Better place to live?? Dallas metro or Houston metro? (Spring: unemployment, movie theater)

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by JKAddict

No, I meant the core of each city. To me, both cores are on the same level when it comes to urbanity, population, and a "big city" feel.

That's interesting. I disagree though... Houston feels quite a bit bigger in scale than Dallas does in a lot of ways to me. Buildings are taller, freeways are generally wider, there's more skylines, etc. It just feels like a much bigger city. Dallas (the city) feels more like Austin in terms of size and scale.

DFW as a whole does feel like a slightly bigger metro area overall than Houston, but the city itself feels much smaller from my view.

[JKAddict]

Originally Posted by Mr. Clutch

That's interesting. I disagree though... Houston feels quite a bit bigger in scale than Dallas does in a lot of ways to me. Buildings are taller, freeways are generally wider, there's more skylines, etc. It just feels like a much bigger city. Dallas (the city) feels more like Austin in terms of size and scale.

DFW as a whole does feel like a slightly bigger metro area overall than Houston, but the city itself feels much smaller from my view.

Yeah the buildings are taller, but not drastically more than Dallas. As for the freeways, I guess one could use that as indicator for the size of a city, but the freeways, for me, didn't leave that much of an impact. As for the skylines, I didn't really see a difference in the number of skylines, but that could just be where I stayed(by the Galleria).

From these forums, when I went to Houston I was expecting it to feel a lot more urban and have a more prominent "big city" feel than Dallas. To be honest, it felt just like Dallas expect with palm trees. The two cities' urban environments are definitely comparable to each other.

[Shake&Bake]

Originally Posted by JKAddict

Yeah the buildings are taller, but not drastically more than Dallas. As for the freeways, I guess one could use that as indicator for the size of a city, but the freeways, for me, didn't leave that much of an impact. As for the skylines, I didn't really see a difference in the number of skylines, but that could just be where I stayed(by the Galleria).

From these forums, when I went to Houston I was expecting it to feel a lot more urban and have a more prominent "big city" feel than Dallas. To be honest, it felt just like Dallas expect with palm trees. The two cities' urban environments are definitely comparable to each other.

I never will understand why people rank cities based on "how tall buildings are, how wide freeways are, etc." I rather priority be based on "how efficient are the urban environments/cores?"

You will not see much tall skyscrapers in Barcelona; it is still a highly urban city with more advanced walkable development than the vast majority of US cities.

[JKAddict]

Originally Posted by Shake&Bake

I never will understand why people rank cities based on "how tall buildings are, how wide freeways are, etc." I rather priority be based on "how efficient are the urban environments/cores?"

You will not see much tall skyscrapers in Barcelona; it is still a highly urban city with more advanced walkable development than the vast majority of US cities.

Definitely agree with this. Tall buildings are meaningless if they do little to connect with the urban environment. Like he said, Barcelona feels much much larger than both Dallas and Houston despite having less tall skyscrapers.

[DabOnEm]

There are different ways a city can feel larger than it is, or larger than another city. Honolulu looks like it has way more than 350,000 people when you look at its skyline.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by Shake&Bake

I never will understand why people rank cities based on "how tall buildings are...

Because of NYC.

how wide freeways are, etc."

Because of L.A.


Those two cities get the most "screen time" in this country, so people will base it off of those categories, especially those who live in rural areas and states where the biggest city isn't all that big. If some 30 year old man who grew up in (picking a town at random) Stockton, Kansas lived in that town his whole life with no knowledge of any major city outside of what he sees on TV, in movies, or reads in books, he's going to think skyscrapers and wide, busy freeways are what a large city is.

Even people who live in large cities that are smaller than the NYC's, L.A.'s, Chicagos, and Houstons of the country think that. There are people that grew up here in Fort Worth who in all honesty would be shocked to know that we have well over 500,000 people living here just based on what our skyline looks like.

Some people are just ignorant of what a city should be or how they should even classify a large city.

[bpollen]

I lived in Dallas for 30 years. I lived in Houston for a few months years ago, but I went there a few times for business and pleasure. I've done a lot of research on both, too.

Dallas is by far a more pleasant experience than Houston, IMO. IF you can take the extreme heat (for me...the fact that it's dryer doesn't make the heat less so; 105 degrees is 105 degrees; humidity actually keeps the heat down).

Traffic: Dallas has fewer people over a larger urban area; the highways and streets are well planned (they were planned for growth), so the traffic flows. Auto ins. rates, I believe, are a bit lower in Dallas. Houston streets and highways are crazy. Houston had boom growth, and the streets reflect that. Also, Dallas has a massive bus system AND A RAIL SYSTEM. You can't do without a car, but it is possible to go to work on the rail system regularly, and to go to the State Fair and other events via Rail. It's very economical and efficient...the rail system is well planned and easy to use.

Weather: Houston is humid. Most Dallasites can't take the Houston humidity (but doesn't bother me). Dallas is hotter, and it gets sizzling hot in late summer. Triple digits for days on end, with a bright sun that endlessly beats down on you and shrivels everything in sight. Droughts are not uncommon. Sprinkler systems are necessary not to make natural landscapes look good; they're necessary to keep them alive. You don't need a sprinkler system in Houston.

Houston has mosquitos. A lot of them. Not for the faint hearted. Dallas has them, but I think I got a mosquito bit just a couple of times. (West Nile Virus is in Dallas because apparently Dallas is in a flight path for skeeters on their way south.)

Homeowner's Insurance: HO ins. is a LOT more in Houston because of hurricanes and floods. Dallas HO ins is pretty low for a big cit.

Natural disasters: Dallas gets hail and tornadoes. I lived there 30 years and never saw a tornado, but it is a risk, if slight. Most HO claims there are for roofs because of hail. It hails every year.

Property taxes: Slightly higher in Houston because of added flood district charges and such. (Property taxes are high all over Texas....one of the highest rates in the nation.)

View and scenery: Houston wins this one, hands down. Emerald green everywhere, because of all the rain, and because Houston has chosen to have green areas instead of just concrete everywhere. There are parks and lakes and trails everywhere. Dallas some green areas, but they are brown in the summer because of no rain....unless they're small enough to be watered. Area lakes in Dallas are man made and devoid of the lush trees and green grass that lake areas usually have.

Economy: Dallas has a really diverse economy. That's why I moved there. Even in a recession, Dallas fares better than many big cities because it has so many bases for its economy: financial, banking, manufacturing, legal, corporate headquarters, oil & gas, apparel, medical, insurance, etc. Houston is more diverse now, I think, but is still heavy on oil & gas, so it gets hit harder in a recession that involves energy.

A word about the traffic in Dallas: Expect to travel a distance to get some places for shopping because Dallas is so spread out. But it won't take long...the highways are planned well to get people where they need to go, and there won't be the traffic that one encounters in many big cities. It is super easy to get everywhere, I found.

Shopping: shopping galore in both cities. Dallas I think has more movie theaters, incl. some independent ones. Large, easy to get to malls with everything you might want, Sam's Clubs in all areas, etc., etc. But Houston has HEB, which Dallas doesn't have (yet).

Housing: Housing costs less in Houston, seems to me. BUT there are HOAs everywhere. Dallas has a lot of areas w/o HOAs, but the houses cost more.

Also, Dallas is a cleaner city, IMO. The air seems cleaner, and the streets and downtown area. Maybe because things are newer in Dallas, or because the lack of high humidity makes the air seem cleaner. I don't know. Maybe because there's more industry close to the Gulf.

[DabOnEm]

Ah so you lived in Dallas for 30 years. That explains the extreme bias.

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by DabOnEm

Ah so you lived in Dallas for 30 years. That explains the extreme bias.

His points sound dead on, to me. I would also call Dallas the more pleasant and orderly city. The summers are hellish, though, and the main reason I'm not sure I could live up there.

[thenewtexan]

Ten years later, as this thread starts to approach puberty, let's just say this debate will never be settled...unless we plan on financing its college tuition.