Looking to relocate to texas (Dallas, Austin: crime rates, home, unemployed)

[Meshka79]

Hi
I am currently researching towns and cities in Texas. I want to relocate to a warmer climate. My husband and I are young 30s and would like to have more of social lifestyle. So far I have seen many places that have communities with pools and parks etc. We don't want to live in a large city, but want to have a lot of options for restaurants, shopping, independent stores etc. Most importantly we have a 10 year old son and would need a good school system. I have read on some forums that some schools are more inclined to children in certain sports. My son has ADHD and outside of swimming is not able to participate in any sports groups. Living within 45 minutes to a city would be preferable. I am a Registered Nurse with a masters degree, and specialty training in mental health, so will be looking for a location with close proximity to a hospital or medical centre. Any suggestions would be great. I was thinking possibly McKinney? This is a very big move and I am quite nervous in regards to crime rates, etc. My home town where I still reside has only 20'000 people. It does not offer us the lifestyle that we want to live, yet i'm scared to live in a city, being this is all I have ever know. Thanks so much everyone.

[h886]

I see you're from Nova Scotia. Have you researched whether you would be able to get a Visa to work here? I am not too familiar with the specifics in the nursing field, but there are some fields right now in the US (teaching, for example) where there are so many unemployed US citizens looking for work that it would be virtually impossible for an employer to demonstrate there wasn't an American who could take the job.

As for your specific questions, I'm a little confused as to what you want. Are you looking for more suburb type living? Most of the towns in Texas either have a small-town feel because they are small towns (like where you're from), or are a large town/city or one of its suburbs. Because of "sprawl", which we tend to see a lot of in Texas, you generally have to get some distance away from a large city before you find a small town that isn't more of a suburb. Because of that, it might mean an hour or more drive any time you want to come into the city. A lot of the time, that drive is off-putting and people wind up spending more time at home than they thought, which for some, defeats the purpose. For others, it's fine. Or you could live in an actual suburb, which many people enjoy but wouldn't be exactly the same as a small town of 20,000.

As for sports, yes, sports are big in Texas. However, there are certainly kids here who don't excel at sports and who don't participate. My only advice would be to find some activity he can participate in so he can make friends who have common interests. Kids who participate in nothing at all sometimes don't have as much of a social circle, and I think that's important in middle and high school.

[mark311]

People in the Austin forum probably won't know a lot about how McKinney currently is since it's closer to Dallas. In the Austin area, it sounds like Georgetown might be a fit for you. Leander, parts of Round Rock, and Cedar Park could be a good fit. Those are all generally very safe areas with good schools on a whole. You'll have to research the individual schools of course as some are better than others.