10 reasons people are moving to Texas

[LakeTravis]

I've lived in Austin for about 20 years now. It's nothing like the Austin it used to be. Even the insane are beginning to wonder how crazy the city government has become. Traffic is terrible, every new road plan is a toll road, the city banned grocery bags and is obsessed with putting in choo-choo trains that nobody rides, water is getting expensive, electricity is getting expensive, property taxes are outrageous, downtown is becoming extreme high density with no place to park because our government heroes want everybody to ride their bikes in the 110 degree heat..........

It's not the Austin that I remember.

 

[Ally]

I live in Lubbock, which has about 220,000. It's a nice size, little humidity and low cost if living. We hire people over the phone several times a year from California, Michigan and other places, because they want to move to TX after job lay offs. So far, we've hired some really good people. They love the low housing costs.

 

[clifp]

Thanks! Your effort in getting the message across is greatly appreciated.

Out of deference to REWahoo service to our country, and the board, and his unfailing efforts to discouraging migration to paradise (aka Texas), I have announcement.

I have canceled my plans to trade in the boring sameness of the weather, lack of dangerous critters, and lush tropical fauna and flora of Hawaii, to move to Houston.

I know I will miss the exciting weather, the fragrance of refineries performing their magic, and the sublime beauty of the place. It is with a sad heart that I make this announcement. Fortunately Nord's kid will be able to inform what I am missing since she attends Rice for another year.

 

[REWahoo]

I know I will miss the exciting weather, the fragrance of refineries performing their magic...

Ahhh, the sweet (crude) perfume of the Houston Ship Channel. Free chemical peel for your sinus cavities...

 

[haha]

I live in Lubbock, which has about 220,000. It's a nice size, little humidity and low cost if living. We hire people over the phone several times a year from California, Michigan and other places, because they want to move to TX after job lay offs. So far, we've hired some really good people. They love the low housing costs.

I was in Lubbock one day I think on a hot day in late fall when it was snowing. Snowing the fine detritus off cotton being hauled from the fields in big crates on metal trailers. Weird sight.

Ha

 

[Tyro]

Wanting to work and live inexpensively in a nice affordable home that you own with low taxes can be a great motivator.

In one form or another, it has been the human motivation on migration for eons.

Yeah, but.... TEXAS‽ (Forgive me, we've been watching reruns of Gunsmoke on Encore Westerns....)

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I've lived in Austin for about 20 years now. It's nothing like the Austin it used to be. Even the insane are beginning to wonder how crazy the city government has become. Traffic is terrible, every new road plan is a toll road, the city banned grocery bags and is obsessed with putting in choo-choo trains that nobody rides, water is getting expensive, electricity is getting expensive, property taxes are outrageous, downtown is becoming extreme high density with no place to park because our government heroes want everybody to ride their bikes in the 110 degree heat..........

It's not the Austin that I remember.

Mebbe I change my mind.

 

[timo2]

It looks like REWahoo's attempts to scare folks away isn't working.

Half of the 10 fastest-growing cities in the US are in Texas, according to new figures.


BBC News - 10 reasons why so many people are moving to Texas

I was thinking it was because they didn't visit first before they moved to Texas

 

[JakeBrake]

Yeah, but.... TEXAS‽ (Forgive me, we've been watching reruns of Gunsmoke on Encore Westerns....)

Although the villains in "Gunsmake" are often Texas cowboys, "Gunsmoke" is set in Dodge City, Kansas.

Dodge City, Kansas, also has a cowboy heritage. I've includes two pictures of a feedlot at Dodge City, Kansas.

 

[Tyro]

Although the villains in "Gunsmake" are often Texas cowboys, "Gunsmoke" is set in Dodge City, Kansas.

"Gunsmake"? Is that the Texan spelling? I know where Dodge is; it's the show's depiction of Texas & "Texans" that I was referring to.

 

[MBAustin]

So I'm here because I married a native Texan and something just keeps pullin' them back. We've been in Austin since '99 and it's hard to believe how much it has grown - the city population is more than 2x and the metro region probably more. Property taxes are huge and the schools are still not properly funded - the latest court case on this has still not been resolved. I would not choose to move here now, but we have enough roots that we'll probably stick around.

 

[Texas Proud]

So I'm here because I married a native Texan and something just keeps pullin' them back. We've been in Austin since '99 and it's hard to believe how much it has grown - the city population is more than 2x and the metro region probably more. Property taxes are huge and the schools are still not properly funded - the latest court case on this has still not been resolved. I would not choose to move here now, but we have enough roots that we'll probably stick around.

While reading about the growth of the cites etc., I saw where Texas was the 'stickiest' state.... IOW, people born there stay there more than any other state... no surprise, but Alaska was the least sticky....


One thing that I have noticed.... is that when someone goes overseas and are asked "where are you from?".... people from Texas will say 'Texas'.... people from the other states will usually say "USA" or something similar...

 

[nafddur1]

How sad that being a cheap place to live is why people move there. We all know that it is cheap for a reason!

 

[LRDave]

How sad that being a cheap place to live is why people move there. We all know that it is cheap for a reason!

Do tell......

(Could be a thread killer.)

 

[Bestwifeever]

How sad that being a cheap place to live is why people move there. We all know that it is cheap for a reason!

Which is what?

 

[texasdiver]

Been living here 10 years and the wife and I plan to get out as soon as we push the last kid out of the house and into college.

Texas is in completely environmentally unsustainable. Aquifers are being trashed to grow cotton in the desert and rivers are going increasingly dry as long-term drought settles on the area. With climate change the Chihuahuan Desert will creep northward until it eventually covers most of the state. Yet around here people still think they have a God-given right to grow giant lawns of St. Augustine grass with cheap subsidized municipal water. In fact many HOAs still require it.

When this state finally runs out of water it will not be pleasant or pretty. And I, for one, don't want to be around to live through it.

PS, the reason no one leaves is because we are bordered on all sides by states that are even worse basket cases in one way or the other. Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. You have to go a LONG way from Texas to find more opportunity...pretty much all the way to one of the coasts. A quick trip to Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, or Eastern NM will cure pretty much anyone of the notion that the grass is greener across the fence. So kids who grow up here pretty much stay here. No where else to go.

 

[ls99]

Wasn't there a song that went sorta like: Happiness is love of Texas in the rear view mirror.

In the 80's driving through Texas after leaving Louisiana, heard it on the radio many times. Exited at Juares on the way to Needles Ca.

 

[MichaelB]

I poke a lot of fun at Texas but that was where DW and I lived for the first year of our marriage, and we still have many fond memories of Austin. In fact, the biggest problem we had while living there had nothing to do with any of the things REW often posts about, it was with the Venezuelan Consul, a world class a$$hat.

 

[JakeBrake]

I was in Lubbock one day I think on a hot day in late fall when it was snowing. Snowing the fine detritus off cotton being hauled from the fields in big crates on metal trailers. Weird sight.

Ha

If you haven't been to serious cotton country in a couple of years, you will be amazed at the improvements in handling cotton in the field. You will see very little wasted cotton by the roadside these days. Of course, I'm sure the improvements displaced many field hands.

 

[HFWR]

Been living here 10 years and the wife and I plan to get out as soon as we push the last kid out of the house and into college.

Texas is in completely environmentally unsustainable. Aquifers are being trashed to grow cotton in the desert and rivers are going increasingly dry as long-term drought settles on the area. With climate change the Chihuahuan Desert will creep northward until it eventually covers most of the state. Yet around here people still think they have a God-given right to grow giant lawns of St. Augustine grass with cheap subsidized municipal water. In fact many HOAs still require it.

When this state finally runs out of water it will not be pleasant or pretty. And I, for one, don't want to be around to live through it.

PS, the reason no one leaves is because we are bordered on all sides by states that are even worse basket cases in one way or the other. Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. You have to go a LONG way from Texas to find more opportunity...pretty much all the way to one of the coasts. A quick trip to Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, or Eastern NM will cure pretty much anyone of the notion that the grass is greener across the fence. So kids who grow up here pretty much stay here. No where else to go.

Agree that water is/will continue to be a problem in TX, NM, AZ, CA, CO, etc. as populations grow.

 

[HFWR]

I poke a lot of fun at Texas but that was where DW and I lived for the first year of our marriage, and we still have many fond memories of Austin. In fact, the biggest problem we had while living there had nothing to do with any of the things REW often posts about, it was with the Venezuelan Consul, a world class a$$hat.

You don't have to take this kind of abuse! We have other kinds, too...

 

[W2R]

Agree that water is/will continue to be a problem in TX, NM, AZ, CA, CO, etc. as populations grow.

Good point - - I found water to be even more of a problem when living in southern California than it was for us in Texas. It tasted even worse, and was rationed for a while when we lived there.

We have plenty of water in New Orleans... as you can see from this photo taken earlier this week after a 2-3 hour deluge. Unfortunately crime can be a huge problem for retirees here.

 

[REWahoo]

Been living here 10 years and the wife and I plan to get out as soon as we push the last kid out of the house and into college.

I tried to tell you!

Sure hope you can find a way to speed up your departure...

 

[nafddur1]

Let's face it, it's nice to live in a cheap (oh, OK, inexpensive) place. But then it's much harder financially to relocate to a more desirable location. Oh well, we all have to make choices.

 

[FIREd]

Let's face it, it's nice to live in a cheap (oh, OK, inexpensive) place. But then it's much harder financially to relocate to a more desirable location. Oh well, we all have to make choices.

"Desirable" is very personal.