Where to move to in Texas?

[Ceg]

I am looking to move out of Washington State. I believe Texas would work best for my family. I need to buy a 3+ bedroom house with 2+ acres not to far from a place I could set up a food truck. Any info on Texas would be appreciated.

What cities would be a good place to move where I can start up my food truck business?

What cities are safer to live close to as far as weather? Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Flooding, wildfires, etc?

Here is the biggest question; where can we go overland, offroad and camp in Texas?

Thanks!

 

[Boostpowered]

Well if your operating a food truck just pick any major city but Austin is the food truck mecca here.
Weather wise any of it can happen anywhere here although we don't have wildfires like the west coast

For overlanding or camping there is the Padre island national sea shore aka pins, big bend, various national Forrests that aren't great. Or you go to southeast Oklahoma, Arkansas or Colorado.

 

[Ceg]

Well if your operating a food truck just pick any major city but Austin is the food truck mecca here.
Weather wise any of it can happen anywhere here although we don't have wildfires like the west coast

For overlanding or camping there is the Padre island national sea shore aka pins, big bend, various national Forrests that aren't great. Or you go to southeast Oklahoma, Arkansas or Colorado.

Thanks.

Here in Washington I annually worked in five different counties at events until last year when the Governor mandated to stop all events last March. We are still waiting to work. So I am looking for cities that do a lot of events.

I live very close to many offroad trails and will miss the day runs. Looks like it is a drive to do it in Texas.

We are kind of looking at homes east of Dallas. Found some that were not priced to bad. Some of the places the property taxes are high.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

I am looking to move out of Washington State. I believe Texas would work best for my family. I need to buy a 3+ bedroom house with 2+ acres not to far from a place I could set up a food truck. Any info on Texas would be appreciated.

What cities would be a good place to move where I can start up my food truck business?

What cities are safer to live close to as far as weather? Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Flooding, wildfires, etc?

Here is the biggest question; where can we go overland, offroad and camp in Texas?

Thanks!

Abilene Tx. Is the place for a family man looking for a conservative farming community where housing is reasonable, weather is decent, people are great, lakes and rivers reasonably close. I personally like Albany Tx. not to far away where housing and land are within reach. I would not live in Houston, Dallas, Ft Worth, San Antonio or Austin. El Paso is not a bad place to live but unless you have a Mexican food truck or can compete with a Mexican cook you won't stand a chance. El Paso is the biggest Liberal community in Texas if that is your thing. The best thing about El Paso is your close to NM where there are hundreds of miles of forest roads, BLM land and National forests.

 

[Ceg]

Abilene Tx. Is the place for a family man looking for a conservative farming community where housing is reasonable, weather is decent, people are great, lakes and rivers reasonably close. I personally like Albany Tx. not to far away where housing and land are within reach. I would not live in Houston, Dallas, Ft Worth, San Antonio or Austin. El Paso is not a bad place to live but unless you have a Mexican food truck or can compete with a Mexican cook you won't stand a chance. El Paso is the biggest Liberal community in Texas if that is your thing. The best thing about El Paso is your close to NM where there are hundreds of miles of forest roads, BLM land and National forests.

Thank you.

I am looking to get away from Liberal areas. I would like to live in a place that believes in the constitution and American freedoms. Of course I have to go where the work is.

We are not finding much for sale with land in Abilene or Albany.

NM looks like a great place to explore.

 

[pcstockton]

Austin for sure! No better place for what you are looking for overall.

Dont get caught up in the hype of "liberal" city.

There are PLENTY of true texans in Austin. Just live on the outskirts as you would in any town.

 

[Ceg]

Austin for sure! No better place for what you are looking for overall.

Dont get caught up in the hype of "liberal" city.

There are PLENTY of true texans in Austin. Just live on the outskirts as you would in any town.

Thanks.

 

[Sparksalot]

Austin for sure! No better place for what you are looking for overall.

Dont get caught up in the hype of "liberal" city.

There are PLENTY of true texans in Austin. Just live on the outskirts as you would in any town.

That’s where I live.

 

[Ceg]

That’s where I live.

What do you do for fun not far from there? Any backroads and/or places to camp? Anything to do around the area?

 

[Boostpowered]

Thanks.

Here in Washington I annually worked in five different counties at events until last year when the Governor mandated to stop all events last March. We are still waiting to work. So I am looking for cities that do a lot of events.

I live very close to many offroad trails and will miss the day runs. Looks like it is a drive to do it in Texas.

We are kind of looking at homes east of Dallas. Found some that were not priced to bad. Some of the places the property taxes are high.

I live east of Dallas in hunt County it is one of the cheapest counties in Texas to live but with that comes some cavets, hunt County was known as the meth capitol of texas for a while, our sheerifs office used to run Cocaine into the Greenville airport and the sherriffs son was the dealer. Also the growth of Collin County is spilling over causing higher taxes.

 

[bgenlvtex]

Property taxes are generically higher in Texas due to the lack of state income tax. Property values in more rural areas are still quite low, and property is affordable.

If you can find any conversation or controversy about "the homeless population" stay away. There are homeless everywhere in the world, where there are concentrations of them, there is a support mechanism that is enabling them and you already know what that is.

I have lived in East Texas for more than 40 years, it's peaceful laid back and people largely mind their own business. I recommend it highly if you prefer to reduce your exposure to leftists.

 

[Offroadnutz]

You might consider somewhere in Denton county. I have a couple friends that own food trucks here and they say the business climate and regulations are very favorable. The city of Denton even recently developed a food truck park and hold events there on a regular basis.
It’s a booming area growth wise and very friendly business environment. About an hour northwest of Dallas and a politically majority red area.

Living in north Texas put you very close to Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma which are very good overlanding areas.
Texas itself is terrible for overlanding due to the lack of public lands.

 

[USStrongman]

As a guy who lived in Seattle for 22 years, HS, UW, etc... and have since lived in Phoenix, Charlottesville, Long Island, Buffalo and now Lubbock, Tx, I can tell you I have a love hate relationship here.

The good:

Terrific conservative family oriented community. Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Church of Christ primarily. Schools are great, people for the most part are friendly, housing is far cheaper and lower taxes than any of the big cities. The arts community, symphony, ballet, food and bar scene here have exploded in the past 3-4 years. Buddy Holly and Waylon Jennings are from here. The local West Texas music scene is pretty amazing. The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences just opened. One of only 11 perfectly acoustic certified buildings in the world. Symphony and Ballet are housed there and the symphony is involved daily in the school districts championing of music. Five breweries and 4 wineries in town. One winery has a James Beard award winner 3rd generation vintner. Food truck opportunities are everywhere. Big hits right now are a ramen truck, of course a few good taco trucks, several terrific bbq, and homemade ice cream sandwich truck. I'd say there is roughly 35 trucks in town. Tacos are king. Texas Tech University is here and has increased student population by about 30% in 10 years. As for acreage, its everywhere. Unemployment is lowest in the state at roughly 5.9% today, but was 2.6% pre-covid. Its a right to work state and with the growth here, lots of work to be had. In 3 years we have added 64 new restaurants, 31 new hotels. Population for the city is around 280k, 310k for the county/city combined.

The not so good:

It is flat. Flat as flat gets. No deciduous trees. All planted. Water underground is not an issue but we have been in a drought for about 5 solid years. Tornadoes can happen in the greater area, but not the frequency it can happen 2 hours north in Amarillo or in Dallas. With growth comes stupid people. We've seen a slight rise in crime, but primarily in the areas statistically you would see crime. We see highs in the mid 100's at times in the summer. Low's in the single digits occasionally in the winter. We get a decent snow every few years. Just had one a few weeks ago. The biggest downside is our nickname - The Hub City. If you look at a map, we are 5-6 hours from DFW, El Paso, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Albuquerque (closer to ALBQ than any other city). We are the hub between those cities.

As for wheeling, there isnt a lot, but... there is a new 6500 acre adventure overlanding, mountain biking, hiking park opening at Palo Duro Canyon (2nd largest canyon in the US behind the Grand Canyon) 1:30 hours away. Ouray, Silverton Colorado are a days drive away to the best 10-13k' overlanding peaks in the country. Moab is a long 1 day drive. Southern Az is a 1 day drive. Nearest proper mountain is in NM called Cloudcroft. Ruidoso and others are a bit further north.

 

[Sparksalot]

As a guy who lived in Seattle for 22 years, HS, UW, etc... and have since lived in Phoenix, Charlottesville, Long Island, Buffalo and now Lubbock, Tx, I can tell you I have a love hate relationship here.

The good:

Terrific conservative family oriented community. Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Church of Christ primarily. Schools are great, people for the most part are friendly, housing is far cheaper and lower taxes than any of the big cities. The arts community, symphony, ballet, food and bar scene here have exploded in the past 3-4 years. Buddy Holly and Waylon Jennings are from here. The local West Texas music scene is pretty amazing. The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences just opened. One of only 11 perfectly acoustic certified buildings in the world. Symphony and Ballet are housed there and the symphony is involved daily in the school districts championing of music. Five breweries and 4 wineries in town. One winery has a James Beard award winner 3rd generation vintner. Food truck opportunities are everywhere. Big hits right now are a ramen truck, of course a few good taco trucks, several terrific bbq, and homemade ice cream sandwich truck. I'd say there is roughly 35 trucks in town. Tacos are king. Texas Tech University is here and has increased student population by about 30% in 10 years. As for acreage, its everywhere. Unemployment is lowest in the state at roughly 5.9% today, but was 2.6% pre-covid. Its a right to work state and with the growth here, lots of work to be had. In 3 years we have added 64 new restaurants, 31 new hotels. Population for the city is around 280k, 310k for the county/city combined.

The not so good:

It is flat. Flat as flat gets. No deciduous trees. All planted. Water underground is not an issue but we have been in a drought for about 5 solid years. Tornadoes can happen in the greater area, but not the frequency it can happen 2 hours north in Amarillo or in Dallas. With growth comes stupid people. We've seen a slight rise in crime, but primarily in the areas statistically you would see crime. We see highs in the mid 100's at times in the summer. Low's in the single digits occasionally in the winter. We get a decent snow every few years. Just had one a few weeks ago. The biggest downside is our nickname - The Hub City. If you look at a map, we are 5-6 hours from DFW, El Paso, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Albuquerque (closer to ALBQ than any other city). We are the hub between those cities.

As for wheeling, there isnt a lot, but... there is a new 6500 acre adventure overlanding, mountain biking, hiking park opening at Palo Duro Canyon (2nd largest canyon in the US behind the Grand Canyon) 1:30 hours away. Ouray, Silverton Colorado are a days drive away to the best 10-13k' overlanding peaks in the country. Moab is a long 1 day drive. Southern Az is a 1 day drive. Nearest proper mountain is in NM called Cloudcroft. Ruidoso and others are a bit further north.

I lived in Lubbock 11 years. It grows on you after the first 9.

 

[Sparksalot]

What do you do for fun not far from there? Any backroads and/or places to camp? Anything to do around the area?

Yes on the backroads. Many of the county roads in the Hill Country are unpaved. There are places to camp, both public and private. One favorite private place is a ranch with clean restrooms and outhouses. The price just increased, all the way to $10 a night. Other adventures are a long drive away. Big Bend is 400 miles. Cloudcroft, NM and the area are 600. It depends on what you need to do to support yourself. Austin is the foodtruck genesis point, but other large metros are catching up.

 

[Ceg]

I live east of Dallas in hunt County it is one of the cheapest counties in Texas to live but with that comes some cavets, hunt County was known as the meth capitol of texas for a while, our sheerifs office used to run Cocaine into the Greenville airport and the sherriffs son was the dealer. Also the growth of Collin County is spilling over causing higher taxes.

Thanks. Good to know.

 

[Prerunner1982]

Buddy Holly and Waylon Jennings are from here.

And my favorite though not as well known, The Maines Brothers.

 

[Prerunner1982]

What cities are safer to live close to as far as weather? Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Flooding, wildfires, etc?

I don't know about Texas but in Oklahoma severe storms get a lot of media attention so you would be well aware of the possible risks for the day.
However, if you are concerned I just posted today about Storm Spotter training courses, if that is something that you may be interested in. If for nothing else than to have the knowledge of how, why, and what to do.

https://www.overlandbound.com/forums/threads/skywarn-storm-spotter-training.29329/#post-528281

2019 Tornado reports.

 

[Tut]

I Second Denton Texas. close to Dallas and Fort Worth, has college football and NFL. Brother-inlaw lives there, and the hipster vibe is strong.

 

[Ceg]

Property taxes are generically higher in Texas due to the lack of state income tax. Property values in more rural areas are still quite low, and property is affordable.

If you can find any conversation or controversy about "the homeless population" stay away. There are homeless everywhere in the world, where there are concentrations of them, there is a support mechanism that is enabling them and you already know what that is.

I have lived in East Texas for more than 40 years, it's peaceful laid back and people largely mind their own business. I recommend it highly if you prefer to reduce your exposure to leftists.

We also have no income tax in Washington State. They tax us in many other ways. Washington State promotes homeless to come along with illegals.

We found a few homes in the country near Marshal, Texas that look affordable. Anything wrong with that area?