Is Texas a good place to live? (Houston, Dallas: sales, rent)

[goodfella24]

Hey, I was wondering if Texas was a good place to live/ Start out.

Is the Employment rate high or low?
Taxes?
decent schools?
High or low rent prices?

Thanks Goodfella24

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by goodfella24

Hey, I was wondering if Texas was a good place to live/ Start out.

Is the Employment rate high or low?
Taxes?
decent schools?
High or low rent prices?

Thanks Goodfella24

#1 - better than the national average but it still is worse than everyone wants it to be; my person opinion is that the job market will improve in Texas faster than most parts of the country

#2 - property tax rates are higher than most areas, but actual expense may not be because of lower property prices; zero income tax, sales taxes not much different than anywhere else (8% in most areas)

#3 - school quality varies widely across the state, a city, or county. Many are excellent, some are terrible.

#4 - it depends where

Texas is a great place to live if you don't want a lot of government services, tolerate or enjoy warm/hot weather, and can get comfortable with the culture of Texas.

[goodfella24]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

#1 - better than the national average but it still is worse than everyone wants it to be; my person opinion is that the job market will improve in Texas faster than most parts of the country

#2 - property tax rates are higher than most areas, but actual expense may not be because of lower property prices; zero income tax, sales taxes not much different than anywhere else (8% in most areas)

#3 - school quality varies widely across the state, a city, or county. Many are excellent, some are terrible.

#4 - it depends where

Texas is a great place to live if you don't want a lot of government services, tolerate or enjoy warm/hot weather, and can get comfortable with the culture of Texas.

Thanks for the reply, Currently I'm looking at the best state options. My mother passed last year in february and my father has been ill with Pulmonary Fibrosis for a long time so it's looking like hes on his way out. I would like to leave Connecticut due to the fact on my own with the major tax increases and everything under the moon I wouldn't be able to afford staying here. I've always been fond of the south and am debating which states I could pull off finding a part/full time job and getting school finished with school.

[jtur88]

Is the Employment rate high or low?
***Variable, like everywhere else.
Taxes?
***A little lower than average, overall.
decent schools?
***As good as anywhere. School quality is usually a reflection of the kinds of students that attend, which the school has little control over. Good families = good schools.
High or low rent prices?
***Very low.

Texas has two of the five biggest megacities in the USA, but also a huge sprawling expanse of small and rural towns. No generalization can incorporate both.

[hellpaso]

It all depends on where you go. People from other regions often fail to realize that the state of Texas is larger than a lot of countries in the world. So there are huge variations in climate, terrain, & employment/education/housing availabilities.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by goodfella24

Thanks for the reply, Currently I'm looking at the best state options. My mother passed last year in february and my father has been ill with Pulmonary Fibrosis for a long time so it's looking like hes on his way out. I would like to leave Connecticut due to the fact on my own with the major tax increases and everything under the moon I wouldn't be able to afford staying here. I've always been fond of the south and am debating which states I could pull off finding a part/full time job and getting school finished with school.

Texas has commonality in its basic culture, neither southern nor western. It is Texas. The prevailing view towards government is "let's try to leave people alone."

But from city to city, county to count, there is a huge amount of variation. You can see here on all the Dallas vs. Houston arguments how much people will tak about their likes and dislikes.

I think Texas is one of the states most mis-represented by the media outside the state. For example, don't think Rick Perry is a good example of the kind of people we want in government here. He wins because his opponents have been terrible at winning elections.

I don't think there is any place in Texas like Connecticut.

Ask some more specific questions and you can get a lot of answers to determine if Texas is a good place for you.

[doctorjef]

You can go to Delaware and not experience as much culture shock upon leaving Connecticut, but have no sales tax at all, way lower property taxes than in Texas, and a state income tax that is at about the median level nationally and not a big burden. In fact, Delaware has a lower average individual tax burden than does Texas.

Schools in DE: some are excellent, some are pretty bad. Employment: better than on a lot of the East Coast. Weather: you don't have to swelter from May to October, and DE has four distinct seasons, including a very long and beautiful autumn.

I've lived in both Texas and Delaware (among other places). As to Texas politicians, there are lots of other bad ones besides Rick Perry, so it's just not that all his challengers have been politically inept. Texans have been electing awful politicians for years now.

[cinnamon_toast]

I have lived in both CT and TX. I live in a small town in TX. I love it here. I am politically progressive and have found like-minded people to interact with. I appreciate the social diversity in my community and I have been generally quite happy with the public schools. The music, the food, the outdoor lifestyle, the natural beauty of the area are so completely unique and wonderful. There are not a lot of jobs where we're at and many higher income people here work remotely, out of their homes. Generally, I find food and other daily expenses to be less than most other places. YMMV -- depending on where you settle in. I have fond memories of CT, but it is cold in the winter and the area I grew up in was rather white-bred, for better or worse. I hated living blocks from one of the poorest cities in America while kids I knew in HS drove around in their own Beemer. The income disparity was very apparent.

[jazznblues]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Texans have been electing awful politicians for years now.

I don't think this is unique to Texas.

Some of the worst I can think of in recent history came from California, Nevada, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Louisiana, New Jersey.....oops pretty soon get through every one of the fifty states.

[doctorjef]

We've got good ones here at the state level (don't care much for some of those in local government). The nutters - Christine-the-Witch-O'Donnell and someone you wouldn't have heard of called Glen Urquhart ("Separation of Church and State was Hitler's idea") were both soundly defeated in the last general election. We've got a great Democratic governor and good Democrats making up the majority of both houses in the General Assembly.