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Old 10-17-2014, 06:13 PM
 
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Texas has more state employees per capita than California--124 per 10,000, vs. our 108 per 10,000, as of 2011.

http://www.ccsce.com/PDF/Numbers-Sep...-Rank-2011.pdf
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Old 10-18-2014, 01:29 PM
 
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California pays its government employees a lot more. $51499 on average in Texas vs $70,777 on average in California. When you pay a lot more per employee you can't afford to hire nearly as many of them.

http://www.ccsce.com/PDF/Numbers-Sep...-Rank-2011.pdf

To hire just 108 employees the California is paying $7,643,916 [108*70777] to hire 124 employees the Texas only needs to spend $6,385,876 [124*51499].

In California government unions are among the largest campaign donors for politicians running for state wide office and the politicians are rewarding them with higher wages. In Texas, the government employee unions are less strong and that has held compensation down for government workers. Whether you think this is a good or bad think is probably related to whether or not you work for the government in the respective states. But the more you pay government employees the fewer of them you can afford. There are no free lunches.
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Old 10-18-2014, 11:53 PM
 
1,148 posts, read 1,566,321 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tex N Cal View Post
My family and I relocated to the bay area for work for a few years, but we returned to Texas last year. It was nice, but I wouldn't want to live there again as it's way too expensive. However, I did make a few trips to Sacramento and literally loved the area. We're a suburb kind of family, so the areas out 50 and 80 really stood out. I think I just loved the area due to the weather, the proximity to the mountains and bay area, the outdoor activities and the cheaper (at least in CA) cost of living. Honestly, I haven't stopped thinking about moving to Sacramento since we left California. Although we have more disposable income here in Texas, my wife and I (and our son too) feel that we were all much happier in California. It pains me as a Texan to say that. I'm in Houston now and although there are nice places around town, my wife and I find ourselves hating it a little more each day. Anyhow, housing prices scare us and just the general cost of living in California scares us, but I would very seriously consider a move back. I do have an office that I can transfer to in Sacramento at some point, so that's a start. One of the drawbacks though is leaving family who are getting older and get to see the kids more often being so close. I'm not sure if I am asking anything in particular in this post, but if anyone has any advice, please feel free to share.
Curious because I have mildly considered the reverse move from.Sac to Hou (due to increase in salary): What do you hate about Hou? Too spread out, weather, lack of culture?
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Old 10-19-2014, 12:01 AM
 
1,148 posts, read 1,566,321 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shelato View Post
California pays its government employees a lot more. $51499 on average in Texas vs $70,777 on average in California. When you pay a lot more per employee you can't afford to hire nearly as many of them.

http://www.ccsce.com/PDF/Numbers-Sep...-Rank-2011.pdf

To hire just 108 employees the California is paying $7,643,916 [108*70777] to hire 124 employees the Texas only needs to spend $6,385,876 [124*51499].

In California government unions are among the largest campaign donors for politicians running for state wide office and the politicians are rewarding them with higher wages. In Texas, the government employee unions are less strong and that has held compensation down for government workers. Whether you think this is a good or bad think is probably related to whether or not you work for the government in the respective states. But the more you pay government employees the fewer of them you can afford. There are no free lunches.
Eh, lobbyists exist for every organization that have enough money to pay them, public or private. CA has 12 mil more people than Texas, which equates to more state workers and a bigger pool of money to pay lobbyists.
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Old 10-19-2014, 12:14 AM
 
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A
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Originally Posted by davidt1 View Post
After the thousands of posts by Californians asking people in the Texas forum where they should buy when they move there, yours is like a raindrop in the CA drought. Sacramento needs you. Our largest industry, the government, needs more tax payers to support the good life.
Explain what is stopping you from applying for a job at the State? For any job that requires a college degree, you realize you'll get paid less at the state V a private company, right?

The "good" life is subjective. When I graduated college, most people considered the state the shyt life. Low pay and no chance to diversify your skillset to keep climbimg the career ladder. Then the economy tanked and the perception of state work changed dramatically.

This is what I call "speculative career investing" lol. Hindsight is always 20/20 with any decision involving money.
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Old 10-19-2014, 10:05 AM
 
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There are a few things that we dislike about Houston. I don't mean to bash the city, as there are plenty of Houston haters, but I think we'd be happier elsewhere. For one, the weather is a big issue. The heat and humidity are pretty tough to deal with, especially after living in California. Sure, you can still drink a few beers in the shade, go swimming, shop at the air conditioned mall or stay inside the house and watch TV to deal with the heat/humidity, but that's about it. California just spoiled us with great weather and scenic beauty. I always wanted to move West as I grew up and being near gold country was amazing. Houston has some areas that are pretty, but by and large, it is flat and there is concrete everywhere. I usually compare Houston to Los Angeles as they are both cities with massive sprawl. Traffic is horrible in Houston as well (I know Sacramento, like any larger city, has it's share of traffic congestion too). Houston doesn't have any kind of mass transit system, so everyone has a vehicle and they are all on the freeway. As for culture, I think Houston has plenty of culture. It has a massive museum district, a major performing arts center (2nd to NYC I think) and there was an article posted in the Houston Forum about Houston being the largest international city in the U.S. over NYC now. You'll find plenty of restaurants specializing in cuisine from around the world to delicious Texas BBQ. I would say that Houston is still a city struggling with an identity as it's the nations 4th largest city, but doesn't get the "street cred" of LA, NYC, Chicago, etc. In the end, we can make Houston home until retirement, but if we have it our way, we'll live elsewhere. Good luck with your decision.
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Old 10-19-2014, 12:42 PM
 
30,873 posts, read 36,804,277 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sacite View Post
A

Explain what is stopping you from applying for a job at the State? For any job that requires a college degree, you realize you'll get paid less at the state V a private company, right?

The "good" life is subjective. When I graduated college, most people considered the state the shyt life. Low pay and no chance to diversify your skillset to keep climbimg the career ladder. Then the economy tanked and the perception of state work changed dramatically.

This is what I call "speculative career investing" lol. Hindsight is always 20/20 with any decision involving money.
There's definitely some truth to this. I think the thing about government salaries and benefits was true 20 or 30 years ago, but things have changed since then. Government salaries are pretty much in line with, or even above private sector ones nowadays, with the exception of high level jobs. And the generous pension benefits are just unheard of....so most government workers make out better than they would in private industry in both salary and benefits.
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Old 10-19-2014, 01:36 PM
 
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Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
There's definitely some truth to this. I think the thing about government salaries and benefits was true 20 or 30 years ago, but things have changed since then. Government salaries are pretty much in line with, or even above private sector ones nowadays, with the exception of high level jobs. And the generous pension benefits are just unheard of....so most government workers make out better than they would in private industry in both salary and benefits.
It also really depends on what specific industry/union you are looking at. In California the prison guard union is really strong and them managed to dramatically increase their salaries even adjusting for inflation, there are other positions where the state probably isn't paying enough Psychiatrists in the same prisons where the State has had problems filling those positions.
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Old 10-19-2014, 01:45 PM
 
4,025 posts, read 3,271,099 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sacite View Post
Curious because I have mildly considered the reverse move from.Sac to Hou (due to increase in salary): What do you hate about Hou? Too spread out, weather, lack of culture?
I would say the strongest point about Houston is the ratio of salaries to housing cost. Wages are relatively high in Houston, but the cost of housing is pretty low, that means if you want to save up money for retirement or toward saving money for kids going to college, Houston is pretty good choice. But you have the humidity and energy costs tend to be fairly high, you need to use the AC more in the summer and the heat more in the winter vs Sacramento. The other thing is that regional economy in Houston is just stronger and more dynamic. Sacramento is still mostly a government town, with some high tech stuff, heatlhcare and some construction, Houston because its much bigger offers more career paths in many more industries.
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Old 10-19-2014, 11:30 PM
 
8,680 posts, read 17,219,492 times
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How does average public employee salary compare to private sector salaries, in California and Texas?
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