Texas County Recommendations (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio: to rent, how much, home)

[elsalsero]

My wife and I are looking to move to Texas from Illinois. We are honestly very tired of the crushing taxes and politics.

We are in our 50s, good income no pets, no kids, no debt. Any Texas county recommendations that are safe, has acreage, and is not too small town? Not interested in Austin or any large cities however we’re fine with driving into the city. Our goal is to find a large lot and small house. We’re open to renting or buying. One of our #1 priorities is quiet if that helps.

Apologies, if it’s a little vague but figure we have to start somewhere right?

Thanks

[Thoreau424]

Quiet and acreage sounds a lot like west Texas. And with less people per square mile, you'd also have less people-stuff (like politics). You did mention that.

[tmtex]

Weatherford but maybe thats getting to big these days

[NewMexicoCowboy]

Originally Posted by elsalsero

My wife and I are looking to move to Texas from Illinois. We are honestly very tired of the crushing taxes and politics.

We are in our 50s, good income no pets, no kids, no debt. Any Texas county recommendations that are safe, has acreage, and is not too small town? Not interested in Austin or any large cities however we’re fine with driving into the city. Our goal is to find a large lot and small house. We’re open to renting or buying. One of our #1 priorities is quiet if that helps.

Apologies, if it’s a little vague but figure we have to start somewhere right?

Thanks

What is your budget for a house?

[SanJac]

Austin County is about an hour from Houston. You’ll find acreage there…

Google it…

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by elsalsero

My wife and I are looking to move to Texas from Illinois. We are honestly very tired of the crushing taxes and politics.

We are in our 50s, good income no pets, no kids, no debt. Any Texas county recommendations that are safe, has acreage, and is not too small town? Not interested in Austin or any large cities however we’re fine with driving into the city. Our goal is to find a large lot and small house. We’re open to renting or buying. One of our #1 priorities is quiet if that helps.

Apologies, if it’s a little vague but figure we have to start somewhere right?

Thanks

Yes very vague as Texas is also very diverse in just about all aspects. However from your general description, and coming from Illinois (it appears from previous posts) I would recommend looking East of Dallas. Look along I30 near Sulphur Springs, Mt. Vernon, and Mt. Pleasant areas. Still not a lot of growth in those areas but they are large enough to provide various services to you. You can look for acreage outside and drive in as needed.


Having said that you appear to be working from home (past posts) and if you are looking for high speed fiber/cable over other forms of internet access then you should look at that aspect as well. Providers mostly do not provide to areas you are looking unless it is on a route to a more populated area or is slated to grow rapidly.

[ChristieP]

What’s your budget for housing? Acreage in a desirable location is not cheap.
If you need broadband access in a rural area, that may be difficult/expensive.

[Trainwreck20]

What is 'too small town', I guess? And do you want to be in or adjacent to the city limits of the small town, or drive into it (not just drive into the 'city'? I think the county criteria would be better replaced by city recommendations and/or geographical areas (there are 256 counties in TX, btw).

How much do you want to spend? Some random possibilities by geography...

NE Texas - Tyler (pop. ~100k), or one of the many smaller towns around it. Land is still relatively inexpensive. Hot, humid summers, lots of trees (pine), winters aren't too cold. Lots of rain (for TX, anyway) <100 mi to Dallas, <200 mi to Houston. Seems to be a destination for more affordable retirement.

N. Central - Weatherford (pop ~35k). Fewer trees but less humidity, close to Ft Worth and <75 mi. to Dallas (but lots of traffic to get there). Has a bit more horse-and-ranch persona, Probably hotter and colder than NE Texas, but lower humidity and notably less rain (but not in the arid range at all).

Panhandle - I would not recommend this area for people that have not grown up in this environment, it is just too different than most of the us - very much active agriculture industry and support services. Lubbock (~250k) and Amarillo (~200k) are the population centers with various towns around them as suburbs and all the other small town out there are very isolated. Dry with not much rain and cold winters and dry summers (still hot, but 'coolest' area of Texas statistically, I think). Beautiful scenery if you are into open terrain and mesas and such (Palo Duro Canyon is awesome).

Central TX - Maybe Johnson City? If you have money, Fredericksburg? Are you planning to grow anything, as the rock areas in the hill country make it harder (no pun intended!). Most of C. Tx has gotten pricey, but I wouldn't mind a place outside Burnet, or Mason, or Llano. San Antonio, Austin, Dallas have similar rainfall and similar weather, although Dallas does dip into the cold/icy more often and Austin/SA are probably slightly more humid.

West Texas - Huge number of options, but not really near anything. Van Horn, Ft Stockton, etc. but it is very arid (rainfall totals falling well under 10"/year) and arid. 200 miles+ to nearest major airport. Not really recommended either unless you have some history with the area or really like isolation and rugged country.

Coastal - There are really three areas of the Tx Coast - eastern, central, and southern. I like the coast (lived there for 10 years), but I do enjoy not having to worry about hurricanes and mosquitoes so much anymore . In from the coast is a plethora of options, but Victoria (pop ~70k) seems like it might be most in your wheelhouse?

Other thoughts-
- low taxes generally mean low services.
- it does get cold in Texas
- there are lots of bugs/critters

[nasser1990]

Try Brazoria or Liberty county, they both are adjacent to the Houston city limits, and also have proper land size.

[rynetwo]

I would at the following to be on the outskirts of large metro areas -

Around Austin: Burnet or maybe Caldwell
Around Dallas: Ellis, Hunt, Parker, or Wise
Around Houston: Montgomery, Waller, or Liberty
Around San Antonio: Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, or Wilson

I would look at the following to be around a medium sized city Gregg, Kerr, McLennan, Smith, or Victoria.