LogFAQs > #914893752

As someone who was born and raised here, I have noticed a big change in the amount of people moving here recently, mainly to the Austin and San Antonio areas. And after going to some of the other states like California and New York, and Nebraska, just as a few examples, I can see why people would move here. We are #1. Best food, best stuff to do, awesome scenery, great economy, so it's good that people finally acknowledge us as the best state in the nation :-). However, I have also noticed that a lot of people from other states aren't really aware of how things are here so I wanted to make this topic to mention a few things you should know before moving here.

1) Traffic: It's horrible. Austin used to have a time of day when the traffic would die down, but now it is pretty much non stop Friday, Saturday, Sunday. You might have luck during the week, but man, it's bad. San Antonio is catching up, but not quite there yet. Dallas and Houston have horrible traffic during rush hour, but during other times it's not as bad as Austin because those cities are more evolved and better equipped to handle a bigger population.

2) Heat: Hehe, we don't have seasons here, at least not in the parts everyone is moving to. The only seasons we have are Summer and Hurricane / Tornado season. If you want a winter, you have to move to Dallas or somewhere higher up. It's not uncommon to have heat in the 90's and 100's. That's a regular thing for us.

3) Jobs: Depending on what you do, you might have a hard time finding something because it's getting so competitive. Oil field, construction, medical fields should be okay, construction is non stop now. But if you think you are just going to move to Austin or San Antonio and get a degree holding job outside the medical field easily, well then you are in for a surprise. Not saying it can't happen, but it is very competitive. Especially Austin. Lots of California people are there and that state is all about competition. Just be prepared.

4) Costs are going up: Yeah you can get a house cheaper here than California, but that's because they jacked their prices up by voting for liberal laws. Texas isn't there yet, but it may be in the future. Austin is one of the highest taxed places in the nation and San Antonio is getting more and more liberal.... which means higher taxes. Costs of rent are rapidly rising. For example, when we lived in San Antonio, 4 years ago, our rent was $800 for a one bedroom. Now it is over $1000. You aren't going to find any apartments here under $800 unless they are ghetto.

5) Give us respect: This is very important for a lot of people from out of state to know: We are very proud of our state and respect is important here. It's not like New York or Las Vegas where you can just be rude for no reason to whoever you want to and say whatever you want and not have consequences. We take that shit seriously here. If you are going to come here and bash us be ready to have shit talked to you. We are a respectful state, but we want it in return too. Courteousy is important here.

6) Which brings me to my last point: A lot of people from Texas are really pissed off about you moving here. Not so much in the larger cities, but definitely in the smaller cities around the larger ones. Our small towns that have always been the same -- everyone knows everyone, really quiet, nice and friendly atmosphere, away from the city and nothing like it -- and now they are being destroyed by all of these people from out of state who want to move here and be rude to us and over crowd our towns and sell their expensive houses so that they can come here and save money or open a business to try and make a buck. And the people in these towns know this and they don't like you or want you there. So if you are planning on moving to one of those towns that is conveniently one hour away from your new job, might not want to mention where you are from or all of the money you are making. They don't take kindly to that.

Just my two cents