Reviews & Comments
Lubbock, TX
Born and Raised in Lubbock -
3/20/2015I was born and raised in Lubbock. More or less,I spent about 30 years of my life there. I will start with the positive. It is a well established and well built city with all the amenities and infrastructure of a regional hub,but it is surrounded by a vast and rural agricultural landscape. This makes for clean air,no pollution and really nice people that possess the friendliness of rural oriented folks. The city is built in an easy to understand grid style with very wide streets. It is one of the easiest cities to get around in. Traffic jams are extremely rare and it is simple to walk out of your house,get in your car and be at work in about 15-20 minutes. Suburbs in the traditional sense dont exist and that is another positive. The other great thing about Lubbock is the fact that the cost of living is very low. It is easy to buy a beautiful home in a high end part of town for next to nothing. Property taxes are low as are utilities. While the wages for jobs in Lubbock are not high,you dont have to be rich to live fairly well. The economy is good and the unemployment rate is low. Lubbock doesnt typically get hit hard by the highs and lows of the U.S. economy. When there is a downturn nationally,Lubbock typically weathers it very well. The climate is tricky. On one hand,Lubbock sits on the high plains of West Texas. Even though it is flat,it actually sits on a high plateau. Therefore,it is cooler in the summer,especially at night,than most of the rest of Texas which is typically sweltering. The climate can be characterized as semi-arid with low humidity and wide temperature swings. In the summer,the temps do get well into the 90's during the day,but it is accompanied by low humidity which makes it quite comfortable. At night,it drops well into the 60's because of the high elevation and with the low humidity actually creates a little bit of a coolness. This is one of the treasures about Lubbock in the summer that the rest of Texas is missing out on as they are sweltering in high heat and humidity both day and night. There are occasional sandstorms in the spring and they are annoying and filthy,but they are not as common or as bad as they once were. The wind is a constant source of irritation. It pretty much blows constantly all year round in the 15-25 mph range with gusts. The winters are cold with fronts that bring icy winds,but heavy accumulations of ice and snow are relatively rare. Even in the middle of winter,there can be sunny days when the temps get into the 50's,60's or on rare occasions,even in the 70's before another front from the north drives them back down. In the spring,Lubbock is subject to severe thunderstorms with damaging winds,lightning and large hail. Tornadoes also occur,but direct hits on the city are almost unheard of. Rain can be hard to come by. It is too dry as it only rains about 18 inches a year. The really negative thing about Lubbock is the scenery. It is flat as a pancake and there are no trees other than the ones that have been planted. Forests,mountains and an abundance of water just simply does not exist. Taking a drive out in the country in any direction outside of Lubbock is depressing,bland and just downright ugly. The city is very different depending on what part of it you are in. The southwest part of town is very pleasant and attractive with businesses and nice neighborhoods and these of course are the areas where incomes are higher. The north side of town,the east side of town and the downtown area is economically depressed,blighted,somewhat trashy and an eyesore where poverty and crime are common. The economy is driven by the service industry,medicine,Texas Tech,real estate and agriculture. The medical care in Lubbock is excellent for such a small city surrounded by such a vast rural part of the country. I dont recommend the public school system. It is not good. You are better off in the school districts just outside of the Lubbock city limits. To wrap it all up,although I lived there for 30 years,leaving there was a happy time for me and I have never missed it since I have been gone. I do like to occasionally go visit it for 2 or 3 days,but then I am ready to leave again. I would not want to live out there again and I can ever see myself going back. I would rather live closer to larger cities,live in a wetter place and by all means,I would rather have greenery,trees,forests,water,hills,mountains that Lubbock doesnt have. I do think Texas Tech University can be the right school for many college students to attend and then move away after they graduate. Anybody contemplating moving to Lubbock and making it a long term permanent home...I would not recommend it.
Bryan, TX
Bryan-College Station,Brazos Valley,Texas A&M and -
3/20/2015I moved to the Brazos Valley in 2007. The twin cities of Bryan and College Station are the heart of the Brazos Valley and both are dominated by the large educational institutions of Texas A&M University and Blinn College. On the positive side,the people of this area are nice,friendly and down to earth. The locals have a certain amount of courtesy,respect and civility that is rapidly declining in the rest of America. It is a very conservative area politically,socially and culturally and this is good for the most part,but sometimes it can get obsessive and they can become a little too rigid with no room for compromise. Sometimes,there is no Republican that can do wrong,no Democrat that can do right,no war that comes along that we shouldnt fight and the USA is still the greatest nation on earth no matter what. So some of this can get a little old if you are a little more independent minded. On the other hand,the cowboy boots,hats,western wear,southern/Texican accent,young people that respect/obey elders,respect for authority and the yes sir/no sir,yes maam/no maam atmosphere,respect for law enforcement and the military is refreshing. Texas A&M is a great school and it drives the economy of this area. If there is one thing about it that bothers me,it is the alumni and current students that think it is so great,there is almost a cult like loyalty to it. If you live here and you dont have an Aggie ring(meaning you are not an A&M graduate)you can feel left out and looked down on. Blinn College students are much more pleasant to be around and it is the better atmosphere to work in as a staff member in my opinion. Many people here will say that the cost of living is not bad,but I couldnt disagree more. If you buy a house,it is expensive. As a person who came here from the low cost of living of West Texas,it costs a great deal more to live down here. In West Texas,I had a 3 bedroom/2 bath brand new brick home with a double car garage,fenced in back yard in the nicest part of town and the most desired school district for only $85,000. Here,I had to settle for the same size house,wood frame in a depressed,undesirable part of town and not desired school district and it came to $100,000. So I have nothing good to say about the cost of living here. The other horrible thing about living here and probably the worst that many locals also will not admit to is the fact that the summer time climate is absolute misery. It is a monotonous string of 100 degree days and 80 degree nights with intense heat and withering humidity. From about June all the way to October,it is the exact same forecast every single day and night. There is no variety whatsoever. The climate is excellent,bearable and changeable from November to March. April and May are a little tricky. It can either lean towards the heat of summer or the coolness of the winter. Get ready to sweat and smell in the summer. You will walk out of the shower and break out into a sweat right away. The crime rate is low considering that this is Texas. Much lower than the surrounding large cities. The smaller city living is wonderful,but the closeness of Austin,Houston and Dallas is of great benefit. The traffic can be heavy and annoying when school is in session,but it is fabulous,quiet and peaceful when school is out and the students are gone. Unfortunately,aggressive driving and bullying on the road is as bad here as it is everywhere else in America. I personally have come to believe that this is a great place to come and go to school for 4 years and get your degree and then move on somewhere else. It is also a great place to come for a few short years to use as a stepping stone to another place. I do not think that this is a good place to spend your entire life and career in. It is also not a good place to retire. It is all student oriented,so if you are a senior citizen or a middle aged or older single,this is not going to be a comfortable place for you. Young families,young singles,youth and children though will thrive here.