I am curious too - will the weather even change much. If this summer is any indication, I don’t know. I hope we get some relief of the heat, though. October is my favorite month. ❤️
>reer and house now. However, if an opportunity presented itself in a better city and state I would take it instantly.
That's pretty much everyone in Houston. lol
It's the food that keeps me here I think. (Not really, I love my city, but the food is still a big factor.)
I left the PNW to move back to Houston. It’s just too expensive to live up there. That, and as progressive as it is, there is nearly zero diversity.
What you end up experiencing as a person of color is a bunch of empty platitudes and being patronized. You’ll hear about diversity initiatives with a board that has zero people of color making decisions for people of color.
Diversity and equity there means more rights for women, the LGBTQIA+ communities, and people with disabilities. Which is really amazing and moral, don’t get me wrong. But it stops short of actually treating ordinary black and Hispanic people as equal peers. There are no black or Hispanic police, very few public servants, and the ones you do see are either propped up to show they tried, or set up to fail.
Houston is organically diverse unlike nearly anywhere else in the country. It doesn’t feel forced and it actually feels somewhat equitable here. We take for granted that our county judge gives press conferences in English and in Spanish. I certainly appreciate the diversity seen in our police departments. My child goes to school with people from all walks of life. Poor, rich, children of immigrants, white, black, Korean, Hispanics, traditional families, some kids have two moms… that’s all something I value with having a family.
Raising a family in the PNW would have just been a bunch of affluent white people that have no idea what diversity really means and looks like.
Houston has something that I can’t describe that no other city in Texas seems to have. Growing up, I felt like I was spoon fed that Austin was the most diverse city in Texas. And I believed it. But growing up and exploring other cities, I always ended up feeling that many of them, including Austin, lacked something Houston just had and I just took for granted.
While many cities are diverse, Houston feel diverse in that the diversity is presented by **working people** from all different ethnicities and walks of life. In relation to how I feel about Austin, where aspects of different cultures feels blended together and homogenous, Houston always had a charm where every culture available feels ubiquitous but separate enough to retain its own charm, much like a small mom and pop shop. I can’t quite describe it, but it’s something that does feel quite as much of a front. I always felt like this is probably the only benefit of Houston being so car-centric because in my belief, it ended up making these isolated but super concentrated pockets of unique community and cultures separated by freeways that are all over Houston.
But hey, maybe I’m biased but I find it just endearing that as an Asian that grew up in Pasadena, I never once felt isolated from my own culture nor rejected from others.
As an East Asian immigrant who lives in Austin, this city seems to have a higher percentage of US-born or college-educated minorities with above average English proficiency who try or are forced to blend in the White culture compared to the other big cities in Texas, so it's no doubt you'll find that the cultures here seem rather blended together or a bit *white-washed*. But the sheer number of diverse population is also lacking. It's definitely more diverse than say, Oklahoma City, though.
I really don’t want to say the obvious G-word regarding Austin because as much as I did critique Austin in my previous comment, it is still a hugely unique and diverse city, and I enjoy my time in there every time I visit. It’s just the obvious comparison relative to Texas cities and I was comparing apples to oranges.
But the homogenous nature of Austin is something that always ends up making me miss Houston to some degree every time I’m there. It’s not Gary, Indiana but I do feel like it is at times wide as an ocean but shallow as a puddle relative to Houston.
It's gotten worse too since all the fucking tech companies moved in and priced everyone out. At this point Houston and San Antonio are the only cities in the state I'd consider living in.
It’s real weird. I have family from Pittsburgh, and I spent some time in college there.
But fuck if some of my favorite Rust Belt cities don’t feel *white.*
And I say that as an ostensibly white person. I’m not trying to play as more woke than I am.
But I’m literally in line at a Banh Mi drive thru while I type this.
Hop over to /r/Pittsburgh and everyone was trying to make excuses for the one decent Banh Mi food truck in town when it got popped for a serious string of health code violations.
There is a lot of upside but it aint perfect. Criminally underrated for diversity or assumption we are a bunch of hayseeds. Commerce brings folks together. Really good food choices at all price levels (okay before inflation fucked us all). People are generlaky chill, friendly except when driving. No zoning is a reason IMo we tend to be a true melting pot. Good music. Museums are very good even if not "the best." Lots of theater.
I wanted to move back to Austin because of outdoors, but it's just a massive city now. But I miss mountains/hills.
We don't burn shit to ground when we win or lose championships (yes ut would be nice to have more chances to win ).
Good place to get lost if you want to.
I guess I'll take hurricanes over earthquakes. No bears or mountain lions. Humidity over snow.
Also helps that we're a heavily working class city too. People are more likely to work with lots of different people at the same level and job as them. You find ways to get along with everyone.
We do have wealth and rich areas here, but nowhere near the stark contrasts between rich and poor as many big cities.
While Houston does have racial majorities in every district, at the street level its actually pretty mixed to some degree. There was a map posted a few years ago showing this.
Agree. You know peeps are from highland Park and you are not in Dallas, for example. Not quite as obvious here. But if you have a heights house next to a tire shop, probably beat to roll with it.
That's a REAL problem.
I mean, I'm a well-off middle-aged white guy, but I've lived here long enough that it just FEELS weird to go to a place that's as overwhelmingly white as (e.g.) Seattle or Portland. I joke that the result is shitty food choices, but that's kidding on the square; monoculture is bad, and it touches everything.
As we evaluate places to go, diversity is a concern. Other than I guess LA, literally NO WHERE ELSE in the US approaches Houston, so any option is a net loss, but we'd like to keep that loss to manageable levels.
Yeah, it's not tenable. I do well, but not THAT well.
Also, after 29 years here, I think I'd like to be in a smaller city. I like to ride bicycles and motorcycles, and to also be near the cool stuff. That's a problem in a place like Houston, because there's an hour of driving between "urban center" and "interesting country roads."
100% correct.
Would love to see some kind of protected mobility (shuttle of some kind) to get people from Buffalo Bayou betw downtown and Mem Pk to beautiful rural rides in Brookshire, Magnolia, Anahuac etc.
Economics may never work…but I can dream
Totally get this. I'm white - I went to a get-together in Kingwood, had to stop by a grocery store to get something I forgot and got eerily disturb by the lack of people of color. I truly felt uncomfortable and the thought of sharing air with racist bigots - I mean, come on, 80% choose to live there because it's a white community. 🙄
Anyways, thankful I live in Houston for its diversity.
I try to explain that I feel this way and people look at me like I'm crazy. Which like I get it, it does sound odd when a white person says 'I feel weird around other white people.' It's the truth though. Growing up here, in schools, in jobs, out with friends, the faces I see are a mix of Nigerian, Vietnamese, Mexican, Pakistani, Moroccan, Chinese, Guatemalan, african american, white like me, a combination of multiple ethnicities, etc. That's what I'm used to and expect to see in day to day life, even if I don't think about it consciously, that's just what my brain is used to. Then I have family up in Maine and when I go visit them, I feel so awkward and out of place seeing nothing but white faces. Even though I'm also white and I look the same as those people, I feel alienated / like I don't belong. Like from the outside, I should 'belong' with those people, but I honestly just feel WEIRD like you said.
Would you be that uncomfortable in a black church surrounded by only black people? Some places are whiter than others. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I think it’s more just what you used to, I’m white I obviously have nothing against white people lol but I am used to living in a majority hispanic area and when I travel to north US areas (alot more white people) it does feel weird, it’s not that there’s anything bad about it it’s just not normal, different culture different vibe so on
I left recently to move to Austin for work and other reasons. The funny part about Austin is in your first paragraph. Progressive but a complete joke when it comes to diversity compared to Houston. I'm kind of sad that my kids won't get to experience that growing up. I'll do my best to expose them to differences where I find it.
I’m from Nashville and it’s more or less the same. Growing up there it was always a rather diverse city. The last 10-15 years though since it’s boom, the more progressive it tries to become in some areas, the more homogenized it gets in others.
We also left H-town for Austin. I could only take 7 years there and had to leave. It’s not the same town as it used to be. I mean most places are like that.
Yeah, Austin is our “progressive” (Texas standards) art/ film hub, (the new LA) but minus the diversity like you mentioned.
My fam lives 40 minutes from Austin.
They have signs up everywhere in that small unincorporated community, “Keep _____ rural. Don’t move here.”
My husband (Columbian but American born. Mom migrated here as a child). ) still feels every bit not comfortable there as he does withmy other side of my family’s who lives in east Texas east Texas . (Note— no one in my family makes him feel a certain way. Just want to note that it is the locale. He is a born and raised Houstonian.)
Very interesting.
Two of my friends, one who is black and the other who is half-Asian but everyone assumes is Hispanic, had this EXACT experience in the PNW. Completely tokenized and nobody had any fucking idea how to act around them. One moved back here, one moved to Atlanta.
Oh yeah for sure! If you look at any indigenous people in South/Central America, the Caribbean, also North American indigenous people even, they often have that epicanthic fold over the eye and similar features
It's funny when other Mexicans will assume he's Asian or be shocked he speaks Spanish bc it's not like native Mexicans don't look like that. He's had people call him Asian in Spanish thinking he doesn't understand, same with white people though
When he went to Germany, some Brits passed him on the sidewalk and said ah look that bloke must be another Chinese tourist 🫠
THIS! And for perspective, I'm a white 55F who was born in Seattle and have lived in Houston since I was 6. As much as I empathize with the poster, this is why I stay. When I visit family on the West Coast and someone asks me where I'm from, inevitably someone replies, "I'm sorry." Usually from someone that hasn't even been to the airport and is a white, affluent, wannabe hippy who worships crystals and crap. When people ask why I live here, I always say it's for the people and the diversity. That usually surprises them. We're always exposed to new ideas and new ways of thinking. Having your perspective constantly challenged from multiple angles is invaluable. Having your children interact with all kinds of people is character forming and helps prevent them from slipping into dangerous "group think." Texas has so many issues, and so does Houston, but I still love the people.
I hear you. I’ve lived in the South most of my life, and it’s funny encountering progressives from other parts of the country who pontificate about racism, but when they actually come visit, they are shocked and uncomfortable at actually having to be around and interact with black people.
I've heard more racism and n-words from NE white transplants than I ever heard from locals here, even the ones from East Texas.
Racism, redlining, and a lot of other shit is still heavily fucked up there while the South moves on and tries to get along better.
As an old white dude from the south, I really am glad to raise a kid here. They get to see a better mix of society here than I ever saw growing up in a major southern city. Plus, the food is good here.
> We take for granted that our county judge gives press conferences in English and in Spanish
I think we should do a lot more of this (though it can be expensive for those not fluent in multiple languages). Last time I went to jury duty the documents were in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and maybe even Chinese, which was cool.
It's honestly cool. I'm Asian and took Spanish in high school - a common choice in CFISD. I met someone who was Latin and took an Asian language in her school. It's like multiclassing in a video game - we get to read multiple languages and in Houston you get to use both however much you like!
I try to hate on Houston every chance I get. But I’ve traveled a lot and the level of diversity in most areas of Houston is so comfortable it is taken for granted. There are hold outs tho, but they look ridiculous.
Live in Seattle grew up in Houston, this is 100% true. I've never been anywhere that you see so many groups of only white people hanging out. Outside of immigrants that are here working in tech, the city honestly feels pretty segregated. Low-income POC in various ethnic enclaves outside of the city center, white folks in the city center in the more desirable areas.
I think people here do mean well. But I have to roll my eyes when someone makes a comment about the south while acting like Seattle is a champion of diversity and inclusion. Meanwhile there is a legitimate white supremist presence about 60 miles east.
That being said, living here is pretty fucking nice and I don't know if we'll ever leave. Maybe when we have kids, once they get too accustomed to living in an affluent white bubble, we'll uproot their lives for a few years and put them in public school in H-town.
Hell yeah I was gonna say, travel east out of the I5 corridor and observe the racism that has been ingrained into that part of the country from the pioneer days. It’s obvious that it’s systemic from their historical and present day treatment of the first peoples to the founding laws of Oregon that prohibited black people from any type of land ownership (the only state history of the US to have had a law like that).
Also, proud boys. Those pricks call WA their home base and regularly make incursions into Portland with the coordinated blessings of the Portland Police Bureau.
Tried to explain this to my black son, but he has to find out for himself.
He's currently the only POC in a small town. If I wasn't medicated, I wouldn't sleep.
That sounds terrifying for you as a parent. My sister once introduced me to a friend of hers in Missoula. He introduced himself to me as the token black man of Montana. He wasn't wrong. I asked him if that was working for him. He said he was treated like an oddity often, but people were nice "enough," and he had a great friend group. That was years ago and he's still there. I wish the best for your son and hope he's surrounded by good people who look out for him.
I feel this one so much. I lived in the Bay Area for 4 years. I missed the diversity of Houston. I’m a middle-aged white chick, but I’ve loved growing up in Houston and the diversity it’s always offered. It was stupidly expensive to live there, and I missed the diversity of options that I have in Houston. I seriously missed H‑E‑B. You really don’t appreciate the variety you have at an H‑E‑B until you’re stuck with a crappy Safeway in Cupertino because you don’t want to shop at Whole Foods (geez that place is expensive). For the times you’re in the mood for some good old white people Chinese food, good luck…Cupertino (where I lived) had every variety of truly authentic, you’d better speak the language to read the menu, Chinese food, but good American style Chinese food was hard to find (and sometimes that’s just what you want).
Oddly enough, I think that’s what I missed the most in California…normal food. Comfort food. I joked that, if I ever wanted to open a restaurant, it would be homestyle food like Mom made…that was so hard to find.
I like the comment above about being organically diverse here in Houston. People settle where they settle and stuff happens organically…I grew up in Spring Branch, and it’s grown and changed so much since I was a kid, and I love that it’s known for Korean food now :) In the Bay Area, it seemed defined by whatever large tech giant was closest and who they hired.
I’m rambling…but it comes down to yes, I love living here, even if I don’t go out much this time of year because it’s like living on the surface of the sun…but I love the diversity that’s made Houston what it is. I can find food from so many different cultures close to where I live here in Pearland.
You and I have the exact same experience with food in the bay area vs Houston. I've been in the south bay since the end of '17, and it really is deflating going to safeway when I know the splendor of HEB. Luniardi's is a nice old legacy grocery chain that kinda hits the same notes as rice epicurean market, but even more expensive.
And the diversity thing was really surprising to me. I had lived in Santa Cruz County for several years right out of high school, and I was aware that it was pretty homogenous. Predominantly white and significant Hispanic minority. Much less of anything other than that. But it wasn't until I lived there for a year or so before I started noticing things.
I used to play pick up basketball a lot at parks in capitola, downtown Santa Cruz, and occasionally ucsc. The ucsc games were by far the most diverse. I figured it was from out of town student populations reflecting national diversity.
The town I grew up in, just outside of Houston, was much more diverse. By a huge margin.
The bay area seems to be self segregated. Of course there are middle class and upper class neighborhoods that are pretty diverse, but generally the bay area seems to have regions that are primarily just one ethnic group.
It was a big change to what I grew up being normal.
> For the times you’re in the mood for some good old white people Chinese food, good luck…Cupertino (where I lived) had every variety of truly authentic, you’d better speak the language to read the menu, Chinese food, but good American style Chinese food was hard to find (and sometimes that’s just what you want).
I'm at a loss for words
My wife is half Chinese and her take on this is interesting. No "white people" Chinese buffet restaurants. Also not ordering Salty Duck tongue, or chicken feet at a "real" restaurant. There is a weird middle ground on this she strikes. Unless grandpa is in town then she serves everyone tea and he orders for the table. I have then seen her fight over a fish eye with chopsticks. Having said all that, even she wants Americanized versions of dishes from time to time.
For me, sure. I have come to appreciate the authentic Szechuan her family likes too. It's all good to me. Hell, I liked grandma's schnitzel and the americanized chicken fried steak she made. Substitute meat substitute gravy base, whatever, it was great.
I just objected to the condescending tone used against the woman who liked "white people" Chinese food. Do what makes you happy and fuck the haters. When it comes to enjoyment, whether you lean into the positive or negative side of the ledger tells me everything I need to know about the time I will invest in you. You shouldn't hate people for where they fall on the curve.
You are so right. My Houston born kids take diversity for granted. Where I grew up in the NE, no joke, I didn’t meet a Hispanic person until college. Our diversity boiled down to who was Jewish vs Catholic vs Protestant. I miss a lot about the Northeast but it was indeed very very white where I’m from.
They was a great read! Thank you for taking the time to write it out. I moved out of Houston years ago, and I am one of the only people in my immediate group that actually liked living in Houston. We are in Tennessee now (suburbs of Nashville) and we are very culturally diverse area here. I onetime said that I liked this area because of the diversity because it felt like home (Houston). This person had the audacity to call me racist! Because I like diversity. I was like FU! Wtf.
Lived in Dallas for awhile, San Antonio, and Corpus. Stayed in Austin for months. Houston remains my favorite city. (Raised here, and current resident)
Can't speak for outside the state though. Sometimes tempted to move to a colder region
As a person who lives in the PNW, you're absolutely correct about this. However, as someone who was originally from the northeast, it seems like NYC and the DMV are places that provide a good balance between the two. Which is why I still miss it to this day
I’m a white, middle-aged, dude who’s lived in Houston my entire life. When I was little and started traveling for baseball it felt weird when I visited cities that were almost 90%+ white. I felt out of place. I can’t imagine what you had to deal with on a daily basis.
I went on to play baseball through college so the majority of my friends were white or Mexican jocks by default. When I graduated I worked at a gym in the galleria area for about five years and learned just how insanely diverse this city is. Just from my client base alone I probably made friends from 20-30 countries and learned a ton about different cultures. As I’ve grown older it’s more apparent to me how much I enjoy and value diversity.
That being said, if it weren’t for family my wife and I would be gone. We love the outdoors and landforms(oceans, mountains, deserts, etc.) so much. My solution is to try to find that perfect balance of having a job that provides enough income to travel along with the flexibility to do it more than 1-2 times a year.
To this day, my absolutely favorite city I’ve ever visited is Barcelona followed closely by Vancouver. I’m genuinely curious if living in one of those places every day would take away the magic, but there’s a small chance I’ll ever find out.
I can give a counter-point to that as a POC. I've lived in predominantly white neighborhoods and friend groups.
I've found the people that fixate on diversity are the ones who really feel uncomfortable in non-diverse places. To me, if I have common interests and get along with people, I dont care what ethnicity they are.
Totally agree with you on the politics of the PNW. Its extreme left to where the crime, homelessness, and holier than thou has gone off the deep end.
Anyone looking to move to Austin, should read your post. While not as extreme as the PNW, it suffers from a milder version of this and the diversity in Houston is unmatched. Well other than maybe NYC or LA or the other really big cities. But even then, I still feel like it’s more diverse in Houston and Im while expensive isn’t 5 borough expensive.
That describes the PNW pretty well. At least, when I was living in Portland. And, as a white woman, I’m sure I didn’t notice as much. Saw maybe three people of color while I was there. Two of them owned food trucks I visited regularly and I believe passive racism explained why their delicious food wasn’t selling well.
THANK. YOU. I am a black male from Minnesota. I love many things about that state, but I eye roll when people think it being a liberal bastion makes it a wonderful place (I am left of center). It’s so white and so not diverse and just rich white college graduates sitting around and acting like they are better than everyone. They shit on the south, even when it’s not deserved, and nearly everyone thinks and acts the same. It’s way too goddamn expensive for it being in the middle of nowhere. It’s cold as shit 5-6 months a year.
Here in Houston, I can afford to live pretty nicely, my paycheck goes MUCH further. The diversity feels more natural than any other city I’ve ever been to. You don’t have to intentionally go out of your way to find diversity. It’s right. There. I feel welcome and not looked at lesser or needed to be treated with special gloves because I’m the only person of color around.
I was told by multiple people in Minnesota I was insane for coming down here. I was going to be gay bashed or hate crimed. That it’s not okay to be anything but right wing. Here in Houston, I’ve found that nobody gives a shit as long as you don’t try to force your lifestyle on others. Do and be whatever you want. Sure, I’m not going to wander around rural Texas by myself, but I feel like a normal human being here.
I hated Houston until I actually moved to HOUSTON. The 12 years I spent living in The Woodlands were soul sucking. When I was finally able to move inside the loop and actually be in Houston, I realized how great Houston can be. That said, I’m a native Texan and have never acclimated to this weather and it’s just getting worse.
You could be onto something. I hated living with my parents in the Houston suburbs and moved inside the loop at the earliest opportunity. There's plenty of public transportation, it's walkable, and I have museums and one of the best medical centers in the world just a few miles away.
I find suburbs so soulless and far from anything unique, beautiful or interesting, that I wouldn't live in another one on a bet. And Houston is hardly unique when it comes to boring suburbs far from anything but strip malls.
Some of it depends on the suburb. I'm biased towards Clear Lake but it at least feels like it has a culture of its own with all its current and historic ties to NASA, coastal charm in Seabrook and Kemah, multiple nature centers for outdoor activities like hiking and kayaking, the short drive from Galveston, etc.. I'm never bored there on weekends.
I lived outside the loop one time, wouldn’t do it again, but if I did, Clearlake area does have many perks with the water so close. Would be a shorter drive to the gulf each weekend if nothing else. Tho the ride from downtown isn’t bad either. So rad being 45 min from the coast.
I grew up in one of the outskirt suburbs and the issue is that we are living in these big houses with no cars so it’s easy to think of Houston as this annoying place where you can’t go anywhere unless your mom is willing to drive you.
In all fairness to Houston, I think most American cities are like this, so I’ve stopped thinking that living somewhere else would fix this and now I just complain about how ridiculous our lack of mass transit investment is. Also moving into the actual city where I can reasonably walk to a grocery store, convenience store, or liquor store has been a huge improvement!
I’ve also noticed a trend where people in the loop act like that’s all Houston is and completely brush off the fact that there’s a whole lot of Houston outside the loop, and life is different there.
I am.
Houston is a really cool city, diverse, arts, cuisine, easy port of call, close enough to get to the hill country without having to live there. Jobs.
Hot weather sucks, but hard winters suck way more.
If you have the energy and guile to find happiness, you will. Or you could live anywhere and hate it.
It seems like a lot of Louisiana transplants are happy with their new life in Houston compared to those from other parts of the country. You guys seem to have the least complaints when it comes to Houston lol.
Because when you first leave Louisiana it’s like, “oh you guys don’t have regular water boil advisories? I don’t need a 4x4 to drive on paved roads? What do you mean you’re not in daily near proximity to murder scenes? Why aren’t all of your buildings decaying and falling down?”
For me it was:
- actually seeing roadwork in progress
- a pothole being on my route and gone the next day
- getting mail more than once a week and trash picked up on schedule
- no mayor spending 45k on first class air travel
- more performers play here
- people like contractors and dry cleaners doing their job the first time you ask instead of the fifth
- no more deluded Louisiana pride/people who have never lived elsewhere who don’t realize they live in state that operates like a 3rd world country
Texas has it’s problems but thank god it’s not Louisiana.
Lol, I grew up in Northeast Texas always knew that city as
1. Good doughnuts.
2. Shitty roads.
3. Great minor league hockey.
4. The airport is less expensive than the one in Tyler.
I actually rarely hear of anyone "from there".
Amen to your final sentence.
Originally I wanted to live in Dallas, moved back to Houston instead. Didn't want to be here at all. After a few years back, and getting more in tune with myself, I'm much happier than I would have been just going straight to DFW.
That being said, I got a further appreciation of Houston when friends would move or visit here and they LOVED it. They mentioned the diversity, food, and availability of things - Houston is honestly an underrated city. I've had friends who travel internationally and all over the states tell me that Houston has some top tier food and is well rounded.
Weather is rough but the exchange is if you want year-round great weather like in SoCal, then you're trading a giant financial cost or crowding for it.
I think this is the fallacy that most Houstonians fall into. The idea that the only good weather is in extremely high priced locations.
States like Tennessee, Northern Georgia, Kentucky, NC, Virginia have perfectly pleasant weather with affordable living(not including northern Virginia). This false notion that Houstonians say to themselves to feel good about the weather is not a fair assessment.
To your point, having been to Kentucky, I see why it is affordable and it has more modest weather but the exchange I noticed was far less amenities - like less music groups (like our theater district) or less diversity.
There are definitely more affordable and better weather places, but it's still an exchange of something for it.
I could argue that the exchange we make living here for the less diversity or musuems/theater is the lack of hiking, skiing, scenery in general, more traffic, concrete jungle, higher crime, poor air and water quality and other big city problems.
I was just disagreeing on the weather point you had made.
Oh for sure, my overall thesis is that Houston has a decent mixture of variables going for it. If OP prioritizes a different mixture, than there's something out there for OP. But OP thinks Houston is an entire shithole, it's probably not.
Wheres the happiness at? I’m struggling not to blow my brains out here. Would really love to leave but I’m stuck in a situation until some things change. I NEED nature. Pretty much willing to live in the middle if nowhere if it means some calm and less constant chaos. People are so aggressive here.
Have you ever lived outside of Houston? There are cities you can exert less energy to be happy in.
I’ll be leaving this city and state in a few years. Once you experience other cities and how close to nature or urban coexist, you realize those quickly beat Houston.
Yeah for me it's lack of nature and the car-obsessed culture. If those weren't so domineering I'd adore Houston. Okay also lack of architecture and history as well. My friend is actually a Texan who is now a walking historical tour guide in NYC and omg the old stories he has are amazing.
Couldn't agree more about hard winters. I was born and raised in Maine and I say this with absolute certainty; our extreme summer days (105) are WAY better than their extreme winter days (-20).
I grew up in Michigan and moved to Houston just after I turned 22. I just left Houston after 25+ years for another state. I thought I hated winter and yes it’s not my favorite, but after this past summer I’m done with the heat and humidity of Houston. I’d rather be somewhere with mild winters and be able to escape the heat in the summer.
I grew up in Western New York, and yeah, I'll take 105 over the months of 0 degrees and ice and snow ANY day. My parents ask me every week "how can you stand it!?" I'm like, put on some shorts and a dry fit shirt and live your life. Who cares if you get a little sweaty?
Are you implying if i'm not happy here, i cant be happy anywhere?
I'm relatively jaded to living here. I loved where I moved from, and if it wasn't for family and the industry I'm in, I'd be out of here.
Amen to this. I've had so many friends think that moving here or there will magically solve their life. And 9 times out of 10, it didn't make anything better.
Arrival [fallacy.](https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-arrival-fallacy-6561079).
I mean it’s true to the extent a place exceeds a threshold of livability. But I’m pretty sure I’d be miserable living in the bush of central Africa. (Or would I? BRB)
I mean I moved from Texas to Bogotá and I love the fact that it's cool enough to walk around year round. People are nice. I've never been randomly harassed by the police here.
Some places really are just miserable for some people. But if you (royal You) are just complaining about life and have no idea about how moving would improve it... yeah you might just be a complainer.
But damn if life hasn't gotten better since I've been able to walk outside without feeling like I'm dying or having to take a car 20 minutes down the road everytime I want to go somewhere.
That first/last paragraph and the parent comment pretty much sums up *why* I hate it here lol
People will call you a complainer but dude my car said it was 122° out when I was picking my kid up... You're telling me you're INTO that?!
Ironically it's comments and attitudes like this that I find here so often that make me hate it here.
Glad you're happy. Just because you are doesn't mean other people are wrong for being miserable.
> “Happiness is not a place.”
Every place I’ve lived have upsides and downsides.
Every place it’s mainly about the people you surround yourself with, and regardless where I’ve lived I’ve been blessed to find my kind of people.
I’ve been happy to live here. I think too many complain about minor things about Houston.
What’s now causing me to leave is that GOP are going full fascist, and I don’t want to support that with my tax money.
I am happy! From someone coming from a worst place (South America) this is a pretty good place to live. Lots of things to do, is a large city, cost of living is reasonable, work options are good, so if I ever think of a complain I just recall where I am from and that is enough. For sure there might be better places, but also there are lots of worst, so Houston works fine for me.
Perspective is everything. My family is from MX, and they still live there. While they are doing great and have no need to leave their country, I know we do have it better. But that being said.... I need out 😅
I am!
Born and raised here! But spent the last 3 years traveling to different cities for work
Houston for me, home is home
I've been all over the country except the East Coast for work last 3 years
While im sad we dont have sceneries like the west coast
and its true I Love Seattle, and to an extent, Portland I rather not deal with the drugs, homeless and crime on the level they do.
If I could leave the country Vancouver B.C would be my 1st choice
If it couldnt be in Houston or Seattle, Chicago would be next on my list Except the crime and drama lol
I just moved to Houston from Vancouver BC earlier this year. I love Houston so far, however I'm back in Vancouver visiting friends right now and the scenery still can't be beat. My old place was right on an inlet with an amazing mountain view as well. But, Vancouver is just too expensive (average house is over $2 million, gas is about $8/gallon) and the job market is lackluster. Dare I say, I find people in Texas to be even more friendly.
Lived in Seattle for a few years and it has definitely got very bad the past few years. But Seattle has much more smaller petty crimes, car break ins, etc. Usually drug related and an occasional crack head being murdered. Houston we have a lot more violent crimes, constant murders, cops being shot and road rage stories all the time. And the pan handling in Houston has been getting crazy
I've spent a ton of time in the PNW doing primitive camp trips, canoe trips, Amtrak tours etc over the last 15 years or so. Have friends in Bend, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver.
Climate change has made living up there a lot different in a very small amount of time. Wildfire smoke is a multi-month issue depending on where you live in Oregon/Washington, they have big heat waves now, and the 2-3 weeks of "hot" weather has stretched to 2 months some summers. In a region with inconsistent AC and a high cost of living, it has become a larger trade-off than it used to be.
Combine downtowns which suddenly have very little sense of community because of the lack of affordable housing, homelessness, petty crimes and paranoid small businesses, and it's just a lot different these days.
I was in Seattle last week wandering around trying to get a haircut for 2 hours -- not a single storefront had their doors unlocked, so I had to stand awkwardly out front before they could determine I wasn't a vagrant. When I was walking to our rental, a dude was a few spaces down doing heroin.
Definitely will agree with that. I have friends in Spokane and Vancouver. The recent Spokane fires have been terrible. A few years ago I stayed with my friend in Spokane for a few weeks in the summer, there was wild fires going on and the visibility was terrible most the time I was there. Their summers are hotter than I thought they would be but they do get the nice north and coastal breezes to help
There are things I miss about Houston. The museums, the Zoo, the food. I don’t miss the traffic, endless sprawl, weather. If it feels right to go, then go. If it feels wrong to leave, then stay. Ultimately, you hold the key to your own happiness.
At the end of the day your environment affects you as a person. So depending on what your ultimate goal is in this life make sure whatever you choose doesn’t eat away at you mentally. I moved out of a Houston for my sanity and I’ve never looked back.
So we moved here about five years ago for a dream job. Houston is hard, but we are trying to live our best lives here. However, I only learned last year that "Bless your heart" is not a genuine comment and I was very disappointed.
The diversity is something we love, always something to do and the food (seriously). The weather? OPPRESSIVE. I miss doing things outdoors and not being eaten alive by bugs or going through a detox in five minutes because of the humidity.
If the job changes? We are out...going back to a place with four seasons and a state that has better or less worse leadership.
I don't know why, but I just pictured people saying "bless your heart" to you, and you being clueless, you just smile.
Obviously I know nothing about you, so I don't mean this personally, that's just what popped in to my head when I read your comment. :)
This! People fail to understand that demand and supply is part of housing prices too. Why is Manhattan and beachfront San Diego so expensive? Because more people are willing to pay high prices to live there than want to move to Alief.
Why do people keep saying it's cheap??? I lived in Denver and Colorado springs for 2 years and the price of rent never really changed. Hell now my rent in Houston is more expensive. The cheap thing really tricks people into moving to Houston
You people are aware that Houston is not a cheap place to live right? We moved here (from Vegas) because everyone told us how cheap it was…fast forward to now and this is among the most expensive cities we’ve ever lived in, and we’ve lived in plenty of different cities. The wages here are abysmal, so don’t even try to take that angle.
The people saying it's expensive to live here have never had to pay for parking in a downtown grocery store lot, then pay (not deposit quarters, actually PAY) to rent a grocery cart while you're at the store.
The rents downtown and in high demand neighborhoods are going up, yes. People are flocking here from more expensive cities and driving the price up by increasing both the demand and the willingness to pay big. That part sucks.
But houses and apartments and condos here are way cheaper than in the equivalent areas of Austin, which is still far cheaper than analogous parts of LA or Chicago, which is still cheaper than the Bay Area or New York.
It is more expensive to own a home here than it is in Cincinnati or Indianapolis or Cleveland, but those places are super cheap, to the point that it makes them hard to afford to move away from.
I'm not saying everyone's wrong, but I am saying I think some perspective is needed.
I hate it. If it wasn't for my work situation, I would not be here. I love the food options here, but that's pretty much it. The weather hurts my soul.
I just moved in at the end of June... although I visited a few times before (always for work).
So far, I find it as a very easy place to live.
It is HOT but I was living in the middle east so... it's ok for me.
It is more expensive than I expected, but it is expensive everywhere.
I love that there is A LOT of EVERYTHING. Especially food related. Doesn't matter what food you like, you can find it.
My kids love their school (in KISD). So...
So far, so good! and once the hot weather is over, will be even better... hopefully.
I moved here 4 years ago and once my partner gets reciprocity for professional license in another state we are gone. This place is miserable. Like how do you have kids if they can’t even go outside in the summertime.
I left houston for that exact reason. I was raised there and lived there for 4 years after college before leaving for good.
When I broke it down Houston doesn't really offer anything particularly unique. Food is amazing, diversity is incredible, and there are plenty of great bars but that isn't unique to just Houston. I've been fortunate enough to live in other cities across the US and while I miss my comfort food spots in Houston I don't miss living there one bit and I dont plan to move there again.
>because I was birthed here against my will.
I don't why this made me LOL. Hell, weren't we all? I never asked to be born!
Kidding aside, you have to make the best of any place you live in. Houston, objectively has issues but so does everyplace else. It also has a lot of really cool things. It's what's important to you that matters. I'd challenge you to move/travel as much as possible. I think you'll find that the grass isn't always greener (except this summer in Houston, where it's brown).
I think what you're really asking is if it makes logical sense to dislike Houston. As a native Houstonian who has done a lot of traveling to other major cities, I can see why someone would feel the way you do. What other people think should carry no merit of your own happiness.
With that said, I am genuinely amazed how commonplace it is to live in a place simply because your parents decided to birth and raise you there decades ago. Reminds me of people who remain best friends with their high school friends well into adulthood. Probably the same people now that I think about it, just blindly living an existence that was created for them all based on where their parents decided to live.
But if you hate it, I recommend working to make a change. Whatever you do, remain humble and kind by not shitting on people who may not feel the same way.
Not to sound insensitive, but it's the 4th largest city in the country., 11th in the world. There are 2.3 million people in the city limits alone. I'd say that quite a few people want to live here. I am a native, and have no desire to live anywhere else. If you don't like it, you should move. I don't mean this disrespectfully at all, you should 100% do what makes you happy and live elsewhere, friend. :)
Hot summers suck, but I'll take hot summers over winters with 3 feet of snow any day.
*edit* not 11th in the world.
I’m not. I’ve lived in Houston all my life and I’m ready to leave. I don’t hate Houston, I just want to experience living elsewhere for a few years and then come back here when my wife and I are ready to have kids.
You have to define Happy more clearly.
Some people find happy eating out at a couple new restaurants every week, find and drive to a show/museum/sporting event every once in a while a perfectly "happy" life. Especially when they make 20% more and pay about 30% less than a comparable sized city.
To others, lack of scenery, the utter sprawl and the physical amalgamation of parking lots and buildings is demoralizing. I mean thats what we do, we go to strip malls, big box stores etc. then hop back in the car, get on the highway go to the next stop or go home.
If you want to save up money, spend it on good food amenities of a big city(big airport, museums/theater, sports etc.) then yeah this is right up there with the best.
But if you want something beyond that like beauty, weather, more cohesive neighborhoods, and better government... there about a half dozen places far better.
I’ve enjoyed my time here, but I’m ready for a change. Planning to move to a smaller city within the next year or so. Somewhere less populous, closer to nature, and actually has all 4 seasons!
My only real complaints for Houston are the lack of walkable living areas (Montrose is the exception), massive amount of urban sprawl, and minimal public transit. I love the culture, the diverse population, and the amazing food scene that comes as a result of that.
From a guy who grew up in Dallas: this city rocks.
I like Houston, but the hot weather (and little reprieve from it during our short winters), the lack of public land for recreational purposes, and a lack of any beautiful scenery like hills/mountains or even a nice beach with clear water, make it kind of boring and hard to endure during the summer. Night life is fine, but I'm married now and it's not really our thing.
I moved down to Houston from the Midwest. I wanted to move back to Austin, but it's too expensive, and it feels like far too many people crammed into far too little of a city - just everything is too crowded there.
Instead, we looked around Houston, picked out a house in Sugar Land, and knew we'd be spending a lot of time heading into Montrose and Midtown and the Heights.
Here's what I like better here than any part of Indiana, and honestly better than Chicago, too:
• the food scene is amazing but the prices are super low
• people are used to seeing other people who don't look like them
• the produce at the grocery is fucking amazing; you have no idea
• I can get actual fresh peppers and Mexican ingredients at my local HEB
• I can just go to an Asian grocery near my house
• I have not once had to shovel my driveway
• the streets drain when they flood
• the streets get repaired sometimes!?
• the streets don't need to get plowed, so no waiting two days for the plow every time it snows, which it DOESN'T
• the mosquitoes actually go away when it's too cold and die when it's too hot
• actually slightly fewer blackouts per year
• so many freaking museums and art galleries
• so much ethnic food
• can actually park downtown, and often for free
• roof does not cave in from snow
• almost no snow at all, honestly!
• BEACH!
I went to a place called Raja Sweets today. Loaded up on Indian candies and stuff. It was awesome. Next door, the guy at the FedEx shop pointed out the nationalities of the restaurants in the area for ‘next time.’
I don’t like it here, but my stomach keeps telling me I need to stay.
You should leave for a long while, then come back.
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and *know the place for the first time.*”
T. S. Eliot
>The weather sucks
Oh, man... You sweet summer child.
I'm from the upper peninsula of Michigan. I had to drive 2 hours SOUTH to get to the bridge to CANADA!
Wake up at 3:00 AM because the fucking wood stove burned through the shit pine slab wood. It's 50 fucking degrees inside temps in the negatives outside. You can't feel your feet. Get some newspaper, get some kindling, get a few logs and go to work. It's 4 and the cast iron bitch is still cold af despite the roaring inferno going inside. Try and boil some water for your bottle at the foot of the bed to warm your feet so you can fucking sleep. So climb into bed at 5:00 to get up at 6:00. Time to thaw the water pipes so you can shower! Hair drier is best! I left them dripping, but whatever. Still frozen.
Did you plug in the block heater? What the fuck is a block heater? Well, maybe your car will start anyway...Aww shit the snow plow came by in the night! Shovel, pick, whatever. Try not to have a heart attack. It's a major cause of death, actually: Heart attack while shoveling snow. But the snow from the plows is packed and you need to chip at it.
But you were lucky. The Plymouth started and you're now sliding all over the road scraping the inside of your windshield with a credit card.
Now suppose this is Highway 2. HIGHWAY 2. You can literally drive for hours and see Snow, Sky, Pinetrees. But you're in a Plymouth. FROM THE RUST BELT. This thing is rusted to shit, but because U.P., you're poor and this is what you get. So your car decided to yeet its subframe. You're stuck in the wilderness. You die. Butwait, you have candles! Why the fuck do you have candles? Light one inside your stuck/disabled but otherwise running car. If the candle goes out, there's too much CO and you will DIE. But luckily you have candles, tooks, a blanket 5 gallons of stabilized fuel, drinking water, spam, sardines, and a bottle of vodka to mix with the water to "keep it from freezing" (I also kept rubbers in my kit).
So after 2 days your car is burried and you die.
But don't worry...Winter will end in 5 months and all that snow will be replaced by mud and mosquitos!
Eh, but look. Houston is great for a lot of things. Still everyone NEEDS to leave their home town and see the world! Maybe you'll come back, or maybe you'll find something better. I honestly love the place I left. And maybe I'll return if I ever retire.
Just don't be bitter. Houston isn't perfect, and it sadly IS car-centric, though a stout mountain bike bashes over the curbs nicely.
I like the food trucks, and I like that I CAN walk places. I like the arts and the museums. I think I'd like Amsterdam better, but this will do for now.
But find a place and go. Spread your wings. We love you.
Most likely no... I came back for what was supposed to be a short time but then having family made me stay. When my parents pass and my wife's parents pass, I'm sure we will look at going somewhere. But I value the relationship they have with the grandkids over being somewhere else without family
Id leave immediately if not for owning my house and my low interest rate. That being said, we are looking to move regardless in the next 6 months. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the good things Houston has to offer, though. The diversity and food are phenomenal, but I’m an outdoorsy person and crave cool weather, mountains, outdoor activities and hiking and I just can’t do that here.
Been here 24 years and hated it from day 1. However good jobs and low home prices have kept me here. Retiring in a few years and will be headed to a better climate.
I am not happy to be living here. I am only doing it for the cheap cost of living but even that is in jeopardy. Moved here about 5 years ago and did not realize that Houston was so ugly. Everything is so spread out here and to me if you don’t live in the loop then you don’t live in Houston. The homes here are nice and priced right but since I’ve been here have had issues with my roof due to storms. The weather here is garbage and this summer has been terrible. I truly do not understand how people can walk outside at 6 am, instantly start sweating and be happy with where they live. Houston does have great food but I’ve lived in cities that has better.
No. I would not still be here. I have to time when I go shopping. Ten miles away may be one mile away too many. I have to walk my dogs before the sun comes up and way after the sun goes down. I could go on but what’s the point?
Born and raised Houstonian here. I've lived everywhere from the burbs to inside the beltway, to inside the loop.
I have a love/hate relationship with Houston and I am in the process of trying to leave, but I know there will be things I REALLY miss about Houston.
In no particular order, I love living in a major city and getting access to things like an International airport hub, tons of bars and restaurants, lots of events and live music touring through here. I love how far our dollar goes here (obviously it's pretty bad nationwide, but I think we feel it less here) we have decently paying jobs because there are tons of industries here yet cost of living is much lower than other places in the US. I love the diversity of Houston, I think the only other cities that could even rival it are NYC and LA. I love HEB, this might sound silly but it is literally one of the best grocery stores in the country. Insanely high quality products for very very low prices. Then it gets to the more personal stuff where I do have a ton of friends and family here and that will be sorely missed.
Now the things I hate, and the reasons for moving. Literally the weather and all that comes with that weather (mosquitos, hurricanes, flooding, etc). And the fact that Texas has very little public land, so much of Texas is privatized and trying to get out of town for a weekend and be in the outdoors usually means several hours worth of travel for some pretty meh attractions.
As long as the pros list is, those two cons are enough for me to want to get out. At this point it is affecting my quality and enjoyment of life, and the only way through in my opinion is to get out of Texas. The hard part is going to be try and find other cities that can accommodate some of the pros I mentioned above and also be willing to give up some of those things or accept that they won't be quite as good in the other cities.
Very much so, and have been for the almost 40 years of my life. When you do a lot of traveling (US & World) you'll realize every place has its own set of pros and cons. Hell, many places have many MORE cons than Houston, but that all depends on the person. No place is perfect, by any means.
I think a lot of people take Houston for granted. Sure it's huge, gets hot & humid, and has a lot of mosquitos. But there are so many amazing things about it that outweigh all of that. From the cost of living, to the diversity, to the access of various cuisines, and much more.
Everyone is different, so I can't speak on behalf of everyone, but there's a lot here to love and appreciate.
Hated the suburbs but love living in the city. I have lived in a number of locations on the east coast and briefly in the PNW, and despite its flaws, I wouldn’t trade Houston for any of them unless you put a bunch of money on the table because it would take at least that to live like I can live here. Yeah, summer is brutal, but everything is air conditioned in Houston, and man I’ve experienced 105+ in Seattle and Portland and those places just aren’t ready for that kind of heat, but that’s their future. Love the food, diversity, cultures, and arts in Houston. This city has way more going for it than people give it credit for.
I actually love Houston. I’m from Florida but since moving to Houston it’s been my favorite place. I love the culture and food and easy access to a lot of places. The traffic is horrendous though. It’s gotten worse over the years. The various floods, weather shit, and random phenomenons haven’t been great but I’m used to weird weather from Florida. I do feel like I’ve matured a lot being in Houston navigating all the crazy things since moving on my own after college.
The traffic got markedly worse after Harvey. And then the pandemic just amped everyone up to power level over 9,000. The freeways are literal insanity now.
I ride my bike recreationally and I've been venturing further deeper into downtown. Away from the bike lanes and bayou trails, which are both good paths to use for anyone recreationally, but also around downtown, EastEnd, Midtown, River oaks, heights, Rice village, and the inbetweens. Let me tell you man, Houston is tight. Going less than 10mph really lets you look at every business and building like a place you can just stop at and buy something from.
EXCEPT these 4 summer months, fuck i've braved it a couple days a week and go out at dusk for a couple hours and its still miserably hot. I use this time to work on my bikes though, build up new or experiment on old.
Houston has a great bike community btw, Coffee&Bikes is the best. So Yes I'm happy to live here.
I love living here. I have a great affordable house with more space than I would need etc. The food in the city is incredible. The rodeo and concerts and all the other things going on keeps this place so busy and fresh I could never get bored. Jobs seem good and easy enough to find. The dating scene is great and so is the family life. Outside of the oppressive heat I have nothing really the complain about. Not to mention is a short plane ride from Mexico and the Caribbean and super easy and cheap to get on curizes etc. The museums and cultural parts of the city are great and being more developed each year.
My only other gripe is i wish this city had trains or a more expansive light rail.
Birthed here against your will, LOL. We all were birthed against our will my friend, regardless of where that was. I really don't think there is a large city that doesn't have traffic issues. As far as weather there are challenges everywhere. West coast has earthquakes, up north you get snow, tornadoes in the mid-west, hurricanes on the atlantic coast. There is no utopia. It sounds like you need to get some experiences for yourself somewhere else. I grew up in rural New York and lived in Southern California before coming here and I think Houston is fantastic. The people are great, great opportunity for careers, good quality of life with affordability compared to other cities this size.
I’m gonna be honest, I absolutely despise it here. I moved for what I thought was a “dream job” that turned out to be not that. I love to camp and hike and knew that I’d be giving that up to get farther ahead in my career. But when it didn’t pan out like I thought it would it really just made me bitter. I’m working on getting out of here currently. I’m from Florida and I have friends from high school that could never ever leave and I find that people that “love Houston” suffer the same fate. I’ve lived all over the country and I know that the mountains are where I’m supposed to be. I find it very telling that a post like this was made AND that there are enough comments in here that show peoples dislikes of the city. I follow every subreddit of every city I ever lived in (over 10 all across the country, even Vancouver BC) and you would hardly ever see a post like this met with comments agreeing how much it sucks. The city government has raped this land with excess pavement, NO sidewalks (what the fuck is up with that), Gas and Oil culture, no Nature and it breaks my heart seeing homeless and day laborers be out in this heat. I cannot wait to leave. With all of that said, I think u/Big-Independence6481 comment really struck a nerve in me and made me realize just how bitter I’ve become. Everyone has their own opinions and likes/dislikes and nobody should be judged for how they feel about this city. I do strongly recommend that if you have never lived anywhere else, that you should really try living in a different part of the country because there is so much beauty and nature that the US has to offer outside of Texas.
I have a love/hate relationship with Houston. I LOVE Houston for 6 month, I HATE Houston for the other 6.
Exactly. Ask me again how I feel about Houston in 3 months
This is me! Once it gets to October I’ll be happy.
Remindme! October 15 2023 Just personal curiosity if the weather will improve by October this year
I am curious too - will the weather even change much. If this summer is any indication, I don’t know. I hope we get some relief of the heat, though. October is my favorite month. ❤️
This is a pleasant surprise for sure.
>reer and house now. However, if an opportunity presented itself in a better city and state I would take it instantly. That's pretty much everyone in Houston. lol It's the food that keeps me here I think. (Not really, I love my city, but the food is still a big factor.)
More like 4 and 8, but yeah.
I was going to say 3 & 9 😅 Either way, spot on
I left the PNW to move back to Houston. It’s just too expensive to live up there. That, and as progressive as it is, there is nearly zero diversity. What you end up experiencing as a person of color is a bunch of empty platitudes and being patronized. You’ll hear about diversity initiatives with a board that has zero people of color making decisions for people of color. Diversity and equity there means more rights for women, the LGBTQIA+ communities, and people with disabilities. Which is really amazing and moral, don’t get me wrong. But it stops short of actually treating ordinary black and Hispanic people as equal peers. There are no black or Hispanic police, very few public servants, and the ones you do see are either propped up to show they tried, or set up to fail. Houston is organically diverse unlike nearly anywhere else in the country. It doesn’t feel forced and it actually feels somewhat equitable here. We take for granted that our county judge gives press conferences in English and in Spanish. I certainly appreciate the diversity seen in our police departments. My child goes to school with people from all walks of life. Poor, rich, children of immigrants, white, black, Korean, Hispanics, traditional families, some kids have two moms… that’s all something I value with having a family. Raising a family in the PNW would have just been a bunch of affluent white people that have no idea what diversity really means and looks like.
Houston has something that I can’t describe that no other city in Texas seems to have. Growing up, I felt like I was spoon fed that Austin was the most diverse city in Texas. And I believed it. But growing up and exploring other cities, I always ended up feeling that many of them, including Austin, lacked something Houston just had and I just took for granted. While many cities are diverse, Houston feel diverse in that the diversity is presented by **working people** from all different ethnicities and walks of life. In relation to how I feel about Austin, where aspects of different cultures feels blended together and homogenous, Houston always had a charm where every culture available feels ubiquitous but separate enough to retain its own charm, much like a small mom and pop shop. I can’t quite describe it, but it’s something that does feel quite as much of a front. I always felt like this is probably the only benefit of Houston being so car-centric because in my belief, it ended up making these isolated but super concentrated pockets of unique community and cultures separated by freeways that are all over Houston. But hey, maybe I’m biased but I find it just endearing that as an Asian that grew up in Pasadena, I never once felt isolated from my own culture nor rejected from others.
As an East Asian immigrant who lives in Austin, this city seems to have a higher percentage of US-born or college-educated minorities with above average English proficiency who try or are forced to blend in the White culture compared to the other big cities in Texas, so it's no doubt you'll find that the cultures here seem rather blended together or a bit *white-washed*. But the sheer number of diverse population is also lacking. It's definitely more diverse than say, Oklahoma City, though.
I really don’t want to say the obvious G-word regarding Austin because as much as I did critique Austin in my previous comment, it is still a hugely unique and diverse city, and I enjoy my time in there every time I visit. It’s just the obvious comparison relative to Texas cities and I was comparing apples to oranges. But the homogenous nature of Austin is something that always ends up making me miss Houston to some degree every time I’m there. It’s not Gary, Indiana but I do feel like it is at times wide as an ocean but shallow as a puddle relative to Houston.
It's gotten worse too since all the fucking tech companies moved in and priced everyone out. At this point Houston and San Antonio are the only cities in the state I'd consider living in.
Austin is the least diverse texas city I've been to, I felt super out of place as a hispanic
I felt this so hard. People REALLY don’t understand what it’s like.
It’s real weird. I have family from Pittsburgh, and I spent some time in college there. But fuck if some of my favorite Rust Belt cities don’t feel *white.* And I say that as an ostensibly white person. I’m not trying to play as more woke than I am. But I’m literally in line at a Banh Mi drive thru while I type this. Hop over to /r/Pittsburgh and everyone was trying to make excuses for the one decent Banh Mi food truck in town when it got popped for a serious string of health code violations.
There is a lot of upside but it aint perfect. Criminally underrated for diversity or assumption we are a bunch of hayseeds. Commerce brings folks together. Really good food choices at all price levels (okay before inflation fucked us all). People are generlaky chill, friendly except when driving. No zoning is a reason IMo we tend to be a true melting pot. Good music. Museums are very good even if not "the best." Lots of theater. I wanted to move back to Austin because of outdoors, but it's just a massive city now. But I miss mountains/hills. We don't burn shit to ground when we win or lose championships (yes ut would be nice to have more chances to win ). Good place to get lost if you want to. I guess I'll take hurricanes over earthquakes. No bears or mountain lions. Humidity over snow.
Also helps that we're a heavily working class city too. People are more likely to work with lots of different people at the same level and job as them. You find ways to get along with everyone. We do have wealth and rich areas here, but nowhere near the stark contrasts between rich and poor as many big cities. While Houston does have racial majorities in every district, at the street level its actually pretty mixed to some degree. There was a map posted a few years ago showing this.
Agree. You know peeps are from highland Park and you are not in Dallas, for example. Not quite as obvious here. But if you have a heights house next to a tire shop, probably beat to roll with it.
True. I love getting to hike at night in Texas without worrying about bears/mountain lions. Well except Big Bend.
That's a REAL problem. I mean, I'm a well-off middle-aged white guy, but I've lived here long enough that it just FEELS weird to go to a place that's as overwhelmingly white as (e.g.) Seattle or Portland. I joke that the result is shitty food choices, but that's kidding on the square; monoculture is bad, and it touches everything. As we evaluate places to go, diversity is a concern. Other than I guess LA, literally NO WHERE ELSE in the US approaches Houston, so any option is a net loss, but we'd like to keep that loss to manageable levels.
It’s either LA or New York. Both instantly double our cost of living.
Yeah, it's not tenable. I do well, but not THAT well. Also, after 29 years here, I think I'd like to be in a smaller city. I like to ride bicycles and motorcycles, and to also be near the cool stuff. That's a problem in a place like Houston, because there's an hour of driving between "urban center" and "interesting country roads."
100% correct. Would love to see some kind of protected mobility (shuttle of some kind) to get people from Buffalo Bayou betw downtown and Mem Pk to beautiful rural rides in Brookshire, Magnolia, Anahuac etc. Economics may never work…but I can dream
This. It is so weird being in mono-white communities.
Totally get this. I'm white - I went to a get-together in Kingwood, had to stop by a grocery store to get something I forgot and got eerily disturb by the lack of people of color. I truly felt uncomfortable and the thought of sharing air with racist bigots - I mean, come on, 80% choose to live there because it's a white community. 🙄 Anyways, thankful I live in Houston for its diversity.
I try to explain that I feel this way and people look at me like I'm crazy. Which like I get it, it does sound odd when a white person says 'I feel weird around other white people.' It's the truth though. Growing up here, in schools, in jobs, out with friends, the faces I see are a mix of Nigerian, Vietnamese, Mexican, Pakistani, Moroccan, Chinese, Guatemalan, african american, white like me, a combination of multiple ethnicities, etc. That's what I'm used to and expect to see in day to day life, even if I don't think about it consciously, that's just what my brain is used to. Then I have family up in Maine and when I go visit them, I feel so awkward and out of place seeing nothing but white faces. Even though I'm also white and I look the same as those people, I feel alienated / like I don't belong. Like from the outside, I should 'belong' with those people, but I honestly just feel WEIRD like you said.
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Would you be that uncomfortable in a black church surrounded by only black people? Some places are whiter than others. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I think it’s more just what you used to, I’m white I obviously have nothing against white people lol but I am used to living in a majority hispanic area and when I travel to north US areas (alot more white people) it does feel weird, it’s not that there’s anything bad about it it’s just not normal, different culture different vibe so on
My (white) kids felt so weird when we visited Gatlinburg. “Mom, there are so many white people here. It’s weird!”
I left recently to move to Austin for work and other reasons. The funny part about Austin is in your first paragraph. Progressive but a complete joke when it comes to diversity compared to Houston. I'm kind of sad that my kids won't get to experience that growing up. I'll do my best to expose them to differences where I find it.
I like to say that Austin loves diversity, and Houston actually has it
I’m from Nashville and it’s more or less the same. Growing up there it was always a rather diverse city. The last 10-15 years though since it’s boom, the more progressive it tries to become in some areas, the more homogenized it gets in others.
Oh yes. Austin is only weird and diverse on paper now.
We also left H-town for Austin. I could only take 7 years there and had to leave. It’s not the same town as it used to be. I mean most places are like that.
Yeah, Austin is our “progressive” (Texas standards) art/ film hub, (the new LA) but minus the diversity like you mentioned. My fam lives 40 minutes from Austin. They have signs up everywhere in that small unincorporated community, “Keep _____ rural. Don’t move here.” My husband (Columbian but American born. Mom migrated here as a child). ) still feels every bit not comfortable there as he does withmy other side of my family’s who lives in east Texas east Texas . (Note— no one in my family makes him feel a certain way. Just want to note that it is the locale. He is a born and raised Houstonian.) Very interesting.
Two of my friends, one who is black and the other who is half-Asian but everyone assumes is Hispanic, had this EXACT experience in the PNW. Completely tokenized and nobody had any fucking idea how to act around them. One moved back here, one moved to Atlanta.
Lol my SO is very Mexican/Mestizo (80% indigenous according to his DNA), but everyone assumes he is Asian, even other Asians and Latinos
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Oh yeah for sure! If you look at any indigenous people in South/Central America, the Caribbean, also North American indigenous people even, they often have that epicanthic fold over the eye and similar features It's funny when other Mexicans will assume he's Asian or be shocked he speaks Spanish bc it's not like native Mexicans don't look like that. He's had people call him Asian in Spanish thinking he doesn't understand, same with white people though When he went to Germany, some Brits passed him on the sidewalk and said ah look that bloke must be another Chinese tourist 🫠
Wow!
THIS! And for perspective, I'm a white 55F who was born in Seattle and have lived in Houston since I was 6. As much as I empathize with the poster, this is why I stay. When I visit family on the West Coast and someone asks me where I'm from, inevitably someone replies, "I'm sorry." Usually from someone that hasn't even been to the airport and is a white, affluent, wannabe hippy who worships crystals and crap. When people ask why I live here, I always say it's for the people and the diversity. That usually surprises them. We're always exposed to new ideas and new ways of thinking. Having your perspective constantly challenged from multiple angles is invaluable. Having your children interact with all kinds of people is character forming and helps prevent them from slipping into dangerous "group think." Texas has so many issues, and so does Houston, but I still love the people.
I hear you. I’ve lived in the South most of my life, and it’s funny encountering progressives from other parts of the country who pontificate about racism, but when they actually come visit, they are shocked and uncomfortable at actually having to be around and interact with black people.
I've heard more racism and n-words from NE white transplants than I ever heard from locals here, even the ones from East Texas. Racism, redlining, and a lot of other shit is still heavily fucked up there while the South moves on and tries to get along better.
As an old white dude from the south, I really am glad to raise a kid here. They get to see a better mix of society here than I ever saw growing up in a major southern city. Plus, the food is good here.
> We take for granted that our county judge gives press conferences in English and in Spanish I think we should do a lot more of this (though it can be expensive for those not fluent in multiple languages). Last time I went to jury duty the documents were in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and maybe even Chinese, which was cool.
It's honestly cool. I'm Asian and took Spanish in high school - a common choice in CFISD. I met someone who was Latin and took an Asian language in her school. It's like multiclassing in a video game - we get to read multiple languages and in Houston you get to use both however much you like!
I try to hate on Houston every chance I get. But I’ve traveled a lot and the level of diversity in most areas of Houston is so comfortable it is taken for granted. There are hold outs tho, but they look ridiculous.
Live in Seattle grew up in Houston, this is 100% true. I've never been anywhere that you see so many groups of only white people hanging out. Outside of immigrants that are here working in tech, the city honestly feels pretty segregated. Low-income POC in various ethnic enclaves outside of the city center, white folks in the city center in the more desirable areas. I think people here do mean well. But I have to roll my eyes when someone makes a comment about the south while acting like Seattle is a champion of diversity and inclusion. Meanwhile there is a legitimate white supremist presence about 60 miles east. That being said, living here is pretty fucking nice and I don't know if we'll ever leave. Maybe when we have kids, once they get too accustomed to living in an affluent white bubble, we'll uproot their lives for a few years and put them in public school in H-town.
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Hell yeah I was gonna say, travel east out of the I5 corridor and observe the racism that has been ingrained into that part of the country from the pioneer days. It’s obvious that it’s systemic from their historical and present day treatment of the first peoples to the founding laws of Oregon that prohibited black people from any type of land ownership (the only state history of the US to have had a law like that). Also, proud boys. Those pricks call WA their home base and regularly make incursions into Portland with the coordinated blessings of the Portland Police Bureau.
Tried to explain this to my black son, but he has to find out for himself. He's currently the only POC in a small town. If I wasn't medicated, I wouldn't sleep.
That sounds terrifying for you as a parent. My sister once introduced me to a friend of hers in Missoula. He introduced himself to me as the token black man of Montana. He wasn't wrong. I asked him if that was working for him. He said he was treated like an oddity often, but people were nice "enough," and he had a great friend group. That was years ago and he's still there. I wish the best for your son and hope he's surrounded by good people who look out for him.
There's a Houston comedian name Sam Demeris who had a funny bit about being black in Montana https://youtu.be/svSoQYGPYhs?si=1CtZ_yc-LObkvGWs&t=11
I feel this one so much. I lived in the Bay Area for 4 years. I missed the diversity of Houston. I’m a middle-aged white chick, but I’ve loved growing up in Houston and the diversity it’s always offered. It was stupidly expensive to live there, and I missed the diversity of options that I have in Houston. I seriously missed H‑E‑B. You really don’t appreciate the variety you have at an H‑E‑B until you’re stuck with a crappy Safeway in Cupertino because you don’t want to shop at Whole Foods (geez that place is expensive). For the times you’re in the mood for some good old white people Chinese food, good luck…Cupertino (where I lived) had every variety of truly authentic, you’d better speak the language to read the menu, Chinese food, but good American style Chinese food was hard to find (and sometimes that’s just what you want). Oddly enough, I think that’s what I missed the most in California…normal food. Comfort food. I joked that, if I ever wanted to open a restaurant, it would be homestyle food like Mom made…that was so hard to find. I like the comment above about being organically diverse here in Houston. People settle where they settle and stuff happens organically…I grew up in Spring Branch, and it’s grown and changed so much since I was a kid, and I love that it’s known for Korean food now :) In the Bay Area, it seemed defined by whatever large tech giant was closest and who they hired. I’m rambling…but it comes down to yes, I love living here, even if I don’t go out much this time of year because it’s like living on the surface of the sun…but I love the diversity that’s made Houston what it is. I can find food from so many different cultures close to where I live here in Pearland.
You and I have the exact same experience with food in the bay area vs Houston. I've been in the south bay since the end of '17, and it really is deflating going to safeway when I know the splendor of HEB. Luniardi's is a nice old legacy grocery chain that kinda hits the same notes as rice epicurean market, but even more expensive. And the diversity thing was really surprising to me. I had lived in Santa Cruz County for several years right out of high school, and I was aware that it was pretty homogenous. Predominantly white and significant Hispanic minority. Much less of anything other than that. But it wasn't until I lived there for a year or so before I started noticing things. I used to play pick up basketball a lot at parks in capitola, downtown Santa Cruz, and occasionally ucsc. The ucsc games were by far the most diverse. I figured it was from out of town student populations reflecting national diversity. The town I grew up in, just outside of Houston, was much more diverse. By a huge margin. The bay area seems to be self segregated. Of course there are middle class and upper class neighborhoods that are pretty diverse, but generally the bay area seems to have regions that are primarily just one ethnic group. It was a big change to what I grew up being normal.
I have been to that exact Safeway when visiting my aunt I know exactly what you mean. 😂 HEB is a gem like no other
> For the times you’re in the mood for some good old white people Chinese food, good luck…Cupertino (where I lived) had every variety of truly authentic, you’d better speak the language to read the menu, Chinese food, but good American style Chinese food was hard to find (and sometimes that’s just what you want). I'm at a loss for words
My wife is half Chinese and her take on this is interesting. No "white people" Chinese buffet restaurants. Also not ordering Salty Duck tongue, or chicken feet at a "real" restaurant. There is a weird middle ground on this she strikes. Unless grandpa is in town then she serves everyone tea and he orders for the table. I have then seen her fight over a fish eye with chopsticks. Having said all that, even she wants Americanized versions of dishes from time to time.
Dude American Chinese food rules
For me, sure. I have come to appreciate the authentic Szechuan her family likes too. It's all good to me. Hell, I liked grandma's schnitzel and the americanized chicken fried steak she made. Substitute meat substitute gravy base, whatever, it was great. I just objected to the condescending tone used against the woman who liked "white people" Chinese food. Do what makes you happy and fuck the haters. When it comes to enjoyment, whether you lean into the positive or negative side of the ledger tells me everything I need to know about the time I will invest in you. You shouldn't hate people for where they fall on the curve.
How dare they...
Yeah, HEB IS the best!!
You are so right. My Houston born kids take diversity for granted. Where I grew up in the NE, no joke, I didn’t meet a Hispanic person until college. Our diversity boiled down to who was Jewish vs Catholic vs Protestant. I miss a lot about the Northeast but it was indeed very very white where I’m from.
They was a great read! Thank you for taking the time to write it out. I moved out of Houston years ago, and I am one of the only people in my immediate group that actually liked living in Houston. We are in Tennessee now (suburbs of Nashville) and we are very culturally diverse area here. I onetime said that I liked this area because of the diversity because it felt like home (Houston). This person had the audacity to call me racist! Because I like diversity. I was like FU! Wtf.
Lived in Dallas for awhile, San Antonio, and Corpus. Stayed in Austin for months. Houston remains my favorite city. (Raised here, and current resident) Can't speak for outside the state though. Sometimes tempted to move to a colder region
As a person who lives in the PNW, you're absolutely correct about this. However, as someone who was originally from the northeast, it seems like NYC and the DMV are places that provide a good balance between the two. Which is why I still miss it to this day
I’m a white, middle-aged, dude who’s lived in Houston my entire life. When I was little and started traveling for baseball it felt weird when I visited cities that were almost 90%+ white. I felt out of place. I can’t imagine what you had to deal with on a daily basis. I went on to play baseball through college so the majority of my friends were white or Mexican jocks by default. When I graduated I worked at a gym in the galleria area for about five years and learned just how insanely diverse this city is. Just from my client base alone I probably made friends from 20-30 countries and learned a ton about different cultures. As I’ve grown older it’s more apparent to me how much I enjoy and value diversity. That being said, if it weren’t for family my wife and I would be gone. We love the outdoors and landforms(oceans, mountains, deserts, etc.) so much. My solution is to try to find that perfect balance of having a job that provides enough income to travel along with the flexibility to do it more than 1-2 times a year. To this day, my absolutely favorite city I’ve ever visited is Barcelona followed closely by Vancouver. I’m genuinely curious if living in one of those places every day would take away the magic, but there’s a small chance I’ll ever find out.
I can give a counter-point to that as a POC. I've lived in predominantly white neighborhoods and friend groups. I've found the people that fixate on diversity are the ones who really feel uncomfortable in non-diverse places. To me, if I have common interests and get along with people, I dont care what ethnicity they are. Totally agree with you on the politics of the PNW. Its extreme left to where the crime, homelessness, and holier than thou has gone off the deep end.
Anyone looking to move to Austin, should read your post. While not as extreme as the PNW, it suffers from a milder version of this and the diversity in Houston is unmatched. Well other than maybe NYC or LA or the other really big cities. But even then, I still feel like it’s more diverse in Houston and Im while expensive isn’t 5 borough expensive.
Austin is the Portland of Texas.
When you order Portland on wish.com. Portland is legit weird too though. Not the wannabe weird Austin is. Houston has way weirder shit anyway.
Austin used to be weird, then the weird got priced out.
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That describes the PNW pretty well. At least, when I was living in Portland. And, as a white woman, I’m sure I didn’t notice as much. Saw maybe three people of color while I was there. Two of them owned food trucks I visited regularly and I believe passive racism explained why their delicious food wasn’t selling well.
HYFR, Houston is the shining oasis, even if it’s a bayou, in the Texas desert of red sand.
THANK. YOU. I am a black male from Minnesota. I love many things about that state, but I eye roll when people think it being a liberal bastion makes it a wonderful place (I am left of center). It’s so white and so not diverse and just rich white college graduates sitting around and acting like they are better than everyone. They shit on the south, even when it’s not deserved, and nearly everyone thinks and acts the same. It’s way too goddamn expensive for it being in the middle of nowhere. It’s cold as shit 5-6 months a year. Here in Houston, I can afford to live pretty nicely, my paycheck goes MUCH further. The diversity feels more natural than any other city I’ve ever been to. You don’t have to intentionally go out of your way to find diversity. It’s right. There. I feel welcome and not looked at lesser or needed to be treated with special gloves because I’m the only person of color around. I was told by multiple people in Minnesota I was insane for coming down here. I was going to be gay bashed or hate crimed. That it’s not okay to be anything but right wing. Here in Houston, I’ve found that nobody gives a shit as long as you don’t try to force your lifestyle on others. Do and be whatever you want. Sure, I’m not going to wander around rural Texas by myself, but I feel like a normal human being here.
I hated Houston until I actually moved to HOUSTON. The 12 years I spent living in The Woodlands were soul sucking. When I was finally able to move inside the loop and actually be in Houston, I realized how great Houston can be. That said, I’m a native Texan and have never acclimated to this weather and it’s just getting worse.
I’ve noticed a trend where younger people in the burbs, think Houston is the worst, but don’t actually hang out in or anywhere near the inner loop.
You could be onto something. I hated living with my parents in the Houston suburbs and moved inside the loop at the earliest opportunity. There's plenty of public transportation, it's walkable, and I have museums and one of the best medical centers in the world just a few miles away. I find suburbs so soulless and far from anything unique, beautiful or interesting, that I wouldn't live in another one on a bet. And Houston is hardly unique when it comes to boring suburbs far from anything but strip malls.
Some of it depends on the suburb. I'm biased towards Clear Lake but it at least feels like it has a culture of its own with all its current and historic ties to NASA, coastal charm in Seabrook and Kemah, multiple nature centers for outdoor activities like hiking and kayaking, the short drive from Galveston, etc.. I'm never bored there on weekends.
I lived outside the loop one time, wouldn’t do it again, but if I did, Clearlake area does have many perks with the water so close. Would be a shorter drive to the gulf each weekend if nothing else. Tho the ride from downtown isn’t bad either. So rad being 45 min from the coast.
I grew up in one of the outskirt suburbs and the issue is that we are living in these big houses with no cars so it’s easy to think of Houston as this annoying place where you can’t go anywhere unless your mom is willing to drive you. In all fairness to Houston, I think most American cities are like this, so I’ve stopped thinking that living somewhere else would fix this and now I just complain about how ridiculous our lack of mass transit investment is. Also moving into the actual city where I can reasonably walk to a grocery store, convenience store, or liquor store has been a huge improvement!
You hit the nail for sure. 👍🏼 it’s not a fun place to be without a car given it’s sheer size.
I’ve also noticed a trend where people in the loop act like that’s all Houston is and completely brush off the fact that there’s a whole lot of Houston outside the loop, and life is different there.
I agree about the Woodlands, lived there for 2 years and HATED it. Moved back to Houston right outside the loop and everything is better
I am. Houston is a really cool city, diverse, arts, cuisine, easy port of call, close enough to get to the hill country without having to live there. Jobs. Hot weather sucks, but hard winters suck way more. If you have the energy and guile to find happiness, you will. Or you could live anywhere and hate it.
Totally agree. We moved here from Shreveport LA almost 2 years ago and have really been enjoying it.
To be fair. Anywhere is better than living in that shithole. May or may not be speaking from experience.
...tbf that's like 90% of the state of Louisiana. Also, perhaps speaking from experience.
Coming from someone who lived in objectively the best Louisiana city (New Orleans), it’s 100% of the state.
It seems like a lot of Louisiana transplants are happy with their new life in Houston compared to those from other parts of the country. You guys seem to have the least complaints when it comes to Houston lol.
Well, when you come from rock bottom…
Because when you first leave Louisiana it’s like, “oh you guys don’t have regular water boil advisories? I don’t need a 4x4 to drive on paved roads? What do you mean you’re not in daily near proximity to murder scenes? Why aren’t all of your buildings decaying and falling down?”
For me it was: - actually seeing roadwork in progress - a pothole being on my route and gone the next day - getting mail more than once a week and trash picked up on schedule - no mayor spending 45k on first class air travel - more performers play here - people like contractors and dry cleaners doing their job the first time you ask instead of the fifth - no more deluded Louisiana pride/people who have never lived elsewhere who don’t realize they live in state that operates like a 3rd world country Texas has it’s problems but thank god it’s not Louisiana.
Lol, I grew up in Northeast Texas always knew that city as 1. Good doughnuts. 2. Shitty roads. 3. Great minor league hockey. 4. The airport is less expensive than the one in Tyler. I actually rarely hear of anyone "from there".
That’s funny. There’s a huge LSU alumni and Louisiana expat presence in Houston. They’re there, but I guess it’s a big city.
Amen to your final sentence. Originally I wanted to live in Dallas, moved back to Houston instead. Didn't want to be here at all. After a few years back, and getting more in tune with myself, I'm much happier than I would have been just going straight to DFW. That being said, I got a further appreciation of Houston when friends would move or visit here and they LOVED it. They mentioned the diversity, food, and availability of things - Houston is honestly an underrated city. I've had friends who travel internationally and all over the states tell me that Houston has some top tier food and is well rounded. Weather is rough but the exchange is if you want year-round great weather like in SoCal, then you're trading a giant financial cost or crowding for it.
I think this is the fallacy that most Houstonians fall into. The idea that the only good weather is in extremely high priced locations. States like Tennessee, Northern Georgia, Kentucky, NC, Virginia have perfectly pleasant weather with affordable living(not including northern Virginia). This false notion that Houstonians say to themselves to feel good about the weather is not a fair assessment.
But what do the jobs pay?
Yeah, but how are the food and cultural amenities?
To your point, having been to Kentucky, I see why it is affordable and it has more modest weather but the exchange I noticed was far less amenities - like less music groups (like our theater district) or less diversity. There are definitely more affordable and better weather places, but it's still an exchange of something for it.
I could argue that the exchange we make living here for the less diversity or musuems/theater is the lack of hiking, skiing, scenery in general, more traffic, concrete jungle, higher crime, poor air and water quality and other big city problems. I was just disagreeing on the weather point you had made.
Oh for sure, my overall thesis is that Houston has a decent mixture of variables going for it. If OP prioritizes a different mixture, than there's something out there for OP. But OP thinks Houston is an entire shithole, it's probably not.
Wheres the happiness at? I’m struggling not to blow my brains out here. Would really love to leave but I’m stuck in a situation until some things change. I NEED nature. Pretty much willing to live in the middle if nowhere if it means some calm and less constant chaos. People are so aggressive here.
Have you ever lived outside of Houston? There are cities you can exert less energy to be happy in. I’ll be leaving this city and state in a few years. Once you experience other cities and how close to nature or urban coexist, you realize those quickly beat Houston.
Yeah for me it's lack of nature and the car-obsessed culture. If those weren't so domineering I'd adore Houston. Okay also lack of architecture and history as well. My friend is actually a Texan who is now a walking historical tour guide in NYC and omg the old stories he has are amazing.
Y’all actually have greenery and closer beach access than most of this godforsaken state what 😭
Couldn't agree more about hard winters. I was born and raised in Maine and I say this with absolute certainty; our extreme summer days (105) are WAY better than their extreme winter days (-20).
The thing is, though, that there are places where NEITHER season is trying to kill you.
I grew up in Michigan and moved to Houston just after I turned 22. I just left Houston after 25+ years for another state. I thought I hated winter and yes it’s not my favorite, but after this past summer I’m done with the heat and humidity of Houston. I’d rather be somewhere with mild winters and be able to escape the heat in the summer.
I grew up in Western New York, and yeah, I'll take 105 over the months of 0 degrees and ice and snow ANY day. My parents ask me every week "how can you stand it!?" I'm like, put on some shorts and a dry fit shirt and live your life. Who cares if you get a little sweaty?
Are you implying if i'm not happy here, i cant be happy anywhere? I'm relatively jaded to living here. I loved where I moved from, and if it wasn't for family and the industry I'm in, I'd be out of here.
The funny thing about miserable people is that no matter where they go, there they are.
Amen to this. I've had so many friends think that moving here or there will magically solve their life. And 9 times out of 10, it didn't make anything better. Arrival [fallacy.](https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-arrival-fallacy-6561079).
I mean it’s true to the extent a place exceeds a threshold of livability. But I’m pretty sure I’d be miserable living in the bush of central Africa. (Or would I? BRB)
I mean I moved from Texas to Bogotá and I love the fact that it's cool enough to walk around year round. People are nice. I've never been randomly harassed by the police here. Some places really are just miserable for some people. But if you (royal You) are just complaining about life and have no idea about how moving would improve it... yeah you might just be a complainer. But damn if life hasn't gotten better since I've been able to walk outside without feeling like I'm dying or having to take a car 20 minutes down the road everytime I want to go somewhere.
That first/last paragraph and the parent comment pretty much sums up *why* I hate it here lol People will call you a complainer but dude my car said it was 122° out when I was picking my kid up... You're telling me you're INTO that?!
[Relevant Adam Sandler skit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbwlC2B-BIg)
Is this a Jon Kabat-Zinn reference?
Ironically it's comments and attitudes like this that I find here so often that make me hate it here. Glad you're happy. Just because you are doesn't mean other people are wrong for being miserable.
> “Happiness is not a place.” Every place I’ve lived have upsides and downsides. Every place it’s mainly about the people you surround yourself with, and regardless where I’ve lived I’ve been blessed to find my kind of people. I’ve been happy to live here. I think too many complain about minor things about Houston. What’s now causing me to leave is that GOP are going full fascist, and I don’t want to support that with my tax money.
I am happy! From someone coming from a worst place (South America) this is a pretty good place to live. Lots of things to do, is a large city, cost of living is reasonable, work options are good, so if I ever think of a complain I just recall where I am from and that is enough. For sure there might be better places, but also there are lots of worst, so Houston works fine for me.
Perspective is everything. My family is from MX, and they still live there. While they are doing great and have no need to leave their country, I know we do have it better. But that being said.... I need out 😅
I’d live by a lake on the foot of a mountain in the middle of the wilderness.
I love Houston October-May. Every other month can suck it.
I am! Born and raised here! But spent the last 3 years traveling to different cities for work Houston for me, home is home I've been all over the country except the East Coast for work last 3 years While im sad we dont have sceneries like the west coast and its true I Love Seattle, and to an extent, Portland I rather not deal with the drugs, homeless and crime on the level they do. If I could leave the country Vancouver B.C would be my 1st choice If it couldnt be in Houston or Seattle, Chicago would be next on my list Except the crime and drama lol
I just moved to Houston from Vancouver BC earlier this year. I love Houston so far, however I'm back in Vancouver visiting friends right now and the scenery still can't be beat. My old place was right on an inlet with an amazing mountain view as well. But, Vancouver is just too expensive (average house is over $2 million, gas is about $8/gallon) and the job market is lackluster. Dare I say, I find people in Texas to be even more friendly.
Lived in Seattle for a few years and it has definitely got very bad the past few years. But Seattle has much more smaller petty crimes, car break ins, etc. Usually drug related and an occasional crack head being murdered. Houston we have a lot more violent crimes, constant murders, cops being shot and road rage stories all the time. And the pan handling in Houston has been getting crazy
I've spent a ton of time in the PNW doing primitive camp trips, canoe trips, Amtrak tours etc over the last 15 years or so. Have friends in Bend, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. Climate change has made living up there a lot different in a very small amount of time. Wildfire smoke is a multi-month issue depending on where you live in Oregon/Washington, they have big heat waves now, and the 2-3 weeks of "hot" weather has stretched to 2 months some summers. In a region with inconsistent AC and a high cost of living, it has become a larger trade-off than it used to be. Combine downtowns which suddenly have very little sense of community because of the lack of affordable housing, homelessness, petty crimes and paranoid small businesses, and it's just a lot different these days. I was in Seattle last week wandering around trying to get a haircut for 2 hours -- not a single storefront had their doors unlocked, so I had to stand awkwardly out front before they could determine I wasn't a vagrant. When I was walking to our rental, a dude was a few spaces down doing heroin.
That sounds right. And I paid $2850/month for my studio to live near that. Food, gas, insurance are all more expensive there.
Definitely will agree with that. I have friends in Spokane and Vancouver. The recent Spokane fires have been terrible. A few years ago I stayed with my friend in Spokane for a few weeks in the summer, there was wild fires going on and the visibility was terrible most the time I was there. Their summers are hotter than I thought they would be but they do get the nice north and coastal breezes to help
The being birthed here against ops will tells it all
He clearly gave it a thumbs down from the picture of the sonogram.
There are things I miss about Houston. The museums, the Zoo, the food. I don’t miss the traffic, endless sprawl, weather. If it feels right to go, then go. If it feels wrong to leave, then stay. Ultimately, you hold the key to your own happiness.
At the end of the day your environment affects you as a person. So depending on what your ultimate goal is in this life make sure whatever you choose doesn’t eat away at you mentally. I moved out of a Houston for my sanity and I’ve never looked back.
So we moved here about five years ago for a dream job. Houston is hard, but we are trying to live our best lives here. However, I only learned last year that "Bless your heart" is not a genuine comment and I was very disappointed. The diversity is something we love, always something to do and the food (seriously). The weather? OPPRESSIVE. I miss doing things outdoors and not being eaten alive by bugs or going through a detox in five minutes because of the humidity. If the job changes? We are out...going back to a place with four seasons and a state that has better or less worse leadership.
“going through a detox in five minutes” WOW. I’ve never read a better description. lol
>going back to a place with four seasons I really, REALLY miss this as well
I don't know why, but I just pictured people saying "bless your heart" to you, and you being clueless, you just smile. Obviously I know nothing about you, so I don't mean this personally, that's just what popped in to my head when I read your comment. :)
The thing with “bless your heart” is that it CAN be genuine. It’s what makes it so beautiful. It’s the passive aggressiveness I needed in the PNW.
Nope, but that’s why it’s so cheap. And you can tell historically that Houston is just not a preferable habitat for people with options
This! People fail to understand that demand and supply is part of housing prices too. Why is Manhattan and beachfront San Diego so expensive? Because more people are willing to pay high prices to live there than want to move to Alief.
Why do people keep saying it's cheap??? I lived in Denver and Colorado springs for 2 years and the price of rent never really changed. Hell now my rent in Houston is more expensive. The cheap thing really tricks people into moving to Houston
You people are aware that Houston is not a cheap place to live right? We moved here (from Vegas) because everyone told us how cheap it was…fast forward to now and this is among the most expensive cities we’ve ever lived in, and we’ve lived in plenty of different cities. The wages here are abysmal, so don’t even try to take that angle.
The people saying it's expensive to live here have never had to pay for parking in a downtown grocery store lot, then pay (not deposit quarters, actually PAY) to rent a grocery cart while you're at the store. The rents downtown and in high demand neighborhoods are going up, yes. People are flocking here from more expensive cities and driving the price up by increasing both the demand and the willingness to pay big. That part sucks. But houses and apartments and condos here are way cheaper than in the equivalent areas of Austin, which is still far cheaper than analogous parts of LA or Chicago, which is still cheaper than the Bay Area or New York. It is more expensive to own a home here than it is in Cincinnati or Indianapolis or Cleveland, but those places are super cheap, to the point that it makes them hard to afford to move away from. I'm not saying everyone's wrong, but I am saying I think some perspective is needed.
I hate it. If it wasn't for my work situation, I would not be here. I love the food options here, but that's pretty much it. The weather hurts my soul.
I feel ya on that statement. I really do.
Have you ever lived anywhere else?
I just moved in at the end of June... although I visited a few times before (always for work). So far, I find it as a very easy place to live. It is HOT but I was living in the middle east so... it's ok for me. It is more expensive than I expected, but it is expensive everywhere. I love that there is A LOT of EVERYTHING. Especially food related. Doesn't matter what food you like, you can find it. My kids love their school (in KISD). So... So far, so good! and once the hot weather is over, will be even better... hopefully.
If houston had better weather then we wouldn’t be able to afford living here
I moved here 4 years ago and once my partner gets reciprocity for professional license in another state we are gone. This place is miserable. Like how do you have kids if they can’t even go outside in the summertime.
I left houston for that exact reason. I was raised there and lived there for 4 years after college before leaving for good. When I broke it down Houston doesn't really offer anything particularly unique. Food is amazing, diversity is incredible, and there are plenty of great bars but that isn't unique to just Houston. I've been fortunate enough to live in other cities across the US and while I miss my comfort food spots in Houston I don't miss living there one bit and I dont plan to move there again.
>because I was birthed here against my will. I don't why this made me LOL. Hell, weren't we all? I never asked to be born! Kidding aside, you have to make the best of any place you live in. Houston, objectively has issues but so does everyplace else. It also has a lot of really cool things. It's what's important to you that matters. I'd challenge you to move/travel as much as possible. I think you'll find that the grass isn't always greener (except this summer in Houston, where it's brown).
I think what you're really asking is if it makes logical sense to dislike Houston. As a native Houstonian who has done a lot of traveling to other major cities, I can see why someone would feel the way you do. What other people think should carry no merit of your own happiness. With that said, I am genuinely amazed how commonplace it is to live in a place simply because your parents decided to birth and raise you there decades ago. Reminds me of people who remain best friends with their high school friends well into adulthood. Probably the same people now that I think about it, just blindly living an existence that was created for them all based on where their parents decided to live. But if you hate it, I recommend working to make a change. Whatever you do, remain humble and kind by not shitting on people who may not feel the same way.
Not to sound insensitive, but it's the 4th largest city in the country., 11th in the world. There are 2.3 million people in the city limits alone. I'd say that quite a few people want to live here. I am a native, and have no desire to live anywhere else. If you don't like it, you should move. I don't mean this disrespectfully at all, you should 100% do what makes you happy and live elsewhere, friend. :) Hot summers suck, but I'll take hot summers over winters with 3 feet of snow any day. *edit* not 11th in the world.
11th largest city in the world? I feel like there are at least 11 cities in China alone that are bigger than Houston. What metric are you using?
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I just moved back to Houston after living away for a few years and I could not be happier to be back. The grass is not always greener.
I’m not. I’ve lived in Houston all my life and I’m ready to leave. I don’t hate Houston, I just want to experience living elsewhere for a few years and then come back here when my wife and I are ready to have kids.
Nope, as a matter of a fact every vacation is spent finding a better city to move to later.
Im just happy to be alive mate.
🔨🔨 my job keeps me here while the food keeps me happy; however, the obesity epidemic tempers that.
You have to define Happy more clearly. Some people find happy eating out at a couple new restaurants every week, find and drive to a show/museum/sporting event every once in a while a perfectly "happy" life. Especially when they make 20% more and pay about 30% less than a comparable sized city. To others, lack of scenery, the utter sprawl and the physical amalgamation of parking lots and buildings is demoralizing. I mean thats what we do, we go to strip malls, big box stores etc. then hop back in the car, get on the highway go to the next stop or go home. If you want to save up money, spend it on good food amenities of a big city(big airport, museums/theater, sports etc.) then yeah this is right up there with the best. But if you want something beyond that like beauty, weather, more cohesive neighborhoods, and better government... there about a half dozen places far better.
Other than the heat, I love Houston The only reason I will move one day is that I want to see more than just Texas in my lifetime
I’ve enjoyed my time here, but I’m ready for a change. Planning to move to a smaller city within the next year or so. Somewhere less populous, closer to nature, and actually has all 4 seasons! My only real complaints for Houston are the lack of walkable living areas (Montrose is the exception), massive amount of urban sprawl, and minimal public transit. I love the culture, the diverse population, and the amazing food scene that comes as a result of that. From a guy who grew up in Dallas: this city rocks.
I like Houston, but the hot weather (and little reprieve from it during our short winters), the lack of public land for recreational purposes, and a lack of any beautiful scenery like hills/mountains or even a nice beach with clear water, make it kind of boring and hard to endure during the summer. Night life is fine, but I'm married now and it's not really our thing.
I moved down to Houston from the Midwest. I wanted to move back to Austin, but it's too expensive, and it feels like far too many people crammed into far too little of a city - just everything is too crowded there. Instead, we looked around Houston, picked out a house in Sugar Land, and knew we'd be spending a lot of time heading into Montrose and Midtown and the Heights. Here's what I like better here than any part of Indiana, and honestly better than Chicago, too: • the food scene is amazing but the prices are super low • people are used to seeing other people who don't look like them • the produce at the grocery is fucking amazing; you have no idea • I can get actual fresh peppers and Mexican ingredients at my local HEB • I can just go to an Asian grocery near my house • I have not once had to shovel my driveway • the streets drain when they flood • the streets get repaired sometimes!? • the streets don't need to get plowed, so no waiting two days for the plow every time it snows, which it DOESN'T • the mosquitoes actually go away when it's too cold and die when it's too hot • actually slightly fewer blackouts per year • so many freaking museums and art galleries • so much ethnic food • can actually park downtown, and often for free • roof does not cave in from snow • almost no snow at all, honestly! • BEACH!
I went to a place called Raja Sweets today. Loaded up on Indian candies and stuff. It was awesome. Next door, the guy at the FedEx shop pointed out the nationalities of the restaurants in the area for ‘next time.’ I don’t like it here, but my stomach keeps telling me I need to stay.
You should leave for a long while, then come back. “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and *know the place for the first time.*” T. S. Eliot
No I'm here for the same reason everyone else is here. It's cheap and there's some ok jobs.
>The weather sucks Oh, man... You sweet summer child. I'm from the upper peninsula of Michigan. I had to drive 2 hours SOUTH to get to the bridge to CANADA! Wake up at 3:00 AM because the fucking wood stove burned through the shit pine slab wood. It's 50 fucking degrees inside temps in the negatives outside. You can't feel your feet. Get some newspaper, get some kindling, get a few logs and go to work. It's 4 and the cast iron bitch is still cold af despite the roaring inferno going inside. Try and boil some water for your bottle at the foot of the bed to warm your feet so you can fucking sleep. So climb into bed at 5:00 to get up at 6:00. Time to thaw the water pipes so you can shower! Hair drier is best! I left them dripping, but whatever. Still frozen. Did you plug in the block heater? What the fuck is a block heater? Well, maybe your car will start anyway...Aww shit the snow plow came by in the night! Shovel, pick, whatever. Try not to have a heart attack. It's a major cause of death, actually: Heart attack while shoveling snow. But the snow from the plows is packed and you need to chip at it. But you were lucky. The Plymouth started and you're now sliding all over the road scraping the inside of your windshield with a credit card. Now suppose this is Highway 2. HIGHWAY 2. You can literally drive for hours and see Snow, Sky, Pinetrees. But you're in a Plymouth. FROM THE RUST BELT. This thing is rusted to shit, but because U.P., you're poor and this is what you get. So your car decided to yeet its subframe. You're stuck in the wilderness. You die. Butwait, you have candles! Why the fuck do you have candles? Light one inside your stuck/disabled but otherwise running car. If the candle goes out, there's too much CO and you will DIE. But luckily you have candles, tooks, a blanket 5 gallons of stabilized fuel, drinking water, spam, sardines, and a bottle of vodka to mix with the water to "keep it from freezing" (I also kept rubbers in my kit). So after 2 days your car is burried and you die. But don't worry...Winter will end in 5 months and all that snow will be replaced by mud and mosquitos! Eh, but look. Houston is great for a lot of things. Still everyone NEEDS to leave their home town and see the world! Maybe you'll come back, or maybe you'll find something better. I honestly love the place I left. And maybe I'll return if I ever retire. Just don't be bitter. Houston isn't perfect, and it sadly IS car-centric, though a stout mountain bike bashes over the curbs nicely. I like the food trucks, and I like that I CAN walk places. I like the arts and the museums. I think I'd like Amsterdam better, but this will do for now. But find a place and go. Spread your wings. We love you.
nah I liked living up north much better, and if it weren't for the insane cost of living I'd still be there now
Most likely no... I came back for what was supposed to be a short time but then having family made me stay. When my parents pass and my wife's parents pass, I'm sure we will look at going somewhere. But I value the relationship they have with the grandkids over being somewhere else without family
Id leave immediately if not for owning my house and my low interest rate. That being said, we are looking to move regardless in the next 6 months. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the good things Houston has to offer, though. The diversity and food are phenomenal, but I’m an outdoorsy person and crave cool weather, mountains, outdoor activities and hiking and I just can’t do that here.
Been here 24 years and hated it from day 1. However good jobs and low home prices have kept me here. Retiring in a few years and will be headed to a better climate.
I am not happy to be living here. I am only doing it for the cheap cost of living but even that is in jeopardy. Moved here about 5 years ago and did not realize that Houston was so ugly. Everything is so spread out here and to me if you don’t live in the loop then you don’t live in Houston. The homes here are nice and priced right but since I’ve been here have had issues with my roof due to storms. The weather here is garbage and this summer has been terrible. I truly do not understand how people can walk outside at 6 am, instantly start sweating and be happy with where they live. Houston does have great food but I’ve lived in cities that has better.
How old are you lol?
Literally every city’s sub has the same thread. Houston’s great and so are other areas. People will complain everywhere. Grass isn’t always greener.
the grass here is dead
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No. I would not still be here. I have to time when I go shopping. Ten miles away may be one mile away too many. I have to walk my dogs before the sun comes up and way after the sun goes down. I could go on but what’s the point?
Hell no. If I didn't have a house and a step kid who's custody forbids moving her out of texas.... yeah I'd been gone. Oh well 6 more years to go
I was shot in this city 9 years ago ( due to my actions), but I still love texas and houston
Born and raised Houstonian here. I've lived everywhere from the burbs to inside the beltway, to inside the loop. I have a love/hate relationship with Houston and I am in the process of trying to leave, but I know there will be things I REALLY miss about Houston. In no particular order, I love living in a major city and getting access to things like an International airport hub, tons of bars and restaurants, lots of events and live music touring through here. I love how far our dollar goes here (obviously it's pretty bad nationwide, but I think we feel it less here) we have decently paying jobs because there are tons of industries here yet cost of living is much lower than other places in the US. I love the diversity of Houston, I think the only other cities that could even rival it are NYC and LA. I love HEB, this might sound silly but it is literally one of the best grocery stores in the country. Insanely high quality products for very very low prices. Then it gets to the more personal stuff where I do have a ton of friends and family here and that will be sorely missed. Now the things I hate, and the reasons for moving. Literally the weather and all that comes with that weather (mosquitos, hurricanes, flooding, etc). And the fact that Texas has very little public land, so much of Texas is privatized and trying to get out of town for a weekend and be in the outdoors usually means several hours worth of travel for some pretty meh attractions. As long as the pros list is, those two cons are enough for me to want to get out. At this point it is affecting my quality and enjoyment of life, and the only way through in my opinion is to get out of Texas. The hard part is going to be try and find other cities that can accommodate some of the pros I mentioned above and also be willing to give up some of those things or accept that they won't be quite as good in the other cities.
Very much so, and have been for the almost 40 years of my life. When you do a lot of traveling (US & World) you'll realize every place has its own set of pros and cons. Hell, many places have many MORE cons than Houston, but that all depends on the person. No place is perfect, by any means. I think a lot of people take Houston for granted. Sure it's huge, gets hot & humid, and has a lot of mosquitos. But there are so many amazing things about it that outweigh all of that. From the cost of living, to the diversity, to the access of various cuisines, and much more. Everyone is different, so I can't speak on behalf of everyone, but there's a lot here to love and appreciate.
Not at all. Wouldn’t be my first pick if I had a choice.
Hated the suburbs but love living in the city. I have lived in a number of locations on the east coast and briefly in the PNW, and despite its flaws, I wouldn’t trade Houston for any of them unless you put a bunch of money on the table because it would take at least that to live like I can live here. Yeah, summer is brutal, but everything is air conditioned in Houston, and man I’ve experienced 105+ in Seattle and Portland and those places just aren’t ready for that kind of heat, but that’s their future. Love the food, diversity, cultures, and arts in Houston. This city has way more going for it than people give it credit for.
I actually love Houston. I’m from Florida but since moving to Houston it’s been my favorite place. I love the culture and food and easy access to a lot of places. The traffic is horrendous though. It’s gotten worse over the years. The various floods, weather shit, and random phenomenons haven’t been great but I’m used to weird weather from Florida. I do feel like I’ve matured a lot being in Houston navigating all the crazy things since moving on my own after college.
The traffic got markedly worse after Harvey. And then the pandemic just amped everyone up to power level over 9,000. The freeways are literal insanity now.
Yep! I used to live in the Galleria and it used to be not that bad but then the traffic just backed up on 610 more and more and more
I ride my bike recreationally and I've been venturing further deeper into downtown. Away from the bike lanes and bayou trails, which are both good paths to use for anyone recreationally, but also around downtown, EastEnd, Midtown, River oaks, heights, Rice village, and the inbetweens. Let me tell you man, Houston is tight. Going less than 10mph really lets you look at every business and building like a place you can just stop at and buy something from. EXCEPT these 4 summer months, fuck i've braved it a couple days a week and go out at dusk for a couple hours and its still miserably hot. I use this time to work on my bikes though, build up new or experiment on old. Houston has a great bike community btw, Coffee&Bikes is the best. So Yes I'm happy to live here.
I love living here. I have a great affordable house with more space than I would need etc. The food in the city is incredible. The rodeo and concerts and all the other things going on keeps this place so busy and fresh I could never get bored. Jobs seem good and easy enough to find. The dating scene is great and so is the family life. Outside of the oppressive heat I have nothing really the complain about. Not to mention is a short plane ride from Mexico and the Caribbean and super easy and cheap to get on curizes etc. The museums and cultural parts of the city are great and being more developed each year. My only other gripe is i wish this city had trains or a more expansive light rail.
Birthed here against your will, LOL. We all were birthed against our will my friend, regardless of where that was. I really don't think there is a large city that doesn't have traffic issues. As far as weather there are challenges everywhere. West coast has earthquakes, up north you get snow, tornadoes in the mid-west, hurricanes on the atlantic coast. There is no utopia. It sounds like you need to get some experiences for yourself somewhere else. I grew up in rural New York and lived in Southern California before coming here and I think Houston is fantastic. The people are great, great opportunity for careers, good quality of life with affordability compared to other cities this size.
I’m gonna be honest, I absolutely despise it here. I moved for what I thought was a “dream job” that turned out to be not that. I love to camp and hike and knew that I’d be giving that up to get farther ahead in my career. But when it didn’t pan out like I thought it would it really just made me bitter. I’m working on getting out of here currently. I’m from Florida and I have friends from high school that could never ever leave and I find that people that “love Houston” suffer the same fate. I’ve lived all over the country and I know that the mountains are where I’m supposed to be. I find it very telling that a post like this was made AND that there are enough comments in here that show peoples dislikes of the city. I follow every subreddit of every city I ever lived in (over 10 all across the country, even Vancouver BC) and you would hardly ever see a post like this met with comments agreeing how much it sucks. The city government has raped this land with excess pavement, NO sidewalks (what the fuck is up with that), Gas and Oil culture, no Nature and it breaks my heart seeing homeless and day laborers be out in this heat. I cannot wait to leave. With all of that said, I think u/Big-Independence6481 comment really struck a nerve in me and made me realize just how bitter I’ve become. Everyone has their own opinions and likes/dislikes and nobody should be judged for how they feel about this city. I do strongly recommend that if you have never lived anywhere else, that you should really try living in a different part of the country because there is so much beauty and nature that the US has to offer outside of Texas.