Thread regarding Chevron Corp. layoffs

The prime objective when living in Houston is to not come in contact with the natural environment. The climate is so awful that you’ll want a highly air conditioned big house with nice windows so you can view the outdoors, an air conditioned garage, and air in your car to drive to an air conditioned store, restaurant, or office. If you want to see a hill, you can drive west for three hours, and if you want to see a mountain you can fly a couple of hours from one of two airports. Otherwise, it’s a flat featureless landscape populated an endless stream of strip malls which are repeated mile, after mile, after mile.

The main thing is to change your underpants after walking around outside, otherwise you will get swamp rot.

In the off chance you are serious, the ability to get reasonably priced domestic help is a big plus for Houston.

I got out of both places as soon as I could.

Houston > San Fran all day, ya heard

Dislikes: Floods and Mudslides, Annual Wildfires, Earthquakes, Power Grid Failures and Rotating outages, Homeless, Unfettered dr-g use, Little to no enforcement on theft/petty crime resulting in lower Quality of Living, Political Takeover of Local Schools, Low Air Quality, Takeover by Dr-ggies and Homeless of public /beaches and parks, Antiquated Zoning and rent policies which prohibits real progress, affordable housing and business development.

Likes: Arts (until the wildfires and everything closes for months), Great Food Choices, People Generally Friendly, The relatively decent weather except for the months long rainy season.

Summary: I got the heck out of Cal. as soon as I could.

Dislikes: Hurricanes & Tropical Storms, Snap Freezes, Power Grid Failures, Bursting Pipes, Uneven Sidewalks, Political Takeover of Local Schools, Low Air Quality, Galveston is NOT a real beach, Houston lack of zoning.

Likes: Arts (until the pipes burst and they close for months), Great Food Choices, People Generally Friendly, The One Week each of Fall and Spring.

Summary: I got the he-l out as soon as I could.

@doo, I am from a very diverse city like Houston and what you say is typical of most diverse, urban, typically liberal metropolises except there's no racist agenda as you claim. You should not try to make it racist as if there is a big conspiracy against certain demographics getting certain jobs. Some types of people have been better than others forever in every profession. Certain people are good at certain professions and have those skillsets. There's no reason anyone can't do any particular job. Some people have better skills than others and sometimes more happen to come from certain ethic/racial groups. I am a professional and work alongside many minorities and most do the job quite well as do the non-minorities and they all have their share of incompetent players in every group. Everything in life is not some underground behind the doors conspiracy to pick the people that you don't like, get over it. This whole attitude has just turned into an excuse for people to blame their lack of success on the "system" or "systemic" something or another. Get over it. It's not the 50s, 60s or even the 70s anymore.

@2qev, Except during the winter when the heater is on 24-7? Not sure what your point is other than hyperbole. I use my AC in my condo on the Cal. central coast 24-7 also.

Most people who move from NoCal to HOU hate it. Sure you get a bigger house which you better like because you will spend all your days inside with your air conditioner on 24/7 No thank you!

It’ll be whatever you make of it and depends greatly on your attitude.

Wife and I are both Bay Area natives, but chose to move to Houston during/right after COVID because we couldn’t afford housing in any kind of decent area with even passable schools anywhere around San Ramon. Still have family there and wish we could have found a way to make it work staying there, but it just became unjustifiable.

Good things about Houston: more affordable, better schools, lots of kids/families the same ages as ours, home ownership, food, two airports, my commute from Katy is shorter than my commute was from Martinez, green year round, good food, friendly people, bigger houses, the weather from December-March

The bad: the weather from May-October straight su-ks, doesn’t cool off at night to open your windows, no mountains, Galveston is gross, centerpoint (though PG&E is probably just as bad), generally uglier everywhere you drive.

If you’ve got younger kids, Houston is a much more appealing option. If I were in a different, less expensive stage of life or didn’t have to worry about schools I would have chosen to stay in the bay

Welcome to the random dr-g testing pool when you get to Houston HQ.

If you enjoying seeing mountains, hills, going for a hike, being able to be outside without sweating, not being constantly in air conditioning, don’t move to Houston it’s a pit. Might get 14 days of decent weather in Houston, the rest is excessive heat, rain and freezes. People who say otherwise have never lived anywhere with easy access to any of the above. Taxes aren’t really that much lower here either.

Listen to all these haters and losers. Houston is great. Live in the inner loop or close by- Heights, Montrose, Bellaire, and West University are all wonderful. Find a hood you like cause you’re all coming here anyway! Lmaoooo

There is not anything good in Houston that can overcome the horrible weather and awful traffic and driving nightmare. Every place can be perceived positively and negatively, but there is no way you can like the weather, if you have the option to find a position in good part of California (i.e. not Bakersfield or Fresno), make every effort to stay there and enjoy life and blessings that God has given you.

Should be noted the “good food” is relative. Food options don’t get much better than in the Bay Area…Houston is good compared to the rest of Texas/gulf/south. New Orleans you’re excepted. It’s great, but it’s it’s not Bay Area great.

Very large and diverse and with that amazing food scene and great arts, theater and museums. Suburbs are suburbs as all around America, but with some of the better public schools in the country. More things to do inside the loop and outside. Great job market for trailing spouse. Cheaper real estate and utility relative to CA. Crime is low compared to other large cities.

On the other hand, traffic is sh-t. Weather is worse than sh-t. Very little green space compared to other cities large or small. Not walkable except for within a neighborhood or subdivision (inner loop might be an exception). Property tax is over 2% and going up every year. Insurance (both home and car) has doubled from 3 hrs ago.

But we have 2 airports for the occasional escape.

@xjp+1tO3KzGo you effing clown, Houston is very liberal overall. The state, maybe not so much (although we will see how the 2024 election plays out).

If you’re liberal you’ll hate it, conservative and you might like it. The people are friendly, the food is fantastic, but it’s hot. Summers are down right miserable, and the mosquitos are ferocious. Insurance for home and auto is ridiculously high, but everything else is relatively cheap. I wouldn’t want to retire here, there are much prettier areas of Texas (and cheaper) for that. As far as outdoor activities, there’s nothing plenty of golf, and you can fly fish the Galveston Bay. Major sports are here, except for hockey, but that could change at some point. There’s an art district and you can attend the ballet if you’re into that. Overall it’s okay, there are much worse places to be.

It’s not actually that bad. True it’s very hot and humid, the mosquitoes are ki-ler, the traffic is intense, and the politics are very conservative. But on the upside, you can fly direct to many places on United, you pay no state income taxes (although property tax is high), any retail store you could possibly want is somewhere in Houston (although it could still take an hour to reach), some of the schools (especially in the suburbs) are very good, and the Texas universities are arguably easier to get into for instate residents than the California universities. Bottom line, any place is what you make of it. Research the neighborhoods and suburbs and there’s bound to be one you click with. Good luck with your decision!

If you have kids, look closely at private schools, Texas has been cutting school funding. The infrastructure is horrible. Get a generator for the hurricanes. It’s ugly and hot and not as cheap as it used to be. On the good side, the food scene is good, much more diverse than Nor Cal.

A lot of bad highlights...all true... but Houston as a city can be fun with lots to do and good places to eat. The inner loop is diverse (and more liberal) but rednecks dominate rural areas (and the state government overall). Galveston beaches are not great due to all the development but kayaking the lagoons and sailing the coast can be a blast.

The biggest warning is to do careful research on neighborhoods and avoid anything on the 100 year floodplain (which includes most of Houston!) .... Hurricane flooding is crazy. Montrose, West University, and the Heights are all good bets within the inner loop, if you don't want to join the long-distance commuters from the Woodlands that have to leave for work every day at 5 am.

Houston is very diverse on the street but mostly white and very conservative in the business / corporate offices. This is not talked about in the sales pitch of diversity of Houston. What this means is you will have a hard time climbing the corporate ranks in most businesses (maybe medical center is an exception) if you are not white and male. At lower levels, yes you will have a good but stagnant living.

Houston ranks highly amoung the ugliest cities in the country - flat, no natural beauty, it’s the ugly strip mall capital of the world, freeways are basically a dangerous Thunderdome, awful hot humid weather nine months of the year, nearly no zoning, and plenty of bugs. They don’t have earthquakes, but have far more frequent hurricanes, flooding, and winter freeze that knock out power from their fragile electric grid. State leaders are completely unhinged. On the plus side, housing is cheaper, but often poorly constructed, and you’ll want a big house as the last thing you want to do is actually go outside.

Born and raised in Nor-Cal, now living in Houston. Only 3 things I miss about about CA... duck hunting, fishing, and my family that still live there. Things I hate about Houston; Just about everything. Heat, humidity, crime, traffic. That said, would never in a million years move back to California. Plan on leaving Houston shortly for greener pastures as soon as I can. Houston and the state of california are both slums and sh*tholes

I know all the white evangelical tropes about Texas but seriously the large cities in Texas are diverse (and are usually democrat controlled).

Unless you are living in rural west Texas, California transplants will have no problem fitting in. (For what it is worth I am a brown person living in a large Houston suburb)

Bad: It’s an ugly, hot, boring place that regularly gets clobbered by hurricanes and random freak storms. Home insurance has doubled in 3 years and property taxes have skyrocketed, greatly diminishing the economic incentive to live here. The nearest attractions worth seeing are at least 3 hours away. Infrastructure is cr-p. Massive medical complex but can never seem to get an appointment.

Good: Food. It’s flat so you never have to walk uphill. It has lots of sports teams. If you’re an evangelical republican you should make lots of friends.

It’s great!…unless you’re a woman or brown. Enjoy screaming high property taxes, ridiculous commutes, and self righteous Texans who can’t stop talking about how it’s the best place in the world, but who have barely left the state.

North Cal or Houston? You can’t even compare! Two different worlds. Houston is a sh-t hole PERIOD!

I would tell you not to move here.

Totally depends on the neighborhood you’re in. Heights, Montrose, and West University are wins. House should be much cheaper than Cali too.

I’ve been in HOU for three years with CVX, came from NorCal, and this place is an armpit. Take a drive on the freeways, urban blight is all you’ll see. There was no master plan for this city, it just sprawled uncontrolled until it became what it is…did I mention the ‘weather’? There’s three seasons, hot, flooded, or hot and flooded. If you move here from Cal you’re going to regret it…yes you can buy a house twice as big, but you’re going to spend all your time inside it, with the ac on…best part of HOU is seeing it in the rear view mirror when leaving town.

Yeah, if you are a liberal, dont come! If you value low cost of living, excellent restaurants, low taxes, great weather, then come.

1. Crazy crazy crazy drivers. It is stark how bad they are.
2. Summers are hot - but you probably knew that
3. Li---r has weird restrictions and is only sold in some places
4. On the good side no state taxes, big beautiful houses in great communities and very diverse

Great food and restaurant scene cause doing any outdoor stuff in the heat su-ks

You'll feel right at home - every big city in the US is like California come Election Day, there's a blue bolshevik blob around it on the map.

It’s a shithole of a place

Heat, humidity, mosquitos, hurricanes, flooding, no-zoning, high prop taxes, rude drivers, cancer alley from massive eastside refinery chemicals smoke stacks that violate every epa limit.