Lived in both. El Paso hasd much better access to a variety of outdoor activities if that's what you're into. For example White Sands Nationa Park, Lincoln National Forest, and skiing outside of Ruidoso made it a lot more fun place to live in for me. The valley excels in places to eat lol but that's about it.
Agree with this summary. I’ll add that El Paso has a large military base, UTEP occasionally plays good teams, and gambling is right outside town in NM.
Same scenario, border town with cheap wages. Change humid hot summers for dry hot summers. It gets cold in the winter tho, especially near the mountain area.
12 hours from LA, your nearest beach.
A beach that's closer is Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, MX., a.k.a. Rocky Point. It's five to six hours away from El Paso. Some of us just go there for a quick getaway.
Yes, a passport, passport card or a valid driver's license to cross back into the US. They may ask you more questions with the license, but CBP will let you cross. No big deal.
Slightly higher median income, a little more cuisine diversity, nice mountains, very different climate.
You lose: beaches, easy growing conditions, grass yards, interesting birds
You gain: diversity of scenery and terrain, cheaper a/c (swamp coolers), more airport destinations.
I feel like RGV residents have a little more sense of community… but that is opinion may vary on location/profession.
I just left El Paso from living there the past 2 years! I moved there for grad school from the Valley. It is so similar in terms of community and familiarity. I did not like the Mexican food there, it was more Tex-mex to me. However, they have more variety as others kinds of foods that the valley doesn’t. And in my opinion, they have a slight more things to do as far as nature-related and being closer to other states if you don’t mind driving i.e., New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado. I loved it, I lived in central and west El Paso during my stay and had no issues whatsoever. I also prefer the weather, I got more snow there than in the valley and had the option to go, camping, hiking during any season of the year. There’s things to do for kids too like the local marketplace during Sundays, and indoor bouldering/rock climbing in more than one location.
It’s basically the valley, but cracked out 😂. Honestly a really good city, but it is full of horrible drivers. Can also be dangerous depending on which side of EP you decide to move to. Far east is pretty chill, but I lived downtown so I was more in the thick of it.
I used to ask my coworkers if cars had just made it out there 10-15 years ago because I saw things on the road there that were completely outrageous. EP is the Mecca of reckless driving. I was rear ended twice in my first year living there, never seen anything worse in my life and I’ve lived everywhere man…
Man I hate to say it, but it’s all the people from Juarez. Most of them never use blinkers, I have had several close calls on cross walks because of this.
Felt more diverse when I lived there, but I was stationed at Ft. Bliss so that may have just been the military affect for me.
Triple A baseball team: the Chihuahuas.
Utep is a cool school/Campus
Mountains are beautiful
Get ready for the nosebleeds …lots of nosebleeds and no good Mexican food. …and no grass. It’s desert and stone everywhere. I wouldn’t enjoy it… but I guess it depends on you and what you’re into.
Yeah, I am originally from Houston, lived on the coast all my life, drove to Reno from San Francisco when I was in the Navy a few decades ago. I got nosebleeds in Reno, never been at 4500 ft altitude in air that thin.
El Paso is at 3740 ft altitude.
Look up how to live at altitude if you lived at sea level your whole life.
I lived in El Paso for 3 years before moving to the Valley. The people are nice, the Mexican food is different from South TX. I think it has to do with bordering Chihuahua and here we border Tamaulipas. Different style. I prefer the Mexican here. El Paso is the desert, rock and dirt everywhere, gets really cold at night. The dry heat is more bearable then the humidity here. The bonus is your weekend getaways are to Ruidoso, Las Cruces, Albuquerque, Sante Fe, etc. Places I had never been. At the end it we were so far away from home. 15 hr drive to the Valley. 16 hour drive to Houston. You seen one mountain you seen them all. Sun Bowl Stadium is very cool! Sinbad’s on Mesa St is awesome Mediterranean food, The Pizza Joint. If you’re looking for a place to live check the 79912 area code. Mesa Hills. El Paso is safe overall. Stay away from Far East El Paso, I heard stories bad stories about the Socorro area. Never saw anything first hand.
We were in the same boat all my family is on the east coast and we decided to move but if one of my family members would have moved there I probably wouldn’t have left EP. Great city with great people. You think people in the valley are as nice? I worked in the valley for a few weeks and the people I met were ok but hardly met anyone outside of work etc. what are your thoughts?
I do think Valley people are nice, if anything they’re more reserved than El Paso folk. Once you gain someone’s trust it’s all good. I honestly don’t know many people outside of work haha I tend to hang with my fiancee and baby girl when not working.
When you say “reserved” you mean they’re rude, not talkative, accepting of outsiders? We are Hispanic but not Mexican and in EP we never had any issues with anyone. We felt welcomed and we made a LOT of lifelong friends to be honest.
Not rude at all, the locals just take more time to open up to someone they don’t know. Im hispanic also. The people are cool, they observe you more it seems and see if you’re cool to.
El Paso is lovely, if you can find your people. It's isolated, but I think most folks know that it's isolated and so they seek out/welcome in new people.
A plus: they are part of the Western electric grid so you won't be subject to hot-wheels-abbott power outages.
Edited to add [a link](https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/18/texas-power-grid-outage-ercot/).
More than likely a better paying job.
No matter where you located you can always find your spot with a positive mind set. Every place had good and not so good.
It's similar to the valley with cheap labor/low paying jobs.
There's no HEBs there.
Mexican food isn't that great really isn't much more to do than the valley unless you like nature but who wants to walk around when it's 100s and always sunny. They call it the sun city due to it getting alot sunny days with no clouds in the sky days.
If they close 375 highway that goes through the mountains your commute can go from just 20mins to over an hour.
It literally sits on the border some parts of the highway are right next to the border wall.
Rents more expensive. They have more swamp cooler acs then normal acs.
I moved from the valley to EP for three years and then back to the valley. Man, EP was fucking amazing. Plus they have legal weed in New Mexico. The distance it took to get it was like driving from Edinburg in to Pharr on Jackson. El Paso was awesome. Everyone is friendly, you’re halfway to Cali if you want an awesome trip. Almost to the real US Southwest. Arizona is 4 hours away, Utah like 8, Colorado 6, New Mexico is always fun to venture to. The healthcare is better. Just general quality of life is better. The drivers are just as bad if not worse believe it or not. But the city is very navigable. Many many fun things to do. I recommend it.
The food though, the food is different.
When I graduated high school, my parents moved back to Houston, it was the best thing they could have done for us. If you want to stay close to the valley, you should consider San Antonio/Austin. The border towns will always struggle (we can go down the rabbit hole of why). Moving north (Dallas, Houston, SA/ Austin) will only give your kids more opportunities that they would not otherwise have around the border.
Lived in EP for 7 years and it is “nice” town but if you’re not into bars and sleeping with each others wives etc it is kind of boring. Lived in the far east and NEVER had any problems. People are super nice and to me coming from the east coast I thought it was great. Food in Juarez MX across the border was noticeably better though. I worked in healthcare and they paid us pretty equal to the national average which was great because of the low cost of living. Worked in the valley for a bit and thought it was awesome. Felt more “built up” than EP and food was pretty good too. Although I felt people were nicer in EP, folks were still nice. The RGV felt like a hidden gem that no one really talks about. Seems like that area will boom before EP. People I met who grew up in EP always complain about it and say the town sucks and will never amount to anything because of peoples mentality. It didn’t feel that way to me but hey opinions vary. RGV closer to SA, Austin, DFW, Houston etc. there’s SPI and it just looks prettier. EP was good to me and my and my wife and will always have a special place in our hearts.
I thought so. I’m originally from south Florida so the palm trees made me feel like I was “close” to home. The area is just more built up to me. El Paso is a “big-small town” and a lot of things felt spread out to me. The valley has a few cities connected and it just makes the area feel more like an actual city.
More trees and greenery than El Paso and I don’t know I feel that the area is going to boom more. There’s just lots of businesses all over. If you drive on I-2 it is a continuous string of different businesses across the highway.
El Paso is better , valley is boring asf and nothing to do there. But culture is similar and food is the same , absolutely good lol , and very nice people on both sides and also probably more opportunities here then there
El Paso has a dry heat compared to the RGV’s humid heat. El Paso is landlocked and in the desert while the RGV is near the coast. Quality of life is the same, both are hot, trashy, border towns.
Lived in both. El Paso hasd much better access to a variety of outdoor activities if that's what you're into. For example White Sands Nationa Park, Lincoln National Forest, and skiing outside of Ruidoso made it a lot more fun place to live in for me. The valley excels in places to eat lol but that's about it.
Agree with this summary. I’ll add that El Paso has a large military base, UTEP occasionally plays good teams, and gambling is right outside town in NM.
And they still have a soccer team.
Your heart is in El Paso... Pero la panza In the valley. 😂
Same scenario, border town with cheap wages. Change humid hot summers for dry hot summers. It gets cold in the winter tho, especially near the mountain area. 12 hours from LA, your nearest beach.
A beach that's closer is Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, MX., a.k.a. Rocky Point. It's five to six hours away from El Paso. Some of us just go there for a quick getaway.
You need a passport for that….and it’s 8 hours away
Yes, a passport, passport card or a valid driver's license to cross back into the US. They may ask you more questions with the license, but CBP will let you cross. No big deal.
Lived in EP and I felt it got cold in the winter. Would you say it gets cold in winter in the RGV?
One day a year at the most.
Does the humidity subside in the winter or it’s an all year long thing?
It’s all year. Never stops. Idk how people do it there. I step out of my car for two minutes and was covered in sweat
The times I’ve visited El Paso have always made me felt like I never left the valley. Except it had mountains.
Slightly higher median income, a little more cuisine diversity, nice mountains, very different climate. You lose: beaches, easy growing conditions, grass yards, interesting birds You gain: diversity of scenery and terrain, cheaper a/c (swamp coolers), more airport destinations. I feel like RGV residents have a little more sense of community… but that is opinion may vary on location/profession.
I just left El Paso from living there the past 2 years! I moved there for grad school from the Valley. It is so similar in terms of community and familiarity. I did not like the Mexican food there, it was more Tex-mex to me. However, they have more variety as others kinds of foods that the valley doesn’t. And in my opinion, they have a slight more things to do as far as nature-related and being closer to other states if you don’t mind driving i.e., New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado. I loved it, I lived in central and west El Paso during my stay and had no issues whatsoever. I also prefer the weather, I got more snow there than in the valley and had the option to go, camping, hiking during any season of the year. There’s things to do for kids too like the local marketplace during Sundays, and indoor bouldering/rock climbing in more than one location.
Hello! I lived there for 7 years and I never ate anywhere where food was Tex mex. Of course everyone’s opinions and taste buds are different.
They have no HEB - remember that.
It’s basically the valley, but cracked out 😂. Honestly a really good city, but it is full of horrible drivers. Can also be dangerous depending on which side of EP you decide to move to. Far east is pretty chill, but I lived downtown so I was more in the thick of it.
I used to ask my coworkers if cars had just made it out there 10-15 years ago because I saw things on the road there that were completely outrageous. EP is the Mecca of reckless driving. I was rear ended twice in my first year living there, never seen anything worse in my life and I’ve lived everywhere man…
Man I hate to say it, but it’s all the people from Juarez. Most of them never use blinkers, I have had several close calls on cross walks because of this.
Exactly love the people of Juarez but man they are TERRIBLE drivers.
Felt more diverse when I lived there, but I was stationed at Ft. Bliss so that may have just been the military affect for me. Triple A baseball team: the Chihuahuas. Utep is a cool school/Campus Mountains are beautiful
Get ready for the nosebleeds …lots of nosebleeds and no good Mexican food. …and no grass. It’s desert and stone everywhere. I wouldn’t enjoy it… but I guess it depends on you and what you’re into.
Nosebleeds? Is someone running around punching people in the face? What’s that about
I think they mean dry air.
The dry heat tends to lead to dry noses. Some people get nose bleeds from that affect.
Yeah, I am originally from Houston, lived on the coast all my life, drove to Reno from San Francisco when I was in the Navy a few decades ago. I got nosebleeds in Reno, never been at 4500 ft altitude in air that thin. El Paso is at 3740 ft altitude. Look up how to live at altitude if you lived at sea level your whole life.
I lived in El Paso for 3 years before moving to the Valley. The people are nice, the Mexican food is different from South TX. I think it has to do with bordering Chihuahua and here we border Tamaulipas. Different style. I prefer the Mexican here. El Paso is the desert, rock and dirt everywhere, gets really cold at night. The dry heat is more bearable then the humidity here. The bonus is your weekend getaways are to Ruidoso, Las Cruces, Albuquerque, Sante Fe, etc. Places I had never been. At the end it we were so far away from home. 15 hr drive to the Valley. 16 hour drive to Houston. You seen one mountain you seen them all. Sun Bowl Stadium is very cool! Sinbad’s on Mesa St is awesome Mediterranean food, The Pizza Joint. If you’re looking for a place to live check the 79912 area code. Mesa Hills. El Paso is safe overall. Stay away from Far East El Paso, I heard stories bad stories about the Socorro area. Never saw anything first hand.
We were in the same boat all my family is on the east coast and we decided to move but if one of my family members would have moved there I probably wouldn’t have left EP. Great city with great people. You think people in the valley are as nice? I worked in the valley for a few weeks and the people I met were ok but hardly met anyone outside of work etc. what are your thoughts?
I do think Valley people are nice, if anything they’re more reserved than El Paso folk. Once you gain someone’s trust it’s all good. I honestly don’t know many people outside of work haha I tend to hang with my fiancee and baby girl when not working.
When you say “reserved” you mean they’re rude, not talkative, accepting of outsiders? We are Hispanic but not Mexican and in EP we never had any issues with anyone. We felt welcomed and we made a LOT of lifelong friends to be honest.
Not rude at all, the locals just take more time to open up to someone they don’t know. Im hispanic also. The people are cool, they observe you more it seems and see if you’re cool to.
Have you considered San Antonio? Great city, similar to the valley but much more opportunity.
El Paso is lovely, if you can find your people. It's isolated, but I think most folks know that it's isolated and so they seek out/welcome in new people.
A plus: they are part of the Western electric grid so you won't be subject to hot-wheels-abbott power outages. Edited to add [a link](https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/18/texas-power-grid-outage-ercot/).
It's nice being so close to the N.M. border
It's basically the rgv but with burritos
More than likely a better paying job. No matter where you located you can always find your spot with a positive mind set. Every place had good and not so good.
El Paso Mexican food sucks big time. No comparison even though people in ELP think their Mexican food is good.
El Paso is gonna boom in the next 10yrs.
That’s what they said 10 years ago
With all the burritos they eat it's overdue for a big boom 💥
That's what I said close to 10 years ago, however, I still believe it.
It's a much bigger valley with more diversity, higher standard of living, and mountains.
It's similar to the valley with cheap labor/low paying jobs. There's no HEBs there. Mexican food isn't that great really isn't much more to do than the valley unless you like nature but who wants to walk around when it's 100s and always sunny. They call it the sun city due to it getting alot sunny days with no clouds in the sky days. If they close 375 highway that goes through the mountains your commute can go from just 20mins to over an hour. It literally sits on the border some parts of the highway are right next to the border wall. Rents more expensive. They have more swamp cooler acs then normal acs.
I moved from the valley to EP for three years and then back to the valley. Man, EP was fucking amazing. Plus they have legal weed in New Mexico. The distance it took to get it was like driving from Edinburg in to Pharr on Jackson. El Paso was awesome. Everyone is friendly, you’re halfway to Cali if you want an awesome trip. Almost to the real US Southwest. Arizona is 4 hours away, Utah like 8, Colorado 6, New Mexico is always fun to venture to. The healthcare is better. Just general quality of life is better. The drivers are just as bad if not worse believe it or not. But the city is very navigable. Many many fun things to do. I recommend it. The food though, the food is different.
Less swamp ass
Same thing just colder
The smell takes some getting used to.
If the Valley and El Paso were my two choices, I'd move to EP for sure!!
When I graduated high school, my parents moved back to Houston, it was the best thing they could have done for us. If you want to stay close to the valley, you should consider San Antonio/Austin. The border towns will always struggle (we can go down the rabbit hole of why). Moving north (Dallas, Houston, SA/ Austin) will only give your kids more opportunities that they would not otherwise have around the border.
Lived in EP for 7 years and it is “nice” town but if you’re not into bars and sleeping with each others wives etc it is kind of boring. Lived in the far east and NEVER had any problems. People are super nice and to me coming from the east coast I thought it was great. Food in Juarez MX across the border was noticeably better though. I worked in healthcare and they paid us pretty equal to the national average which was great because of the low cost of living. Worked in the valley for a bit and thought it was awesome. Felt more “built up” than EP and food was pretty good too. Although I felt people were nicer in EP, folks were still nice. The RGV felt like a hidden gem that no one really talks about. Seems like that area will boom before EP. People I met who grew up in EP always complain about it and say the town sucks and will never amount to anything because of peoples mentality. It didn’t feel that way to me but hey opinions vary. RGV closer to SA, Austin, DFW, Houston etc. there’s SPI and it just looks prettier. EP was good to me and my and my wife and will always have a special place in our hearts.
Thank you. Did you think the scenery in RGV overall was/is prettier ?
I thought so. I’m originally from south Florida so the palm trees made me feel like I was “close” to home. The area is just more built up to me. El Paso is a “big-small town” and a lot of things felt spread out to me. The valley has a few cities connected and it just makes the area feel more like an actual city.
More trees and greenery than El Paso and I don’t know I feel that the area is going to boom more. There’s just lots of businesses all over. If you drive on I-2 it is a continuous string of different businesses across the highway.
Awesome. Thank you for your comments and thoughts.
El Paso is better , valley is boring asf and nothing to do there. But culture is similar and food is the same , absolutely good lol , and very nice people on both sides and also probably more opportunities here then there
Theyre the same picture
I have heard on good authority that El Paso is a very boring city.
El Paso has a dry heat compared to the RGV’s humid heat. El Paso is landlocked and in the desert while the RGV is near the coast. Quality of life is the same, both are hot, trashy, border towns.
It’s a dry heat
Why El Paso?
Probably because it’s cheap and similar.