Born and Raised in Lubbock
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3/20/2015
I 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.
Chris | Bryan, TX