What It's Like Living in Texas as a California Native

Moving from California to Texas was not an easy decision. After all, my entire family is California-native. Nevertheless, after much research and planning, we firmly believe we made the right decision to relocate to Dallas at the end of last year. After living in Dallas for about 2 months now, I wanted to share some of my observations about the area and how it contrasts with California. Many of them were expected, but not everything!

1. Homes aren’t as cheap in Dallas as I expected

It’s fair to say that my California home was priced above average, even for California. Silicon Valley is just on a whole different level. That said, coming from a multi-million dollar home to buy a dream home in Dallas, TX for under $1 million is an obvious savings for me. But for most, buying a home for $750K to $1 million is no joke.

Being the real estate nerd that I am, I’ve noticed that it’s pretty common in many Dallas suburbs for home prices to be above the $750K mark. In northern cities like Frisco and Plano, homes are sold for well over $1 million!

On top of pricey homes, property tax rates in Texas are nearly guaranteed to be above 2%. I’ve even seen some outliers above 3%! Oh, and the kicker? Home values are reassessed annually in Texas, which means those sky high property tax rates will bump up property tax bills in lockstep. Ouch! I’m guessing that’s a big reason why some Texans don’t like out-of-staters moving there and raising their home prices.

2. Cost of living is lower in Dallas, but not by much

Gas prices are currently around the $3 mark in Dallas. In California, it’s about 50% higher at $4.50 per gallon. Granted, I find myself driving considerably longer distances to get from place to place since things are more spread out. I haven’t actually analyzed my mileage, etc. to do the math, but I’d actually guess that I’m not saving on gas at all. I may actually be spending more on gas in Dallas.

Additionally, Texas has a ton of toll roads. The highest price I’ve seen to take a toll road was more than $2.50 to drive just a few miles (and that includes using what’s called a Toll Pass)! Plus, I’m putting a lot more mileage on my car, so my car’s value will drop faster and maintenance costs will be higher here.

Restaurants are the one standout difference in cost. I’d say they’re roughly 30% cheaper here. Back in California, I’d pay about $55-60 for a family meal. In Dallas, it’s closer to $40.

Childcare is about 30% cheaper, too. We used to pay north of $1,400 per month for part-time childcare in California; here, it’s dropped to about $950 per month.

Grocery and retail prices appear to be identical. I don’t think there’s any savings at all. It’s possible some specific items are cheaper if they’re locally grown or made, but I haven’t noticed anything.

Extracurriculars are nearly the same prices (swim, sports, music). There’s roughly a 15% savings here, but I would’ve expected a steeper drop.

Overall, there’s still a lower cost of living in Dallas than Silicon Valley, but not as much as I thought. Perhaps there’s a 10-15% savings? The real saver is the lack of state income tax in Texas, not the actual cost of goods and services.

3. Dallas weather is dramatic

I’ll admit it. Before I visited Dallas last year, I assumed all of Texas was a dry desert that was filled with cacti and tumbleweeds. How naive of me! In Dallas, it’s actually super green, arguably greener than most of California. Unlike California, there are 4 seasons here. And when it rains, it really rains. In the summer, it’s really hot and humid. I’ve heard from multiple native Texans that they like to escape summer and spend those 3 months of the year elsewhere.

One day, we experienced a temperature swing from 70 to 19 degrees! While a 51 degree swing is probably an outlier, the typical swing can still be 30 degrees.

In the winter it seems like a common practice to leave a slow drip from your faucet on (literally) freezing cold nights to prevent pipes from freezing and bursting. That was certainly a nightmare for Texans during the blizzard conditions in February/March of 2021!

4. Roads, traffic, and infrastructure

The road infrastructure seems to be pretty great here. There’s hardly any traffic, roads are pretty well maintained, and they’re timed and laid out very well so that traffic keeps moving. And it’s even more important to get traffic patterns right here since everything is spread out.

I like how most residential areas are built away from freeways. Instead, businesses are bunked up against them so you can easily hop on and off freeways and go straight to your local grocery store, for example. Homes are a distance away from the hustle and bustle and seem to have much less noise pollution.

I noticed that parking lots are way less EV-friendly. I think I’ve only spotted a couple of charging stations at Whole Foods. That’s a stark contrast from Silicon Valley, where it’s common to have a whole section of parking spots dedicated for EV charging. This is most likely because Texas is big on gas, since a large portion of the state’s GDP relies on the oil industry. Nevertheless, I might be imagining it, but I think I’m spotting more Teslas on the road now than I did last summer. The EV boom is inevitable, in my opinion.

5. Patriotism and Texas pride

So many people hang flags outside their homes! The 2 most common flags you’ll see in Texas are the American and Texas state flags. Back in California, you’d see a few American flags, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a California state flag outside a home. Honestly, all I know is that there’s a brown grizzly bear on the flag and that it’s California’s state animal. Not many Californians can tell you what’s on the flag!

In Texas, however, they have a Texas state anthem and even have 2-3 Texas state history classes in their K-12 curriculum! The point is that Texans are raised to be more patriotic and prideful in their country and state. It’s a much bigger deal here and a stark contrast from California.

6. COVID

Texas and California are complete opposites in terms of COVID safety. If you’re in Texas, it’s pretty much safe to assume masks aren’t required anywhere. In the airport, it’s federally required to wear a mask, but some people still don’t wear them. That’s basically how serious COVID is being taken around here.

However, it would be unfair to say that no one here cares about COVID safety. Depending on where you are or what type of activity you’re doing, between 50-75% of people are usually masked. And the vaccination rate is higher than one might guess.

7. Food

I haven’t collected nearly enough data to make any final judgments. But so far, restaurants haven’t been as tasty as they were in Silicon Valley. Granted, I’m talking mostly about Asian food. American food seems rock solid. In fact, I’ve already found my new favorite burger place!

Regardless of our disappointment in local Asian food, I’m definitely having fun trying new restaurants. And I’m still staying optimistic that we’ll find our go-to restaurants over the next few months.

8. The outdoors

One of the best things about California was that nature walks, beach, or snow were all within driving distance pretty much anywhere you lived. Dallas, on the other hand, has very flat land. So there isn’t much to look at, to be frank. To compensate for that, they have lots of man-made lakes and fountains in most communities. There are even communities with giant lagoons and faux beaches!

Many neighborhoods also have very large recreational facilities and parks, which makes it very easy to go on a walk nearby. I noticed that lots of parks also have splash pads (an area where kids can get wet and play with water). They also have sun shades over most play structures, since it’s unbearable to be out in the sun during the summer months. We’ll see how we get by during our first summer here as new residents!

Takeaways

I think it’s safe to say that the roads and flow of traffic is drastically better here than in California, so I’m definitely happy about that. I could do without paying for toll roads, but it’s not a huge deal.

The weather is one of the more drastic changes for us since California is just sunny all the time. Dallas has 4 seasons, and the temperature can swing quite drastically in 24 hours. In early Feb, we actually had a winter storm warning, where schools closed for 2 days as sleet and snow fell for 24-36 hours.

Hopefully we end up finding some solid Asian food soon. Otherwise, we’re going to have to fly back to California just to eat at our old haunts!

The cost of living in Dallas is shockingly high, and not nearly as cheap as I thought it would be. Nevertheless, I still firmly believe the move is going to be great for my family. I can’t wait to live in our dream home, and our finances will slowly see some improvements over the years!

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