A young family looking to wipe the slate clean and work towards a better life. (Houston: low income, fit in)

[rwmacy]

Me and my family are looking to wipe the slate clean and reinvent ourselves.

I'll give a bit of background and then tell you about our current situation, I'm really curious on other peoples thoughts about this adventure.

Me and my wife both are in the military and young, we met thru the service. I'm 21 and she is turning 22. We have a amazing 9 month old little girl. When I met her I moved up to MO and we got a apt together. I however got a real rut of a job working 60+ hours weekly cleaning up nasty houses (company called servicemaster), the end result was me never being home and getting called out constantly. The management wasn't great and it was not working for us. We moved to paducah KY in hope of finding a cheaper cost of living and better income than I had in missouri making 9 bucks/hr. I used my 7 years of computer experience and landed a job here with geeksquad, I make 10/hr now which is great. Hours are hit or miss tho, and the position is only part time. I drive a hour to and from work everyday and we are living in a family members home, I feel like a mooch and I know we are overstaying our welcome. We've been doing this for about 6 months now and it's not working for us. The area is very bare and boring, the state has no money, and it's not the ideal place for me to start a IT/Freelancing business on the side. We don't like the general "I dont care" attitude this place seems to hold. We are more city slicks if anything and enjoy populated areas!

My wife has some fond memories of TX growing up there for a few years and I grew up in FL so HOT and HUMID is my element, in fact while I was deployed to haiti I loved the climate! So did my skin! My daughter has my skin type so it would probably be good for her too.

My research says TX is great for business and thats something I want to create (an income producing asset.) I dont want to always be trading time for money and I love creating things and I can be very resourceful.

I feel like we need to get away from our families and do our thing... Spread out a bit and grow as a family and as a couple.

I dont expect to make very much but we have never been ones to need much of anything.. we are very low low upkeep. I get healthcare and dental thru the service. I need a good inexpensive growing area to live, that is somewhat safe for my little girl.

I'm probably going to attempt to do a job xfer thru geeksquad or I may search for jobs over the net for IT related work. I just know that we want to and need to take the plunge soon. We still have some bounce back being young even though we have a child. I know we will find a way.

We are winging this, and if it fails we can recover, I doubt we would be any worse off! HA

Main question though if TL;DR.. Where do you suggest we live? What should I be looking at? What advice do you have for me? What do I need to know about TX?

Thanks for your time

[cheryjohns]

I would say Houston or Dallas. Houston is a little cheaper from what I have seen. It's also a city of transplants, so you will fit in fine.

[mayhem154]

Go with D/FW or Houston. With about 60 Best Buy stores between them, you'll have better luck finding a store to transfer to than you would in a smaller town with only one or two locations. Houston and Dallas are massive, geographically speaking, so make sure you find a place to live that is close to the store in which you will be working. Best of luck to you and your family.

[shoe01]

If you like humidity, Houston has plenty.

[TurtleCreek80]

I would actually say look in medium sized towns/cities and stay away from Houston & Dallas- reason being, your rent budget is probably, what- $400-500/mo? It's going to be REALLy hard to find a family apartment for that little in a big city unless you are ok with really unsafe areas. The suburbs are so spread out that by the time you go far out enough to find a cheap apartment in a safe area, you'll be spending $200 or so commuting to work each month in extra gas/toll/car maintenance expenses.

I'd look into San Antonio, maybe Corpus Christi, College Station, Waco.

[Squirl]

Do you have savings? Very hard to move without a job. I think San Antonio would probably be better than Dallas or Houston. There are many towns in that area and also a strong military presence. Rent would be lower than Dallas, Houston or Austin. If you don't have family around, you cut off having a support system if you have an emergency and need someone to watch your child..... just sayin'

[cheryjohns]

I was going more for the larger towns to help get them out of the low income bracket, since there are more job opportunies where the pay would be more. Upward mobilty is limited in smaller towns.

[texasdiver]

The Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston areas are going to have the most economic growth and opportunities for a young out-of-state couple I think. However both are ENORMOUS metro areas with large pockets of extreme wealth and large pockets of extreme poverty.

For a young family with kids you're probably best off looking to live in one of the nicer suburban areas where you can depend on finding top-quality schools, even if the rent is a big more. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably be willing to pay a bit more for rent to be sure my kid was in a top school district.

For the Dallas/Fort Worth area that's basically going to be the northern suburbs of which there are dozens. For the Houston area that's going to be a lot of different suburbs scattered around the city.

Both San Antonio and Austin are a step behind Dallas and Houston in terms of economic opportunity. San Antonio is just a slower paced city that is predominantly Hispanic and dominated by 3 industries (Health care, military, and tourism). Austin is too popular for its own good and draws so many young people from out of state due to the Austin lifestyle that it will be harder to find work there.

Most of the smaller towns in Texas are going to have less opportunity or will be more insular towards outsiders.

So pick one of the nicer suburbs that are close to Dallas, Fort Worth, or Houston as your best bet.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by cheryjohns

I was going more for the larger towns to help get them out of the low income bracket, since there are more job opportunies where the pay would be more. Upward mobilty is limited in smaller towns.

There's a big difference between College Station & San Antonio and a depressed small town like Greenville or Longview. Even Temple-Killeen area would be a good pick for OP.

It is very hard to pull one's self out of poverty in a major metro area. College towns make a good place to start since the public schools are generally better there and the cost of living is relatively cheap. And it's safe.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

The Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston areas are going to have the most economic growth and opportunities for a young out-of-state couple I think. However both are ENORMOUS metro areas with large pockets of extreme wealth and large pockets of extreme poverty.

For a young family with kids you're probably best off looking to live in one of the nicer suburban areas where you can depend on finding top-quality schools, even if the rent is a big more. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably be willing to pay a bit more for rent to be sure my kid was in a top school district.

So pick one of the nicer suburbs that are close to Dallas, Fort Worth, or Houston as your best bet.

I don't think you are being realistic about what this family can afford. A $20,000 annual income is $1560 net per month. That is before health insurance. How is a family going to rent a home/apartment in McKinney or Plano or Spring or Katy for $450-500/mo....which is ALL they can afford and only leaves $1,000 for all food, bills, car expenses, clothes for growing kids, etc.