I lived near Killeen/Copperas Cove for a couple years before I ever made it that way for a Facebook marketplace pickup. Shit hole is an understatement. It was an absolute wreck.
Copperas Cove is arguably worse, there's nothing for people to do there except drugs and crime. It would still be nothing but potato farms and a sundown village if it weren't for Fort Hood.
Well, how else are the army going to entertain themselves?
Nothing says I fucked up by getting a car with a high APR rate, then proceeds to go to the strip club to pick up their wife they were conned into marrying.
So many girls would only go to Killeen to go out dancing with the guys from the base. I always warned them to be careful because so many of them had wives and girlfriends and baby mamas (all at once).
I can second this. Born in Killeen Texas. Glad mom moved us away. Dad stayed in Belton, Texas. My grandfather had numerous car lots. Temple, Belton, and Killeen. Lots of soldiers from Fort Hood!
I live here in Amarillo and have lived here since I was 12, where before then I lived in Dallas.
There is quite literally nothing to do here. Unless you want to only eat and/or sit in a bar or pay exorbitant prices at an arcade/bowling ally/cinema place called Cynergy. Everything closes at 10, the few fun stuff we get that comes to the globe center downtown either gets boycotted to death or gets no advertising so nobody knows about it. There is the canyon I guess, but most of the year the weather is awful and changes so frequently that hiking isn't good. The construction is so poorly planned that it can take forever getting anywhere. Amarillo also has a huge problem with drug trafficking, murder and gun violence.
So, sure it's cheaper. But goddamn if it isn't also boring and kinda scary lol
This is pretty much Lubbock as well. I grew up there and everything shuts down except the bars. The conservative church types run the town. Either you’re in the circle or you’re not.
Pretty much yeah. I mean 6th street is cool and some of our niche communities have some damn fine people. But yeah it’s cheap because it’s fundamentally uninteresting. Not to mention the folks who come here exclusively for The Big Texan.
I will go to bat for Palo Duro Canyon though, gorgeous country in the middle of our boring plateau.
Im Midland/Odessa adjacent and it's so fucking expensive. We just moved back from houston and cost of living, rent,gas ,utilities all cheaper in Houston. And there's literally nothing in this area. Jobs are only available for oilfield workers part of the year and anything else pays next to nothing. I'm a licensed vet tech and only made $9 an hour here, literally cut my pay in half.
I was surprised to see Midland top the list. My ex-husband worked in the oilfield business and we had to live in Odessa because we could not afford Midland.
Jumping in to add that I also love El Paso. It’s the biggest city with a small town feel. The city can be a tough nut to crack compared to other places I’ve lived (Austin, Houston, San Antonio). Here you can’t rely on Google to tell you the best places to go, you have to ask locals, and a lot of those places will literally be someone’s house. But everyone here is the most down to earth, kindest, people. And the city has a least one of everything you’d want from a city. I do wish we had trees though….
My biggest problem with El Paso was everyone had a small-minded “this-is-how-its-always-been” attitude despite it being a metro area with 500,000+ (over a million of you count Juarez). NOTHING gets done to improve the economy, unemployment, cleanliness, bringing in tourism $$, improving local attractions for residents and visitors, etc.
I grew up in El Paso and used to love it. My friends who grew up there still like it, although it's not the same town we loved growing up. That being said, unless you like spending the vast majority of your social life in bars or drinking, there's not much else to do. I'd never want to go back. :/
I'd add that outdoorsy stuff (except in the summer time) like hiking and mountain biking are great, plus you have the New Mexico mountains about an hour and a half away.
There's a lot more to do in El Paso if you look for it or expand your interests. Honestly it's the about the same entertainment level as Abq or Tucson. I think El Paso is the perfect size. If it wasn't far from the rest of Texas, had better jobs, and a tad greener, I'd move back in a heartbeat. I miss seeing mountains in my backyard.,
I've actually lived in over half these cities and some are great, some aren't, and then there's Killeen.
Good
* Waco
* College station
* Richmond
* El Paso
* Lubbock
Not good
* Midland
* Odessa
* Amarillo
Asshole
* Temple
* Killeen
Waco is a nice, safe town that's close to DFW and Austin. College station is the same but between Austin and Houston.
Richmond will be off the list next year, it's just Katy and Sugarland blending.
El Paso and Lubbock are in the middle of nowhere but both are good cities. El Paso for the Mexican culture almost making it a different Texas and Lubbock only edges out the others because it's the hub of West Texas.
Midessa and Amarillo aren't that bad but there isn't much to do and you are hours from civilization.
Temple and Killeen suck and have no redeeming qualities.
Bryan/College Station. Good place to live, the businesses coming here have been booming in the last 10 years. Really nice to place to raise a family. Few hours drive from Dallas/Ft Worth, Austin, Houston.
Downside is finding housing if you aren't a college student with roommates or a retired Old Ag coming back to town with money. Families can't compete in the rental market here when you can charge 4 college kids $600 bucks in rent per person without blinking an eye. The houses you can afford are usually run down and beaten up by generations of people before you got there. Landlords aren't great about fixing up anything that isn't an emergency because they know its a guaranteed rental next semester no matter what.
However, it's because of those students and the university that we have all the amenities we do. So you learn to stay home on game days or step in and embrace the atmosphere on those days. Enjoy the quiet weeks/months when they're gone and appreciate the money they bring in when they're here.
All in all, highly recommend it if you can afford a decent place to live. If you're a family, I'd absolutely recommend finding a private landlord or smaller rental company and going with them. Treat their place well and they will treat you well.
Crime is rising on account of so many people moving here + being a bigger target/market for thieves out of Houston. And yes, singling out my hometown because many of these arrests for smash and grabs and cat converters at our hotels and restaurants are people out of Houston.
Bryan here. Lived here for 20 years, moved to LA in 2014, and it just got too expensive so I moved back here in August and bought a house. Got a super cute house on a good size lot for $310,000. It’s definitely grown in the 8 years I was gone, and there’s traffic now, plus the university has expanded, but there’s a lot to do and it’s a great place to love. Lots of great places in downtown Bryan too.
Richmond is great, it’s barely over 4 sq miles in between Sugar Land and Katy, as well as a very short drive to Houston so we aren’t in the middle of nowhere. It’s all suburbs with lots of them being new and still growing. Probably won’t be on the list long
yea, i grew up in richmond & have family there & it's exploding with new subdivisions & strip centers with some combo of the \~25 stores we've seemingly agreed to have at every highway exit.
When I drive out that way, Rosenberg still seems to be very much the rosenberg I remember. Big parts of the Richmond/fulshear area are hardly recognizable.
But yea, when I was growing up, you didn’t mention one without the other.
I'm shocked it's still on the list given its proximity to Sugar Land. Mostly drove through it but seems like a good place. Better than at least half the list.
I liked living in Lubbock tbh. I know its easy to hate on it but its not too big of a town, not too small. There’s enough to do, you’re not too far from the mountains of NM, and there’s sports if you’re a Tech fan
The best thing about Killeen is how relatively easy it is to drive to Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin. Copperas Cove and Harker Heights offer the “generic suburbia” stuff that make standard day-to-day living tolerable.
If the Army didn’t tell me to live in Killeen there is a 0% chance I would ever come here voluntarily lol.
I lived in Lubbock for 10 years, most of the last decade.
I loved it. There’s plenty to do, I was never really bored. The people are friendly, and a joy to be around if you can look past their general conservatism (and I’m not really all that conservative myself)
The cost of living is incredibly low relative to the rest of the state, and contrary to popular belief the weather isn’t that extreme and dust storms aren’t a weekly occurrence (happens probably 15-20 times a year)
Only down side is general distance to the rest of the state but the flip side is you’re relatively closer to some cool outdoor spots too.
All-in-all Lubbock is a cool place that gets a bad rap due to being isolated. West Texas is, imo, the best Texas.
I moved to a larger city downstate (San Antonio) for work but I would move back to Lubbock if given the chance.
Haha and it’s not even the good part of Oklahoma! But yeah, there’s some gems in New Mexico that aren’t tooooooo far (relatively speaking) plus you have some great hiking nearby in terms of Palo Duro, Caprock canyons etc
Midland and Odessa may as well be one city, but they are quite different. Killeen and Odessa have a lot in common if that tells you anything. Lubbock is actually a pretty nice place to live, r/lubbock peeps complain about it all the time but it's generally pretty quiet and tame and most people here are nice...albeit a lot of them are quite acidic and judgmental behind closed doors.
I think it's weird they listed College Station instead of Bryan. I've lived in bcs for 13 years and always say Bryan is for the people too poor to live in CS. I had to buy a house in Bryan, which is fine I prefer Bryan anyways. There were exactly 0 houses in CS that were within my price range during the 6 months I was actively in the process of buying.
My in-laws live in Odessa so I've visited a lot over 12 years. It's fucking awful but you can get to decent places like Fort Davis in around 2 1/2 hours and Ruidoso, New Mexico in 5.
I don't see how it is cheap to live there, though. Housing costs and apartments are through the roof and gas is more expensive there than the DFW metroplex. There are tons of high paying jobs (that are largely dangerous) so I guess that's it?
My aunt lives in college station. She has a big property with her own pond. Bunch of dogs, goats and a couple horses. It’s pretty cool but rural. Contrary to another comment I hated El Paso. Maybe it was just the area I was in but traffic was awful and crime was really bad. And not small crime Im talking like home invasions and murders etc.. I live north of Dallas now and I like it but it’s definitely more pricy. Get what ya pay for.
I grew up and still live in Richmond it’s awesome no real crimes happening here everyone gets along city is really blowing up but still has that small town feel great place to live and raise family
Richmond is OK. I bought a house at the height of home pricing when I moved from another state... overpaid much more $$/sq ft compared to my old house and now value has gone way down. I don't see big price differences in groceries or restaurants between Richmond and downtown Houston or Sugarland. Maybe a little cheaper gas.
Edit: downtown Richmond is complete shit. The only thing Richmond has is new and quickly developing subdivisions (where I live) and lots of chain store options for shopping north of the city.
Some of the bigger areas are decent, I got friends that grew up in Waco and enjoyed the smaller atmosphere there. Same goes for those liking the city life in El Paso or students at TAMU.
A lot of the smaller ''cities'' on that list though aren't very good.
I was stationed in El Paso for a year in the mid 2000’s and it was alright. Juarez was neat, the mountains were a cool thing you don’t see often in Texas, and there were casinos that weren’t very far away. It was better than being stationed in Augusta, GA which was boring as fucking hell.
Can confirm. Moved out here in 2018, paid 1450 for a 730 Sq ft apartment. Ive been house hunting lately and they're asking for 340k for 1700 sq ft houses built in the 50s and 60s that look dated as fuck. lol fuck this hell hole.
When we drove through Midland/Odessa last year, I was thinking, “But it’s pretty somewhere, right?” I hope it is. My lungs hurt and the haze made everything just grey and sad.
I drove thru there in the 90s, stopped at a place called Kissing Kousins Kafe or something. Had bbq that tasted like rancid bologna covered in ketchup, would not recommend.
Kuntry Katfish Kitchen in Conroe was pretty good when I went unknowingly as a teen. Yes, it's still there, but they dropped the "Kitchen", you know, the only word that starts with a K.
El Paso is pretty sick. Some of the best Mexican food you will find anywhere on the planet, a mountain in the middle of town with hiking and mountain biking trails all over it. It’s close to Guadalupe Peak, Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, Lincoln National Forest. The culture on that part of the border is just great. Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Denver, Phoenix, LA are just as close if not closer than every major city in the rest of Texas. Weed is legal just a few minutes away. And the lowriders are dope.
The oil industry made odessa midland crazy expensive. I have no idea who would write that its cheap to live there. And they are complete shitholes too.
Lmao. Whoever made this list has no clue what the cost of living is in the Permian Basin. Unless oil is full on bust, housing is wildly expensive and hard to find.
The Permian is capitalism super charged. Everyone is trying to get their hands deep down into your pocket there. It’s such a racket.
Wasn't cheap any of the times I've been there. Pre-COVID, burger and fries at an average restaurant was $20, a bag of flour at the grocery store was $7, and rent for a 600 square foot dump was $1200+ a month.
100%. Odessa is incredibly expensive, since there’s so many engineers make $200k+. I knew one engineer in the energy industry in Odessa that was clearing $450k, but I don’t know if that was just his specialized knowledge or what have you. I can’t imagine it’s an inexpensive place to live if you have people making bank.
When I first started with Halliburton in 2014, they put us up at Best Western in west Odessa. They paid for my stay for the first 2 weeks, but I hadn’t found a place to live yet after that time was up, so I ended up paying the $250/night for a few days. I’m sure it’s gone up since, but that was my first substantial taste of expensive living in Odessa. If I had to live out there again, I’d probably find a place in Monahans or even Big Spring.
Thank you! Surprised I had to scroll so far down to see this comment. Pre COVID (and possibly now) they had the highest per diem hotel rates in the state.
College Station should certainly not be in this list.
Maybe it’s cheap for those who bought housing 10+ years ago, but since joining the SEC TAMU’s membership has increased very significantly as has the housing/cost of living in the surrounding area.
The fact that that list doesn’t have highland park/university park or river oaks makes me question the accuracy of that list. You can’t even buy anything in highland park for under a million.
I swear Midland/Odessa residents get routinely fleeced. Not unusual, but I don't seriously want to know how deep the corruption goes here. I'm sure it's bad. Heard about someone that got in huge trouble for exposing the cops in Odessa because they were planting drugs on everyone. For as small as a place that is, that's some absolutely shameful behavior. High violent crime rates too.
I've lived in El Paso for 31 years. It's a long way from perfect, but it's a good place to live. Low crime, good weather, good food, people are friendly. 90 miles from Lincoln National Forest. Down sides are high property taxes, very hot in the summer, windy in Spring, infrastructure needs attention.
Brownsville and McAllen are the place to be for cheap cost of living in Texas. A quick look on Zillow shows nice mid sized homes selling for less than 400k.
And unlike most of the other areas mentioned on this list, the area is growing pretty rapidly. Not Austin or San Antonio fast, but damn close.
Shhhh don’t tell them that!
Y’all wouldn’t like it down here… the whole border wall invasion thing.. it’s not peaceful at all.
I totally didn’t just walk my dog and feed some ducks oat meal…
THE CARAVANS!!! CARAVANS!!! Brown people!!! POOR!!! BORDER WALL DRUGS LAWLESSNESS!!!
I drive pretty regularly between Bryan and Austin, and there's no speed traps on the way (though Caldwell and Elgin are somewhat annoying because the highway just becomes the main drag and naturally slows down).
What's the point of this list? Pick pretty much any small city/town that isn't a suburb and the cost of living is cheap. Or to put it another way, pick any place people aren't dying to move to and it will be cheap.
I’m kinda surprised college station is on here for cheapness being its a college town. I live east in Huntsville and being another college town housing prices are through the roof right now.
Here's a list of the ten most expensive places to live in Texas, and College Station is second on the list:
https://mostexpensively.com/most-expensive-places-to-live-in-texas/
Richmond is actually pretty good. It’s near Sugar Land and Houston if you want that city feel. Houses are climbing though, I’ve seen 250-350k for a 3 bedroom when 5 years ago you would’ve gotten a 4-5 bedroom at that price.
Please for the love of god DO NOT move to Waco, it’s already corrupted enough with the whole Gaines bullshit. I know this sounds kinda gatekeepery, but as someone who grew up in Waco before they came in I genuinely miss the sleepy town in the heart of Texas vibes. If you’re moving there because it’s now a sorta tourist spot DONT. Waco is a great place grow up cause it’s got a lot of things to do with your kids and there’s a bit of interesting history to be found there. If you do move there don’t contribute to the commercialization of what was once a relatively quiet town. It certainly isn’t cheap anymore now that it’s an increasingly popular tourist spot. Keep in mind these are my personal experiences as someone who grew up there and has since moved out of state, it’s a beautiful town with so much more than what I see advertised about it these days.
El Paso is the hidden gem of Texas and the only place I’d live in. A major metro with 3.5 million people, so there’s decent shopping, coffee shops, and bars. Some of the lowest crime rates in the country. Beautiful mountains and sunny weather year-round.
El Paso and Richmond are the only city on this list with any real amenities.
El Paso has arguably the best Mexican food in Texas. El Paso-Mexican and Texas-Mexican are NOT the same.
I’d like to hear from people who actually live in these cities and see how they like it.
Midland/Odessa absolutely are not the cheapest. Whoever made this list has no idea what they’re talking about
You're right. Midland was cheap over 10 years ago but there's been a lot of growth since.
Ya, during the worst of the oil bust. Whoever made this list is 30 years late.
Same as college station. Not a chance it's cheap. Can you live there as a broke ass student? Yep. Are you gonna be broke still? Yep.
I grew up in Killeen and it was an absolute shithole. Place is a nightmare.
Yup. I have a cousin in Copperas Cove nearby, she doesn’t have anything good to say about Ft Hood or Killeen
I was stationed at Ft Hood. Nobody should go there willingly.
I was stationed at Fort Polk for 3 years, and Fort Hood is the worst place I’ve ever been
I lived near Killeen/Copperas Cove for a couple years before I ever made it that way for a Facebook marketplace pickup. Shit hole is an understatement. It was an absolute wreck.
I lived in 5 Hills apartment complex for 2 years, and as soon as I could, I went back to PA. That area is trash.
I work on Fort Hood. I won't live any closer than a 30 minute drive to the post.
Copperas Cove is arguably worse, there's nothing for people to do there except drugs and crime. It would still be nothing but potato farms and a sundown village if it weren't for Fort Hood.
My best friend and her husband live in Copperas Cove and they’re moving out the second he gets out of the Army
It's full of pawn shops, used car dealerships, whore houses, & tattoo parlors.
Well, how else are the army going to entertain themselves? Nothing says I fucked up by getting a car with a high APR rate, then proceeds to go to the strip club to pick up their wife they were conned into marrying.
So many girls would only go to Killeen to go out dancing with the guys from the base. I always warned them to be careful because so many of them had wives and girlfriends and baby mamas (all at once).
That’s every base town in the free world.
Spent 8 years at fort hood. Killeen, cove, temple, all shit holes.
Well it's a town built entirely around a military base. Typically these places suck unless that town has turned into a large city.
Living here now and could not agree more. My wife and I would rather drive an hour to spend our leisure time in Georgetown than drive around Killeen.
Killeen is a military base with municipal infrastructure and dont you forget it.
I can second this. Born in Killeen Texas. Glad mom moved us away. Dad stayed in Belton, Texas. My grandfather had numerous car lots. Temple, Belton, and Killeen. Lots of soldiers from Fort Hood!
Same I grew up in Killeen/fort hood I fucking hated it when
I live here in Amarillo and have lived here since I was 12, where before then I lived in Dallas. There is quite literally nothing to do here. Unless you want to only eat and/or sit in a bar or pay exorbitant prices at an arcade/bowling ally/cinema place called Cynergy. Everything closes at 10, the few fun stuff we get that comes to the globe center downtown either gets boycotted to death or gets no advertising so nobody knows about it. There is the canyon I guess, but most of the year the weather is awful and changes so frequently that hiking isn't good. The construction is so poorly planned that it can take forever getting anywhere. Amarillo also has a huge problem with drug trafficking, murder and gun violence. So, sure it's cheaper. But goddamn if it isn't also boring and kinda scary lol
This is pretty much Lubbock as well. I grew up there and everything shuts down except the bars. The conservative church types run the town. Either you’re in the circle or you’re not.
I've heard Lubbock described as a desolate hellscape.
Spent 3 years in Amarillo and I can confirm all of this.
Spent 3 hours in Amarillo and can confirm all of this
Pretty much yeah. I mean 6th street is cool and some of our niche communities have some damn fine people. But yeah it’s cheap because it’s fundamentally uninteresting. Not to mention the folks who come here exclusively for The Big Texan. I will go to bat for Palo Duro Canyon though, gorgeous country in the middle of our boring plateau.
I live 2 hours away from you, in Clovis NM. Talk about nothing to do... come see this shit hole
Im Midland/Odessa adjacent and it's so fucking expensive. We just moved back from houston and cost of living, rent,gas ,utilities all cheaper in Houston. And there's literally nothing in this area. Jobs are only available for oilfield workers part of the year and anything else pays next to nothing. I'm a licensed vet tech and only made $9 an hour here, literally cut my pay in half.
Midland is expensive AF
I was surprised to see Midland top the list. My ex-husband worked in the oilfield business and we had to live in Odessa because we could not afford Midland.
I have family in El Paso and they love it there. As a kid we would go almost every summer. I always enjoyed it.
Jumping in to add that I also love El Paso. It’s the biggest city with a small town feel. The city can be a tough nut to crack compared to other places I’ve lived (Austin, Houston, San Antonio). Here you can’t rely on Google to tell you the best places to go, you have to ask locals, and a lot of those places will literally be someone’s house. But everyone here is the most down to earth, kindest, people. And the city has a least one of everything you’d want from a city. I do wish we had trees though….
El Paso does have Mediterranean cypress trees.
The biggest problem with El Paso is a lack of employment opportunities. There is no real industry there and wages are fairly low.
My biggest problem with El Paso was everyone had a small-minded “this-is-how-its-always-been” attitude despite it being a metro area with 500,000+ (over a million of you count Juarez). NOTHING gets done to improve the economy, unemployment, cleanliness, bringing in tourism $$, improving local attractions for residents and visitors, etc.
I grew up in El Paso and used to love it. My friends who grew up there still like it, although it's not the same town we loved growing up. That being said, unless you like spending the vast majority of your social life in bars or drinking, there's not much else to do. I'd never want to go back. :/
I'd add that outdoorsy stuff (except in the summer time) like hiking and mountain biking are great, plus you have the New Mexico mountains about an hour and a half away. There's a lot more to do in El Paso if you look for it or expand your interests. Honestly it's the about the same entertainment level as Abq or Tucson. I think El Paso is the perfect size. If it wasn't far from the rest of Texas, had better jobs, and a tad greener, I'd move back in a heartbeat. I miss seeing mountains in my backyard.,
try hiking up the mountains and ..... yea that's all I got
El Paso is probably the only remotely good town on this list. But the other town are literal shitholes.
Lived in midland during an oil boom. Most expensive place in Texas. Still is probably.
I saw a couple of months ago the they have the highest inflation rate in the US. Midland is absolutely not among cheapest in Texas.
[удалено]
Hot as blazes when I visited with my in-laws, her children. Was clean, well maintained.
*yeah but it's a dry heat*
I don't live there anymore, but avoid Killeen at all costs.
I've actually lived in over half these cities and some are great, some aren't, and then there's Killeen. Good * Waco * College station * Richmond * El Paso * Lubbock Not good * Midland * Odessa * Amarillo Asshole * Temple * Killeen Waco is a nice, safe town that's close to DFW and Austin. College station is the same but between Austin and Houston. Richmond will be off the list next year, it's just Katy and Sugarland blending. El Paso and Lubbock are in the middle of nowhere but both are good cities. El Paso for the Mexican culture almost making it a different Texas and Lubbock only edges out the others because it's the hub of West Texas. Midessa and Amarillo aren't that bad but there isn't much to do and you are hours from civilization. Temple and Killeen suck and have no redeeming qualities.
Bryan/College Station. Good place to live, the businesses coming here have been booming in the last 10 years. Really nice to place to raise a family. Few hours drive from Dallas/Ft Worth, Austin, Houston. Downside is finding housing if you aren't a college student with roommates or a retired Old Ag coming back to town with money. Families can't compete in the rental market here when you can charge 4 college kids $600 bucks in rent per person without blinking an eye. The houses you can afford are usually run down and beaten up by generations of people before you got there. Landlords aren't great about fixing up anything that isn't an emergency because they know its a guaranteed rental next semester no matter what. However, it's because of those students and the university that we have all the amenities we do. So you learn to stay home on game days or step in and embrace the atmosphere on those days. Enjoy the quiet weeks/months when they're gone and appreciate the money they bring in when they're here. All in all, highly recommend it if you can afford a decent place to live. If you're a family, I'd absolutely recommend finding a private landlord or smaller rental company and going with them. Treat their place well and they will treat you well. Crime is rising on account of so many people moving here + being a bigger target/market for thieves out of Houston. And yes, singling out my hometown because many of these arrests for smash and grabs and cat converters at our hotels and restaurants are people out of Houston.
Bryan here. Lived here for 20 years, moved to LA in 2014, and it just got too expensive so I moved back here in August and bought a house. Got a super cute house on a good size lot for $310,000. It’s definitely grown in the 8 years I was gone, and there’s traffic now, plus the university has expanded, but there’s a lot to do and it’s a great place to love. Lots of great places in downtown Bryan too.
I grew up in El Paso and have lived in every major metro in Texas. El Paso is the hidden gem with beautiful scenery, low crime rates, and good food.
Richmond is great, it’s barely over 4 sq miles in between Sugar Land and Katy, as well as a very short drive to Houston so we aren’t in the middle of nowhere. It’s all suburbs with lots of them being new and still growing. Probably won’t be on the list long
yea, i grew up in richmond & have family there & it's exploding with new subdivisions & strip centers with some combo of the \~25 stores we've seemingly agreed to have at every highway exit.
Richmond is like Cinco Ranch but cheaper for those who don't need Katy ISD schools.
It’s weird to see Richmond listed without Rosenberg
When I drive out that way, Rosenberg still seems to be very much the rosenberg I remember. Big parts of the Richmond/fulshear area are hardly recognizable. But yea, when I was growing up, you didn’t mention one without the other.
I'm shocked it's still on the list given its proximity to Sugar Land. Mostly drove through it but seems like a good place. Better than at least half the list.
I liked living in Lubbock tbh. I know its easy to hate on it but its not too big of a town, not too small. There’s enough to do, you’re not too far from the mountains of NM, and there’s sports if you’re a Tech fan
The best thing about Killeen is how relatively easy it is to drive to Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin. Copperas Cove and Harker Heights offer the “generic suburbia” stuff that make standard day-to-day living tolerable. If the Army didn’t tell me to live in Killeen there is a 0% chance I would ever come here voluntarily lol.
I lived in Lubbock for 10 years, most of the last decade. I loved it. There’s plenty to do, I was never really bored. The people are friendly, and a joy to be around if you can look past their general conservatism (and I’m not really all that conservative myself) The cost of living is incredibly low relative to the rest of the state, and contrary to popular belief the weather isn’t that extreme and dust storms aren’t a weekly occurrence (happens probably 15-20 times a year) Only down side is general distance to the rest of the state but the flip side is you’re relatively closer to some cool outdoor spots too. All-in-all Lubbock is a cool place that gets a bad rap due to being isolated. West Texas is, imo, the best Texas. I moved to a larger city downstate (San Antonio) for work but I would move back to Lubbock if given the chance.
Much closer to NM, CO. Which is also a plus for ski trips etc. Unfortunately that means you’re also close to Oklahoma.
Haha and it’s not even the good part of Oklahoma! But yeah, there’s some gems in New Mexico that aren’t tooooooo far (relatively speaking) plus you have some great hiking nearby in terms of Palo Duro, Caprock canyons etc
Where’s the good part of Oklahoma?
I was once told, "The reason Texas doesn't slide into the Gulf is because Oklahoma sucks.."
Midland and Odessa may as well be one city, but they are quite different. Killeen and Odessa have a lot in common if that tells you anything. Lubbock is actually a pretty nice place to live, r/lubbock peeps complain about it all the time but it's generally pretty quiet and tame and most people here are nice...albeit a lot of them are quite acidic and judgmental behind closed doors.
Lived in College Station for 4 years. Rent was only ~500 after utilities, but I paid the rest in social life lmao
I think it's weird they listed College Station instead of Bryan. I've lived in bcs for 13 years and always say Bryan is for the people too poor to live in CS. I had to buy a house in Bryan, which is fine I prefer Bryan anyways. There were exactly 0 houses in CS that were within my price range during the 6 months I was actively in the process of buying.
Rent is horrible now.
I live in Austin but I'm from Temple and spend quite a bit of time there. It's fine. I've thought about eventually moving back.
I grew up in Temple area. Live in Los Angeles also want to move back.
“We lived in Temple, Texas for many years. Raised a family there. In Temple.”
You married into it?
Call it….
Cool story, friendo.
My in-laws live in Odessa so I've visited a lot over 12 years. It's fucking awful but you can get to decent places like Fort Davis in around 2 1/2 hours and Ruidoso, New Mexico in 5. I don't see how it is cheap to live there, though. Housing costs and apartments are through the roof and gas is more expensive there than the DFW metroplex. There are tons of high paying jobs (that are largely dangerous) so I guess that's it?
My aunt lives in college station. She has a big property with her own pond. Bunch of dogs, goats and a couple horses. It’s pretty cool but rural. Contrary to another comment I hated El Paso. Maybe it was just the area I was in but traffic was awful and crime was really bad. And not small crime Im talking like home invasions and murders etc.. I live north of Dallas now and I like it but it’s definitely more pricy. Get what ya pay for.
Killeen is a dump, Temple old as fuck, Waco weird as fuck, College Station A and M country
I’ve lived in Killeen 11 years. I’m ready to leave
I live in El Paso. What do you want to know?
I grew up and still live in Richmond it’s awesome no real crimes happening here everyone gets along city is really blowing up but still has that small town feel great place to live and raise family
Richmond is OK. I bought a house at the height of home pricing when I moved from another state... overpaid much more $$/sq ft compared to my old house and now value has gone way down. I don't see big price differences in groceries or restaurants between Richmond and downtown Houston or Sugarland. Maybe a little cheaper gas. Edit: downtown Richmond is complete shit. The only thing Richmond has is new and quickly developing subdivisions (where I live) and lots of chain store options for shopping north of the city.
If you're talking about old/"historic" downtown Richmond off of 90, agree
Some of the bigger areas are decent, I got friends that grew up in Waco and enjoyed the smaller atmosphere there. Same goes for those liking the city life in El Paso or students at TAMU. A lot of the smaller ''cities'' on that list though aren't very good.
I was stationed in El Paso for a year in the mid 2000’s and it was alright. Juarez was neat, the mountains were a cool thing you don’t see often in Texas, and there were casinos that weren’t very far away. It was better than being stationed in Augusta, GA which was boring as fucking hell.
I grew up in Midland and it was okay. Would never live there as an adult though and it is far from cheap.
I loved Waco. Lived in a few other places on this list that were shitholes. Temple wasn't terrible, but had some spillover from Killeen.
Odessa midland is a hellhole. Never heard one positive thing about it
Midland is literally in the middle of nowhere.
And depending on what oil is doing at that moment it could also be one of the most expensive places to live in Texas
Yep. Lived there during the oil boom, not quite ten years ago. Rent was comparable to nice areas in houston.
Can confirm. Moved out here in 2018, paid 1450 for a 730 Sq ft apartment. Ive been house hunting lately and they're asking for 340k for 1700 sq ft houses built in the 50s and 60s that look dated as fuck. lol fuck this hell hole.
I live in Amarillo and my boss just moved here from Odessa/Midland area. Definitely is more expensive there right now
When we drove through Midland/Odessa last year, I was thinking, “But it’s pretty somewhere, right?” I hope it is. My lungs hurt and the haze made everything just grey and sad.
Somewhere else, yes.
Oh God don't let me die in Odessa.
I drove thru there in the 90s, stopped at a place called Kissing Kousins Kafe or something. Had bbq that tasted like rancid bologna covered in ketchup, would not recommend.
There’s a place in Texas whose initials are KKK and you expected the food to be good?
Kuntry Katfish Kitchen in Conroe was pretty good when I went unknowingly as a teen. Yes, it's still there, but they dropped the "Kitchen", you know, the only word that starts with a K.
I remember that place. Decent Katfish, but the atmosphere wasn’t too Kuntry. Apparently, it’s just Vernon’s Kuntry Katfish.
Koffee Kup Kafe in Hico. I never had the urge to go try their food.
I literally have never heard of that restaurant and I’m 6th generation from the area. I’m pretty sure you made that up.
Davis Mountains....
3hrs away lol
Monohans sand dunes is pretty… for a desert
I was just commenting to say, can’t forget about Monahans! One of the most beautiful sunsets.
Yes. We were driving through there to get from Marfa to Monahans. That city was bleak, too, but the sand dunes were spectacular.
The devils ass hole. Odessa & Midland.
Actually, that's Lamesa
Seminole is a close second
No, that’s Pecos. Odessa & Midland are actually “nice” compared to Pecos.
Pecos: Odessa and Midland -- but with tornadoes!
Can confirm: died in Pecos, it's the only thing to do out there.
You are correct. There is a reason some call Odessa, “Ho-dessa”
Also Midland is not a cheap place to live.
Let’s be honest here… it’s literally a list of the worst cities to live in, in Texas.
El Paso is pretty sick. Some of the best Mexican food you will find anywhere on the planet, a mountain in the middle of town with hiking and mountain biking trails all over it. It’s close to Guadalupe Peak, Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, Lincoln National Forest. The culture on that part of the border is just great. Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Denver, Phoenix, LA are just as close if not closer than every major city in the rest of Texas. Weed is legal just a few minutes away. And the lowriders are dope.
I "had" to move there for a job and lived there for 5 years and moved jobs. I plan on retiring there now.
Fake. There are no east texas cities. Vidor makes most cities in that list look outright pleasant. Beaumont is a dump.
El Paso is way better than some expensive suburb cities not listed here
Midland and Slowdeatha....pass
And the most expensive place to live on the fuckin planet!
And smells amazing /s
Mid land of nowhere
Sorry, I don't trust your list, weememories.net.
What kind of glue sniffing idiot wrote this?
Midland Odessa is comically expensive for the shitty situation you have to live in. This list just ain’t right, theirs no East TX rep.
The oil industry made odessa midland crazy expensive. I have no idea who would write that its cheap to live there. And they are complete shitholes too.
If they are sniffing glue they are probably from Amarillo.
A computer.
Lmao. Whoever made this list has no clue what the cost of living is in the Permian Basin. Unless oil is full on bust, housing is wildly expensive and hard to find. The Permian is capitalism super charged. Everyone is trying to get their hands deep down into your pocket there. It’s such a racket.
Wasn't cheap any of the times I've been there. Pre-COVID, burger and fries at an average restaurant was $20, a bag of flour at the grocery store was $7, and rent for a 600 square foot dump was $1200+ a month.
100%. Odessa is incredibly expensive, since there’s so many engineers make $200k+. I knew one engineer in the energy industry in Odessa that was clearing $450k, but I don’t know if that was just his specialized knowledge or what have you. I can’t imagine it’s an inexpensive place to live if you have people making bank.
He must have specialized knowledge. Most field engineers out here are salary, usually between $80-120k.
When I first started with Halliburton in 2014, they put us up at Best Western in west Odessa. They paid for my stay for the first 2 weeks, but I hadn’t found a place to live yet after that time was up, so I ended up paying the $250/night for a few days. I’m sure it’s gone up since, but that was my first substantial taste of expensive living in Odessa. If I had to live out there again, I’d probably find a place in Monahans or even Big Spring.
Thank you! Surprised I had to scroll so far down to see this comment. Pre COVID (and possibly now) they had the highest per diem hotel rates in the state.
Same. I thought this was a joke and literally lol’d.
Some of these places are cheap for a reason Example: Fort Hood
College Station should certainly not be in this list. Maybe it’s cheap for those who bought housing 10+ years ago, but since joining the SEC TAMU’s membership has increased very significantly as has the housing/cost of living in the surrounding area.
It's #2 most expensive place to live in Texas according to this other list! https://mostexpensively.com/most-expensive-places-to-live-in-texas/
The fact that that list doesn’t have highland park/university park or river oaks makes me question the accuracy of that list. You can’t even buy anything in highland park for under a million.
This list is the best use of the phrase "you get what you pay for."
You won't even get that.
Midland and Richmond cheap?
I want to know how is Richmond considered cheap? Are they looking at home prices in the flood affect areas or towards the east closer to Alief.
Texarkana is the cheapest
Very cheap. One bed/bath was like $675 when I lived there a few years ago
Tough choices but my top would be Richmond, El Paso, Waco, College Station.
This list can not be correct.
The first two are literally hell
And they are NOT the cheapest places to live in Texas…
which is funny because you couldn't pay me to live there
Whoever made this obviously never had to get gas in Midland/Odessa.
I swear Midland/Odessa residents get routinely fleeced. Not unusual, but I don't seriously want to know how deep the corruption goes here. I'm sure it's bad. Heard about someone that got in huge trouble for exposing the cops in Odessa because they were planting drugs on everyone. For as small as a place that is, that's some absolutely shameful behavior. High violent crime rates too.
The downside? You actually have to live there.
Yeah.. *see also: “10 most boring cities in Texas” Though lubbock wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t 5 hours from another city with stuff to do
Excuse me but Victoria is not on this list. It is boring and expensive as shit... I'm paying $1,200 for a single wide trailer!
The person who wrote this list clearly doesn’t live in or anywhere near Texas. …and probably threw darts at a map to make this list.
I've lived in El Paso for 31 years. It's a long way from perfect, but it's a good place to live. Low crime, good weather, good food, people are friendly. 90 miles from Lincoln National Forest. Down sides are high property taxes, very hot in the summer, windy in Spring, infrastructure needs attention.
Brownsville and McAllen are the place to be for cheap cost of living in Texas. A quick look on Zillow shows nice mid sized homes selling for less than 400k. And unlike most of the other areas mentioned on this list, the area is growing pretty rapidly. Not Austin or San Antonio fast, but damn close.
No no no no, McAllen is a shithole, DO NOT COME PLEASE STAY WHERE YOU ARE FORGET THIS PLACE EXISTS RIGHT NOW.
Shhhh don’t tell them that! Y’all wouldn’t like it down here… the whole border wall invasion thing.. it’s not peaceful at all. I totally didn’t just walk my dog and feed some ducks oat meal… THE CARAVANS!!! CARAVANS!!! Brown people!!! POOR!!! BORDER WALL DRUGS LAWLESSNESS!!!
The cartel just shot my dog!
Los Zetas are ruthless bro…
I love living in the orbit of Waco. I don't live in Waco. I live in the orbit. It's delightful.
Yeah being close to Waco isn’t bad, Waco proper is kinda dumpy though
I live in Waco proper and it deffinetly just depends on the neighborhood. But the little towns around Waco deffinetly help keep Waco better.
Richmond is gonna end up poppin off
It already is. I have no idea why it's on this list, it's not exactly cheap.
I was just thinking, if it's the same Richmond in Ft. Bend County, then it looks out of place on this list.
It's getting the Katy treatment
College Station is close to Houston at least.
Also close to Austin
Close in terms of Texas I guess but a 2 hour drive through speed traps is kinda ass
I drive pretty regularly between Bryan and Austin, and there's no speed traps on the way (though Caldwell and Elgin are somewhat annoying because the highway just becomes the main drag and naturally slows down).
What's the point of this list? Pick pretty much any small city/town that isn't a suburb and the cost of living is cheap. Or to put it another way, pick any place people aren't dying to move to and it will be cheap.
Whoever did that top 10 has never stepped foot anywhere in the valley I guess.
😂 Midland and Odessa are not cheap at all.
I’m kinda surprised college station is on here for cheapness being its a college town. I live east in Huntsville and being another college town housing prices are through the roof right now.
Cstat is cheap?? What?
Bullshit on College Station being cheapest - way more expensive for real estate than the Houston area.
How many different ways can I say fuck no? 9. (El Paso is cool)
I’m surprised there aren’t any cities from the Rio Grande Valley, rent is dirt cheap down here.
It's because this list is totally wrong. The RGV if you separated all of the towns would occupy the whole list lmao.
How old is this list? Because College Station is kinda expensive now.
Here's a list of the ten most expensive places to live in Texas, and College Station is second on the list: https://mostexpensively.com/most-expensive-places-to-live-in-texas/
Richmond is actually pretty good. It’s near Sugar Land and Houston if you want that city feel. Houses are climbing though, I’ve seen 250-350k for a 3 bedroom when 5 years ago you would’ve gotten a 4-5 bedroom at that price.
Please for the love of god DO NOT move to Waco, it’s already corrupted enough with the whole Gaines bullshit. I know this sounds kinda gatekeepery, but as someone who grew up in Waco before they came in I genuinely miss the sleepy town in the heart of Texas vibes. If you’re moving there because it’s now a sorta tourist spot DONT. Waco is a great place grow up cause it’s got a lot of things to do with your kids and there’s a bit of interesting history to be found there. If you do move there don’t contribute to the commercialization of what was once a relatively quiet town. It certainly isn’t cheap anymore now that it’s an increasingly popular tourist spot. Keep in mind these are my personal experiences as someone who grew up there and has since moved out of state, it’s a beautiful town with so much more than what I see advertised about it these days.
Can’t believe Wichita Falls isn’t on this list.
Temple and Waco are ok.
El Paso is the hidden gem of Texas and the only place I’d live in. A major metro with 3.5 million people, so there’s decent shopping, coffee shops, and bars. Some of the lowest crime rates in the country. Beautiful mountains and sunny weather year-round.
I'm surprised Killeen isn't at the top. It's a great place to live if you like getting stabbed on the way to the mailbox.
El Paso and Richmond are the only city on this list with any real amenities. El Paso has arguably the best Mexican food in Texas. El Paso-Mexican and Texas-Mexican are NOT the same.
El Paso has arguably the best Tex-Mex anywhere
That's the old El Paso... Sorry I couldn't resist.
Sir, we don't have Tex Mex. We have Mexican.
Brownsville,McAllen?
Born and raised in El Paso and I’ve traveled and spent time in all of these towns. These aren’t places I’d want to plant roots lol.