Directed towards a Rocket fan who has never visited the city, plans to in the near future, and considers Houston a possible relocation destination... Thanks all.
Pro: Tex/Mex Marvin Zindler Mattress Mac Suburbs 2 days of winter Con: 9 months of summer The City of Houston Bud Adams I-10 Allergies
Pro - Restraunts Rockets (of course) Salt water fishing Cons - Weather (as boomboom says - 9 months of staying indoors) Traffic (commutes can be brutal) Terrain (if you like flat - you'll love Houston)
Pro: Never having trouble finding someplace to eat Affordable housing Pro basketball, baseball and football teams Awesome medical complex Amazing museums Con: Traffic on freeways Substandard public transportation for a city this big Not a pedestrian or bike friendly town The heat Seemingly constant freeway construction
Pros: diversity (second only to NYC) Restaurants Cost of Living No real winter beautiful women Cons: heat and humidity traffic urban sprawl below average music scene not a beautiful city in terms of surrounding countryside.
Awesome guys! How bout other variables like population, crime rate, best/worst areas to live, best nightlife, etc.?
Cons Crime Urban blight Traffic Pros Food Facilities for sports, music, arts, etc. Generally friendly folks Medical facilities
Pros Roger Clemens Yao Ming David Carr Tina Thompson Matt Dean Cons Clara Harris Lea Fastow Andrea Yates Ken Caminitti Boo-Boo McKenzie (my homeboy)
Pros: Women Food Diversity Sports Fatty lives here Cons: Mosquito's Refineries Mark Vanderbeek Feral Cat's Kingwood
Pros: Friendly people 3 major sports teams, all with new stadiums Food! Very low cost of living No state income tax Cons: Humidity Traffic Construction Everything is too spread out No public transportation
PROS: Cost of Living Diversity Restaurants Nightlife Golf virtually year round CONS: Summertime heat Road construction Traffic Insects Flooding
pro: rockets texans 24 hour vietnamese restaurants late night taquerias museums con: humidity traffic mosquitos lack of geographical diversity/scenery pollution
Pros Shorts Year Round No State Income Tax Great Restaurants No Snow Easy Access to Gulf of Mexico Cons Mosquitos Idiot Drivers (mostly transplants I assume) Traffic Poor Public Education (HISD) Suburbs go on forever
Seems like in every major city you have crime, traffic, and construction issues though... Best pros seem to be FOOD, FOOD, FOOD, haha, very cool, Art, especially the museums, of course, The Rockets! along w/ the Texans and Astros, plus the diversity/women!!! Wonder why the cost of living is so low comparatively? Any ideas? Hope to visit before the basketball season's done!
Pros: Cost of Living Diversity Friendly to Entrepreneurs Inner City Revitilization Autumn Cons: Traffic Smog Noise Summer heat Mosquitos Violent crime here is actually very low compared to many major cities. We rank like 20th out of the top 25. However, our crime stats are higher overall because we have more car thefts/burglaries than your average city because we also have more cars than any city other than LA.
The cost of living is low here for a variety of reasons: 1. No state income tax. 2. Low average property taxes. 3. No zoning leading to widespread development. Houston was built on blue collar entreprenurialism and, as a result, we have no zoning, low property taxes, etc. The only problem with that is that, up until recently, we also had very poor city planning, too few development restrictions resulting in strip malls and urban blight and it increased sprawl because developers could buy really cheap land half an hour from town to build inexpensive housing for those blue collar workers. As the type of industry in Houston has changed over the past 20 years, the cost of homes ON AVERAGE has gone up because more people are buying homes close to the city center where property is more valuable. You can still get less expensive housing in the suburbs, but the city is trying to become somewhat more urban meaning more homes and mixed-use developments near town.
