How is Houston Texas to live?

[hostage]

My brother lives outside of Houston in La Porte, TX. When I think of Houston, the first thing that comes to mind is smelly refineries. I was just there yesterday and I realized that all that industry has to have jobs to support them. I work in the IT field right now. I am wondering if moving down there could increase my standard of living as well as let me live closer to family. I love the area I live in right now, I am not a big fan of traffic or big cities. I like being able to go hiking and get away from people as well as boating.

What are the more outdoorsy parts of Houston? When I go to visit again, what areas would change my preconception that Houston is a big smell city?

Thanks in advance,

Hostage

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Host is Houston Texas to live?

Re: Host is Houston Texas to live?

My brother lives outside of Houston in La Porte, TX. When I think of Houston, the first thing that comes to mind is smelly refineries. I was just there yesterday and I realized that all that industry has to have jobs to support them. I work in the IT field right now. I am wondering if moving down there could increase my standard of living as well as let me live closer to family. I love the area I live in right now, I am not a big fan of traffic or big cities. I like being able to go hiking and get away from people as well as boating.

What are the more outdoorsy parts of Houston? When I go to visit again, what areas would change my preconception that Houston is a big smell city?

Thanks in advance,

Hostage

I lived in the Houston area for 25 years after moving from PA. If you're thinking of moving there, stay on the west side. No heavy industries like refineries and the like. I would notice the smell when going through the east side and I worked at a chemical plant in Baytown for a while so I was in the middle of it.

Traffic, it's the 3rd or 4th largest city in the country and rush hour is more like rush 3 hours, depending on your work schedule. And for the most part, traffic is busy 24 hours a day. But I found it one of the easiest cities to get around. H-town has two loops, I-610 and Beltway 8, that let you skirt the city proper.

Recreation - First you have to realize that the area has 3 seasons, Summer, one day of fall and one day of spring. LOL Winter is pretty much non-existant. But a chilly day in the 40's with the high humidity can feel like the depths of winter. I found outdoor activities to be sweat fests during the summer. Outside of Houston is the Hill Country with a bit better climate and very scenic. Fishing and boating is year-round, both fresh and salt water. And lots and lots of mosquitoes.

Housing is cheaper than the rest of the country. Plenty of jobs, too.

I loved the place and would move back there in a minute. I'm sure others will weigh in.

 

[avenger79]

Re: Host is Houston Texas to live?

Re: Host is Houston Texas to live?

when I was doing job searches Houston kept coming up as a possibility. LOTS of jobs there in design and IT. The one thing people warned me about the most was the traffic. Second was the population size.

 

[hostage]

Re: Host is Houston Texas to live?

Re: Host is Houston Texas to live?

While I am not the biggest fan of traffic, my brother seems to have no issues getting around, then again he use to race cars. I would rather drive for 20 minutes than be in traffic for 20.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: How is Houston Texas to live?

If I HAD to move to Texas, I would move to Austin way before I moved to Houston.

 

[dingbat]

Re: How is Houston Texas to live?

I spent a week in La Porte last spring for work...not my thing.

Traffic is relative. Coming from the Washington DC metro area, traffic was almost non-existent in comparison.

 

[DayCruiser]

Re: How is Houston Texas to live?

Doesn't Houston have some smelly Paper Mills? I saw that comedian who drinks scotch through out his act making jokes about how he thought that was the way air was suppose to smell. Then he moved away and found out different

 

[angus63]

Re: How is Houston Texas to live?

I was a project engineer for an installation in a black liquor "paper mill" for two weeks in Bogalusa, LA three decades ago. I still remember the smell from the clothing in my luggage when I got home. Some clothing I just discarded because it still was present after washing. Pungent stuff. Funny thing was when I was getting directions from Slidell, the dude I spoke to first said "just follow your nose".

Most of the people I know who work in the Houston area are in the Maritime industry. The work is definitely there in that industry as well. I can tell you that most, if not all of the people I know do not have a daily commute and have chosen to live well outside of the port area if that helps. I've only visited Houston for an overnite or two and was onboard vessels in the port or Galveston.