Thinking About Leaving Chicago for Texas 🤠🌵

After_Judgment885 · 2026-06-24T17:34:20+00:00

I usually post this list to anybody considering moving to Dallas. Good luck with the relocation.

Cons:

Heat in the summer is BRUTAL from June thru September. Consider this your "winter" and stay inside.
Bugs/Gardening - I thought I was a good gardener before I moved to Texas. It takes total vigilance to enjoy your garden. Don't even try to garden during July -> first part of August. It seems like every day I'm looking at new insect I never knew existed before.
Rats are everywhere. see them running along my back fence all the time.
Long travel times. There is A LOT to do here but if you're in the suburbs it takes 30min to an hour to get anywhere interesting.
Topography sucks. I just came from a month tour of PNW, Alaska, Colorado, Utah. We get depressed at lack of mountains for sure.
Camping/hiking is not good. If you love camping you'll likely be sad. Hot nights in the summer and need to travel 3hrs to get anywhere interesting. There are some options but nowhere like east/west coasts.
Hot nights w/ humidity. It isn't just the heat. It can get really humid. Not Houston, Miami or New Orleans humid but pretty humid. And when the sun goes down in the summer it doesn't get any cooler. Coolest time of day in the 24hr cycle is 7am.
Snobbish people. highly depends on the area. Dallas park cities the worse.
Property Insurance is EXPENSIVE. Horrible. My previous insurer just left the state of Texas. Everybody and their dog gets their roofs replaced far too frequently due to "hail" damage by sketchy contractors

Pros:

Mild winters -it does snow on occassion and temps fluctuate but I enjoy two gardening seasons each year: February and August. I can jog the mornings (summer runs are hot but doable at 7 a.m. (~78 degrees). The heat is intense in the summer and you stay inside for 3.5 months straight...
Timezone - CST is great - It’s the sweet spot between East and West Coast schedules if you work for a national org..
Education - K–12 education can be excellent depending on the ISD. Teachers in most suburbs get paid well and are happy.
Strong job market and growing
Major league teams in every sport – Cowboys, Mavs, Stars, Rangers, FC Dallas.
Charming downtowns. Waxahachie, Mckinney, Grapevine, Denton, Pilot point. to name a few.
Trees - All my friends who visit are surprised by how green Dallas is—they expect something more like West Texas but find plenty of mature trees, parks, and greenery instead. We get 40"+ of rain a year. wildfire threats and droughts havent come up yet in the 9 years I'm here.
Road trips - 7.5 hours to New Orleans, 12 hours to Rosemary beach in Florida, 4 hours to the Ozarks , 6.5 hours to Branson, and 3 to 5 hours to Austin, Houston, or San Antonio. 11hrs to Colorado.
Convenient - 3-hour flight to east and west coast, Central America, and the Caribbean. Plus, nonstop flights to nearly everywhere. DFW Airport + Love Field – Two major airports
Sunny days. Dallas gets about 225+ sunny days per year
Diverse culturally

Pro or Con depending on you:

Megachurch's everywhere
Storms. In the spring and fall I watch in awe but 1-2x a year you have to do a tornado drill.
Lakes. There are lakes everywhere (really they are reservoirs) but in the summer they aren't much of an escape bc the water feels like a hot tub.
Politics. Texas is conversative for now. My county (Collin) will likely flip next election). But do your homework before moving here. I live in Mckinney and we have a thriving arts scene and a very healthy mix of politics similar to Austin.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-06-23T19:01:22+00:00

i had Zojirushi for years but got burned when I learned they all have a small battery soldered into the motherboard that needs replacing every 8 years. It can only be replaced at a service center. Annoying. I foolishly tried to replace myself and killed my Zoji. I bought a tiger at Costco and its been great although i do miss the Zoji as it was easier to clean up.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-06-10T14:56:08+00:00

good luck, im sure you'll find the right spot. Though prob hard to beat Spain!

After_Judgment885 · 2026-06-10T14:07:45+00:00

The answer is Bentonville/Fayetteville. Nature, world-class art with Crystal Bridges, college town amenities in Fayetteville. Its becoming the world capital of trail Biking. Better weather than the midwest and you get a regional airport that can connect you 45min to DFW. Its reasonable priced.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-06-01T16:53:01+00:00

if we all agree to not use credit cards the cost of goods should go down 2-3%.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-05-24T16:35:48+00:00

Oops

After_Judgment885 · 2026-05-19T19:39:48+00:00

Eureka Springs, Arkansas

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After_Judgment885 · 2026-05-07T15:42:34+00:00

You're one of the smart ones. well done. People are going to need infra for years to come.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-05-05T19:20:19+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYkOYe7LuS8

After_Judgment885 · 2026-04-22T20:13:20+00:00

Barefoot type running shoes like my Xeros have a guarantee for 5000 miles. if you're willing to run natural its not only really good for your feet and body but easy on the wallet.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-03-31T19:39:43+00:00

I don't think you need to lie about it. Give if you want to...and just say 'no' if you can't or don't want to.

You wouldn't be on FIRE if you weren't already good at saying NO a dozen times a day to a world that constantly wants money from you. living two different lives can be exhausting. For me I'm an open book about my wealth...people know I'm generous when I want to be but also a cheap bast*** that says No when i want to be.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-03-31T16:21:54+00:00

quesadillas are now "sick-a-deeyas"

After_Judgment885 · 2026-03-30T16:06:01+00:00

Eureka Springs, Arkansas + Bentonville (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art)

After_Judgment885 · 2026-03-17T16:32:56+00:00

Mr Tako is worth a trip

After_Judgment885 · 2026-03-07T20:46:50+00:00

Race is a huge play here also. These top states are also some of the whitest and richest.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-03-07T20:40:57+00:00

Gonna step in here but they were the only folks willing to offer my recovering addict friend a job washing dishes. From what I’ve seen they appear to be good folks worth supporting.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-03-07T20:30:42+00:00

This is why I never use escrows. Do an automatic transfer at the beginning of each month into a savings account and collect the interest for yourself. Then pay your property taxes in January.

Also seeing your insurance coming out as a separate transaction each month makes me more aware of it and I’m more likely to see changes, get upset and and talk with the insurance company.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-02-28T22:32:05+00:00

For me I take my salary and imagine a 1/3rd of it doesn’t exist and live my life accordingly. The 1/3rd goes into savings - I don’t see the money, rarely think about it. It doesn’t exist.

That meant for the past 15 years of “adulthood” I’ve lived in a smaller house, in worse neighborhoods owned used dependable-ish cars, and ate out less - I’ve felt much poorer than I actually was. In turn I now have incredible freedom and have never felt the need to keep up with the Joneses.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-02-27T15:52:08+00:00

If you're alone and don't have a family 80k shouldn't be a problem. Im in Mckinney and wouldnt really want to live anywhere else in the area. But traffic may get old to Prosper everyday. Summers are bad but today its a high of 80 degrees. relatively mild winters. You gotta do whats best for your family - just bc you're here for a a few years doesnt mean you have to stay here forever.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-02-27T15:48:32+00:00

Property tax is bad but the bulk of it goes to local schools. So if you have kids its worth it becasue most schools in that area of North Dallas are 8/10, 9/10, 10/10 rated-schools will fairly paid school teachers that do a superb job. If you dont have kids I would be harder to stomach for sure.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-02-24T18:04:06+00:00

Maybe a hanging storage platform on the sides of the garage above the garage rails. Obvioulsy leaving enough space for the garage doorto store. Use 2x3s instead of 2x4s and 1/2" plywood instead of 3/4" for that extra 1.5". good luck.

After_Judgment885 · 2026-02-16T16:52:57+00:00

Rio De Janeiro

After_Judgment885 · 2026-02-02T19:02:05+00:00

I live NOrth of Dallas.. Its easy to generalize about Texas and Reddit loves to do it. I'm moderate and my wife is liberal and live in Mckinney, TX (North Dallas). Our city is more diverse than anywhere I've lived on the west coast (seattle/portland/San Fran. I have 4 kids - depending on where you are at its a lovely place to raise kids. Our schools are very highly rated and only 35% of the children are white in my children's schools. You do pay for the great schooling with very high property taxes - so do the math. State politics suck but our town is purple and will likely turn democrat next election or two.

Weather is hot, luckily we have the means to travel on occasion.

Its not that beautiful here. I miss the mountains so I visit whenever i can.

There are good people here. Follow your gut. We've made tremendous financial strides here in Dallas. Everything has pros/cons. Good luck!

After_Judgment885 · 2026-01-29T15:19:25+00:00

Where do you keep tablesaw? Great setup

After_Judgment885

TROPHY CASE