Thoughts about Houston Texas?
Anyone here either from or resides in Houston Texas care to provide any thoughts on the general area, specifically the suburbs (not downtown or inner city)? Seems to have better CoL compared to NY, and most people I’ve met from uni sounded like they were happy with being Texans.
I’m guessing some downsides could be hurricanes, humid weather and traffic congestion.
Any other insights?
No income tax and moderate cost of living is cool, but everything else about it sucks imo. Most people who are happy here long term tend to have grown up in Houston, but anyone else who moves here ends up leaving fairly quickly.
Echoing this
People who grew up in Texas are brainwashed into chauvinism.
I went to uni and lived in TX for a couple more years. It is boring as hell unless you're into that. Houston beaches are crap, overly humid, tornadoes.
The only good thing is low taxes and low cost of living (even that is rising due to Californization).
Edit: Yes I know you have to drive 50 mins to Galveston to see beaches. But they are crap. My point is there is no accessible nature around to go and refresh/recharge if you live there.
Unless you want a quiet family life away from everything in a steaming hot flatland, you will be bored as hell.
Houston does not have any beaches lmao
You're thinking of Galveston but yeah - they suck ass. South Padre is the nicest thing you are going to get in terms of ocean beaches in Texas. That area of the Gulf doesn't really have good beaches in general. Its due to ocean currents in the area.
Agree - unless you consider a ship channel a beach. Houston and Kansas have the same amount of beachfront property
not sure why people comment on places they’ve obviously never visited.
No, I know. But if I say Galveston, someone who hasn't been there will not understand. So I purposefully said it cause I have met few people who assume since Houston is so close to the ocean, there might be beaches there.
IK some analysts and associates there you’re making so much money spending a little amount and low taxes. A lot of them head to Cabo or something cause it’s right near there. Houston really is the ultimate consumerism city for sure.
Go to school here. It sucks. City isn’t even a real city, infrastructure is horrendous, and generally it’s pretty dead
I moved to Houston from NY years ago. It’s been a great place to settle down and raise a family. As a single person in my 20s, would have hated it. There are a lot of transplants here due to medical center and energy industry. You can get a nice house and property without going to the burbs
Houston pros:
Lots of diversity
Great food
Maybe people. They're nice which counts for a lot. But they are too obsessed with football, Texas and conservatism for my tastes.
Houston cons:
City itself (ugly, weird)
Airports could be better (very far and inconvenient from the city, airports are okay)
Nothing nearby (except Austin)
No nature - it's all flat worthless land, swamplands or shipping channels. And agree that Galveston beaches don't count. I've been there and never want to go back
Weather is dreadfully hot
It's hard to be outdoors, so hard to go for a run, bicycling, etc. It's not a walking city, so even if you can go outside, where do you go? You'll likely drive somewhere, walk for 10 min, then drive back. It's just...weird.
You'll be very unhealthy there. The general attitude there is that if you're eating vegetables, you're paying a penance
So many bugs - flying cockroaches, mosquitos. NY/Boston gets the same knock for rats btw
Neighborhoods are fine...the city is just so spread out that they don't really feel like neighborhoods the way you find them in other comparable cities like Atlanta, DC, Miami, LA.
This is minor, but there's something weird about Houston as an O&G town. When you go to NY/SF/LA/DC/Chicago, you feel like there's all sorts of interesting people all around you doing interesting stuff. And not to say those people aren't in Houston. O&G is more fascinating than most industries and undoubtedly people in Houston are doing interesting things. But the city really lacks buzz in the sense that you can get a drink/meal and not feel like there's interesting people surrounding you. Instead it's just people talking about the same stuff - Texas A&M football, recounting for the umpteenth time some 4th-and-goal play from 3 years ago that didn't work out and then making fun of someone, then saying at least their stadium holds more people.....Yawn.
Houston is not a fun place to do IB. You can do some searches on here, but across the street it's a rough culture in IB with long hours and nasty people, exits are more limited than other industry groups, and fewer and fewer PE firms want to do O&G every year - both because of ESG, but more because firms lose their shirt every few years when the oil market collapses.
Agree with the other comments though. Low COL but city has no zoning laws and is very oddly laid out, no public transit/infrastructure at all (citywide boil water alerts at least once a year) and almost everyone works in energy of some sort, or at the med center. The city is very homogenous in lifestyle, industry, even schools attended (all UT and A&M folk). Locals love it hence why people brag about being Texan, but transplants often leave after a few years.
If you are looking to settle down outside of NY, think you can do better. Austin/Dallas if you like Texas, Chicago suburbs, Atlanta area, Philly etc
Was surprised by some of the negative comments here. Some are valid. My favorite city in Texas is Dallas. That said, if you want to work in IB in Texas, Houston just has the most opportunities. I'm in NYC now and looking to lateral out to TX or FL at the soonest viable opportunity, for a number of reasons.
The problem with Houston IMO is that the social scene is a work in progress. Midtown used to be great mid-2010s and now it's a ghost town. Heights Social is fun and the bars in that area. Washington Ave kind of goes in cycles of fun, ratchet, then fun again, then ratchet again. The social scene in Dallas is more established where the ratchets are quarantined in parts of Deep Ellum or Oak Cliff. If you go to Houston, I would strongly recommend living inside the loop. MAYBE outside if you're near River Oaks but there's really no upside to being in the suburbs. With the money you're making, you can still get a ton of space inside the loop whereas in NYC you're getting a crackhouse.
If you're into fitness, check out the Alphaland gym. It's a bit of a drive but it's great if you're into lifting. Worth the trip. Food scene in Houston is great - and that cuts both ways. Lots of "body positivity" going around unfortunately.
One final edit: bear in mind, it's also the 4th or 5th largest city in the country. If you can't find a group of friends in a city that big...that says more about you than the city tbh. Got to give some tough love there.
As far as the comment about too much conservatism here, that's why I'm looking to move out of NYC. Sorry we don't all share your worldview. I was in a situation where I had almost no choice really except for accepting an opportunity up here but bottom line, I have zero intention whatsoever in living in a place that went retarded in 2020 with COVID policies and the double standards therein.
Have lived in Houston for around 13 years.
Pros:
Good cost of living, very diverse, amazing food options, no state income tax, home to some of the best hospitals in the country, people are generally very friendly
Cons:
Hot and humid, yearly threat of hurricanes, bugs, city is very spread out and set up weirdly (no zoning laws), nonexistent public transportation and horrible traffic, not much to do (especially if you’re young w/o a family), boring infrastructure and surrounding landscapes
It's a great place if you're hyper-focused on family life and getting the best cost of living arbitrage. There are few places that have the level of compensation premium (finance/energy) relative to costs. At the same time, it's easy to get miserable there if you can't slot yourself easily into Texas suburb culture - there's a reason a lot of people quit after a few years and recruiting is so focused on fit if you're coming from out of state.
I’d like to add to the cons:
Do not come here if you want to enjoy your 20s.
Worst decision EVER!!
Are you a chubby chaser and afraid to admit it?
I have never seen a severely overweight person in any banking/finance/law role in Texas (or anywhere)
Houston is overall good, finance bros live like kings here compared to NY. Bankers are way nicer here too.
Pros:
Good CoL
Great food
Diverse city
People are generally nice here especially in suburbs + leaving town
Can own guns
Real self defense laws
Cons:
Humid as fuck
Long drive times and bad traffic
Best beach is a 6 hour drive away
“Less to do” people keep saying it but I think excitement comes from inside and doing cool shit
I’m a transplant who has lived in major cities on both coasts.
I really like Houston but it took me a WHILE to warm up to it. As others have mentioned, it doesn’t feel like a normal city due to sprawl / lack of significant walkable downtown core. There aren’t obvious geographic features to orient to
That being said, it really is big and diverse enough to make your own adventure. You want a walkable leafy neighborhood with some funk? Live in the heights. You want more urban feel? Midtown, Montrose. Suburban? Endless list of options according to budget and how far out you want to go
Plenty of cheap high rises with pools and other amenities too even within the downtown area
The people are friendly, COL is great, and I don’t mind the heat as much as others. Sure beats New England winters for my comparison
Hot damn people that complain about Houston are such pussies. Go fuck off to Dallas New York San Fran or some other bimbo bullshit city
Ok MBA associate
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