Trying to pick a city:Houston, Dallas, or Austin?

sjoe · Jan 3, 2004

In order to maintain each of the above city's position in the new "America's fattest cities" rankings, I believe you have to agree to gain weight every year or they won't let you in.

Maybe not Austin, on second though.

Shiva_Las_Vegas · Jan 3, 2004

Just my opinion......Fort Worth.

Not as expensive as Dallas...especially the Plano area. Close enough to Dallas if you do want to go and do stuff. Crime rates aren't as bad and there are PLENTY of places to work in Fort Worth and Arlington.

Shotzie · Jan 3, 2004

I like Houston.

Sjoe, I might be offended at your reply if it wasn't so darned funny!

Houston has great opportunity, every kind of nursing position you couuld ever want can be found there. Salaries are high compared to the cost of living. Housing is cheap...

(--$100,000 buys a surburban 3 bedroom, 2200sp ft home on a lot big enough to have a garden and children's playset, in a planned community with park and community pool)

Natural events like hurricanes give enough prior notice for you to be prepared

Lots of culture and big community events, sports of all kinds and the beach is about an hour away.

And the people are nice. I've always had positive experiences in that town.

LilRedRN1973 · Jan 3, 2004

Houston has several GREAT hospitals. My grandfather was a surgeon at Hermann and it's a wonderful hospital. There is a great cancer center there. I grew up in Houston and I agree with the previous poster...it's CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP to live there. I miss the low cost of living there. I went into shock when I moved to northern Nevada and saw how much they wanted for houses up here. The same house the poster mentioned above that would sell for $100K would be well over $200k here. And if you wanted it to be in a nice area of town, it would be closer to $250k.

And the food there is out of this world! I miss all the great restaurants downtown. There is great shopping at the Galleria (along with ice skating), an amusement park (Astroworld), a GREAT opera and ballet (I went all the time and miss that dearly), and a really nice zoo. They also have some terrific museums. The nightlife is great and downtown has areas of unique culture (Montrose for example). I haven't been back since moving away in the mid 90's so it may have changed. But I always think of my old hometown fondly and if I could just change the weather there, I might think of moving back. I have adjusted to clean, dry mountain living and would dread going back to the thick, heavy humidity.

The other thing I miss about Houston is something you mentioned. The terrific neighborhoods. Where we live now, there aren't any real established neighborhoods. I loved the block I lived on...we would have big block parties and everyone knew one another. There was a nice neighborhood pool where we would all hang out in the summer and a great park. Lots of biking trails and trees. I actually lived about 20 minutes NE of the city in a town called Humble/Kingwood area and it was pretty nice. I'm not sure how it is now except I do know it's grown quite a bit. But you can get a gorgeous house on the lake for well under $150k. And those are usually close to 3000sq ft. in a planned community with a country club...and those houses are right on the golf course.

The only other place I would consider moving back to in Texas is somewhere in Hill Country (like San Marcos, New Braunfels). I went to school there at Southwest Texas State and loved it. Very pretty area with tons of camping, biking, tubing down the Guadalupe. I also loved Austin (was at UT for the summer) and wouldn't mind living there but I have heard the house prices have skyrocketed in the past few years.

Good luck with whatever you decide!! :)

whipping girl in 07, RN · Jan 4, 2004

Of the three, I like Austin the best as far as being a nice place to live. My best friend lives in Kingwood, TX (suburb of Houston that a previous post spoke of) and it's a nice area too. Definitely cheaper than Austin, but I don't know, I just like Austin.

No way I'd live in Dallas though! Not even a suburb.

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · Jan 4, 2004

If you like the heat then I guess Houston is a good choice. I did visit there and there were some surrounding communities that were really nice.

To defend "Dallas". Many (including myself) don't live in Dallas but in some of the surrounding cities then commute to either Dallas or Fort Worth. There are many lovely smaller cities in, around and in between Dallas and Fort Worth. I work in Fort Worth but live between the two big cities so I could just as easily work in Dallas or one of the many community hospitals that are closer. My commute is between 30-45 minutes depending on traffic.

I think Austin is lovely, my brother lives there. I don't know what the opportunities are as far as hospitals. My brother says traffic is a real hassle because they don't have the big highways that Houston and Dallas have. I think there would be more options in Houston or DFW area.

passing thru · Jan 4, 2004

I think it depends on your lifestyle. I've heard people say they hated to leave Houston because they were leaving the NFL football team, and the ballet, "and all the cultural stuff", etc.

THEN, I asked them, ""But HOW MANY times did you attend any of those events????????????????????""

People who had lived there 10 and 15 yearrs and never even attended a concert or professional sporting event....never went to Astroworld...a museum.......

Yet, SOMEHOW, they interpreted leaving Houston as leaving all of this behind.

My advice is:

If you're not participating in these events, then decide what it is you do enjoy doing and move to a city that provides what you enjoy.

To me, it's kinda silly to move to Houston because they have a professional football /basketball team if you're not able to shell out $300 for a game.

Do you shop at Nieman's? The Galleria is expensive.......

Houston is cultureless.

Austin has it's own unique and complex culture, but you'll have to search it out....

Dallas has culture....it's called Money...

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Jan 4, 2004

Actually, if you enjoyed Plano, it's still here, and the property values may be lower than you remember. The "dot com bomb" hit pretty hard, and there are a lot of homes for sale by owner. For a time, it was not all that uncommon to see people carrying signs at major intersections that said "house for sale take over pmts" or words to that effect. Not so much of that anymore, but still lots of property for sale.

Plus, like somebody up there said, there are lots of nice cities nearby--in mine, the smallest lot must be at least 2 acres--makes for a nice spacious community.

Job market around here is very good--Baylor is building a new hospital in Plano, and there are others under construction.... Lots of ads in the paper.

I liked what you said about Austin though--maybe we will move there (LOL). We are planning on a change of scene in the next several years.

Good luck!

IamRN · Jan 4, 2004

MHO (the whole 2 cents it's worth! :roll )

Love the Plano area! Used to be a resident :) Everything about it!!! One thing I took for granted is how clean it is...could use some greenery though. The traffic was getting pretty bad when we decided to relocate to the hill country, in 2000. We have noticed it has not improved on subsequent visits. The job market in the DFW area is great. I worked agency and staffed hospitals in the Dallas/North Dallas area. Every place had their issues, but were generally great places to work.

Between Austin and Plano, I prefer Plano. The traffic in Austin is horrendous! Not just during rush hour, but *all* the time I have family there and the driving always irritates me. I love the culture and outdoor activities, but what good are they when it is a hassle to get to them...the rail system in the DFW area is expanding and very convenient! (used to take it downtown for concert events, entertainment and cultural events...even took our then newborn with us to some of these activities! As she grew she loved taking the train downtown on our museum trips :))

I have visited Houston; dh's family is from the area. Never cared for it. Too humid and the crime rate doesn't impress me.

As for the cost of living...I have found that the pay scale is pretty accomodating to each location (have friends that work Houston and my sister is an RN in Austin). About the Plano area in specific, there are many affordable communities in other suburbs that still allow you the Plano quality of life (culture, school districts, etc.)

We relocated to be close to family (in the San Antonio/Austin area), but I have always thought that all would be perfect if I could just pop Plano right in the middle of the hill country...then again, it probably would be "the" hill country anymore! LOL!!!

Another thing to consider is that Dallas and Houston will have excellent teaching hospital facilities! BTW, have you considered San Antonio as another option. It is *very* close to Austin and very culturally diverse, traffic is only bad during rush hours (save roadway construction projects) and there are a lot of outdoor activities. It also have an excellent teaching hospital (and a lot of excellent hospital systems). The cost of living is *very* affordable as well.

Good luck with your decision and relocation :cool:

nimbus2004 · Jan 4, 2004

Thanks! Can anyone tell me about some concerns I have about Dallas and Houston...

TORNADOES in Dallas!

-I am looking at living possibly in Plano/Frisco/Allen or

Fying ROACHES in Houston!

-I am looking at maybe living in The Woodlands

Am I freaking myself out on these things or what do you all think?

Any big bad sightings in these areas, any thoughts on these areas? In Austin we got scorpions and tornado warnings and hail warnings but we never got hit.

Thanks again.

AliciaB · Jan 4, 2004

I lived in the Dallas area (Garland) for six years (1995-2001) and there were tornadoes in the surrounding areas but one never hit Dallas or Garland. There was a big one that hit Ft. Worth during that time frame. During those 6 years I worked at Methodist Medical Center (South Dallas), DISD and Baylor. I really liked working at Methodist because I was able to work with all differnet types of patients especially traumas working in the ICU. I did leave though because of management changes which caused the ICU nurses to take on more patients and I didn't feel it was a safe working enviornment. I didn't like working for the Dallas Independent School District because the school nurse was the dumping ground for all the problem children in school. I really enjoyed working at Baylor. I worked in the Dialysis unit and sometimes floated to ICU. It is a great hospital to work at. I also did agency during this time period and found most of the hospitals ok to work at.

Dallas does have a variety of things to do, and I did enjoy living there most of the time I was there. I will say I hated the traffic and the cost of living is pricey but overall it is a nice place. I will say that my best friend was living in Ft. Worth and it was less expensive to live there but she is now relocating to Mesquite which is also nice. Hope this helps some.

Alicia