Comparing Houston and Dallas Areas (Plano, Garland: 2015, house, theatre)

[nakold23]

Okay so I am ma native Dallasite trying to familiarize myself with the Houston area. This forum is not meant to be another "smackdown" but I just wanted to get a sense of both areas through comparisons.
What cities/areas of Houston best compare to parts of DFW such as Plano, Highland Park, Frisco, Garland, Irving, etc

Try to make any comparisons between areas like Plano=Sugar Land and explain why you would draw that comparison. I am aware that Dallas has much larger suburbs then Houston, so parts of Houston proper can be used as well for comparisons.

thanks!

[PrincessKick]

I've lived both places and honestly I think IMO they are vastly different. I'm sure someone else will chime in but I'm having a hard time coming up with any direct comparisons.

[sxrckr]

Plano = Sugar Land or The Woodlands (upper-end suburbs with large corporate presence)

Frisco or McKinney = Katy or Cypress (similar to above except more of a bedroom community)

Mesquite or Rowlett = Pearland

Flower Mound = Spring

Desoto = Fresno

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by nakold23

I am aware that Dallas has much larger suburbs then Houston, so parts of Houston proper can be used as well for comparisons.
!

the problem of size is that a lot of Houston's suburbs are within Houston's ETJ and thus require permission to incorporate or join other cities.

Thus while Katy and Spring may be officially a 10K towns in reality these areas have suburbs of their own and if allowed to incorporate would be towns of 300K or more. Areas like Cypress are the same.

[PrincessKick]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

Plano = Sugar Land or The Woodlands (upper-end suburbs with large corporate presence)

Frisco or McKinney = Katy or Cypress (similar to above except more of a bedroom community)

Mesquite or Rowlett = Pearland

Flower Mound = Spring

Desoto = Fresno

I think these are a bit off but the Flower Mound and Spring comparison is way off IMO having lived in both.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by PrincessKick

I think these are a bit off but the Flower Mound and Spring comparison is way off IMO having lived in both.

Flower Mound is more like Atascotia IMO.

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by nakold23

Okay so I am ma native Dallasite trying to familiarize myself with the Houston area. This forum is not meant to be another "smackdown" but I just wanted to get a sense of both areas through comparisons.
What cities/areas of Houston best compare to parts of DFW such as Plano, Highland Park, Frisco, Garland, Irving, etc

Try to make any comparisons between areas like Plano=Sugar Land and explain why you would draw that comparison. I am aware that Dallas has much larger suburbs then Houston, so parts of Houston proper can be used as well for comparisons.

thanks!

Houston suburbs pretty much play their role; which is being suburbs. While suburbs in the DFW area act as cities. They've created their own communities, jobs, shopping, attractions and more; whereas Houston still is the center of its metropolitan area.

Difference between Sugar Land is that Plano is pretty much its own city and not really dependent on Dallas like Sugar Land is to Houston. You won't have to do much driving to the core of the city if you went with Plano because you'll have pretty much everything you need out there. I'd say Sugar Land feels more diverse, but both are. Both are nice areas and you couldn't go wrong with either one.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by blkgiraffe

Houston suburbs pretty much play their role; which is being suburbs. While suburbs in the DFW area act as cities. They've created their own communities, jobs, shopping, attractions and more; whereas Houston still is the center of its metropolitan area.

I think The Woodlands, Sugar Land/Stafford, and Clear Lake are exceptions to the "strictly suburbs" role you speak of. Though yes, DFW is less centralized.

Originally Posted by blkgiraffe

Difference between Sugar Land is that Plano is pretty much its own city and not really dependent on Dallas like Sugar Land is to Houston. You won't have to do much driving to the core of the city if you went with Plano because you'll have pretty much everything you need out there. I'd say Sugar Land feels more diverse, but both are. Both are nice areas and you couldn't go wrong with either one.

Sugar Land is also its own city; though yes, most residents probably work in Houston. I assume many Plano residents may work in Dallas. Sugar Land does house many companies. Also Stafford is right next door. We ended up in Sugar Land because one of us works at a company in Sugar Land. We know many others here in the same situation. There is little reason to drive into Houston aside from work (for some), museums/theatre, pro sports, and nightlife. Everything else we'd need on an everyday basis is out here in Sugar Land, so in that sense I don't see how it's so much different from Plano.

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by AK123

I think The Woodlands, Sugar Land/Stafford, and Clear Lake are exceptions to the "strictly suburbs" role you speak of. Though yes, DFW is less centralized.



Sugar Land is also its own city; though yes, most residents probably work in Houston. I assume many Plano residents may work in Dallas. Sugar Land does house many companies. Also Stafford is right next door. We ended up in Sugar Land because one of us works at a company in Sugar Land. We know many others here in the same situation. There is little reason to drive into Houston aside from work (for some), museums/theatre, pro sports, and nightlife. Everything else we'd need on an everyday basis is out here in Sugar Land, so in that sense I don't see how it's so much different from Plano.

I guess. You would know more than me lol

[kreeyax]

I find Cypress to be very similar to Frisco. Which is probably why I like it here. I have neighbors that moved here from Frisco too and they say the same thing. Although Cypress doesn't have the mega mall shopping area that Frisco has.