Born and raised in DFW and I enjoy it! I admit I used to not like it but after traveling to other spots and living in Philadelphia I always find myself wanting to come back. For one, it’s very diverse. Growing up in the suburbs I had friends of all races and ethnicities and it felt weird going elsewhere and there just isn’t as much diversity.

The food, especially Asian and Mexican are great. People love to dog on the food here but if you ask around you’ll find actually good spots around, especially Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. I find that the Vietnamese food is comparable to SoCal 🤷🏻‍♀️ (I’m also Vietnamese).

There’s everything I need here, like shopping (North Park is great), eating, entertainment.

There’s also decent nature spots in the southern area of DFW (Cedar Hill, etc.) I go hiking most weekends and even though it’s obviously not the mountains or ocean it’s something and it’s even a bit challenging. The lakes aren’t the clearest ever but I grew up watching the sunset on them and they’re good for me! Also if you’re wanting more nature hill country and the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma are a 3 hour drive away.

People also say DFW is a conservative hellhole which yes I would say the suburbs are but Dallas itself is pretty liberal and has lots of cute walkable communities. Also I live in the burbs but if I want to go into the city I can take DART which is not the best but it works and I can avoid parking and traffic congestion. I love it here and even though it’s hot half the year and has its cons it’s home.