NWR: Wanting to move out of California, thinking Texas or Colorado! Anyone from there??

I lived in Texas for 10 years (Austin, then Houston) and now I live in Denver, CO where I have been for the last 2 years. For my lifestyle I prefer Colorado and plan to live here the rest of my life. If you decide and have any specific questions please send me a message! Good luck

Http://www.businessinsider.com/houston-best-city-in-america-2014-6#its-got-the-jobs-houston-is-the-no-1-city-for-job-creation-in-the-us-by-a-lot-1

Maybe this may help.

Are you sure you would be taking a pay cut by finding another job? $34,000 per year in California for someone with a college degree seems like extremely low pay.

Do you have children or work from home? A 3bdm house in San Diego seems like a lot of space for just a couple.

Just trying to get some insight. At least your FH will be graduating school soon, has he been able to find a job? Since he will be in the tech industry it would be best if he could find a job in California and work remotely form CO or TX, that way his salary would be CA based, good luck!

@Wendy: you can live in a rural suburb and have cows and stuff here in the Houston area. That's what we are looking for. We are looking for a chunk of acreage within an hour and a half of the city where we can have cows and stuff.

Heck, just driving near our house here in the Houston city limits, I saw someone with cows. Lol.

Well if you're considering Houston, let me know! As a fellow San Diegan, I can definitely shed some insight on transplanting

I'm from El Paso, which is west west west Texas. Most texans say it doesn't count and say it's part of New Mexico.

I live in Las Cruces, NM now, which is a 45 min drive from El Paso. I love it. I'm not really into the big city life, it's nice to visit, but can't imagine living in one.

I think Texas has a little bit of everything, just a matter of what you're looking for.

Good luck!

I wish I could make more money and trust me I've looked. Unfortunately just because I have a degree doesn't mean I have experience that justifies making more money. $17.00 an hour seems like a lot but I pull in just over $2,000 a month after taxes. Thats what happens when I'm responsible and didn't have a child yet! No tax breaks!

Neschi you're actually closer to me than most of the other Texas brides on here!

You can get a whole lot of land way out in the country. That's why I said if that's not for you than you could get a mansion. But, Texas is a wonderful place it it pretty hot in the summer but I think what I like most about Texas is there are all different kind of people here. Especially around the Houston area a ton of people move from out of state or over seas because of the oil business.

NOOOOO! I would never leave CA. Born and bred here. Yes, the cost of living is less in other states, but what about pay differential? CA is too great of a state to ever leave. Never. Nope.

@Wendy: Less than a mile west of I-45 just south of FM1960. Looked like someone had about a 1-2 acre lot with a couple cows on it. Also, FH's PawPaw lives up in Porter with a little over an acre and he has a couple cows. Porter is only like a half hour to an hour depending on traffic from downtown. You don't have to live way out of the city to have some animals.

Jenna is right.

To understand Houston, you have to understand that a lot of Houston is the "Houston area," not Houston city limits. The Houston area is made up of more than 15 cities/tiny cities. We have Houston proper, and then Houston has cities within it (not suburbs, but cities with councils, mayors, etc. like Southside Place, West University Place, Bellaire, South Houston) and then cities OUTSIDE of it that are still considered "Houston area" - Pasadena, Baytown, Stafford, Sugar Land, Pearland, Katy, Humble, Nassau Bay, Webster, League City, Kemah, etc. Then there's Manvil, Alvin, etc. that are further out but still less than an hour away from downtown.

Houston and the little cities are inside the loop (610) and Beltway. Yes, you can have chickens and goats in the outlying areas, but not in the middle. As you get farther outside of the beltway, you'll see more livestock, etc. I live in Clear Lake/Pasadena. I work 2 miles away from NASA, and it takes me maybe 30 minutes to get to downtown (25 if there's NO traffic whatsoever).

For $500,000, you'll get an average-sized house in some suburbs within the loop. You'll get more bang for your buck outside the loop and outside the beltway. My friend has a gigantic, two-story 4 bedroom 4, 4 bathroom house with loft/entertainment-movie room and large backyard in a brand-new subdivision in League City (near Clear Lake) for $350,000. She works in the Medical Center close to downtown.

Have you thought about moving up north? We live in the Sacramento area and it's far more affordable. There's areas here like Fair Oaks and Oragevale where you could have chickens and goats We looked at moving to the Bay Area, where FH was born and raised but cost of living was too high, very similar to Southern CA. So, we stayed here. It's 1 1/2 hrs to the ocean and 1 1/2 hours to the mountains. And there's a ton of jobs here that pay Bay Area wages

Kathryn, I grew up in the LA area - Simi Valley, in Ventura County - and finally got priced out. We moved in California to the Sacramento area, and we LOVE it up here. Still California culture (but nicer, I think, in NorCal) but it is affordable. We chose to live in gold country in the Sierra foothills, where we hike, whitewater raft, kayak, etc. It's wonderful.

Just wanted to give you another option - in California.

^^ Yes! Sacramento here too!

@K'lyssa- I actually lived in Lubbock for 7 years. I went to Texas Tech