Any Houstonians ever move to New York or Chicago? (Dallas: sales, real estate)

[kbenoit]

Hello! I'm from Houston and I've always thought about the idea of moving to either New York or Chicago. The only thing about New York is the cost of living seems to be superrrr high, and being from here I'm used to low cost of living. So have anyone ever moved to either of these places. What was it like. I would like for the repliers to be from Houston so I can get a comparison of the cities as they are to Houston. BUT anyone is welcome to share their perspective though.

[testmo]

NYC cost of living is high but not impossible to have an apartment to yourself if you have a job. professional jobs pay more to compensate.

have you ever spent an extended period of time in either place? like more than a week vacation. I love visiting NYC but after 9 months of living there I was ready to move. A friend from college (native Dallas person) has lived in NYC since 2005 and apparently loves it. Some people it really works for but you have to figure out if you are one of them.

Chicago is perfectly livable if you can stand the weather and politics

[Liljo22]

Originally Posted by kbenoit

Hello! I'm from Houston and I've always thought about the idea of moving to either New York or Chicago. The only thing about New York is the cost of living seems to be superrrr high, and being from here I'm used to low cost of living. So have anyone ever moved to either of these places. What was it like. I would like for the repliers to be from Houston so I can get a comparison of the cities as they are to Houston. BUT anyone is welcome to share their perspective though.

I haven't lived there but a bunch of my friends moved their after college. The biggest complaint from almost all of them was that you do not see the sun for 4-5 months. They said that it affects your personality big time. They describe it as having a summer personality and a winter one. The winter one is depressing and angry at times.

[kbenoit]

Testmo- I've never been to either but I was thinking about moving there after college. I just started by the way so I have a while to go. Well actually, I've been to Chicago before, but only to visit family and I wasn't there long so I wouldn't count that. What was it about New York that you did and didn't like?

Liljo22- Really? Well I like winter so maybe that won't be a problem but I guess I haven't really experienced a REAL winter yet so that could change if I were to move up north where it snows

[nana053]

I moved here from Chicago, does that count.

Pros for Chicago
1. Good public transportation
2. Walkable neighborhoods
3. Lots of great things to do if you like art, music, the beach (note you can get to the beach easily and even walk there if you live on the east side of town)
4. Great ethnic food - much better than Houston, imo - Indian food, Thai food, Chinese food (authentic in Chinatown), Italian food, Polish food, etc. - all within easy distances and in some places even walkable.
5. Great outdoor music in the summer - and free at the plaza. Good street festivals, some free, some charge.
6. If you want suburban life, you have more choices in Chicago with a variety of styles from city-like to more rural.


Cons for Chicago.

1. Cost of living is quite a bit higher than Houston
2. Winters can be brutal depending on the year.
3. The economy is not as booming as it is here in Houston, though it isn't awful.
4. Higher sales taxes.

Depending on what you like, Chicago is quite a bit more liberal than Houston. You will generally not find anyone wanting to know what church you go to because no one cares. You will find much more religious variety - more Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, etc. You will find a bit more segregation by race and economics in the neighborhoods. It's not that anyone is particularly racist, but the housing patterns are more segregated there.

If you are married and planning a family, there are lots of good places to look at. If you are single, the city has plenty of nightlife to offer.

I grew up in the NYC area and while I love visiting New York, I would not want to live there any more. It feels very claustrophobic to me when I go back. The density is much higher than Chicago. Chicago is between NYC and Houston in terms of pace of life and space for living. I liked being a bit further from my neighbors in Chicago than I was in New York.

[vegankris]

Originally Posted by kbenoit

Liljo22- Really? Well I like winter so maybe that won't be a problem but I guess I haven't really experienced a REAL winter yet so that could change if I were to move up north where it snows

I will give my opinion on the winters of chicago....

I'm originally from Cali, so my first winter was new and wonderful and I enjoyed it very much. I loved the snow, didn't mind the cold and even accepted the bitter cold wind chills.

By the next winter, however, the novelty wore off. Winter is awful. When it actually hurts to be outside... I just can't handle it. I felt cold all the time. In my opinion, it is much easier to handle hot weather than cold.

One other thing. People in Chicago are not very friendly. It is quite different than Houston.

[juilletdix]

I fit the bill! I am a native Houstonian who has lived in both NYC (5 yrs) and Chicago (19 yrs). Let me just preface my remarks my saying that I just moved back to Houston in September and couldn't be happier to be back!!!!

That said, i loved living in NYC. But I was fresh out of college and, like my parents loved to tell people, I was making $17K a year, but living like I made $70K. In other words, I relied heavily on parental subsidies

I like to think of my time in NYC as getting my master's degree in street smarts. I didn't realize how sheltered I was, growing up in a Houston suburb. I learned a ton during my time in NYC. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to get it out of my system, because there is no way in *&^ I'd want to live there now.

I came back to Houston and went to grad school and then moved to Chicago. At first, Chicago seemed to be a lot like NYC, but cheaper. That is not the case now, except for real estate. Housing is definitely cheaper in Chicago than in New York! As I said, I lived in Chicago for almost 20 years. During that time, taxes skyrocketed (at one point, our sales tax was the highest in the country, until they nicked it by .25). It's a hard city to live in, I think. Traffic is obscene, you can never find parking, people are not nearly as friendly...and the employment situation is really difficult (of course, there are exceptions depending on what you do).

If you are politically conservative in any way, know that you will either get into a lot of arguments or you'll find it tough to make friends. I agree with other posters -- Houstonians are WAY friendlier than Chicagoans or New Yorkers. And they even drive friendlier (albeit, much faster).

Last winter's "Snowmaggedon" was my personal breaking point. It wasn't just the bitter, unending cold, but the gloomy grey skies...it takes a toll on your psyche, I think. I went to college in Boulder, CO and while it's cold there, it's sunny and I think that makes a huge difference.

[JimBaker488]

Originally Posted by nana053

I moved here from Chicago, does that count.

Pros for Chicago
1. Good public transportation
2. Walkable neighborhoods
3. Lots of great things to do if you like art, music, the beach (note you can get to the beach easily and even walk there if you live on the east side of town)
4. Great ethnic food - much better than Houston, imo - Indian food, Thai food, Chinese food (authentic in Chinatown), Italian food, Polish food, etc. - all within easy distances and in some places even walkable.
5. Great outdoor music in the summer - and free at the plaza. Good street festivals, some free, some charge.
6. If you want suburban life, you have more choices in Chicago with a variety of styles from city-like to more rural.


Cons for Chicago.

1. Cost of living is quite a bit higher than Houston
2. Winters can be brutal depending on the year.
3. The economy is not as booming as it is here in Houston, though it isn't awful.
4. Higher sales taxes.

Depending on what you like, Chicago is quite a bit more liberal than Houston. You will generally not find anyone wanting to know what church you go to because no one cares. You will find much more religious variety - more Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, etc. You will find a bit more segregation by race and economics in the neighborhoods. It's not that anyone is particularly racist, but the housing patterns are more segregated there.

If you are married and planning a family, there are lots of good places to look at. If you are single, the city has plenty of nightlife to offer.

I grew up in the NYC area and while I love visiting New York, I would not want to live there any more. It feels very claustrophobic to me when I go back. The density is much higher than Chicago. Chicago is between NYC and Houston in terms of pace of life and space for living. I liked being a bit further from my neighbors in Chicago than I was in New York.

Would you mind elaborating a bit on the 2 sentences I've highlighted ?

[HoustonRonnie]

Segregated neighborhoods in the north is a product of being "rust belt" cities, to some extent. Ethnic groups tended to congregate in certain areas of the city and started in the early/mid-19th century. Same in Detroit. Polish, Irish, Italian, Greek....towns still in the same areas.

I don't see that in Houston, but Central Texas is rife with German/Scandanavian/Czech pockets.

Just sayin'...

Ronnie

[caliking]

Lived in Chicago for several years, and loved many things about it.

The folks who posted above about moving from Chicago mention many good points. When I lived in Chicago, a coworker who moved from San Antonio had not concept about winter clothing, driving etc. She didn't like the winters and moved back to Texas after a couple of years. Another who had been brought up in Texas, thought fall was depressing because all the trees "died". If you have mainly lived in Texas, you will find winter "depressing".

I'm 50-50 on the comment that folks in houston are friendlier. In Texas, people are very Texan - somewhat insulated and not quite aware of what's going on in the rest of the country or world. Folks are pretty friendly in Chicago, some of that Midwestern niceness does make it to the city. Chinese/Asian food does not compare to Houston's. The Indian food is far better in Chicago. Houston is a cultural wasteland compared to Chicago (see the many reasons mentioned above). ORD (when its functional) has the edge on international travel compared to IAH, if that matters to you.

And get ready for zoned/planned urban development. Houston sometimes feels like a bag full of stuff was dropped from the sky, and things fell where they did. Chicago is as "segregated" residentially as any city I think. Definitely different from Houston, where there is no zoning. I don't know of many who have missed the lack of zoning.

The highways are much better here in Houston - you can actually get to almost anywhere pretty quickly. After driving in Chicago traffic, all other commutes seem manageable. And yes people do drive faster, but are more predictable than Houston's crazy drivers. Vehicles are on average smaller on Chicago freeways than on Houston's.

For me personally, I like the fact that I don't have to scrape sunshine off my windshield in TX