Relocating to Texas

[oneluckypops]

Long story short. My wife has a degree in Business managment, and Accounting. She has been out of school since 06 or 07. She never was able to get a job in her "field". She basically is a glorified secretary for a non profit orginization, which means she doesnt make very much money and her job can end at anytime.
We are trying to find a place that she would be able to get a job in her "field" in hopes that her time at the university wasnt a waste, and of course to try and make more money in a career.
The area we live in doesn't have any oppertunities for her, so we are instead looking into relocating.. We also do NOT want to live in a big city for a few reasons. But mainly because we want are kids to be able to attend a smaller school. More then likely she will be looking at having to commute to a larger city to achieve these type of goals.

We are looking at relocating to Texas, Dallas/ Ft. worth, Houstan areas. I am wondering what the cost of living might be in those areas. I am not rulling out other areas so if any of you know something about another area that i dont feel free to enlighten me.

 

[bucket]

If I were going to relocate, it would likely be SE Tennessee. I love it there.

 

[J Knight]

Long story short. My wife has a degree in Business managment, and Accounting. She has been out of school since 06 or 07. She never was able to get a job in her "field". She basically is a glorified secretary for a non profit orginization, which means she doesnt make very much money and her job can end at anytime.
We are trying to find a place that she would be able to get a job in her "field" in hopes that her time at the university wasnt a waste, and of course to try and make more money in a career.
The area we live in doesn't have any oppertunities for her, so we are instead looking into relocating.. We also do NOT want to live in a big city for a few reasons. But mainly because we want are kids to be able to attend a smaller school. More then likely she will be looking at having to commute to a larger city to achieve these type of goals.

We are looking at relocating to Texas, Dallas/ Ft. worth, Houstan areas. I am wondering what the cost of living might be in those areas. I am not rulling out other areas so if any of you know something about another area that i dont feel free to enlighten me.

OLP, TX doesnt have state income tax, so you/her would only pay federal. TX gets most of its revinue from sales tax @8.25%, no tax on food, registering vehicles is a one time sales tax then about $65 a year regardless of value. Property tax is odviously cheaper the farther away from the cities if you plan to buy. How far away from DFW or Houston do you need to be? Are you going to rent or buy? Do you want to live in a subdivision way out in the burbs?

 

[oneluckypops]

OLP, TX doesnt have state income tax, so you/her would only pay federal. TX gets most of its revinue from sales tax @8.25%, no tax on food, registering vehicles is a one time sales tax then about $65 a year regardless of value. Property tax is odviously cheaper the farther away from the cities if you plan to buy. How far away from DFW or Houston do you need to be? Are you going to rent or buy? Do you want to live in a subdivision way out in the burbs?

I think she could handle commuting 45 min to an hour If thats what it takes to get the kids enrolled in a smaller school system. For the first year maybe 2 we would be renting, another plus would be a house with acreage for horses, we do have friends that are in the pilot point area so its possable to not have to have the acreage as we could run them with theres.

 

[J Knight]

I think she could handle commuting 45 min to an hour If thats what it takes to get the kids enrolled in a smaller school system. For the first year maybe 2 we would be renting, another plus would be a house with acreage for horses, we do have friends that are in the pilot point area so its possable to not have to have the acreage as we could run them with theres.

Cant tell you anything about Pilot Point TX or DFW, its north of DFW, Im about 18 to 20 miles east of downtown Houston.

 

[oneluckypops]

Cant tell you anything about Pilot Point TX or DFW, its north of DFW, Im about 18 to 20 miles east of downtown Houston.

do you know of any communities aroung the houston area that would have the smaller school systems?

 

[J Knight]

Baytown(20mi), where Im at is suposed to be good, Katy(30mi) to the west and Conroe(35mi) to the north are suposed to be good as well.

 

[oneluckypops]

Baytown(20mi), where Im at is suposed to be good, Katy(30mi) to the west and Conroe(35mi) to the north are suposed to be good as well.

thanks i will do some research on all those areas

 

[J Knight]

There are tons of smaller communities outside each of those towns with tons of ISD's(independent school district). It's been quite a few years since our kids were in school so I haven't realy kept up with the schools.
Outside these towns are tons of acreage to keep horses aswell.
Cleveland, Dayton, Crosby, Cypress, Tomball, Humble, Huffman, Splendora, Hempstead, and Magnolia. These are some other places to look into that are an hour or less to Houston.

 

[HotRodPC]

If I had to go to TX, I'd be around the DFW area before I'd be around the Houston area. Maybe not fair for me to say cuz I don't know alot about TX. I've pretty much heard Houston is very dirty, high crime, and the jobs are Oil company in nature, so unless she's looking to work for an oil company... It would seem to me though, there should be a lot of commerce activity in Houston area too due to the ship docks and being coastal.

There are such things as cost of living calculators too. You plug in your current city or zip code, and then the zip code or city you're considering moving to. You plug in what your expenses, and it will tell you what to expect to pay for equal living in that city. There are also websites that talk about Demographics of cities, as far as population, people nationality, as far as race, what the average jobs are paying, crime stats, school ratings etc.

 

[J Knight]

That's a misconception HR, I've delivered or been to every single major city in the continental United States and every city, and I mean every single one of them including Houston has its "dirty" parts of town.

 

[Stroked]

OLP, TX doesnt have state income tax, so you/her would only pay federal. TX gets most of its revinue from sales tax @8.25%, no tax on food, registering vehicles is a one time sales tax then about $65 a year regardless of value. Property tax is odviously cheaper the farther away from the cities if you plan to buy. How far away from DFW or Houston do you need to be? Are you going to rent or buy? Do you want to live in a subdivision way out in the burbs?

Hell, I think I want to move to Texas now.

 

[HotRodPC]

That's a misconception HR, I've delivered or been to every single major city in the continental United States and every city, and I mean every single one of them including Houston has its "dirty" parts of town.

I said the the same thing, all big cities have the same, the clean side, the dirty side, the dark side, the higher crime side, then the nicer areas..... I guess I just know 2 different people that hate Houston. And go figure, they both worked for Haliburton.

 

[J Knight]

I pretty much hate all big cities and prefer to live out in the middle of nowhere but for me to do that I would have to drive OTR wich would keep me away from home too much. I'm sure I'll be working where I'm at for a long time so I'm going to find some property 2 or 3 miles north of me to get out of this subdivision.

 

[Jims86]

They have some tech companies like Motorola down in the Austin area.