Does anyone ever want to LEAVE Texas?? (Houston, Lubbock: rent, wages)

[skeet09]

I'd like to leave Texas once I finish my graduate degree in about 2 years because I'd like to have a different experience of living somewhere else for at least once in my lifetime. I was born and raised in San Antonio and living somewhere else has always fascinated me.

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by Foreverking

The Weather
1, hot and muggy, Tornadoes, Floods, Hurricanes
2. The topography, most of the state, the parts with jobs is flat
Ok flat as a lumpy pancake
3. Bugs, and other critters, poisonous snakes
4. Property Taxes are outrageous
5. Too Conservative
6. Low wages, can make more almost anywhere else
7. The lone star flag...its every where, I couldnt stand it
8. My kid having to say the pledge of texas as school
9. George Bush lives there
10 Worst tailgaters in US
11. Dumbest road system on planet earth
12. Dallas Cowboys

LIKES:

1. Nice folks, but then again there kinda nice here where I live too
2. Austin had good college football team, you get to sit in the stands and sweat your butt off, but the team was great.
3. Cheap homes, then again to live in one you have to live in texas

OK gotcha. So now that you're in the Seattle area do you think it's a lot better than Texas? Every place has its good points and its bad points. When you look at Texas's good points and bad points and Seattle's good points and bad points, do you think Seattle and WA are the better trade off?

[Canine*Castle]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

OK gotcha. So now that you're in the Seattle area do you think it's a lot better than Texas? Every place has its good points and its bad points. When you look at Texas's good points and bad points and Seattle's good points and bad points, do you think Seattle and WA are the better trade off?

I think it's a given that's what he thinks.

[getmeoutofhere]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

I take it you didn't grow up in Texas? Just about any one that grew up in TX thinks that TX is the best thing since sliced bread.

Hi. Yeah, no.

[Foreverking]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

OK gotcha. So now that you're in the Seattle area do you think it's a lot better than Texas? Every place has its good points and its bad points. When you look at Texas's good points and bad points and Seattle's good points and bad points, do you think Seattle and WA are the better trade off?

I make 2 times the income for the same job, with less hours.
I pay 1/2 the property taxes (although even 1/2 seems unreasonable)
The seafood is much better
No body has asked me what church I go to (no one could care less here)
People here wait and let me in the lane, there is virtually no tailgating. Folks from this area that live in Texas will attest to that.
Only 1 weeks of Nasty heat (normally we don't have one at all).
200 ft pines and fir trees adorn my view
Cascade Mts on one side (Volcanoes), Olympics on the other. Ridiculously beautiful.

I think the lack of consideration in traffic is what set the ball rolling for me to consider getting the heck out of Texas. I have had many near accident from behind, one time a guy actually ran me off the road because I was too afraid he was going to hit me from behind, and my child was back there.

[Lovely95]

^I've never been asked what church I go to.

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by Foreverking

I make 2 times the income for the same job, with less hours.
I pay 1/2 the property taxes (although even 1/2 seems unreasonable)
The seafood is much better
No body has asked me what church I go to (no one could care less here)
People here wait and let me in the lane, there is virtually no tailgating. Folks from this area that live in Texas will attest to that.
Only 1 weeks of Nasty heat (normally we don't have one at all).
200 ft pines and fir trees adorn my view
Cascade Mts on one side (Volcanoes), Olympics on the other. Ridiculously beautiful.

I think the lack of consideration in traffic is what set the ball rolling for me to consider getting the heck out of Texas. I have had many near accident from behind, one time a guy actually ran me off the road because I was too afraid he was going to hit me from behind, and my child was back there.

I've always heard that Seattle is expensive. Now you say the wages there are a lot higher but if the cost if living is a lot higher they will offset each other. Once you offset your wages with the higher cost of living, are you still getting a better deal than what you got in Texas?

Yes the drivers in a lot of Texas are really bad. You're definitely right about that part. Here in Houston the drivers are really bad. I used to live in Lubbock and the drivers there were really bad. People I know in Houston that came from other places like New Orleans say the drivers here are a lot worse than they were there. I don't know what it is that makes Texans so aggressive when they're on the road. I guess the problem is Texas has a lot of people and people get annoyed with all the traffic on the road so they act like a**holes when they're on the road. That's the only thing I can come up with for that. Other places that I've been to like SF and New England, the drivers are much better in those places. People used their turn signals, they didn't stare at you with a dirty look because you were going 2 MPH slower than they wanted to go.

[Foreverking]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

I've always heard that Seattle is expensive. Now you say the wages there are a lot higher but if the cost if living is a lot higher they will offset each other. Once you offset your wages with the higher cost of living, are you still getting a better deal than what you got in Texas?

Yes the drivers in a lot of Texas are really bad. You're definitely right about that part. Here in Houston the drivers are really bad. I used to live in Lubbock and the drivers there were really bad. People I know in Houston that came from other places like New Orleans say the drivers here are a lot worse than they were there. I don't know what it is that makes Texans so aggressive when they're on the road. I guess the problem is Texas has a lot of people and people get annoyed with all the traffic on the road so they act like a**holes when they're on the road. That's the only thing I can come up with for that. Other places that I've been to like SF and New England, the drivers are much better in those places. People used their turn signals, they didn't stare at you with a dirty look because you were going 2 MPH slower than they wanted to go.

well, you are right, but its not enough to offset the higher wages.

Gas is about .25 cents higher per gallon. Rent is about the same I hear, because of higher prop taxes in Texas, they have to charge more for rent. Food seems about the same. Electric is lower (for now). Sales tax here in King County is criminal. Both states have NO income tax. Home prices are alot higher here, but generally you qualify for more because of the wages, and the property taxes are lower, so in the end, maybe that equals out...would need some kind of math wiz to tell me if its cheaper in Texas or Washington when its all said and done, as far as housing prices. Vacation prices are lower, since its so nice here, many people have Staycations. In Texas, most folks I know were always headed to Colorado for Vacation. No Tolls to to speak of. Auto Insurance, for whatever crazy reason is higher in Washington.

Give or take, even with some higher dollars, Im still saving quite a bit more living in WA, simply because I make more.

[3rddayfan]

Yes, I want to leave Texas. It's been a wilderness experience for us and one we would like to put some closure to. I only lived in SA so probably not fair to judge the entire state. Other areas may have had a better outcome for us.

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

I've always heard that Seattle is expensive. Now you say the wages there are a lot higher but if the cost if living is a lot higher they will offset each other. Once you offset your wages with the higher cost of living, are you still getting a better deal than what you got in Texas?

Originally Posted by Foreverking

well, you are right, but its not enough to offset the higher wages.

According to CNN Money, if you earn $100,000 in Houston, you'd have to earn $136,770 to have the same standard of living in Seattle.