Any Information About Houston

[Kantubrionne]

I'm from a mid-size city that's always been my home. It's maybe 1 million people in size and I'm bored and tired with work. I was looking into moving to Dallas, but a headhunter may have found a great job for me that pays big money but is in Houston. I've never been there. I'm single, early 30s, and would be making very good money in Houston (around 130k). I'm wondering what sort of lifestyle there is there for someone in that situation, if it's a good city for young professionals, reviews about anything you can tell me about the city....restaurants, community, skyline, nightlife, girls....anything. Does anyone know or is anyone from there?

[wordsmith]

Have you been to the city-data forums, yet?

http://www.city-data.com/forum/

[starrynight]

I went to college in Houston and I absolutely hated the city! The downtown really sucks. The city just has no spirit to it. The people aren't that friendly there either even though it's Texas. The Woodlands are nice though.

[Kantubrionne]

I have looked at various city data sites, but you can only tell so much from that. I'm wondering about the feel and people of the city, the singles life (not necessarily the singles SCENE), etc. I know one girl who is from there and LOVES it, but for her it's home, so who knows. I have heard the people there ARE nicer and more pleasant than the people in Dallas. If I can afford to drive a BMW 6 series, I can put up with the people I'm sure! But yeah...any information is welcome. I want as much input as possible.

[redav]

I'm from & currently live in Houston.

Would you like it? Well, that all depends on what you want. It definitely is the location of opportunity. Housing is cheap, business is booming, pay is excellent, etc. But I'm sure you've heard all that standard stuff.

Houston is extremely spread out. In some ways that's great--there's still plenty of green space; land is cheap, and so on. It is also bad--commute distances/times are obscene; everyone is on the freeways; you can't function well without driving a lot. If you are used to a place that is smaller, it can be something of shock.

Downtown? I don't give a !@#$%^&*() about downtowns, so I really couldn't tell you much. I'm not into that sort of thing. If I never had to go downtown, I wouldn't. I live in the suburbs, and everything that I need/want is nearby, so I don't venture too far from home (but not all the suburbs are like that!). As with everything, you can probably find whatever you're into, and that includes people, entertainment, & so on. There are tons of restaurants & shopping, but I don't see a lot of "hip" things to do. I have plenty of single friends, and more singles are concentrated closer to town.

I find the people to generally be quite friendly, and although the drivers are indeed nuts, they aren't as bad as some other areas. Generally, people are conservative, like the rest of Texas. There are some that keep trying to get Houston to be a "world-class" city, whatever that means, so they see something interesting somewhere else and copy it. So, no it doesn't have a uniqueness or identity like that, but most people couldn't care less what the rest of the world thinks of the city.

Over half the population moved here in the last 25 yrs or so; that makes it pretty diverse overall, but there is plenty of old-school, good-ol-boys, too. Many parts of town are rapidly turning into Mexico.

It is hot & humid most of the year, and I know plenty of people who hate the area just because of that, but I've gotten used to it, so while I don't like it, it really isn't that bad.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions about the place.

[TinyDancer]

As for girls. . . I know this awesome girl from the boards that lives there. ;)

Just kidding.

I live in Houston. I'm not from here, but I absolutely love it.

There's so much to do here. I rarely go downtown, but honestly. . . there are tons of awesome neighborhoods here so there is no need to go downtown often. There's Midtown, the Galleria area, River Oaks, etc. . . basically, any type of atmosphere you're looking for, you can find it. While I like the aforementioned areas, I am also a country girl. . . so I go out in that scene quite a bit.

Housing is cheap. I live in an amazing part of town in a place I LOVE. It was so inexpensive. I had to do some work on it, but I just love it and love, love, love my location.

People complain about the traffic here, but I live in a place where I have no traffic to deal with. It takes me ~15 min. to get to work on a *bad* day.

My favorite thing about the city is the friendly people. I have found it so incredibly easy to meet people here. Between the diversity of activities and the welcoming people, I find myself with fun things to do all the time.

Oh, also love not having a "winter". . .

Only drawbacks for me are: really HUGE flying cockroaches and really bad storms/flooding/hurricanes.

You can PM me as well if you'd like.

[wordsmith]

I have looked at various city data sites, but you can only tell so much from that. I'm wondering about the feel and people of the city, the singles life (not necessarily the singles SCENE), etc. I know one girl who is from there and LOVES it, but for her it's home, so who knows.

That's kind of the point of city-data's forums. Being able to talk to people that live there, and bounce stuff off them.