I really appreciate some feedback from some of you who have exp in this subject and lived/worked in both areas.
Thank You.
I can answer that question for you.
Indy does have accounting jobs and heres someplace to look into them. Accounting Jobs in Indianapolis, IN on CareerBuilder.com
Also Indy does have a decent presence of IT companies like ExactTarget/Angie's list and so on.
Keep in mind the Dallas Metroplex is huge and it comes with all the problems of a large city like New York/Chicago etc.
Traffic/crime/cost of living will all be higher in the Dallas Metro area. Also since your company is headquartered in Indy is there a chance that youll have to visit the headquarters for meetings etc from time to time? a 30 mile drive to downtown Indy obiviously is better than a 3 hour plane flight from Dallas.
Traffic is also very light in Indy and ive driven through Indy during rush hour and it was fine. Traffic was a little slow on I-70 but we were always moving and we didnt sit in our car for an hour in 1 spot like you would in New York/Chicago/Dallas etc.
Last edited by Broadrippleguy; 02-25-2013 at 07:21 AM..
I can answer that question for you.
Indy does have accounting jobs and heres someplace to look into them. Accounting Jobs in Indianapolis, IN on CareerBuilder.com
Also Indy does have a decent presence of IT companies like ExactTarget/Angie's list and so on.
Keep in mind the Dallas Metroplex is huge and it comes with all the problems of a large city like New York/Chicago etc.
Traffic/crime/cost of living will all be higher in the Dallas Metro area. Also since your company is headquartered in Indy is there a chance that youll have to visit the headquarters for meetings etc from time to time? a 30 mile drive to downtown Indy obiviously is better than a 3 hour plane flight from Dallas.
Traffic is also very light in Indy and ive driven through Indy during rush hour and it was fine. Traffic was a little slow on I-70 but we were always moving and we didnt sit in our car for an hour in 1 spot like you would in New York/Chicago/Dallas etc.
Thank You for your response BRG. We are going to visit all of these places some time in May, and then make our decision. So far we've been fortunate to attend all enterprise-wide
functions via Live meetings and dial in's. But if anything changes in the future, assuming the company will survive another four years of "this", it's still best to be near headquaters.
Hope we can get some reponses from posters who are familiar w/ both, though I understand, things change all the time. Both places are growing...DFW area at a really crazy pace. It may be a vote of confidence for the State doing "things right", but also infrastructure can't keep up w/ demand. My biggest concern is schools. I have 10th grader to be and K grader to be in the next school year (both girls). So transfering to a good schools are a must. The rest will probably revolve around their activities for now. What about businesses moving to TX? Indiana is also atractive for business as far as I know. Any danger of losing some big name componies to TX? G, I hope not, but just thinking outloud (as many of us do these days).
Ill post this in your thread in the Dallas forum as well...
Its really an apples and oranges situation, it all depends on what you like. DFW is the 4th largest metro in the US with all the good and bad that comes with that. Its much more diverse than Indy and will offer more in the way of things like nightlife, variety of cuisine, and culture. Indy is a very nice but much smaller area. Its much more user friendly than DFW, and has very charming neighborhoods. Indy has a very nice Midwestern flavor that I enjoy when I have visited there and the locals are very nice. The weather difference is something else I would think about.
If the opportunities are equal, I would ask yourself if you want a smaller/midsized city/metro or a very large one.
Can you tell us more details about what is important to you (other than accounting opportunities and great schools)? Cultural opportunities? Music scene? Boating? I've lived in various parts of Indianapolis (including Carmel and Westfield) and I love it. However, I moved in September to a small town in Louisiana, and I'm loving this mild winter weather! I haven't experienced a southern summer yet, so it may be a killer, LOL!
Though obviously not on par with NYC or Chicago, I found the arts to have a very strong presence in Indy. Sports are big, both at the high school and professional level. The Children's Museum is the largest in the world. Property taxes (and COL in general) is low. People are friendly. The downtown Indy area has some beautiful areas for walking and sightseeing. The Monon trail which runs from Westfield into Indy is great for walking or biking.
Can you tell us more details about what is important to you (other than accounting opportunities and great schools)? Cultural opportunities? Music scene? Boating? I've lived in various parts of Indianapolis (including Carmel and Westfield) and I love it. However, I moved in September to a small town in Louisiana, and I'm loving this mild winter weather! I haven't experienced a southern summer yet, so it may be a killer, LOL!
Though obviously not on par with NYC or Chicago, I found the arts to have a very strong presence in Indy. Sports are big, both at the high school and professional level. The Children's Museum is the largest in the world. Property taxes (and COL in general) is low. People are friendly. The downtown Indy area has some beautiful areas for walking and sightseeing. The Monon trail which runs from Westfield into Indy is great for walking or biking.
Thank You kayanne for your reply. It seems like we have this discussion in two threads now. I really did not want to highjack their thread fro the family who asked about relocation from Plano, Tx to Carmel, IN. But it couldn't be more specific to the choices we have in front of us. Basically these are , area-wise, the choices we have to make very soon for relocation in the late Summer. At this point, of course employment situation for my wife, and sending our kids to great schools will be a priority. Coming from the NY metro area where we have access to basically everything imaginable in terms of ats and sports it's still quite possible to be pleasently surprised by what INDY has to offer. Sometimes b/c we live in NY/NJ, we take for granted what's right next door. But we've been to many shows, concerts, museums and sporting events. After a while it gets quite old anyway. INDY may not have the same name as anything "Broadway" but may actually be on par quality-wise. It's just a smaller market. Boating....that's one of my dreams, but I simply can not afford anything like that here in NorthEast. One of the things that INDY provides is quality of life, from all the info I got so far. Basically, if you can't find what you want in INDY you could always travel (in my case back to NY) to see family and have a good time.
Best of luck to you in Louisiana. Whatch out for those crocs LOL. That's another thing that bothers me about moving to Texas. Finding all kinds of wild life and critters, snakes, spiders etc in your backyard is very common. Not that it can't happen in Indiana, but probably far less likely.
So there is my choice LOL .... harsh winters or all kind of creepy crawlers and very hot summers.
Having lived in both cities I'd pick Indy over DFW any day of the week.
Dallas is huge and hard to get around plus you have the miserably hot summers, while I enjoyed the people I met there it never felt like home. Plus you have the bugs and critters to deal with, yeck.
However I still miss living in Indy, I loved the four seasons, the many things to do and mostly the people I meet there. I have friends from there that will be friends for the rest of my life. I lived on the west side of Indy in Brownsburg, the housing is comparable to Carmel/Fishers just much cheaper.
Since I'm stuck in Florida for the foreseeable future I wish you luck in your choice.
INDY may not have the same name as anything "Broadway" but may actually be on par quality-wise. It's just a smaller market.
Actually Indy does get the Broadway Across America series (that plays in other big cities) and those shows are excellent!
Quote:
Best of luck to you in Louisiana. Whatch out for those crocs LOL. That's another thing that bothers me about moving to Texas. Finding all kinds of wild life and critters, snakes, spiders etc in your backyard is very common. Not that it can't happen in Indiana, but probably far less likely.
So there is my choice LOL .... harsh winters or all kind of creepy crawlers and very hot summers.
Yeah, bugs aren't TOO bad in Indy. I'd find a spider in my house on rare occasion, bee or wasp nests outside, but I never saw any kind of snake in my yard. The only critters in suburban neighborhoods were rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks. Birds of course. One time a mouse got inside our house.
Winters are unpredictable in Indy. Some years there is practically no measurable snow, and then once in a great while you have something like the Blizzard of '78! It's uncommon to have sub-zero temps, but it can happen. As long as you have an attached garage, the snow and the cold won't be such a nuisance. When I've lived in Chicago and Boston, I pitied the many people who lived in areas with no garages at all, just street parking, and they'd have to dig their cars out of the snow, then try to "save" their cleaned-out spot with a lawn chair. Ugh. That's not for me!
What you will get in indy is a smaller sample of new york. Theres a art scene just not as big. Plus if you want more you can drive to chicago. You are a few hr drive to chicago, cinci, louisville, detroit, st louis etc.
Indy doesn't have much of a theatre scene. You can drive to Chicago for great theatre or Louisville for several smaller respected theaters.
I'm sure you can find good schools in both DFW and Indy. Cost of living should be cheaper in Indy. But you are really looking to get a feel for the two. I can't give you a feel for Dallas but maybe for Indianapolis.
Indy's good points:
1. your money goes further here
2. people in Indy value family without bringing "family values" baggage along. If religion is important to you, you will find a home here, but there isn't that Mega-Church scene like in some other states, like Texas.
3. stable economy with moderate growth. Indy is strong for example, in big pharma (Lilly), insurance (AUL), still some manufacturing base (Rolls Royce, Cummins), healthcare (IU), medical (Roche), distribution (Fed Ex's 2nd largest hub is in Indy), and only a few software companies (most notably, Interactive Intelligence, being one of the larger startups). Indianapolis also has, I believe, the second or third largest convention center business in the US. There are numerous accounting/programming jobs at entry and intermediate levels, but getting one might not be easy, especially if you are returning to the workforce. There are a lot of qualified applicants chasing fewer jobs, and employers can afford to be picky.
4. a number of cultural opportunities for a city of its size
5. traffic not too bad, nor is pollution
6. people in the midwest are generally friendly
7. you can live 30 minutes from downtown in a place that has a rural feel to it
The not so good:
1. Indy is pretty conservative in politics and in cultural outlook without a lot of ethnic diversity
2. geography stinks -- flat, flat, flat
3. weather -- Indy gets only 88 purely sunny days. We don't get many partly sunny days, so it is overcast quite often. Winters (December ,Jan, Feb, March) can be fairly cold with only moderate amounts of snow. Summer is hot and humid. Fall and spring are very nice, but if you blink you'll miss spring. (lack of sun is why I will relocate some day)
4. kids can get lost in big public schools
Why I like Indy:
I live in suburb, 30 minutes from downtown. Blue herons come to the creek in back of my house and yet in five minutes I can be at one of several big box retailers.
N.B. You can have the benefits of the northside without living in Carmel. Pike and Lawrence townships, and also Washington township have good school systems.
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Thanks
and very hot summers.
