Move to Houston Tx? or Phoeniz AZ??

Houston is horrible. I live in Arlington, TX and have traveled to Houston many times. The traffic is terrible, the people are rude, and the weather sucks!

I live in a suburb of Houston (The Woodlands) and have visited Phoenix but only been in the downtown area of Phoenix. As with any major city in the country your experience is going to depend on what part of the city you go to. You can find awesome parts of Houston and not so great parts and I'm sure the same goes for Phoenix.

You can find all of the basic facts and figures online (average temperature, school rankings, average housing costs, etc.)

My personal experience is that we moved here 5 years ago from the Chicago suburbs and love our area. We have no intention of ever moving and have even begun the early talks of where in this general area we would like to retire (even though it's still easily 20+ years away).

Good luck,
K.

Run far, far away from Phoenix if you think you might want to give your daughter the luxury of, say, an education. Their schools are severely underfunded and so cramped and bass-ackwards right now. I know nothing about Houston, but with a child, I would move almost anywhere in the country besides Arizona.

I haven't lived in Phoenix, but I have friends and relatives who have. My aunt lives there now and has her house on the market to move back to CA to be closer to family. Phoenix was hit really hard by the recession and the housing market is very depressed. The good news is housing is cheap, but the bad news is that things are getting run down and it might be hard to find a job. Two friends, a work colleague and a neighbor, who have 6 kids between them, moved up here (Twin Cities) from Phoenix. They MUCH PREFER raising kids here. During the summer in Phoenix, they tell me, it is so hot that you can't even go outside, and the kids are off school and they end up bouncing off the walls stuck inside. (Kind of like here in the winter! But at least they are in school.) I know nothing about Houston except that it is a really big city. I am probably biased--the winters get way too long, but I think the Midwest is a great place to raise a family! Good luck with whatever you decide.

I just moved to houston and absoulutely love it. there is alot of oppurtunities here. I had ajob within a week and texas belives in making it where you can sucseed without having to be a life dependent on the state. I don't know what race you are but in houston there are no races. The culture here is so many mixed races you cant tell them apart and it is cool. noone here is racial you can't be. the people are very friendly and I highly suggest houston.

I'm probably biased, because I'm from Texas, but I think Texas has the nicest & most polite people. I used to live in Houston & loved it. The fact that your best friend lives there would be a bonus. Why don't you visit your friend & have her show you around. The previous poster mentioned that it is humid (yes & very good for your skin) & that the bugs are bigger, which doesn't surprise me because everything is bigger & better in Texas. Housing is a lot cheaper in most places right now, including Texas because of the economy. I really think that you need to visit both places before making your decision.

Good luck & God Bless!

I have visited Houston numerous times and lived in Phoenix for a year and half. I HATED Phoenix with a passion and literally just picked up and moved because I couldn't stand it. I am from the southwest so it's not like I was surprised by the heat or anything, but I couldn't take it. During my commute at 630 am the heat was already over a hundred in the summers. And it IS humid there. Not like Houston, but it isn't dry like I was used to in the desert. My sister still lives there and some days in the summer her humidity is higher than ours in Tennessee. After living in northern Florida I desperately missed seeing anything green. And I found the city to be very unfriendly and rude. When I go back to visit, I can't wait to get back to the south.

My impressions as a visitor in Houston was that it was much like most of Texas and more friendly. Yes, super humid. Traffic was worse than Phoenix, but if you aren't doing the downtown commute it wasn't that bad. As far as raising a family, I don't know about schools and such in either place. It is all going to depend on the area you live in, because they are such huge cities, there is a wide variety. I personally would not want to raise my child in Phoenix. Housing is dirt cheap there right now, but that isn't all good. The state of the economy in the entire state is very very depressed. My sister is a teacher and the school system is in a horrible budget crisis (aren't they all?).

I would read some local news on the internet and see what you think about the state of both economies. Crime is going to be bad in either city in the wrong neighborhoods. They probably both have a lot to offer in the way of events and culture. If you already have a friend and support in Texas that would personally weigh on my decision. Hopefully you will get enough feedback to make your decision easier. Good luck!

Both cities are great in their own way. And, like anywhere, it depends on which neighborhood you get into- whether the education is better or worse. I personally would have to take the weather into consideration- i hate humidity, so Houston would not be an option.

I live just north of Houston in the The Woodlands. It is a great community for raising families - great schools, and everything is close- shopping, churches, pools, parks, jobs, major airport etc. It is humid? Yes - expect heat & humidity June -September every year, but the trade-off is living in a great community for an unbelievable low price - beautiful home w/ pool $200k. Now would I prefer to live in California with georgeous weather everyday? Absolutely!!! But I will likely never be able to afford to live there - instead with the money I save on living expenses in Houston TX I can afford to travel anywhere - and perhaps retire early in a better climate one day ;)

My son and his family moved to Houston from Detroit. Katy Texas (just outside of Houston) has the best rated school system . They are happy . People are friendly.

Houston. Lived in Katy for approx. 10 years and yes I loved it. Honestly there is never a dull moment, i.e. always always something to do, things going on. The weather is MUCH hotter and humid that other places given its near the gulf. Also take into account what priorities you have for the move. Education is good, crime is higher in the big city. They put education first......the children's museum and other child geared facilities are excellent. Sports are great. Check out HAR.com and you can see school ratings including teacher student ratios. Many sites to check out for Houston. I would say yes......

I lived in Houston for a year and couldn't get out fast enough. I grew up in the panhandle of Texas and live in Dallas Metroplex now, so, it wasn't that I don't like Texas. I love Texas. But I found myself sitting in an hour of traffic every single morning and every afternoon to go 11 miles. That's if there was no rain. If there was even a hint of rain - and it rains ALOT in Houston, then I could be sitting for 2 or more hours - to go 11 miles. I swear to you I never got my car out of 3rd gear the whole year. Bumper to bumper stop and go traffic everyday. Even weekends had stop and go traffic.
Crime is high. Cost of living is high. Temperature and Humidity are both high. I would sweat in my sleep. I had to take more than 1 shower a day in the summer. Just brutal. It takes your breath away.
To be fair, Neighborhoods are very nice. You get the feeling that everyone has $$. Everyone lives in a community. They all have impressive sounding names and have thier own park and swimming pool. But, The home owner assocaition fees for all this are really high. 1200 per yr or more. My thought was that you have to live in a nice community beacause traffic is so bad, you can't really go anywhere! One of the 1st things I noticed was all the women had designer bags, Coach, Louis, Prada, etc and all wore heels. At the grocery store, at the park, at the mall, everyone in heels. I guess I'm a little more simple than that.
I really tried to like Houston. I moved there because my bff was going to school at U of H and she liked Houston. She made it seem like there was so much opportunity, which there was. I had no trouble finding a good job. I liked the area we lived in - it was NW almost to Katy. She didn't mention that it took her and hour and a half to get to school everday and that she had to be escorted to her car because there was a string of assualts on campus.
Since then we have both moved to DFW. It has it's traffic issues too. But where I moved and where I work is all smooth sailing. I'm in Grand Praire, it's right in between Dallas and Fort Worth. On the weekends I don't have any trouble going where I want in either city quickly. 15 mintutes to either downtown. The people are friendly. She moved to Grapevine and loves the small town feel it offers while being close to several major highways that will take you anywhere quick. There are alot of good jobs. Cost of living is slightly less than Houston, all though property taxes are really high. I feel much more comfortable raising my children here. I feel much safer. Even though I'm in a huge metropolis with all the amenities, I live in a small town community. I felt big city everywhere I went in Houston.

I lived in Lake Jackson, TX, which is about 45 minutes from Houston and I hated both Houston and Lake Jackson. This was a little over 10 years ago, so maybe things have changed, but I found it to be a very chauvinistic place and still very much run by the good ol' boy network. Many of the women are very concerned about their looks and clothing. The men for the most part run the show and take care of their "little ladies." People are friendly as long as you don't stray too far from this mold. In a nutshell, would not want to raise a daughter there.

The city of Houston is not pedestrian friendly. It is spread out and you have to drive everywhere. The traffic is horrible. On the plus side, housing is cheap. Schools vary depending upon where you live. Things are very segregated.

I have never been to Phoenix, except for the airport, so I cannot comment on it.

i can tell u that nice houses are cheap in phx rite now. its dam hot but in texas its very humid, plus they have way bigger insects. i guess. we got freaky bugs too from the desert. entertainment depends on what u preffer