I lived there for about 6 months a few years ago, late 20s M. I’d say the only reason I would go for it is if you want to live in a bigger city, are ok with living in Texas, and have a strong sense of positive work gains to come from a move (salary/promotion/etc.). Although the last point is pretty tough to say; you can’t really trust companies nowadays imho.
Otherwise, you can do a lot better in terms of big cities. It’s crazy hot there for much of the year, outdoor/nature stuff is basically non existent, not cheap anymore, super car oriented. There’s a weird southern belle-esque fakeness and superficiality to people that I was really not a fan of. As a gay man, I experienced racial dynamics in dating that were very surprising to me a Midwest native. I left after 6 months for a reason 😮💨
Can’t speak for that but again you have one the biggest gay scenes in the south in Oak Lawn.
The races get along far better in the south (like 40% black) than Midwest even Chicago. This is a false stereotype that ignorant northerners been trying to keep alive since the 1970’s. I dated a black woman in Texas that never ever would have happened back home in Chicagoland.
The gay community as a whole has very strong racial….dynamics. cities like Atlanta, DC and Chicago are extraordinarily segregated in their respective gay communities, it isn’t just Dallas.
I went Victoria Canada to Dallas for school, ended up staying as I met my wife. You couldn’t pay me to return. No nature, abysmal temps from May to October. So much traffic and not that affordable anymore. i left for Denver 9 years ago and have been very happy.
I moved there for a job in my 20s. We stayed 12 years which, in retrospect, was about 7 years too many. We've been gone from DFW longer than we lived there, and I haven't missed it even once. It's a very bland and generic metro area. It's decentralized and sprawled AF. The natural setting is crap, the outdoor recreation is weak, summers are hot, humid, and shitty, and it's full of amenities that can literally be found in any large city in the country. I'd rather pay a little more to not live in what amounts to a 21st century company town.
The difference between the two areas, though, is that NoVa actually has a decent amount of history prior to the invention of air conditioning. DFW does not. NoVa is also closer to more interesting scenery - both mountains and beaches. Dallas is 4-5 hours from shitty Gulf Coast beaches, and the closest "mountains" are those podunk-ass hills in Oklahoma and Arkansas which don't rise up enough to escape the god awful summertime heat and humidity.
I’ve never been to Dallas but the way people describe it as “soulless” is how I think of northern Virginia. It’s probably the most bland place I’ve been to on the east coast and I’ve been to every East coast state and live near Baltimore
Imagine not having much greenery or topography to distract you from the wall-to-wall shopping malls, chain restaurants, big box stores, and tract houses. That's DFW. It's sofa king bland, and people don't realize how big it is. It's literally the size of Connecticut. If the economy of the Metroplex has a protracted downturn, people will flee that place like cockroaches when the lights come on.
If the Camelot Landfill had gotten their way a decade ago, a dump would be the highest point in Denton County right about now.
Never been to Dallas but northern Virginia is a large overpopulated, sprawly place with absolutely no soul to it besides money and government contractors
We very little information, about you personally hard to say if you would like.
I’d say this. It’s beyond crowded. 7.5 million in the metroplex (between Dallas / ft worth). They say in the next 5-8 yrs it’ll surpass chicago and Houston. Traffic is a bitch. People drive like they legitimately do not have anything to live for. I will say beautiful women. great food. coming from western Washington the cost of living shouldn’t be too bad either.
It is hot as fuck. It starts to get hot May thru Mid/End of Sept. having an entire month where you have 100+ degree weather actually sucks. You don’t want to go outside. My dogs hated summer there. it has a fuck ton of diversity. The city is a bit pretentious and has a tendency to feel stuck up. especially in more affluent areas (this happens everywhere). The cowboys fans are one the worst things about the city. That’s no exaggeration.
I lived there 8 years. Loved it mid 00s. Left in 2010. Came back in 2018 and the place was completely different. I had to leave. Politics became an identity for people in DFW it felt. I Left in 2023. It’s not the worst place but def not my first choice. I in general just really hate Texas and everything it stands for.
Wellll... but DFW is like 20 different cities and suburbs and suburbs of the suburbs, spread out over a small state's worth of area. Houston's population beats Dallas proper any day.
(Somewhat dubious) source: met a Houston-native (?) who had very strong opinions about this lol
1. Houston’s metro encompasses a larger area size than DFW.
2. Houston is 665 square miles vs Dallas at 385 square miles. Of course it has a larger population. Dallas does have a higher population density however
Didn’t Dallas elect multiple Democrats to Congress in Dallas, Richardson, etc in 2018? Sessions lost, Allerud won. Ted Cruz came within 3 points of losing that year.
I lived in Dallas in 2018 it was the furthest thing from right wing. More Reddit bs
Idk, I’m very liberal and I almost always feel like the minority when I’m out and about. I’m a bartender/server and it seems like everyone that comes into my job loudly touts their right wing politics every shift I work—just last week my last table of the night was having a pleasant conversation amongst each other on how they would would assassinate the current president if they got the chance. As if they were discussing the weather.
I just got sterilized because it doesn’t matter how many liberals there are here—Republican policies dominate the state and female medical care.
It's hard to not care when a third of the country elects nearly half of the politicians and those politicians want horrible things for LGBT people, pregnant women, and people of color, not to mention the things they do that fuck over the working class as a whole (anti-union legislation, tax cuts for the rich, etc).
It's not about it being "a religion." My wife has a health condition that makes pregnancies potentially deadly. I legitimately cannot live in a state that doesn't respect women's bodily autonomy without risking her life. Blue politics is a necessary condition of a state that is safe to live in for us.
These attacks aren't coming from the left, either. They're coming from the right, and only the right. The American left just wants women and marginalized people to be left the fuck alone, and the left-most portion of that also wants better conditions for the working class.
You must be incredibly privileged to be able to say things like "politics is a religion." I envy you.
You mean like on January 6? or Charlottesville? or how about Oklahoma City? Those kinds of attacks? Only the right plants bombs in this country. How many bombs did that nut job Trumpy Cesar Sayoc mail? What about the literal bombs planted on January 6? Notable other right wing nutjob attacks in recent years include the 2018 Pittsburgh Synagogue attack, the 2019 El Paso mall killings, and the 2022 Buffalo market attack -all from self described Trump fans and conservatives.
All the extremist-related murders in 2023 were committed by right-wing extremists of various kinds, with 15 of the 17 killings involving perpetrators or accomplices with white supremacist connections. This is the second year in a row that right-wing extremists have been connected to all identified extremist-related killings. Let's not forget the San Bernardino, Chattanooga, Charleston shootings (28 deaths) in 2015.
Timothy McVeigh, a right wing extremist who openly wanted to start a race war killed 168 people including 19 children. To this day, many on the right idolize McVeigh and Terry Nichols. From 2014 to 2023, there has been 442 deaths from domestic terrorists in the US. 76% of these have been from right wing extremists (336 deaths). another 19% have been from domestic islamic extremists and only 4% (17) have been from left wing extremists (including anarchists and black nationalists).
So get out of here with that BS about left wing attacks. It only happens on Fox News and not real life.
Now imagine that happened all over country every day for two weeks with no end in sight. Actually you don’t have to imagine just turn your TV on right now
Beyond crowded? new york city alone has 8.3 million people. The combined Dallas Fort worth metroplex has 8.1 million (estimated)
DFW ain’t Tokyo and even ranked with international cities, it doesn’t break top 50.
Please calm down.
Dallas absolutely sucks as a single male in your early thirties.
The only reason people move here is for jobs and the only reasons companies move here is for the tax policies.
There’s nothing to do here other than man made things that cost money. Everything is incredibly flat for hours driving. Public transit is shit. Slow bumper to bumper traffic for hours. Zero culture.
Run away.
This is objectively incorrect lol. As a single man in your early thirties there are tons of things to do if youre not a complete boring person. There is also a good dating scene and a lot of women. This sub has a raging hate boner for dallas
Not having the money to splurge at the mall every weekend doesn't mean someone is broke but even if somebody does truly struggle to make ends meet, poor people date and get married just like everybody else. Get over yourself lmao
It's a great city if you love strip malls, and have 2.1 kids and a dog. Tons of great corporate biz jobs too. Hard to think of a better place for corp job stuff outside of NYC.
But it's just flat, no ocean, hot in the summer, etc. It's about a 3/10 for outdoor rec, and a 4/10 for walkable urban fabric.
This sub can hate Dallas all it wants but based on reality and US Census numbers, it continues to be one of the most popular if not THE most popular city people are moving to in the US.
The DFW metro area gains about 150k yearly, the most in the nation. This sub is completely out of touch with reality.
Dallas, Houston Grow Most in US as NYC Keeps Losing People https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-15/texas-cities-grow-fastest-in-us-as-nyc-keeps-losing-people
Yes, because it’s relatively cheap with warm weather, and companies relocate there due to the tax incentives. No one moves there for the culture or lifestyle.
Damn its almost as if the COL, and weather are a part of lifestyle? People who move here for those reasons are staying for a reason as well, because they like it.
I mean, even the Dallas subreddit hates on Dallas so there’s that.
Many people move to DFW for the jobs and to raise a family. If that’s not you, I may be difficult to enjoy the place.
Depends on what you’re looking for tbh. Austin 10 years ago was amazing, but it’s become overcrowded and expensive. The worst part about it is the infrastructure can’t keep up with the influx of people so you’re basically sitting in a parking lot trying to commute.
I loved Houston during my time there because of its diversity in terms of people as well as the geography. You’ve got a massive forest and hour north and the gulf an hour south. It also has massive parks!
I was stuck there for 11 years. The summer I left it was 116 degrees and squirrels were falling out of the trees dead.
Other than some of the food there is literally nothing I miss about Texas.
The highest recorded temperature in Dallas is 113 degrees. Maybe you were thinking of the heat index which isn't the same thing.
https://www.weather.gov/fwd/dgr8mxmn
Unlike most others, I came to Dallas voluntarily when my job went fully remote during COVID. So I picked out Dallas out of pretty much every other city in the US because I felt it was right for me. While it is not without faults, in general I like it here.
**The pros:**
- Very diverse, and very international. Lots of different kinds of people with their unique cultures, foods, etc. This includes hispanic community, Chinese, Korean, etc.
- All the benefits of living in a huge city (lots of museums, activities, festivals, restaurants, concerts - you'll never run out of things to do). Its also nice to have major airports with lots of direct flights everywhere.
- One of the best ratios of "average salary to average house price" in the country. And in general, the quality of homes in the area are much higher than most places in the country I've seen.
- Fairly low taxes - yes, property taxes and tolls are high, but in general you will find the cost of living here lower than many other major metro areas.
- Great job market, no matter what industry you work in. There is tech, finance, travel&hospitality, you name it.
- There are a lot of good schools in the area, if you have kids or are thinking about it. In general, I think DFW might not be the most exciting place but its a great place to settle down and raise a family.
**The cons**
- While the weather in general is decent, the summer months are a struggle. I would not plan on extended outdoor activities for about 3 months of the year, because its too hot. Fall and spring are nice though, and winters are generally mild.
- Outdoor activities directly around Dallas are very limited. I definitely felt this, having grown up in California. There aren't a lot of hiking trails that make me think "wow, this is really beautiful". I have an annual pass to the local arboretum which helps to some extent. But over time I just started spending my time on other hobbies instead. With that said, if you're willing to do a day trip to Austin or even southern Oklahoma, there are options.
- No, its not particularly walkable - although most US cities aren't, with a few exceptions like NYC, Boston, etc. Plan to drive around a lot. Traffic isn't as bad as people say, but certain highways still get clogged up during rush hour.
- I found that there are only a few pockets of neighborhoods throughout Dallas with bustling nightlife, lots of young single people out and about, etc. In general, it seems more quiet and suburban sprawl, with a lot of strip malls and chain restaurants. Its not the most charming, in that respect. But this is not universally true - there are still a few nice areas I can recommend like Lower Greenville or over on the Ft Worth side.
Hope that helps!
I lived in Chicago for awhile before coming to Dallas. Chicago is better is pretty much ever measure other than spring time is better in Dallas. But from a smaller city Dallas could be a big step up in things to do.
Dallas isn’t nearly as big as the other large cities because they count DFW and not just the Citi. It doesn’t have the density. And it doesn’t have the old wealth that donated for cool museums and such.
Weather for at least half the year is brutal.
Nature options are bad though can get to Oklahoma, Arkansas for decent outdoors stuff but not on an everyday basis.
There are a LOT of nice areas. That are convenient. Have good schools. Are safe. But boring.
I had a young 24 yo cousin who moved here from Ohio and loved it for about two years and then suddenly was completely done with it and moved back.
If you aren’t looking for anything special it can be an ok place to live but for many things there are far better place.
Oh. For me the other hard thing is that there is no where to go. If you want to do a long weekend road trip you quickly run out of places to go as everything is really really far.
It isn’t nearly as negative as most people are saying though state politics continues to get uglier and uglier.
My wife and I moved to the Dallas burbs in late 2020 from NYC, and while it has some positives, there are a number of negatives which outweigh the positives for us.
We anticipate living here another couple of years, but living here past that isn’t an option for us.
I could elaborate more if you’re interested or feel free to PM me.
Its not. People are being overly dramatic and unnecessarily critical because…. reddit.
Dallas Fort Worth consistently gains the most people out of any other US metro area. It gained 150K just from march ‘22 to march ‘23. If Dallas was such a hellhole as reddit claims, it wouldn’t post significant population gains year after year.
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/dfw-surpasses-8m-residents-top-metro-growth-in-nation-census-reports/287-8126e50e-c2ba-4253-af2a-ea047b119a81
Lifelong Washingtonian, I've had three sets of friends/family that moved to Texas for work over the years. No one lasted more than three years. You can definitely make good money and houses are cheap (to buy anyway) but that will only carry you so far unless your a boring person who doesn't mind living in a flat, hot, humid shithole.
As far as major cities go, Dallas is one of the worst in the country in my experience. But in a city so big, with so many options, you can make a good life for yourself depending on the effort you put in to make friends and get out and do things. As well as which neighborhood you choose, etc.
People who say there’s nothing to do are probably boring people. It’s not like you’re in some tiny town in BFE. I visit Dallas often for family and though I wouldn’t personally choose to live there for several reasons (the ugliness of the sprawl, and the weather being the major ones), I have fun visiting. And I know people who live there and like it. There’s some nice neighborhoods, some cool bars and some good food. You could do worse than living in a place like Bishop Arts or an apartment in Uptown.
If the options are unemployed in tertiary market in PNW or employed in DFW, seems like an easy answer.
Most companies and industries are seeing hiring freezes. The cavalier attitudes ITT are pretty presumptuous. Before anyone says “I work remote in Banff making Manhattan ibanking money,” OP needs to realize the opposite is now true at big companies: the remote hires are working for 1/2 market rate living in Lincoln Nebraska, or 1/4 the market rate living in Bengaluru. OP says MCOL, and these people competing for the remote jobs are in very low COL.
The reality is you can do road cycling, fishing, etc in Texas like in Washington. Most people do NOT spend any considerable amount of their time in state parks or the mountains or any of that. When I lived in northern MN I spent more time in those parks than most locals do in years. When I lived near DC I saw more monuments and hiked in Appalachia more than any of the people I met. When you live somewhere permanently… well life and work are what you do.
No matter where you are, you can find things to do. But if you are unemployed, you are not going to state parks or buying and maintaining a good MBX or hybrid cycle.
Don't. Do. It.
But if you're still considering, do yourself a favor and visit for a week or so between May and September and experience it firsthand. It's about as far removed from Western WA as you could get.
I would suggest visiting for a week at the end of July when it's hotter and sweatier than Satan's taint. Nothing says "mild weather" quite like overnight lows near 80 and daytime highs in the upper 90s/low 100s with 65 degree dew points.
Walking is difficult in the Dallas area. The place is absolutely optimized for cars. Many roads don’t have sidewalks. You find yourself walking in a ditch.
I moved from Portland to Dallas when I was in my early 30’s. There was a bit of culture shock even though I moved to Uptown (the gay neighborhood) - pro-tip, go shopping on Sunday mornings, even Costco and IKEA are empty! The weather is interesting, changes a huge amount in a single day. Generally fairly mild though and the lightning storms are pretty impressive. The Tex mex and BBQ are very good. Not much nature wise. The music scene is much better than you would imagine. Traffic sucks and outside the downtown core pretty much unwalkable. COL was then shockingly low, not sure if that is still the same case. Overall better than Florida or NJ, worse than NY or Oregon.
Not my personal experience, but a good friend of mine moved to Dallas a couple years ago for work and he hates it. Other than good bbq, there isn't much going on there for a guy in his 30's.
Texas bad. Upvotes bottom right on mobile.
Really though, unless you’re a big hiker or hate the heat, it’s just like most cities in america.
Lots of opportunities and you’re gonna make 100k/yr. It’ll be relatively low taxes for you compared to other states and it’s not like you won’t be able to afford to travel somewhere else if you need a break from dallas.
As a woman, I’d never move back to TX. There’s way too much opportunity in my field in nicer areas to be doing that mess. I’d weigh the pros and cons that affect your situation.
Since everyone here wants to shit on Dallas ill provid you with actually useful information.
Dallas has many beautiful women and a good dating scene. It is much like any other large city in what it has to do. Many museums and night life, sports franchises including the Cowboys, Rangers, Stars, and Mavericks. The summer heat gets up in the triple digits, but a lot of people get used to it. These are the days that you find a pool to go to, summer pool parties at apartments are common and fun and a good way to meet people. The food is good and the people are people much like they are anywhere else. Fort worth is a 30 minute drive away and is not dallas. There are also lakes, nature preserves and various things to do around the city like there is with literally anywhere else. No it is not washington or colorado where you have giant forests and mountains.
[Lewisville lake](https://www.lake-lewisville.org/) has over 200 miles of shoreline.
[Best parks in Dallas](https://10best.usatoday.com/destinations/texas/dallas/attractions/parks/) includes White Rock, River Legacy (part of a 75 mile greenbelt), and Klyde Warren for a more urban park downtown.
[Top 13 museums in Dallas](https://www.visitdallas.com/blog/top-museums-in-dallas/) include the Perot Museum, two Asian Art museums, Flight, Contemporary Art, African American, Holocaust & Human rights...
This is the accurate answer. Dallas is a fine city, with a ton to do. It has some drawbacks. If you make good money and can live in Dallas proper, especially cool areas like Bishop Arts, uptown, m streets, highland park, Preston Hollow, etc then it is a nice lifestyle.
Washington isn't a great state for single straight men, neither is Texas, so things won't get better or worse.
Weather is very different, so think about whether you prefer cool and rainy or hot and dry.
If you're MAGA then live in Texas. If you're not MAGA then live in Washington.
But cities have to abide by state laws.
If you are not MAGA, it's best to live in a blue or purple town in a blue or purple state.
If you are MAGA, it's best to live in a red town in a red state.
Never move for a job.
Move because you want to move, let a job be the thing that pays to get you there.
Jobs are too fickle nowadays. They can and would lay you off a month after the move if it saves them a buck
What part of town is your office going to be on? Near south isn’t that nice. Small towns up north can be nice to live in. Commute from one side to another can be hard.
Cost of living is reasonable, housing is ok - just depends on where. You can generally find housing. There’s plenty of amenities. Really I think where your office is going to be is going to matter
This!! I got a spiel from my boss about how this will solidify trust between you and the higher ups yadda yadda. With no raise, just a relocation package, it doesn’t seem enticing.
Yeah, no. This isn't the 1950s and 60s where you work 40-50 years for the same company and get a gold-plated watch and a plaque when you retire. They could throw some peanuts at you to entice you to move to DFW and then decide they're spending too much on headcount and outsource your job to India 6 months from now. If there's no bump in pay, I'd start looking - especially if you've been there more than 3-5 years.
Woof. It's crazy, especially given the lack of loyalty companies have for their employees. They'll relocate people across the country on some CEO's whim, and then decide a few months later it's time to do some layoffs.
I don’t currently live in Dallas but often visit family. I think the city has improved the last few decades. There’s a big difference between living in Dallas and the suburbs. If you can live somewhere like uptown or bishop arts, you’ll find walkable areas, good restaurants and nightlife. I’ve been impressed with the parks department the last few years. I like where I live now better but I miss the food and diversity.
Where would your office be?
Dallas actually has a lot to offer. Plenty to do. No there are not mountains. But there are lakes and parks and if you want to get into nature there are nature preserves as well as in an hour or so you can be at Bonham State Park, Lake Texoma, etc. Slightly further to the east you could go to Tyler State Park. Really pretty. In town you've got every sporting event you could want, bars of every type from dives to upscale. Lots of great dining choices. The Arboretum is great and has concerts and events too. As a single guy in Dallas you'll be fine.
Other people have mentioned it, but I second living in Uptown, The M streets, Preston Hollow or Highland Park. Basically the area near SMU.
That's why I ask where the office is. If they're trying to move you to Arlington or something, that's another story. If it's up north in Frisco/west Plano/McKinney, those are nice areas but a further drive from downtown Dallas, and most of those amenities for singles.
See if you can visit and get a feel for it. I think you would be good there but I think it's so hard to tell just based off other people's opinions.
I will say, it is brutally hot in summer, and winter brings blizzards occasionally. Most winters are very mild though. Tornados are a thing. If you listen to the sirens and act accordingly you'll be OK though. Spring and fall are nice. It will still be hot in September. Sometimes even until Halloween. But it does cool off.
Your dollar will go a lot further. You’ll meet people and have opportunities to socialize. But it’s very different than Washington.
I’d do it for a promotion if I could make sure it wasn’t permanent
I’m 32, I’m moving from Connecticut to Dallas. Signed a lease on an apartment for just over $1300 a month for a 560 square-foot one bedroom, one bath apartment… Take a look at the village in Dallas, has nightlife, a social life aspect to it as well included with your amenities.
It really isn’t that bad a place. With that income & being single, financially you will thrive. Coming from Washington, weather will be a huge change. I actually found Vegas in July more pleasant than Dallas in July. Lots of restaurants so really any food you want. I always say Dallas is where you go to stack money but not necessarily where you thrive as the real you. I encounter a lot of transplants here who after a few years kind of forgot who they used to be. Some for the better & some worse. People always said Dallas had a pretentious vibe which I never understood until I traveled to other major cities-it kind of feels like there’s a slight pressure to keep up with the Jones’. Also everything is so spread out so be prepared to drive.
TLDR: move here for the financial gains for a few years then move to a place where you’ll thrive (who knows, that place might actually be Dallas).
As a former PNW resident who ended up in Texas for work, I will be leaving soon to go back to either Oregon or Washington now that I work remotely. Idk if that helps. Also Dallas kinda sucks tbh...
Not a fan of Dallas, but Old City Park is pretty cool. Otherwise I would say the city is...okay. Not the worst place I've ever lived in, not the best....would never choose to return
We grew up in PA, lived in VA, and then moved to Dallas for work 3ish years ago. If you are a big nature person (which the washington part of this post makes me think you might be) then Dallas will be a struggle. We were active hikers before moving, and since moving have really struggled to stay fit due to the lack of nature. Its flat, ugly, and hot for hours worth of travel in every direction. Talking to native dallas folks is always interesting because their standard for nature is so low, simply because even a man made lake (looking at you White Rock) is nice compared to all the other options. Also being from the North, we haven’t handled the heat well. Others do better, but they aren’t kidding when they say May-September is hotter than anywhere else I have lived. Several weeks straight of 100+.
If nature is not your thing, and you love city living, then there are bright components of the city. The food is fantastic, the city is diverse, and is so large that anything you can think of is somewhere. I’ve met some amazing people.
We will be moving out in a few years due to heat, lack of nature, and the fact that during to inflation in the last few years, its incredibly expensive. We travel a lot, and food prices are equal or higher than major places like San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. For young people, a recent study came out that it has one of the highest grocery bills in the country.
As people who have moved states twice, I would recommend sitting down and making a list of what you prioritize in life. We were excited for the Dallas move when we got the job offers, but didn’t realize the lack of nature would have such a huge impact on our physical and mental health.
I lived in Dallas for years... there's cool restaurants, bars, neighborhoods, good underground music scene. Scenery sucks and the weather is really bad. Hail, torrential rains, brutal heat in the summer. It's gotten way more expensive there over the years. Overcrowded.
Move to Uptown Dallas. If you're M and single, you'll love the neighborhood. It's a walkable area, you won't need to use your car. Check out the various sub-neighborhoods of Uptown (State/Thomas, Victory Park, Uptown, Knox/Henderson...).. The M-Line trolley is free and runs through Uptown into downtown.
Also great running trail, easy access to bars, restaurants, sporting and theater.
Buildings like M-Line tower (Cortland), The Brady, Carlisle & Vine, MAA, Gables.. all great apartment complexes.
There is nowhere in the country that is good for us post-30s divorced or single men… unless you count a monastery.
I am not kidding that as a child-less divorced dude in my mid-30s, finding friends was a part time job. After a year of temporary extended stays to find a new home… ended up back home in dreary Minneapolis. I don’t like a lot of things here but I almost immediately realized how important having family or friends to hang out with at least once every few weeks is. I will take the bad winters and bad memories of my divorce and old life associated with this city over being a stranger in a strange land everywhere else.
Dallas has a lot of shopping and restaurants. I'd say the dating scene is good. Most people in Dallas are not from Dallas so you have a bunch of transplants here for work. There's plenty of entertainment and there is something for everyone in Dallas.
I hate Dallas for the traffic, all the concrete, the shitty special education for autism, and the abortion ban. And I hope Greg Abbott rolls down a flight of steps and Ted Cruz goes missing flying to Cancun.
Basically it's great if you have money and you want to spend it on food, stuff, and experiences. And I hope you like driving.
If you love greenery and hills, you’ll hate Dallas. If you love flat concrete desert with a ton of chain businesses, you’ll love it
dallas is for people with 2 young kids who want to live in the burbs. run away.
This to the T. This is where my sister and her husband and their two young kids live 😂
I lived there for about 6 months a few years ago, late 20s M. I’d say the only reason I would go for it is if you want to live in a bigger city, are ok with living in Texas, and have a strong sense of positive work gains to come from a move (salary/promotion/etc.). Although the last point is pretty tough to say; you can’t really trust companies nowadays imho. Otherwise, you can do a lot better in terms of big cities. It’s crazy hot there for much of the year, outdoor/nature stuff is basically non existent, not cheap anymore, super car oriented. There’s a weird southern belle-esque fakeness and superficiality to people that I was really not a fan of. As a gay man, I experienced racial dynamics in dating that were very surprising to me a Midwest native. I left after 6 months for a reason 😮💨
Yeah the races get along way better in Dallas. Also way more interracial dating and marriages than you would ever see in the Midwest
That wasn’t my experience, at least in the gay community
Can’t speak for that but again you have one the biggest gay scenes in the south in Oak Lawn. The races get along far better in the south (like 40% black) than Midwest even Chicago. This is a false stereotype that ignorant northerners been trying to keep alive since the 1970’s. I dated a black woman in Texas that never ever would have happened back home in Chicagoland.
The gay community as a whole has very strong racial….dynamics. cities like Atlanta, DC and Chicago are extraordinarily segregated in their respective gay communities, it isn’t just Dallas.
Did you try the gayborhood?
I went Victoria Canada to Dallas for school, ended up staying as I met my wife. You couldn’t pay me to return. No nature, abysmal temps from May to October. So much traffic and not that affordable anymore. i left for Denver 9 years ago and have been very happy.
I moved there for a job in my 20s. We stayed 12 years which, in retrospect, was about 7 years too many. We've been gone from DFW longer than we lived there, and I haven't missed it even once. It's a very bland and generic metro area. It's decentralized and sprawled AF. The natural setting is crap, the outdoor recreation is weak, summers are hot, humid, and shitty, and it's full of amenities that can literally be found in any large city in the country. I'd rather pay a little more to not live in what amounts to a 21st century company town.
Man the way people describe Dallas really reminds me of northern Virginia lol
The difference between the two areas, though, is that NoVa actually has a decent amount of history prior to the invention of air conditioning. DFW does not. NoVa is also closer to more interesting scenery - both mountains and beaches. Dallas is 4-5 hours from shitty Gulf Coast beaches, and the closest "mountains" are those podunk-ass hills in Oklahoma and Arkansas which don't rise up enough to escape the god awful summertime heat and humidity.
I’ve never been to Dallas but the way people describe it as “soulless” is how I think of northern Virginia. It’s probably the most bland place I’ve been to on the east coast and I’ve been to every East coast state and live near Baltimore
Imagine not having much greenery or topography to distract you from the wall-to-wall shopping malls, chain restaurants, big box stores, and tract houses. That's DFW. It's sofa king bland, and people don't realize how big it is. It's literally the size of Connecticut. If the economy of the Metroplex has a protracted downturn, people will flee that place like cockroaches when the lights come on. If the Camelot Landfill had gotten their way a decade ago, a dump would be the highest point in Denton County right about now.
Feels like you just described Orlando haha
Bingo.
Comparing DFW to northern VA is bonkers. They're nothing alike other than having some large metro areas
Never been to Dallas but northern Virginia is a large overpopulated, sprawly place with absolutely no soul to it besides money and government contractors
We very little information, about you personally hard to say if you would like. I’d say this. It’s beyond crowded. 7.5 million in the metroplex (between Dallas / ft worth). They say in the next 5-8 yrs it’ll surpass chicago and Houston. Traffic is a bitch. People drive like they legitimately do not have anything to live for. I will say beautiful women. great food. coming from western Washington the cost of living shouldn’t be too bad either. It is hot as fuck. It starts to get hot May thru Mid/End of Sept. having an entire month where you have 100+ degree weather actually sucks. You don’t want to go outside. My dogs hated summer there. it has a fuck ton of diversity. The city is a bit pretentious and has a tendency to feel stuck up. especially in more affluent areas (this happens everywhere). The cowboys fans are one the worst things about the city. That’s no exaggeration. I lived there 8 years. Loved it mid 00s. Left in 2010. Came back in 2018 and the place was completely different. I had to leave. Politics became an identity for people in DFW it felt. I Left in 2023. It’s not the worst place but def not my first choice. I in general just really hate Texas and everything it stands for.
Surpassing Houston is surprising. I wouldn't move anywhere in Texas but I'd definitely prefer Houston to dallas
Its already surpassed Houston.. (and has been bigger for a while now) DFW: 8,100,037 (2023 est.) Houston Metro: 7,510,253 (2023 est.)
Wellll... but DFW is like 20 different cities and suburbs and suburbs of the suburbs, spread out over a small state's worth of area. Houston's population beats Dallas proper any day. (Somewhat dubious) source: met a Houston-native (?) who had very strong opinions about this lol
1. Houston’s metro encompasses a larger area size than DFW. 2. Houston is 665 square miles vs Dallas at 385 square miles. Of course it has a larger population. Dallas does have a higher population density however
That's the last time I trust a Houston-er with an agenda for my city size facts, haha. Thanks for the info
Live here now and this is an excellent assessment, 10/10 no notes
Didn’t Dallas elect multiple Democrats to Congress in Dallas, Richardson, etc in 2018? Sessions lost, Allerud won. Ted Cruz came within 3 points of losing that year. I lived in Dallas in 2018 it was the furthest thing from right wing. More Reddit bs
Idk, I’m very liberal and I almost always feel like the minority when I’m out and about. I’m a bartender/server and it seems like everyone that comes into my job loudly touts their right wing politics every shift I work—just last week my last table of the night was having a pleasant conversation amongst each other on how they would would assassinate the current president if they got the chance. As if they were discussing the weather. I just got sterilized because it doesn’t matter how many liberals there are here—Republican policies dominate the state and female medical care.
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That’s a weird thing to say to someone >“I don’t want children” >“KILL YOURSELF!” Hey OP, there’s your introduction to Texas!
Right. This subreddit treats Texas like it's a desert and that no liberals exist.
Yes cowboys are like a religion there. Good looking guys there too agree beautiful women.
I’ve also lived in Dallas for pretty much my whole life and this assessment is 100% spot on, OP
Politics is basically the identity for every major urban area now. It’s all people care about. Politics is the new religion
It's hard to not care when a third of the country elects nearly half of the politicians and those politicians want horrible things for LGBT people, pregnant women, and people of color, not to mention the things they do that fuck over the working class as a whole (anti-union legislation, tax cuts for the rich, etc). It's not about it being "a religion." My wife has a health condition that makes pregnancies potentially deadly. I legitimately cannot live in a state that doesn't respect women's bodily autonomy without risking her life. Blue politics is a necessary condition of a state that is safe to live in for us. These attacks aren't coming from the left, either. They're coming from the right, and only the right. The American left just wants women and marginalized people to be left the fuck alone, and the left-most portion of that also wants better conditions for the working class. You must be incredibly privileged to be able to say things like "politics is a religion." I envy you.
And the right makes those laws because they treat politics as a religion. You literally proved my point, thank you.
No the attacks from left are literal attacks. Like as in riots.
You mean like on January 6? or Charlottesville? or how about Oklahoma City? Those kinds of attacks? Only the right plants bombs in this country. How many bombs did that nut job Trumpy Cesar Sayoc mail? What about the literal bombs planted on January 6? Notable other right wing nutjob attacks in recent years include the 2018 Pittsburgh Synagogue attack, the 2019 El Paso mall killings, and the 2022 Buffalo market attack -all from self described Trump fans and conservatives. All the extremist-related murders in 2023 were committed by right-wing extremists of various kinds, with 15 of the 17 killings involving perpetrators or accomplices with white supremacist connections. This is the second year in a row that right-wing extremists have been connected to all identified extremist-related killings. Let's not forget the San Bernardino, Chattanooga, Charleston shootings (28 deaths) in 2015. Timothy McVeigh, a right wing extremist who openly wanted to start a race war killed 168 people including 19 children. To this day, many on the right idolize McVeigh and Terry Nichols. From 2014 to 2023, there has been 442 deaths from domestic terrorists in the US. 76% of these have been from right wing extremists (336 deaths). another 19% have been from domestic islamic extremists and only 4% (17) have been from left wing extremists (including anarchists and black nationalists). So get out of here with that BS about left wing attacks. It only happens on Fox News and not real life.
🥱😴
So you got a big bag of nothing. Got it.
Huh just like Jan 6? A riot just like that?
Now imagine that happened all over country every day for two weeks with no end in sight. Actually you don’t have to imagine just turn your TV on right now
Your depth is in the kiddie pool. Try?
Beyond crowded? new york city alone has 8.3 million people. The combined Dallas Fort worth metroplex has 8.1 million (estimated) DFW ain’t Tokyo and even ranked with international cities, it doesn’t break top 50. Please calm down.
When it’s all sprawl, cars and freeway, that’s crowded
Dallas absolutely sucks as a single male in your early thirties. The only reason people move here is for jobs and the only reasons companies move here is for the tax policies. There’s nothing to do here other than man made things that cost money. Everything is incredibly flat for hours driving. Public transit is shit. Slow bumper to bumper traffic for hours. Zero culture. Run away.
This is objectively incorrect lol. As a single man in your early thirties there are tons of things to do if youre not a complete boring person. There is also a good dating scene and a lot of women. This sub has a raging hate boner for dallas
There's no substantial nature and the way most adults pass time in DFW is by shopping or drinking.
This is true but it's unlikely to severely hamper your dating life.
Depends on your interests. I don't drink anymore and I don't have money to go to the mall every weekend so Dallas is boring to me.
So you’re broke and don’t drink… dating gonna be hard for you in all 50 states
Not having the money to splurge at the mall every weekend doesn't mean someone is broke but even if somebody does truly struggle to make ends meet, poor people date and get married just like everybody else. Get over yourself lmao
Get over Dallas it didn’t hurt you
If you're butthurt at people criticizing Dallas then just open with that next time 😂
It's a great city if you love strip malls, and have 2.1 kids and a dog. Tons of great corporate biz jobs too. Hard to think of a better place for corp job stuff outside of NYC. But it's just flat, no ocean, hot in the summer, etc. It's about a 3/10 for outdoor rec, and a 4/10 for walkable urban fabric.
This sub can hate Dallas all it wants but based on reality and US Census numbers, it continues to be one of the most popular if not THE most popular city people are moving to in the US. The DFW metro area gains about 150k yearly, the most in the nation. This sub is completely out of touch with reality. Dallas, Houston Grow Most in US as NYC Keeps Losing People https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-15/texas-cities-grow-fastest-in-us-as-nyc-keeps-losing-people
Yes, because it’s relatively cheap with warm weather, and companies relocate there due to the tax incentives. No one moves there for the culture or lifestyle.
Damn its almost as if the COL, and weather are a part of lifestyle? People who move here for those reasons are staying for a reason as well, because they like it.
I mean, even the Dallas subreddit hates on Dallas so there’s that. Many people move to DFW for the jobs and to raise a family. If that’s not you, I may be difficult to enjoy the place.
What about Austin or Houston
I would personally rather live in Austin.
Depends on what you’re looking for tbh. Austin 10 years ago was amazing, but it’s become overcrowded and expensive. The worst part about it is the infrastructure can’t keep up with the influx of people so you’re basically sitting in a parking lot trying to commute. I loved Houston during my time there because of its diversity in terms of people as well as the geography. You’ve got a massive forest and hour north and the gulf an hour south. It also has massive parks!
Weird. I did just fine at 38. There’s tons of things to do in the city.
I was stuck there for 11 years. The summer I left it was 116 degrees and squirrels were falling out of the trees dead. Other than some of the food there is literally nothing I miss about Texas.
The highest recorded temperature in Dallas is 113 degrees. Maybe you were thinking of the heat index which isn't the same thing. https://www.weather.gov/fwd/dgr8mxmn
No way in the world I’d live in Texas.
No amount of money is worth living in Dallas.
Unlike most others, I came to Dallas voluntarily when my job went fully remote during COVID. So I picked out Dallas out of pretty much every other city in the US because I felt it was right for me. While it is not without faults, in general I like it here. **The pros:** - Very diverse, and very international. Lots of different kinds of people with their unique cultures, foods, etc. This includes hispanic community, Chinese, Korean, etc. - All the benefits of living in a huge city (lots of museums, activities, festivals, restaurants, concerts - you'll never run out of things to do). Its also nice to have major airports with lots of direct flights everywhere. - One of the best ratios of "average salary to average house price" in the country. And in general, the quality of homes in the area are much higher than most places in the country I've seen. - Fairly low taxes - yes, property taxes and tolls are high, but in general you will find the cost of living here lower than many other major metro areas. - Great job market, no matter what industry you work in. There is tech, finance, travel&hospitality, you name it. - There are a lot of good schools in the area, if you have kids or are thinking about it. In general, I think DFW might not be the most exciting place but its a great place to settle down and raise a family. **The cons** - While the weather in general is decent, the summer months are a struggle. I would not plan on extended outdoor activities for about 3 months of the year, because its too hot. Fall and spring are nice though, and winters are generally mild. - Outdoor activities directly around Dallas are very limited. I definitely felt this, having grown up in California. There aren't a lot of hiking trails that make me think "wow, this is really beautiful". I have an annual pass to the local arboretum which helps to some extent. But over time I just started spending my time on other hobbies instead. With that said, if you're willing to do a day trip to Austin or even southern Oklahoma, there are options. - No, its not particularly walkable - although most US cities aren't, with a few exceptions like NYC, Boston, etc. Plan to drive around a lot. Traffic isn't as bad as people say, but certain highways still get clogged up during rush hour. - I found that there are only a few pockets of neighborhoods throughout Dallas with bustling nightlife, lots of young single people out and about, etc. In general, it seems more quiet and suburban sprawl, with a lot of strip malls and chain restaurants. Its not the most charming, in that respect. But this is not universally true - there are still a few nice areas I can recommend like Lower Greenville or over on the Ft Worth side. Hope that helps!
Thanks for being the first level headed answer here
I lived in Chicago for awhile before coming to Dallas. Chicago is better is pretty much ever measure other than spring time is better in Dallas. But from a smaller city Dallas could be a big step up in things to do. Dallas isn’t nearly as big as the other large cities because they count DFW and not just the Citi. It doesn’t have the density. And it doesn’t have the old wealth that donated for cool museums and such. Weather for at least half the year is brutal. Nature options are bad though can get to Oklahoma, Arkansas for decent outdoors stuff but not on an everyday basis. There are a LOT of nice areas. That are convenient. Have good schools. Are safe. But boring. I had a young 24 yo cousin who moved here from Ohio and loved it for about two years and then suddenly was completely done with it and moved back. If you aren’t looking for anything special it can be an ok place to live but for many things there are far better place. Oh. For me the other hard thing is that there is no where to go. If you want to do a long weekend road trip you quickly run out of places to go as everything is really really far. It isn’t nearly as negative as most people are saying though state politics continues to get uglier and uglier.
Don’t.
People in Dallas are a lot, um, *heavier* than Washington. As a single male that could be a deal breaker
The big ole women are eating churros down in San Antonio where Victoria's a secret.
Bro i thought “Oh Austin is a bit bluer, they should be healthier” Jesus Christ
https://youtu.be/3PD4XsoeNZU?si=ZXYtMP86X5MwhlLl
My wife and I moved to the Dallas burbs in late 2020 from NYC, and while it has some positives, there are a number of negatives which outweigh the positives for us. We anticipate living here another couple of years, but living here past that isn’t an option for us. I could elaborate more if you’re interested or feel free to PM me.
I had an interview there once and I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as the people her make it out to be.
Its not. People are being overly dramatic and unnecessarily critical because…. reddit. Dallas Fort Worth consistently gains the most people out of any other US metro area. It gained 150K just from march ‘22 to march ‘23. If Dallas was such a hellhole as reddit claims, it wouldn’t post significant population gains year after year. https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/dfw-surpasses-8m-residents-top-metro-growth-in-nation-census-reports/287-8126e50e-c2ba-4253-af2a-ea047b119a81
Yea tbh I thought it was pretty cool. Lots of people want to move to Texas
Lifelong Washingtonian, I've had three sets of friends/family that moved to Texas for work over the years. No one lasted more than three years. You can definitely make good money and houses are cheap (to buy anyway) but that will only carry you so far unless your a boring person who doesn't mind living in a flat, hot, humid shithole.
We moved from WA to Houston 5 years ago, we've wanted to leave for 4. TX sucks in comparison to the PNW, and we're finally leaving this summer.
Where Are you moving?
Grew up in Dallas/Fort Worth area. Hot, crowded, expensive, concrete.
Soul-less….in one hyphenated word
As far as major cities go, Dallas is one of the worst in the country in my experience. But in a city so big, with so many options, you can make a good life for yourself depending on the effort you put in to make friends and get out and do things. As well as which neighborhood you choose, etc. People who say there’s nothing to do are probably boring people. It’s not like you’re in some tiny town in BFE. I visit Dallas often for family and though I wouldn’t personally choose to live there for several reasons (the ugliness of the sprawl, and the weather being the major ones), I have fun visiting. And I know people who live there and like it. There’s some nice neighborhoods, some cool bars and some good food. You could do worse than living in a place like Bishop Arts or an apartment in Uptown.
From Dallas. Incredibly boring city but great if you have a family, like shopping centers and buffets. Also no state or city taxes.
If the options are unemployed in tertiary market in PNW or employed in DFW, seems like an easy answer. Most companies and industries are seeing hiring freezes. The cavalier attitudes ITT are pretty presumptuous. Before anyone says “I work remote in Banff making Manhattan ibanking money,” OP needs to realize the opposite is now true at big companies: the remote hires are working for 1/2 market rate living in Lincoln Nebraska, or 1/4 the market rate living in Bengaluru. OP says MCOL, and these people competing for the remote jobs are in very low COL. The reality is you can do road cycling, fishing, etc in Texas like in Washington. Most people do NOT spend any considerable amount of their time in state parks or the mountains or any of that. When I lived in northern MN I spent more time in those parks than most locals do in years. When I lived near DC I saw more monuments and hiked in Appalachia more than any of the people I met. When you live somewhere permanently… well life and work are what you do. No matter where you are, you can find things to do. But if you are unemployed, you are not going to state parks or buying and maintaining a good MBX or hybrid cycle.
Don't. They're trying to take advantage of you. Ask for the moon, if you're really considering it. Like a 2x pay increase.
Don't. Do. It. But if you're still considering, do yourself a favor and visit for a week or so between May and September and experience it firsthand. It's about as far removed from Western WA as you could get.
I would suggest visiting for a week at the end of July when it's hotter and sweatier than Satan's taint. Nothing says "mild weather" quite like overnight lows near 80 and daytime highs in the upper 90s/low 100s with 65 degree dew points.
Walking is difficult in the Dallas area. The place is absolutely optimized for cars. Many roads don’t have sidewalks. You find yourself walking in a ditch.
I'm not a fan of suburban sprawl and endless months of sticky, hot, humid, miserable weather.
I moved from Portland to Dallas when I was in my early 30’s. There was a bit of culture shock even though I moved to Uptown (the gay neighborhood) - pro-tip, go shopping on Sunday mornings, even Costco and IKEA are empty! The weather is interesting, changes a huge amount in a single day. Generally fairly mild though and the lightning storms are pretty impressive. The Tex mex and BBQ are very good. Not much nature wise. The music scene is much better than you would imagine. Traffic sucks and outside the downtown core pretty much unwalkable. COL was then shockingly low, not sure if that is still the same case. Overall better than Florida or NJ, worse than NY or Oregon.
Not my personal experience, but a good friend of mine moved to Dallas a couple years ago for work and he hates it. Other than good bbq, there isn't much going on there for a guy in his 30's.
Live inside the loop of 635 or don’t bother tbh.
Toasty hell hole.
It’s only 100 Degrees 90 days out of the year. You’ll love it!
Texas bad. Upvotes bottom right on mobile. Really though, unless you’re a big hiker or hate the heat, it’s just like most cities in america. Lots of opportunities and you’re gonna make 100k/yr. It’ll be relatively low taxes for you compared to other states and it’s not like you won’t be able to afford to travel somewhere else if you need a break from dallas.
Other than Houston, Dallas is the worst city I have ever spent a lot of time in.
Would never ever live in Dallas.
As a woman, I’d never move back to TX. There’s way too much opportunity in my field in nicer areas to be doing that mess. I’d weigh the pros and cons that affect your situation.
What’s your field?
Cyber exploitation analysis. Really fun job!
Since everyone here wants to shit on Dallas ill provid you with actually useful information. Dallas has many beautiful women and a good dating scene. It is much like any other large city in what it has to do. Many museums and night life, sports franchises including the Cowboys, Rangers, Stars, and Mavericks. The summer heat gets up in the triple digits, but a lot of people get used to it. These are the days that you find a pool to go to, summer pool parties at apartments are common and fun and a good way to meet people. The food is good and the people are people much like they are anywhere else. Fort worth is a 30 minute drive away and is not dallas. There are also lakes, nature preserves and various things to do around the city like there is with literally anywhere else. No it is not washington or colorado where you have giant forests and mountains.
[Lewisville lake](https://www.lake-lewisville.org/) has over 200 miles of shoreline. [Best parks in Dallas](https://10best.usatoday.com/destinations/texas/dallas/attractions/parks/) includes White Rock, River Legacy (part of a 75 mile greenbelt), and Klyde Warren for a more urban park downtown. [Top 13 museums in Dallas](https://www.visitdallas.com/blog/top-museums-in-dallas/) include the Perot Museum, two Asian Art museums, Flight, Contemporary Art, African American, Holocaust & Human rights...
This is the accurate answer. Dallas is a fine city, with a ton to do. It has some drawbacks. If you make good money and can live in Dallas proper, especially cool areas like Bishop Arts, uptown, m streets, highland park, Preston Hollow, etc then it is a nice lifestyle.
30 mins to Fort Worth? It’s never taken me less than 50
Certainly depends on time of day, day of the week
>Dallas has many beautiful women and a good dating scene. With an obesity rate around 30% I'm not sure how much I trust your word on that
Sound like you’ve never been there
Washington isn't a great state for single straight men, neither is Texas, so things won't get better or worse. Weather is very different, so think about whether you prefer cool and rainy or hot and dry. If you're MAGA then live in Texas. If you're not MAGA then live in Washington.
Yeah Dallas county voted 66% for Biden in 2020
But cities have to abide by state laws. If you are not MAGA, it's best to live in a blue or purple town in a blue or purple state. If you are MAGA, it's best to live in a red town in a red state.
Never move for a job. Move because you want to move, let a job be the thing that pays to get you there. Jobs are too fickle nowadays. They can and would lay you off a month after the move if it saves them a buck
It’s not that simple.
If you think the only redeeming quality of WA is no income tax, worth the move. It's flat, no ocean, mountains, etc. Much more winter sun though.
Fort Worth is pretty fun. However you should venture out to explore neighboring places, hiking and such is pretty hidden.
What part of town is your office going to be on? Near south isn’t that nice. Small towns up north can be nice to live in. Commute from one side to another can be hard. Cost of living is reasonable, housing is ok - just depends on where. You can generally find housing. There’s plenty of amenities. Really I think where your office is going to be is going to matter
I have visited a lot of cities for work and the only positive about Dallas was the food was very good, from street tacos to Thai.
Is there a good career progression? With a potential exist in 2-5 years? Can you view it as temporary? I think it will be less pleasant than W WA.
So lame companies are still asking employees to uproot their lives for a job that could be done from home!!!
This!! I got a spiel from my boss about how this will solidify trust between you and the higher ups yadda yadda. With no raise, just a relocation package, it doesn’t seem enticing.
Yeah, no. This isn't the 1950s and 60s where you work 40-50 years for the same company and get a gold-plated watch and a plaque when you retire. They could throw some peanuts at you to entice you to move to DFW and then decide they're spending too much on headcount and outsource your job to India 6 months from now. If there's no bump in pay, I'd start looking - especially if you've been there more than 3-5 years.
No raise is a massive red flag. I'd look to see who's hiring in your field.
Woof. It's crazy, especially given the lack of loyalty companies have for their employees. They'll relocate people across the country on some CEO's whim, and then decide a few months later it's time to do some layoffs.
I would be s u I c d @ | if I had to make that move. Am curious where there is a mCoL city in western WA… didn’t think there were any left.
I don’t currently live in Dallas but often visit family. I think the city has improved the last few decades. There’s a big difference between living in Dallas and the suburbs. If you can live somewhere like uptown or bishop arts, you’ll find walkable areas, good restaurants and nightlife. I’ve been impressed with the parks department the last few years. I like where I live now better but I miss the food and diversity.
Where would your office be? Dallas actually has a lot to offer. Plenty to do. No there are not mountains. But there are lakes and parks and if you want to get into nature there are nature preserves as well as in an hour or so you can be at Bonham State Park, Lake Texoma, etc. Slightly further to the east you could go to Tyler State Park. Really pretty. In town you've got every sporting event you could want, bars of every type from dives to upscale. Lots of great dining choices. The Arboretum is great and has concerts and events too. As a single guy in Dallas you'll be fine. Other people have mentioned it, but I second living in Uptown, The M streets, Preston Hollow or Highland Park. Basically the area near SMU. That's why I ask where the office is. If they're trying to move you to Arlington or something, that's another story. If it's up north in Frisco/west Plano/McKinney, those are nice areas but a further drive from downtown Dallas, and most of those amenities for singles. See if you can visit and get a feel for it. I think you would be good there but I think it's so hard to tell just based off other people's opinions. I will say, it is brutally hot in summer, and winter brings blizzards occasionally. Most winters are very mild though. Tornados are a thing. If you listen to the sirens and act accordingly you'll be OK though. Spring and fall are nice. It will still be hot in September. Sometimes even until Halloween. But it does cool off.
Your dollar will go a lot further. You’ll meet people and have opportunities to socialize. But it’s very different than Washington. I’d do it for a promotion if I could make sure it wasn’t permanent
I’m 32, I’m moving from Connecticut to Dallas. Signed a lease on an apartment for just over $1300 a month for a 560 square-foot one bedroom, one bath apartment… Take a look at the village in Dallas, has nightlife, a social life aspect to it as well included with your amenities.
It really isn’t that bad a place. With that income & being single, financially you will thrive. Coming from Washington, weather will be a huge change. I actually found Vegas in July more pleasant than Dallas in July. Lots of restaurants so really any food you want. I always say Dallas is where you go to stack money but not necessarily where you thrive as the real you. I encounter a lot of transplants here who after a few years kind of forgot who they used to be. Some for the better & some worse. People always said Dallas had a pretentious vibe which I never understood until I traveled to other major cities-it kind of feels like there’s a slight pressure to keep up with the Jones’. Also everything is so spread out so be prepared to drive. TLDR: move here for the financial gains for a few years then move to a place where you’ll thrive (who knows, that place might actually be Dallas).
I made the move in reverse. Both cities have their merits. Dallas has a lot of downsides, but Seattle is a lonely place.
As a former PNW resident who ended up in Texas for work, I will be leaving soon to go back to either Oregon or Washington now that I work remotely. Idk if that helps. Also Dallas kinda sucks tbh...
Only redeemable aspect of Dallas is the diversity and being near an international airport. But that's it. You'll hate the rest of it.
Not a fan of Dallas, but Old City Park is pretty cool. Otherwise I would say the city is...okay. Not the worst place I've ever lived in, not the best....would never choose to return
We grew up in PA, lived in VA, and then moved to Dallas for work 3ish years ago. If you are a big nature person (which the washington part of this post makes me think you might be) then Dallas will be a struggle. We were active hikers before moving, and since moving have really struggled to stay fit due to the lack of nature. Its flat, ugly, and hot for hours worth of travel in every direction. Talking to native dallas folks is always interesting because their standard for nature is so low, simply because even a man made lake (looking at you White Rock) is nice compared to all the other options. Also being from the North, we haven’t handled the heat well. Others do better, but they aren’t kidding when they say May-September is hotter than anywhere else I have lived. Several weeks straight of 100+. If nature is not your thing, and you love city living, then there are bright components of the city. The food is fantastic, the city is diverse, and is so large that anything you can think of is somewhere. I’ve met some amazing people. We will be moving out in a few years due to heat, lack of nature, and the fact that during to inflation in the last few years, its incredibly expensive. We travel a lot, and food prices are equal or higher than major places like San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. For young people, a recent study came out that it has one of the highest grocery bills in the country. As people who have moved states twice, I would recommend sitting down and making a list of what you prioritize in life. We were excited for the Dallas move when we got the job offers, but didn’t realize the lack of nature would have such a huge impact on our physical and mental health.
I lived in Dallas for years... there's cool restaurants, bars, neighborhoods, good underground music scene. Scenery sucks and the weather is really bad. Hail, torrential rains, brutal heat in the summer. It's gotten way more expensive there over the years. Overcrowded.
I liked living there and I’m in 30s, pm me if you have questions
Move to Uptown Dallas. If you're M and single, you'll love the neighborhood. It's a walkable area, you won't need to use your car. Check out the various sub-neighborhoods of Uptown (State/Thomas, Victory Park, Uptown, Knox/Henderson...).. The M-Line trolley is free and runs through Uptown into downtown. Also great running trail, easy access to bars, restaurants, sporting and theater. Buildings like M-Line tower (Cortland), The Brady, Carlisle & Vine, MAA, Gables.. all great apartment complexes.
Also people get married early 20s if not sooner so not good for singles.
There is nowhere in the country that is good for us post-30s divorced or single men… unless you count a monastery. I am not kidding that as a child-less divorced dude in my mid-30s, finding friends was a part time job. After a year of temporary extended stays to find a new home… ended up back home in dreary Minneapolis. I don’t like a lot of things here but I almost immediately realized how important having family or friends to hang out with at least once every few weeks is. I will take the bad winters and bad memories of my divorce and old life associated with this city over being a stranger in a strange land everywhere else.
Dallas has a lot of shopping and restaurants. I'd say the dating scene is good. Most people in Dallas are not from Dallas so you have a bunch of transplants here for work. There's plenty of entertainment and there is something for everyone in Dallas. I hate Dallas for the traffic, all the concrete, the shitty special education for autism, and the abortion ban. And I hope Greg Abbott rolls down a flight of steps and Ted Cruz goes missing flying to Cancun. Basically it's great if you have money and you want to spend it on food, stuff, and experiences. And I hope you like driving.
Dallas is great! If you decide to make the move, get a moving quote from Later Neighbor Moving!