Please help us decide where to live (Houston, Dallas: transplants, amusement park)

[honestjar5]

Cross posted in the FL forum.



My husband and I currently live in the Seattle area and while we love many things about it here, we are considering a move to either Texas or Florida. In terms of areas, we are looking at the Dallas area for TX (i have spent time in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio but never DFW) and either Orlando or Jacksonville for FL. Since we are not too familiar with either state, I’m posting this in the general state forum because we are open to other suggestions as well. I will begin with our general reason for moving and what we are hoping to find, and then follow with what specifically we are interested in in TX.

One of our primary reasons for wanting to move is that we are very conservative, and as we get closer to starting our family, we are finding it more and more important to us to live somewhere with lots of people that (hopefully) share and support our values, or (at least) do not openly mock and scorn our values. We have had a hard time making friends in Seattle because everyone here just assumes that we think like them, and they have no hesitation airing their contempt for people who think like we do. We want to get away from this and live somewhere where, at the very least, the more left-leaning folks know how to coexist with conservatives. We would also like to find a place where it looks like the population will be willing to move on from COVID at some point. While things are technically open here, there are still many restrictions in place, and the population in general is going above and beyond what is required. For instance, my husband and I have not been allowed into our offices for almost two years, and all of my attempts at finding social outlets involve masking and/or zoom meetings. We do not get the sense that anyone is looking to change this anytime soon, despite the population being highly vaccinated.

So we are mostly looking for somewhere a bit more level headed, but other important factors are:

-Cost of living (homes where we live start at around $1M), including taxes
-Friendly people— we want to know our neighbors
-Access to major airport— we love to travel but also our families are scattered all over
-Healthcare quality and availability (esp women’s healthcare)
-Outdoor recreation
-Weather
-Religious community- we are catholic and it would be nice to live amongst people who are openly Christian
-Safety
-Job opportunities (my husband will keep his job remotely but I am a civil engineer and will need a position in that field)
-Schools? (We are leaning toward homeschool but might take advantage of the public school system if it was pretty good)

Now, for TX specifically, we are drawn to:

-Lots of tech jobs should my husband lose his remote work position
-Good food
-Six flags (I am obsessed with roller coasters)
-Its central location to pretty much everywhere else in the country

What, in your opinions, are some things we should know about TX? Could we find what we are looking for in the DFW area? If not, where else would you suggest we look? How you do you think these areas rank as far as our criteria? If you have experience with both TX and FL, which do you think has the most of what we are looking for?

Thank you so much in advance!

[TX Rover]

FL, I would toss immediately. Jobs there tend to pay less, the vast majority of the schools are completely shot and if your family is scattered all over, every travel trip will eat a day.

DFW, SA and Houston (really more Montgomery county) are probably your best bets. They’re going to be a little bit more libertarian than the current definition of “conservative” so you’ll want to be aware that if you’re looking for that prairie Republican, you’re going to encounter some side-eye.

All of them will offer solid public schools, plenty of available housing stock and activities for a younger family.

More specifics will help narrow down the areas (budget/possible commute for you/housing type) from a political perspective, I’ve spent considerable time in all of them, if you’re looking for a neighborhood that will give some more of a community feel and younger families, it’s likely to be full of transplants, so political leanings will be all over the map, but most everyone tends to get along just fine.

[Angie682]

Move to Utah. It's conservative, homogeneous, has lots of outdoor activities and the scenery is amazing! Texas is overrated. Utah schools are also rated significantly better than Texas schools.

They have a great local amusement park. It's not sweltering in the summer and you don't spend all day in line like at Six Flags. Lots of Tech and civil engineering jobs there. Great restaurants that are not chains due to all the tourists that go there to ski.

It's so funny people always think Texas is this conservative mecca. Unless you're living in the sticks it's really not like that in the metro areas.

Florida is so gross. I have no idea why anyone would ever want to live in that state.

[ClaraC]

Twin Creeks neighborhood in Cedar Park, a northern suburb of Austin.

[honestjar5]

Originally Posted by TX Rover

FL, I would toss immediately. Jobs there tend to pay less, the vast majority of the schools are completely shot and if your family is scattered all over, every travel trip will eat a day.

DFW, SA and Houston (really more Montgomery county) are probably your best bets. They’re going to be a little bit more libertarian than the current definition of “conservative” so you’ll want to be aware that if you’re looking for that prairie Republican, you’re going to encounter some side-eye.

All of them will offer solid public schools, plenty of available housing stock and activities for a younger family.

More specifics will help narrow down the areas (budget/possible commute for you/housing type) from a political perspective, I’ve spent considerable time in all of them, if you’re looking for a neighborhood that will give some more of a community feel and younger families, it’s likely to be full of transplants, so political leanings will be all over the map, but most everyone tends to get along just fine.

Thank you for your input! At this point, we would certainly settle for libertarian. As far as budget, we would probably be looking for housing that is less than 600-700K. The commute is a good point. I do really hate commuting and would not want to spend more than 30 minutes each way in traffic.

[honestjar5]

Originally Posted by Angie682

Move to Utah. It's conservative, homogeneous, has lots of outdoor activities and the scenery is amazing! Texas is overrated. Utah schools are also rated significantly better than Texas schools.

They have a great local amusement park. It's not sweltering in the summer and you don't spend all day in line like at Six Flags. Lots of Tech and civil engineering jobs there. Great restaurants that are not chains due to all the tourists that go there to ski.

It's so funny people always think Texas is this conservative mecca. Unless you're living in the sticks it's really not like that in the metro areas.

Florida is so gross. I have no idea why anyone would ever want to live in that state.

Thank you! I have actually been trying to convince my husband of UT but TX and FL are the only conservative-leaning states that my husband’s company will allow employees to work from remotely (you would think it wouldn’t matter but I guess their payroll has to be set up for it). I do really love UT for its politics, religious community, and its boundless outdoor recreation. It is also closer to our families than any of the other options. But my husband is not looking to find a new company unless he was forced to. Fingers crossed this option opens up for us sometime soon.


But just to help me give him something to think about, just how good are options for tech jobs?

[honestjar5]

Originally Posted by ClaraC

Twin Creeks neighborhood in Cedar Park, a northern suburb of Austin.

Thank you! I will check these out. Why did you suggest them?

[Angie682]

Originally Posted by honestjar5

But just to help me give him something to think about, just how good are options for tech jobs?

You can check out the Silicon Slopes job board on KSL (local TV station) for an idea of what's out there.

Good luck!!!

[TX Rover]

Originally Posted by honestjar5

Thank you! I will check these out. Why did you suggest them?

You’re not finding a 30 minute commute from there to a job for you.

[TX Rover]

Originally Posted by honestjar5

Thank you for your input! At this point, we would certainly settle for libertarian. As far as budget, we would probably be looking for housing that is less than 600-700K. The commute is a good point. I do really hate commuting and would not want to spend more than 30 minutes each way in traffic.

30 minutes is going to tighten things down, particularly if you’re looking in-office (very likely, many employers are going back here). At that budget, you’ll be fine - although it may scrap Montgomery Co.