Moving to Texas is one of the hottest things you can do, literally. If you ask U-Haul, it’s been the most popular state to move to six years in a row. Celebrities from Glen Powell to Shaq to *sigh* Elon have established home bases in the Lone Star State.
For those who have lived entire (sad) lives without knowing the wonders of H-E-B, the full (complicated, hot, absurd) picture may not be apparent. On the one hand, you have easy access to incredible barbecue and gorgeous natural wonders. On the other, the entire state is borderline unlivable for about a quarter of the year and our governor is a vindictive jerk.
So if you’re thinking about saying howdy and participating in cowboy cosplay, here is a definitive list of pros and cons to living in Texas — from the perspective of a native Texan.
PRO: NATURE
Texas has large expanses of wild countryside, and nature is never far away (well, except Big Bend, which is still absolutely worth the drive). There’s so much beauty to explore, including natural swimming holes like Balmorhea or Blue Hole, the Texas Hill Country, the color explosion that is wildflower season, and our nearly 100 state and national parks. It’s relatively easy to escape to a peaceful place with tons of stars and no sound but the wind. Being a big-ass state means the landscape changes, and while you can’t ski in the morning and go to the beach in the afternoon like in California, you can drive from the flat marshes of East Texas to the desert mountains of West Texas and admire everything else along the way.
CON: THAT MEANS BUGS
Everything’s bigger in Texas — including our cockroaches. Unfortunately, the heat doesn’t bother things with exoskeletons the way it bothers humans, so swarms of mosquitoes often make the outdoors even more unlivable. Then there are the weird spindly mosquito hawks (that don’t actually eat mosquitoes), scorpions, ticks, chiggers, wasps, horseflies, and various no-see-ums that also enjoy our temperate climate. Oh, and don’t be surprised if you see large piles of dead crickets indoors or in stairwells around August and September — that’s just a thing that happens.
PRO: THE WEATHER
This one’s the most obvious: from about October to mid-May, Texas is pretty temperate. It’s not unheard of to have patio weather in December or February where you clink margarita glasses and laugh at your friends in the northeast wearing four layers.
CON: ALSO THE WEATHER
From approximately June through September, Texas becomes a literal hellscape, with brutal triple digit temperatures often exacerbated by humidity. As your northeastern friends post their photos of leaf changes and hot apple cider, you’ll still have the AC on full blast and be sweating through your clothes. Climate change has done Texans particularly dirty, not only making the heat insanity-inducing, but causing more hard freezes in the winter. The whole state is still emotionally recovering from 2021’s winter storm, an icy freeze that caused a spectacular infrastructure meltdown that left millions of Texans without power or running water and contributed to the death of hundreds. Which brings us to …
CON: THE GRID
Texas operates its own power grid (not connected to any other states) to avoid federal regulations and theoretically make energy cheaper. What that means in practice is there’s very little extra power available during, say, exceptionally hot summers or hard freezes, so you can’t really count on having power when it matters. The state’s electric authority, ERCOT, has made some changes since 2021, but it still has questionable preparedness for big weather events — though it did create a communication system that sends out three text messages a day telling you it’s hot outside. With little faith in the system, Texans have become the biggest market for generators these days.
PRO: AFFORDABILITY
If you think you should get a life discount for living in a state that has horrific temperatures without providing the power to protect you from them, well, you’re in luck. Texas has no state income tax, median home sale prices are about $80,000 lower than the national average, and there’s low gas prices, contributing to a fairly low cost of living for such a populous state. (Minor caveat: Texans pay higher sales taxes and higher local property taxes.)
PRO: FOOD
Texas has truly elite signature dishes and restaurants — it’s why we get our own category at the James Beard Awards. Texpats often lament the difficulty in finding breakfast tacos, queso, pecan pie, and brisket, not to mention hyper-regional dishes like green spaghetti, puffy tacos, or kolaches. A long growing season also means abundant local produce for chefs to use, with regional specialties like Rio Grande Valley citrus or Poteet strawberries.
CON: YOU (PROBABLY) NEED A CAR
There are very few places in Texas where you can realistically get by without a car, since walking is pretty much always out of the question and public transport means waiting outside in the heat for a bus. A car is particularly handy when exploring the state, as projects to build high-speed passenger trains between major cities have stalled multiple times (although there is a small spark of hope since Amtrak took over the project in April).
BOTH: FOOTBALL CULTURE
For better or worse, high school football is real and glorified in Texas, so if you’re moving here with high schoolers, start looking into homecoming mums. College football is a massive deal, too. And if you aren’t an NFL fan, you’ve at least heard of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
BOTH: GUN CULTURE
People love guns here! If that’s your thing, you have a lot of opportunities to partake. However, Texas does have the most firearm deaths of any state.
PRO: MUSIC HOTBED
I’m not sure what’s in our water, but Texas has produced some of the country’s most iconic musicians. Houston’s thriving third coast rap scene has gifted us with Megan Thee Stallion, Bun B, Paul Wall, and Travis Scott. Austin, the self-appointed live music capital of the world, was where greats like Janis Joplin and Willie Nelson found an audience. There’s simply not enough space to list the hundreds of incredible Texas acts so let me just say: Selena (Freeport) and Beyoncé (Houston). (Editor’s note: Explore the up-and-coming country artists who are building on the momentum Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” album created for musicians of color.)
PRO: EXCELLENT ALCOHOL
Many great liquor brands proudly claim Texas roots, from the Garrison Brothers whiskey distillery in Hye to the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, to William Chris Vineyards in Hye, which uses only Texas-grown grapes (yes, Texas has good wine!).
CON: WEIRD LIQUOR LAWS
In some states, you can pick up a handle of tequila at Trader Joe’s. In Texas, liquor is only available at liquor stores, which operate between the set hours of 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. and have to completely close on Sundays for…God? You also can’t buy beer and wine on Sundays before 10 a.m. (again, the God thing). At a restaurant or bar, you can buy a drink starting at 7 a.m. every day, except on Sunday, when you can only do so between 10 a.m. and noon if it’s accompanied by food. All of this assumes you’re not in one of Texas’s dry counties (those don’t sell alcohol at all), or partially dry counties, which are subject to further local restrictions.
And don’t even think about weed, because that’s still illegal here — wait, or is it?
PRO: H-E-B
There has never been a more true ad campaign than “Here, everything’s better.” Most grocery stores have the same generic offerings and sad, dry pastries. H-E-B is a font of happiness with excellent store-made tortillas, pretty darned good barbecue, and beloved regional and specialty items (buñuelos! good salsas! Whataburger sauces!). Not to mention, H-E-B often gets support to disaster areas before the government does. Kind of depressing, but that’s Texas!
(Note: I know a lot of y’all are Buc-ee’s stans, but aside from the really nice bathrooms and Beaver Nuggets, their ownership heavily supports Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Trump-approved candidates. Just saying.)
CON: BIG GOVERNMENT
In summer 2022, Abbott made all abortion illegal in Texas at the same time he pledged to “eliminate rape.” Spoiler alert: That didn’t happen, and what did happen instead were cases like that of Amanda Zurawski, who had to go into septic shock twice, almost dying and losing a Fallopian tube, before doctors would treat her life-threatening miscarriage from a very much wanted pregnancy. There are even attempts at making it illegal to drive through certain cities en route to getting an abortion. So, trying to have a child in this state is terrifying.
Honestly, though, this is just the latest in a long series of embarrassing political actions from state legislators, including Abbott pardoning a man with a history of violence and racism who shot a Black Lives Matter protester and cutting all programs associated with diversity, equity and inclusion; Attorney General Ken Paxton somehow being acquitted of 16 counts of impeachment, a culture of suppressing sexual harassment; and pretty much everything Sen. Ted Cruz has done.
Texas is not for the faint of heart, but if you’re feeling adventurous, come on down to live here — especially if you’re willing to help vote the assholes out. The people are friendly, the living is affordable, and the views are spectacular.
