The good and the bad
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9/9/2007
We moved to Fort Worth from San Diego, CA this summer. I'll tell you what's better and worse in my opinion. I know there are a lot of SoCal folks considering Fort Worth.
The summary: here it’s greener, more hamburger-only restaurants, less crowded, friendlier people, more telephone poles, hotter, less health food stores, bigger ants, more trains, triple the rain, most houses are brick, no ocean, many lakes, flatter (but somewhat hilly), more laid back, Target sells groceries, more butterflies, cows and ponies. And old ladies drive trucks. Fort Worth is fairly diverse with a mostly white, black and hispanic population.
Obviously, housing is cheaper. What's $500,000 in San Diego is no more than $150,000 in Fort Worth. Property tax rate is more than triple, so you may not be able to afford the mansion you think you can. But you'll be able to find a better home for the price any way. There seem to be more newer apartments. In SD $1000 gets you a no-frills one bedroom. In Fort Worth, $700 gets you that but with some extra frills such as covered parking, dishwasher, fireplace, etc.
People are definitely friendlier here. You can go to a store and ask for help without feeling like you're bothering the employee. They actually seem to like to do their job here. Neighbors say "hi" here... people start conversations, etc. It's friendlier.
It's not as busy. There's less traffic (at least on the highway we take all the time I-20) but from what I hear the traffic can be fairly bad elsewhere during rush hour. I don't know if it's worse than San Diego. What I know is in San Diego during rush hour EVERY highway is bad, but here that's not the case. People drive slower here as well (meaning there's not as much speeding) and drivers are more likely to let you in when you flip on the signal or need to merge. There really do not seem to be more pickups or SUVs than in San Diego but there are more commercial trucks.
It's greener. More rain (triple the rain) and it rains during summer. Summer is reallllllllly hot and more humid than San Diego. Many will consider this a bad point but we like it... it feels like being on vacation in Mexico... heat and rain.
Now the bad parts are (well, no beach) that there seems to be a lot of trash lying around. We notice stores don't always put trash cans in front which is not the case in San Diego. You can always find a trash can in SoCal. So, people leave their trash on the ground, including your neighbors. Another thing is th
Steven | Benbrook, TX