Cost of living in different parts of Texas (Dallas, Austin: to rent, home)

[mojo101]

if you really want to live cheap,consider town like Brownsville,cross the bridge and you are in Mexico

[mojo101]

Richmond,Fort Bend county,there are some subdivisions ,houses are cheaper than Houston,and 1093 turns into Westheimer rd and you can get almost everything you need on Westheimer-grocery,restaurants,HD,WMT,LOWE.
It is like living in Houston except houses are newer and cheaper,

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by mojo101

Richmond,Fort Bend county,there are some subdivisions ,houses are cheaper than Houston,and 1093 turns into Westheimer rd and you can get almost everything you need on Westheimer-grocery,restaurants,HD,WMT,LOWE.
It is like living in Houston except houses are newer and cheaper,

Fort Bend County has THE HIGHEST PROPERTY TAXES IN TEXAS. Sure, the initial purchase of the house may be cheaper, but over time, it will end up costing you a lot more. https://taxease.com/fort-bend-county...roperty-taxes/

[BMW R1100]

That what my insurance guy told me, anyway. I'm going to shop around next year. My bike insurance quote from the same guy was waaaay too high, and I beat his price by switching carriers.

[Jennifervan]

Originally Posted by BobTex

People afraid of crime and have left and gutted all 3 cities. Port Arthur first (80's-90's), then Orange (90's) and now an on-going thing in Beaumont which is becoming a crime cesspool.

When I go to Beaumont I have my head on a swivel and I'm armed well. All the bedroom communities around Beaumont are bursting at the seams with higher housing costs. Even up here where I live 50 miles north land prices have tripled and quadrupled in 25 years and new construction homes are popping up everywhere and I'm pretty far out in the woods.

Absolutely. Unless you want to live in those specific city limits, or are willing to buy and older home in one of the outlying communities, housing prices here are getting high too. New subdivisions going up in Midcounty area where houses are no less than 400k.

[TexasRoadkill]

Anywhere that is a commuting distance from Austin or area that attracts the younger-work-from-home crowd is stupid-expensive now.

[michaeltx9412]

Originally Posted by Jennifervan

Beaumont/Port Arthur/Orange has very reasonable housing. But it's.....Beaumont/Port Arthur/Orange.

Correct. The entirety of that region is an environmentally-polluted swampland riddled with racism and crime issues. Other than the classic Texas-style infrastructure, it's much like Louisiana, but not exactly in a good way. Not to mention the smell is horrible over there. Just imagining my life in those places makes me feel sick. The only pros I can think of is probably food.

[detachable arm]

Beaumont is like a cross between the ugliest, dirtiest parts of East Houston and Lafayette Louisiana. Port Arthur is like the hurricane whipped and flooded areas south of New Orleans. It's the only town in Texas I know of that's built in a bonafide marsh. That whole region should've never been built but the industry keeps it going. I've spent a lot of time in the Golden Triangle. Yes a pro is the local grub- if you want to get high cholesterol and diabetes. Even in Houston I still miss it sometimes. Another pro is you can get paid extremely well in those refineries because no one wants to work in them. The stupidity is unreal but there are a lot of genuine people-- I actually give the people out there overall a big thumbs up. It's more liberal than people realize and there were a lot of hot, easy women there not long ago. I really don't think it's that cheap out there if you want to "move up". Property taxes in Jefferson county are quite high as well.

[mslaydiejv]

Ive lived in DFW, Arlington & Austin/Round Rock. They are all at the same price point.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by mslaydiejv

Ive lived in DFW, Arlington & Austin/Round Rock. They are all at the same price point.

For the most part I agree. Alot of folks believe Austin metro is more expensive than DFW metro but when you compare like for like neighborhoods or suburbs between AUS and DFW the price difference isnt really large. Where DFW is more affordable is that it has alot more lower income neighborhoods which skew the average and median housing prices than AUS does.