Would you move to Texas for USD 5k more a month

[Constance17]

DH has been offered a job in U.S, we have children aged 6 & 8. What concerns you most?

A friend who moved to Texas by the way - not Austin. She lives in another city (not Houston.)

Woodlands is a lovely, safe area. Good choice.

Google ‘Donald Neely Galveston’ and see how the police in Texas behaved this weekend.

Okay - lots of back and forth about crime levels.

The actual statistics show that dependent on which part of Texas you're in:

• Chances of violent crime are 400-1,100 for every 100,000 people each year

• Chances of property crime are 2,000-4,000 for every 100,000 people each year

The London murder rate last year was 1.52 per 100,000 people; the Texas murder rate was 11.7 per 100,000.

So basically you are almost 8 times more likely to be murdered in Texas than in London even taking into account the recent knife crime spike.

wheresmymojo

You can't generalise a whole state. Some areas will be very safe/affluent and others will have gangs and drug dealers. Areas with gangs are going to have higher rates of crime.

On guns the stats are that 36% of Texans own a gun.

Of these c. 1 million of them have a licence to carry a concealed gun with them day to day...they are also now allowed to carry a handgun openly.

Although...I'd say the unlicensed ones are probably the more worrying type!

I had a friend who was an expat in Houston for 4 years. She said it was just like Stepford Wives. Food portions are enormous and woman are constantly exercising and dieting to compete with each other. She loved it though

@Namingetiquette

Obviously. The OP has since confirmed its Houston. Houston has one of the worst murder rates in the state!

I’ve lived and worked in Houston. My kids were born there. We often think of going back. Upsides and downsides. It’s not forever. You need to make the best of it, and it was great fun for us. Enjoy the warm winters and escape the boiling summers back to Europe.
If your kids can swim, get a house with pool. Easy to drive around but traffic is bad. Schools, I would go for British international if company paying.
Access to rest of USA which is amazing. Guns - yes awful. My office had a sign saying no firearms. However, plenty of British holiday makers still visiting Florida etc.
Lots to think about. Will type more later but I’m away with limited WiFi.

Specifically for Houston:

• There is a 1 in 19 chance of being a victim of crime each year

• With four of you in the family that would be a 1 in 5 chance each year

• The murder rate in Houston is 11.5 per 100,000, so still roughly 10-11 x more likely than London

• All violent crimes are 1,014 per 100,000

• Property crimes are 4,128 per 100,000

As the employer is paying health insurance, I’d say go for it. That’s a lot of money to give up, and, I assume, career mobility.

If you hate it, you can always return after a few years.

@Wildorchidz

I linked a picture to that (Galveston) further back up this thread

*Of these c. 1 million of them have a licence to carry a concealed gun with them day to day...they are also now allowed to carry a handgun openly.

Although...I'd say the unlicensed ones are probably the more worrying type!*

Statistically, conceal carry license holders are the most law abiding citizens

www.nationalreview.com/2017/01/new-york-times-concealed-handgun-crime-numbers-are-bogus/

I think OP is looking at Woodlands, not Greenspoint.

There is crime everywhere and there's no need to live your life in fear. Yes something could happen or it may never. If you are smart, you won't put yourself in a dangerous situation. Don't pick fights with people. Choose a safe area to live in. Get an alarm, and lock your car. If you lack street smarts you're probably going to have a hard time, but this is probably the case wherever you go in the world. It is sad to shut yourself in and not experience a new place because all of the things that may happen. Life is guaranteed for no one, and it's about the experiences that will make you memories. You could be hit by a bus in the UK, you could be in an accident, anything could happen but living in a bubble is not the solution imo.

Nope. My husband has been nagged about this for the last seven years. I won't be going there for any amount of money!!!
Here were just some of my reasons why not:
Fewer holidays entitlements -as a result less travel possibilities.
More guns
Expensive healthcare
Food. Less GMO in Europe
Public transport is essentially non existent
Education, especially at college level is so expensive
Lunch time... it isn't really 'a thing' in the US.
There are more reasons but essentially, Europe to me (so my humble opinion based on my experiences on secondment) feels like more of a society and the good ol' USA feels like an economy first... society second.

I was born in America. It moved here in my teens. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins are all still there. They’re dotted all over the country and I spent all my summers there after we moved here.

I would never move to Texas.

His just happened today......

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/police-black-man-rope-texas-street-horseback-slavery-galveston-a9043616.html

Sorry if it’s already been posted didn’t check the whole thread

Fewer holidays entitlements -as a result less travel possibilities.

Depends what you negotiate if you’re on an intra company transfer. We kept our 25 days.

They really aren't rare. There were 40000 gun deaths in 2017. 40 thousand! Including massive numbers of suicides. But there were 11000 homicides. There are the same number of gun deaths as road deaths. That's not rare.

Wow 😮 I was wondering after the weekend events how gun deaths compared with driving death - level pegging at 40 000 is a lot of killing - is that per year?

My concern would be how big do you have to wear your hair .
Sorry, I couldn't resist and I know where the door is.

@PapaShango, my goodness that is appalling. I had totally forgot about the police brutally.

Heat, guns, having to drive everywhere (it's got terrible public transport), does that 5k include health insurance (cause if not it's not a great deal if one of you gets sick).

@continuityerror. I already have a 33 day allowance for holidays so, I know by US standards I'm part time 😉 but I don't want that grind...not for all the cotton in Texas.

I spent most of my teens and my early twenties in Texas. Given the choice of raising my son in the UK or go back to Texas, I would stay in the UK.

I have very good friends from my years there, they are mostly spread around Dallas, Austin and Houston. They are lovely people but, they tend to be very religious (therefore somewhat intolerant), mildly racist but racist nonetheless, very into team sports, very money oriented or a combination of them. The only ones I met who are a bit more open are either very well travelled, highly educated or members of the LGBT community.

I want my son to grow in an open minded place, where he is equally valuable riding a bike as driving a Leaf, where he is not a bad person for not believing in God. I really don’t want him to be surrounded with so much prejudice.

Having said that, prejudice can be anywhere. Looking at what is happening in the US and what is happening here in the UK over the last three years, I will not be surprised if we are as the US ten years down the line, without the guns but with the same level of intolerance.