Is Amarillo a good place to raise a family? (Houston: crime rate, house)

[moosh]

I posted some thread months ago about moving to either Lubock or abilene or Midland, but then my husband accepted a job offer in seattle ,Washington state,after moving to Seattle, due to less salary pay and very high cost of the living we decided to go with Tx 's job offer, but this time company has a position available only in Amarillo,since i have never been in those area so i need some opinions regarding the schools and crime rate in Amarillo,after reading alot about lubock ,now i am so sad that we turned down the job offer in lubock
we have a 6 years old daughter,and the only thing i care most is a good and safe place to raise a kid with good schools and family friendly places and things to do for her.
thank you for any input.

[Westerner92]

I'm sorry you've had a bad experience. Seattle is a great place to visit, but I've wondered about how practical it is to live there. Amarillo is a nice family friendly town. Being a Lubbock native, I prefer Lubbock over Amarillo, but it's still a good city. To me, it's like Lubbock's more industrial neighbor. As long as you stay away from the northern and eastern parts of town, you should be fine with safety. The best parts of town are in the southwest, and Canyon about 15 minutes to the south is a nice town as well. The schools are decent for the most part; I would look into the schools that feed into Amarillo High, Randall High or Canyon High. I'm not too knowledgeable about the activites Amarillo has to offer (I mostly go up there to visit family), but Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the US, is great for outdoor activities.

Good luck with your decision, and I hope this helps.

[moosh]

Thank you Westerner92. i will also look more in this forum to find more information, but thank you again for sharing your information.

[GayleTX]

Amarillo is divided into two school districts because it sits on the border of two counties - Potter and Randell. I would suggest choosing the part of Amarillo that is in Randell County (west/southwest)....not only are the schools better but it is the safer, newer part of town and is near the shopping/dining/medical districts. The school admin office can give you an outline of the school district or, if you call them with an address, they can tell you which district that house is in.

Is your husband by any chance going to be working at Pantex? If so, that's on the opposite side of Amarillo (20 miles down bumper-to-bumper truck-laden I-40) from the better part of town and would make quite a commute. Many people who work at Pantex choose to live in Panhandle, a small town about 10 miles east of Pantex....very nice, clean, safe, good schools.

[moosh]

Thank you GayleTX
we don't know yet which side of the city he will be working ,but it's a dental clinic. thank you so much for your help.

[moosh]

Originally Posted by Westerner92

I'm sorry you've had a bad experience. Seattle is a great place to visit, but I've wondered about how practical it is to live there. Amarillo is a nice family friendly town. Being a Lubbock native, I prefer Lubbock over Amarillo, but it's still a good city. To me, it's like Lubbock's more industrial neighbor. As long as you stay away from the northern and eastern parts of town, you should be fine with safety. The best parts of town are in the southwest, and Canyon about 15 minutes to the south is a nice town as well. The schools are decent for the most part; I would look into the schools that feed into Amarillo High, Randall High or Canyon High. I'm not too knowledgeable about the activites Amarillo has to offer (I mostly go up there to visit family), but Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the US, is great for outdoor activities.

Good luck with your decision, and I hope this helps.

by the way may i know why do you prefer the Lubbock over Amarillo? is it just only because you are originally from Lubbock?

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by moosh

by the way may i know why do you prefer the Lubbock over Amarillo? is it just only because you are originally from Lubbock?

To me, Amarillo is more run-down looking and not as clean as Lubbock. There don't seem to be as many things to do, and it doesn't have a large univeristy to contribute to the athletic and cultural scenes. Amarillo is still a nice place though.

[Fraghawk]

Amarillo is a great family place. Try looking into the woodlands, Its a newer subdivision nw of town.
On the subject of schools, look into Carver for elementary and Sam Houston for Middle school.
Both are great schools with diversity and great teachers.
I hope you enjoy the biggest small town in texas!

[texdav]

I think like most laces it depends on the person. In my experience between dallas and Amarillo there is much at all really of interest. Amarillo is the first realy nice area and to the north it is very interesting.The one thign that I was not use to tho were when the sudden storms start to come in;I had never seen such suddenness realy and skys turn that what I can only call evil lookig.

[GayleTX]

I have lived both places 5 years each....I prefer Lubbock. It just seems a little more refined, is a prettier place, weather is a little less rugged, it doesn't have an interstate going thru the middle of it that makes traffic a little wild at times. There are lots of activities at the university that are available to the public.