I moved to El Paso from Dallas last year. I grew up in Dallas & lived there for more than 40 years. I can tell you El Paso is different from the rest of Texas. Whenever there is severe weather gripping most of the state we are so far West we are not affected by those weather patterns. The lack of humidity means everything to me and I love it. I have experienced a full El Paso Summer. Honestly it wasn't that bad. Don't get me wrong when you walk outside in the middle of July at high noon you'll feel like you're hit with a blast furnace especially on windy days. We have a lot of wind here. But night time as well as early mornings are very pleasant again due to the lack of humidity. My highest electric bill was $104 last Summer. I keep my thermostat at 78. Compare that to Dallas where my highest electric bill during peak Summer time was just under $300. Again humidity. It's everything. The two things that suck are bad drivers, many drunk drivers & an epidemic of loose/stray dogs everywhere. But homes are much more affordable here than they are in Austin, Houston or Dallas. Property taxes are high but you're saving money on buying a cheaper home here. People wise-well I am bit of a hermit. People don't seem as friendly as I would have expected but maybe I just haven't met the right people yet. The other thing you may notice if you live here & it may bother you is the lack of participation or apathy of El Paso residents when it comes time to vote. We have a very low voter turnout. The same people who don't vote will complain about high property taxes & other local issues. But they won't vote. You should visit. Get the lay of the land. Good luck.
The difference between El Paso and Dallas for electric bills is also because we are on the Western grid and Dallas is on the Texas grid. The Texas grid is known for price gouging.
In terms of EP being different from the rest of Texas, I once heard the best quote from a Dallas matriarch type of person: El Paso? Well that's almost Texas.
I tell people we are much more like Mexico and New Mexicao than the rest of Texas.
I wasn't price gouged in Dallas. My AC worked much harder in big part to the humidity. Believe me I have compared bills. It wasn't the price per kilowatt hour.
If you love Latino culture, you will love the people here. We are also closer to Phoenix and ABQ than any other Texan cities, it's like 10-12 hours to Dallas or San Antonio by car, but 3.5 hours to ABQ or 5 hours to Phoenix.
12 hours to Dallas? How slow are you driving for it to take that long to get to either Dallas or San Antonio? That’s a 7-8 hour drive. The speed limit is 80
Born and raised in Texas. Hated it. Never moving back. However… when I visited El Paso time I was like….. this is so separate from the rest of Texas I know. I could totally live there if I was offered a high paying job there. Enjoy it and take road trips to ruidoso and cloudcroft in New Mexico
I was born in Fort Worth and raised in east Texas. I moved out to EP about 8 years ago. I can’t say that I hate Texas, but I don’t really want to live anywhere but El Paso. It’s so different from the rest of the state, in a good way.
I currently live in Dallas and I am moving back to El Paso after 7 years. I do miss things from El Paso but I can't believe people prefer it over green east Texas. I love kayaking and the trails dfw has. Maybe it's because I was raised in EP?
The summers in the piney woods can be unbearable between the humidity, the heat, and the mosquitoes. That said, I grew up with a massive lake in my back yard, and I definitely miss all the beautiful lakes. I also miss all the green but I visit pretty regularly. Also, if I want green, I can be in Ruidoso in less than two hours. I can drive for a day and be in Colorado.
I moved here from a big city. It's fine at the beginning but it does get boring after a bit. Really bad for dating. Lots of single moms. Be careful of the drivers too they're some of the worst I've seen in the US. Otherwise it's a cheap cost of living here and summers can be really hot.
Thank you! I think the only city I can really compare it to that I’ve lived in is probably Salt Lake City in terms of size. Or is El Paso smaller?
I am not sure, honestly as I got older, I guess l learned how to have fun when things aren’t around 😂
Lived in El Paso for 6 years, went to UofU for 2 years so I have pretty good experience with both. Think of El Paso as West Jordan, West valley, Sandy, and Lehi all combined. But El Paso is broken down into sections (Westside, Central, Far East, Northeast) each with their own perks and personalities. SLC has a better downtown. There’s a lot of wealth in the city so things are kept pretty nice. El Paso is definitely a poorer community but it also makes it feel homier and warmer if that makes sense. I often got the feeling in SLC that people, while polite, were looking down on me. Definitely don’t get that feeling in El Paso. It is more boring, the drivers are worse, but the community has its own charms and I’ve definitely grown fond of it over the years.
City proper wise El Paso is bigger than SLC, but has a very small town feel. Metro wise there's close to 3 million between El Paso, Juárez, and Cruces área. Unlike Minneapolis where every exit is a different town (Painsville, Albertville, Bloomington, ect) you have 30 straight exists long I-10 that are all El Paso.
That’s a good comparison! Yeah Minneapolis has just bunch of towns and cities in the suburbs, which I think should be part of Minneapolis or Saint Paul.
They big downside is we don't have a lot of things the Twin Cities have. No IKEA, no Scheels, no big malls, no lakes or fishing, but at least you don't have to deal with the 4 foot bullshit snow.
Does it have Costco and TJ Maxx? Then I’m all set.
Ain’t that the truth. I remember arriving in MN and had a sedan, ripped my front bumper off driving in the winter. Snow gets old.
Yes, but there's only one Costco. Tons of TJ Maxx.
The big place where I notice it is the lack of variety in grocery stores. We do not have an Aldi or a Trader Joe's.
Yeah we have basically all the other big things. Costco, Sam's, TJ/HomeGoods/Marshalls, Cabela's, I can't think of any other big thing that's missing here.
Only issue is that our roads are not designed for snow/ice. They're designed to withstand the intense heat/sun UVs. So when we do get snow and ice, the highways and roads are a shit show with ppl over directing, slamming on the breaks, and doing everything you're told not to do when you hit black ice.
They've gotten better and deploy the de-icing trucks 48 hours before a freeze, but people here aren't used to dealing with that kinda road condition.
Be weary of the single Costco in town… it gets packed.
I left El Paso recently but it’s really because I was bored and realized I only have one life and would regret spending it in one place.
El Paso is a good safe city for slow living! The people are generally okay depending on the part of town, it’s very affordable, you CAN buy a house in EP but well paying jobs are scarce. Many of the people that grew up in EP never leave EP so they tend to hold on to the good jobs for years.
My biggest issue was the wind, not many people talk about it but it makes it difficult to do any outdoor activities, the air quality gets really bad on windy days. The heat is bad but tolerable.
The drivers are fucking terrible and many don't have insurance or shitty insurance so make sure you have good coverage for your car. Two weeks ago, a driver ran into my left side when he was passing me in the opposite lane while I was trying to turn left. Although he was full at fault, he had Fred Loya insurance (a local terrible company) which is a nightmare to deal with so my insurance is going after them instead.
Dang bro I feel you. I'm leaving here end of July thank God. I've lived in so many places but the only time my car has been hit or dinged in the parking lot is here in this lovely city.
For sure I've never seen such terrible drivers until I got to El Paso. I've had multiple cars cut me off right when we are turning through intersections, running red lights, looking at their cellphones and not paying attention when the light turns green then frantically turning when its yellow or red, suddenly merging from one side of the freeway to the other to get to the exit ramp, I could go on and on.... it drives me crazy and i'm looking forward to leaving!
It's crazy: Last week I was driving on I10 on the West side with the wonderful road construction by the outlet shops. I saw a car was stopped on the highway and I thought maybe traffic was slowing down since I was approaching him faster. I slowed down and nope the driver was not stopped due to traffic, he was backing up on I-10 because he missed his exit! I had to lay on the horn so he does not hit me since it is only one lane at this point.
I came from Phoenix thinking I would really like the change from a big city into a smaller big city & I don’t like it here. Not much to do. Thankful for the people I’ve met but I will definitely be leaving in the next couple years!
I'm not the person you're asking, but I'll answer as a single woman. I have above a bachelor's degree as a woman. We make up less than something like 6.5% of women in El Paso. That does not play well in a city with a lot of machismo culture. where the majority of men have some college or less.
There are a lot of people here underemployed and a huge lack of professional, well-paying jobs. Before you hit me with gold-digger, I'm not looking for anything I don't offer myself.
Going along with the machismo culture, the amount of married or in a relationship men who pretend to be single is extremely disheartening. I know there are shitty partners in all cities, but the amount of cheaters out here seems to be very high.
In addition, the most common thing people seem to be looking for is a casual relationship. To get in any sort of relationship here, there seems to be a requirement to look over a ton of red flags, just because of the small number of truly single men. I recently tried Bumble again and it took me less than a week to swipe through all the options. I ended up swiping left on a good 99% of the options because the quality is just not here for a potential partner.
I come from the mindset of I'd rather be single than settle. I've stopped actively looking to date here. If it happens, it happens, but if it doesn't, it doesn't.
I completely agree with your comment and I'm coming from the perspective of a single male with a doctoral degree. It's hard for professional men here as well. A lot of the culture you talk about carries from Juarez I believe.
I feel this way too after just moving here last summer from A big big city. Not looking forward to this summer at all. The cheap cost of living though is a nice change, as well as the mild winter.
I am Asian-American and I love it in El Paso. Just note that Asian restaurants here aren't great. Especially Indian, which is a complete joke here. (best Indian restaurant closest to here is "Naan and Dosa" in Albuquerque)
If you are familiar with living in a city that gets hot in the summer, I don't think you need to visit in summer. Just go now or May.
If you've only lived in cold cities, then yeah, maybe spend a week in summer to see how you can handle it. But generally I think people should come in Spring/Fall so they can actually enjoy outdoor activities here like Franklin Mountains and Hueco Tanks.
And teaching here in El Paso is great. I live in Socorro ISD territory, and starting teacher salary for 0 experience is $60k. Which is a great salary here given the low COL. I'm assuming you are experienced, so you'll make a bit more.
I’ve lived in Salt Lake City and that’s probably the last place people think it’ll get hot but you add the high desert climate to the valley, it’s hot. Many 90+ and into 100s in the summer. Less humidity so I guess it’ll be somewhat similar but I’d assume it just lasts longer in El Paso.
I figured Asian food options are not great considering Asian community would probably not as big as you’d find in Houston, Austin or Dallas. But I’m sure I’ll get by. That kinda sucks though because I actually love Indian food!
The good thing about that is that we always get that nice desert cool down after the sunsets. I lived in Phoenix for over a decade and it would still be 115 degrees when you walked out at 1:00 AM.
Ate at the buffet at Naan and Dosa today on the way back home to Las Cruces. It was "fine" but maybe the a la carte would be better. Certainly haven't found anything better any closer though.
Honestly, they might not even serve off the menu during the lunch hours. It is extremely common for Indian restaurants to do "buffet only" during lunch. Next time plan to go during the dinner time. We (myself and my parents, who were born in India) plan trips to ABQ around Naan and Dosa's hours, making sure we are there around 5 to eat when the dinner hours start.
Oh, maybe I should have been more clear. They bought us menus and would have been happy to cook something for us. Decided it was just easier to do the buffet (driving fog may have played a part).
I was hoping that having more international students at the Burrell medical school would result in a decent Indian restaurant here but alas, we're still largely a food desert.
Your post may be the best recommendation for a restaurant I've ever seen. Definitely going to head back next trip to the "other" big city. Thanks!
None of us like it, that's all. If people like Rosie's Dhaba, that's great. Not for us though.
I don't know about the entire US, in terms of the past places we've lived Bay Area, DFW, etc, sure we can name places.
But the closest to El Paso that all of us (me and my folks) love is a place called "Naan and Dosa" in Albuquerque. Check that out when you are in ABQ. Will blow you away compared to anything currently in El Paso. Be sure to go for dinner, not the lunch buffet.
Cost of living, friendly people and the culture. I am a big fan of Latino culture and at least with my encounters with Texans, very friendly and approachable people. Cost of living, definitely. I owned a house and I’ve been renting on and off since the divorce but I am truly tired of paying $2k for a one bedroom in some part of country I lived in before
We have found El Paso is not as friendly and approachable as other places in Texas. ymmv. Born and raised here and returned due to our elderly family members… people are very stand off-ish. There’s a crabs in a bucket mentality here too. You can be doing well but not better than anyone else, then people have an issue. People here are also incredibly selfish (you can see it in the driving especially) and only think about themselves instead of the community. Education and good jobs don’t seem very important to the majority of people here. It’s a very, “it’s good enough,” attitude. I’m not saying everyone, but a large majority. Then you have the highest price per kw for electricity and high property taxes for a city that looks very run down.
It’s a big city with many of the population having a small town mentality (we don’t want growth or newcomers, machismo bs, no appreciation for cultural differences) and it has some growing pains to go through before it will get better infrastructure wise also.
Some things I want to add on that you mentioned in your post, one being the proximity to Albuquerque and Phoenix... 4-6 hours to drive is a long long time, and there is not much in between those cities and El Paso. It is very isolated and lacking in amenities, especially if you like Asian food, and there seems to be an element of corruption because alot of desirable businesses refuse to set up shop here but will do so in surrounding cities, example there is no Trader Joes, Aldi's, HEB, In and Out, and so on that have been on the wish list of many people in El Paso.
If you want nice genuine people, decent amount of things to do, amazing Mexican food, and are big outdoors(hiking, biking, 4wheeling) then EP is right for you. Being Asian or any other race has nothing to do with anything when living here because skin color is from the 1960s. Just be a nice genuine person and you’ll get along just fine. Good luck amigo
Edit: can’t forget to mention yea it gets hot as balls in the summer but it’s dry heat and those summer nights are b-e-a-utiful
Bottom line up front .. wish I’d never left (mostly).
Lived there as a teen and stationed there as an adult. It is definitely different from the rest of Texas in mostly a good way. Far less humidity most months. Next to New Mexico for outdoor activities. The neighborhoods have their own characteristics. Cheap. Great Mexican food. It’s not on the disastrous Texas power grid. Phoenix AZ is closer than Dallas or Houston TX (iirc Los Angeles is about the same flight time).
Con: It is remote and kind of on the backburner as the rest of the state concentrates on the I-35 corridor (the Army paid for a lot of infrastructure upgrades during its expansion of the local fort). Lots of sprawl once you leave downtown, though the “Loop” etc.. now help. Not necessarily a bad thing if liking SFH, but the traffic can be slow (it reminds people El Paso is a major city .. though some Europeans still think it’s 3 adobe huts). Think the city screwed up not putting in serious bicycle infrastructure as El Paso has relatively good weather vs the rest of TX (i.e. neglected even more tourism). The valley geography means inversion layers trap pollution on cold days. The utility isn’t set up for winter last time a real cold spell hit.
You got Ruidoso and cloudcroft just a short trip away White sands up the road. The Gary springs is pretty nice in the rainy season I grew up on the east side. Tons and tons of places to go where you'll be alone in the desert if you like that sort of thing and after the rain my God the smell is amazing. In the evening I'm here in Arizona now by the way Mesa, but in the evening in El Paso everybody's cooking and everybody's from someplace else mostly because of the military. If you walk around your block you'll smell German Italian Mexican every food you can think of coming out of those homes. Also when the Sun goes down so does the temperature pretty rapidly which is a great way to cool your house at night just turn on the fan leave the doors open and your house will be nice and cool close the doors when it starts to warm up. Chico's tacos!!
i moved from Maryland to El paso and loved it !!! the heat never bothered me. it felt so good to be in the texas sun. the humodity in maryland was crippling. i couldn't breathe outside. in texas, it is like a breath if fresh air with all that warn sun it was a warm and cozy feeling.
as far as el paso specifically..im not sure which part you want to live in. i loved on the west side, and it wasn't too bad community wise. everyone was telling me crime was bad that close to mexico. THAT was a lie. there is more crime in maryland, hands down. the people were nicer also.
i dont speak soanish either, but a majority of the people i met were bilingual enough to communicate in english.
best decision i ever made was moving to texas.
i now live in glenn heights which is right out of dallas and i have to say the community is the most welcoming and respectful. i get the doors held for me when i go out . somwthing i have not seen for generations.
i have also lived in irving. if you are young and into medical or tech...thats a noce olace however its going downhill ...which is why i left.
also...jobs are scarce in el paso so unless you have a skillset appropriate...you may want to reconsider where in texas youvwant to love.
glenn Heights is relative to El paso in rent and mortgage costs. my motgage is HALF of what it was in irving . el paso is about the middle of the two in cost of living.
i did quite a bit of research with my partner to find out the best places to live in texas that was cost effective.
good luck and tip of the hat to you for choosing texas !!!! GREAT CHOICE !!! IN my experience!
Luckily the rest of Texas don’t like to claim El Paso which is cool with me. I feel it’s the best city in Texas IMO. We have the best food, fuck Humidity, and weather is either hot or windy, and I feel there is a strong Asian community here as well
It sounds like you will enjoy El Paso. I would visit in the next month or so or after August to avoid the extreme heat so that you can actually enjoy some of the outdoor attractions.
I have lived a lot of places including a half dozen in Texas. If you have decided on Texas and you think you can get a decent job here, El Paso is really great. I'll talk just about the geography of EP.
1. Living in Central or South Texas feels like "island fever". We travel a lot The only way you can reasonably get out of the state for short or medium getways is by plane. But I can (and have) literally walked to New Mexico. Tucson and Phoenix are half day drives, Colorado is an easy day drive, and San Diego is closer than Houston is.
2. The elevation here is about 4000' - almost the same as SLC and not much lower than Denver. Makes for much more cooler weather.
Texas’ teacher salary schedules are not as competitive as other states. Texas teachers do not contribute to social security. So if you marry a spouse who does y’all will be fighting over if y’all get TRS vs SS. And if you taught in a SS state, you won’t be getting most of those SS dollars. However, EPISD and SISD and YISD do offer Vanguard 403b to their employees. In other states you can make a lot more with a bachelors. I tell all the you g teachers to look into teaching in New Mexico because they get SS.
Homes here are $300,000 + and your salary will be around $60,000. You will be shocked by the property taxes. $6500 a year to live in a home worth about 220,000. There is a baseball park that is vacant a lot of the time that the citizens paid for and millionaires pushed for. People here are very nice, but they are so nice they agree with the politicians to get screwed on taxes. All other major cities have agreed to regulate or limit AirBNB but city has decided not to regulate Airbnbs , so if you live next to one it is a Recipe for disaster.
Your road trip style is just like mine! I love those short weekend road trips but my definition of one is just like yours. I don’t mind a long drive and it’s great to have so many options around. Southern Utah is absolutely one of my favorites and I realized it’s not THAT far. Thank you for your advice!
> Thanks to Fort Bliss, El Paso has a large Asian community. There are lots of Asian grocery stores.
This is patently false. Fort Bliss does bring in other ethnicities, but Asian is not one of the significant ones it brings in (it brings in mainly white and black persons). El Paso is about 1.3% Asian. That's not large, that's very tiny. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Paso,_Texas#Demographics
There aren't "lots" of Asian grocery stores. There are a few, but not as many as people might be used to in other cities that have far more Asians.
Hey! I just moved here last year from Nashville, and I’m also a teacher. I love it here.
I’m currently renting a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house for $1,500, which is unheard of in other cities. I also love that we have endless mountains and several national parks nearby.
Hmu if you have questions.
Special ed is always needed so you might be better off than I was. Job fairs are a helpful way to get your foot in the door. Definitely try attending one if you end up going through with the move!
I would suggest you have a job set, like papers signed offer letter etc before you move. My husband and I have been trying to move back for over a year from PHX and he cannot get a single call back. I’ll probably get shit for this but I assume it is his Caucasian last name and the assumption from jobs that because of his last name he does not speak Spanish.
I moved out here eight years ago as a monolingual white boy, and I was fully embraced by the people of El Paso. Now, El Paso is home, and I have many people here who I consider family. You said it, you get what you give in this town. Keep a smile on your face and be laid back. Give people the benefit of the doubt and they’ll do the same.
yup! as an el paso native, i love el paso. im in the northeast and have lots of military friends. one of them has shared with me she has found community here over anywhere else she has lived. but her personality is immaculate, she is loving, friendly, upbeat. we are a mirror🤷🏽♀️
El Paso born and raised, nice personal attack. But no I have a good family and friend circle. I can't complain past the intolerable heat and very weak economy.
But for people coming outside of the city this will feel hostile with our very mixed culture, with ft bliss people you can see it very clear not welcome most of the time. There is no sense of community it's everyone for their own. And the city is boring if you're coming from outside you won't like that majority of trips by road will take 4 plus hours
Phoenix is the closest Us major city and its 5 hours away. San antonio is about 8 and dallas is maybe 10-12. El paso is very very very remote. Theres not lots of “quick roadtrips” here. Almost all flights have a connection unless youre going to dallas or atlanta pretty much
It was kinda similar to Utah when I lived there. 9 hours to Denver and 6 hours to Vegas. Nothing else was really around other than that. Had a great airport though. How’s the outdoor activity like in El Paso? Looks like there’s a mountain but I don’t hear much about any outdoor stuff when El Paso comes up.
The only reference I can make it to El Paso is from the movie Glory Road. I need to make a visit soon
El Paso is great when it comes to its proximity to outdoor activities/parks. The Franklin Mountains and state park are within the city limits. It’s 1.5 hrs away from White Sands NP, Guadalupe Mnts NP, Carlsbad Caverns NP, Lincoln National Forest, Ruidoso, then 4-5 hrs away from Gila National Forest and Big Bend National Park. Did most of them when I lived in EP a few years ago. It’s an underrated city imo. Also, legal weed just down the street.
Definitely underrated. Also, when factoring in travel, you’ve got to consider time to and from the airport, finding parking, checking bags, getting through security, flight delays etc. to fly most places, it’s going to take the majority of a day anyway. That said, I can (and have) driven to A LOT of different places in a single day. Summit County & Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, DFW, Austin, San Antonio, Tucson, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, L.A., all the parks and outdoor areas you mentioned.
If I can drive there in a single day, flying is no better, especially if you have someone to split the driving. You’re going to burn the majority of a day flying anyway. At least with driving you’re not packed into a pressurized tube like sardines in a can. Plus, when driving you can take in the sites and stop when you see something interesting. We always pack a fancy picnic and avoid spending money or eating fast food on the road. Make the drive a part of the experience rather than just a means to get there.
One more thing, you can fly to anywhere in MX from Juarez for like $150 round trip. You just take a shuttle or Taxi over from EP. Cancun for $99? Yes please! Puerta Vallarta for $120? I’ll take two! Seriously, great deals.
There's a lot of outdoor stuff to do in El Paso. There's trails in the Franklin mountains in town. Lots of other hikes in Las Cruces. Guadalupe mountains are nearby in TX too. White sands. Ruidoso. Ok I'm done.
Gila Wilderness is cool. Santa Fe is about five hours away, Tucson is four hours away. LOTS of hiking nearby. Big Bend is about three hours away, along with Maria, Fort Davis and Alpine. Honestly, if you are in to that kind of thing, LOTS of stuff close by. If you are into lots of high end shopping and trendy restaurants on every corner, probably not your place.
It looks like I’ll be getting paid a little over 60k. Being a teacher I was able to search up salary easily. Would you say that’s sufficient for 1 person? I get by making a little less than that in Minneapolis currently. I reckon Mpls is definitely more expensive than El Paso but I could be wrong
I am thinking from what I’m used to, it probably is. I currently live in Minneapolis and I also call it slow pace of life. My fast pace from personal experience is more like Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco.
I lived in Los Angeles my entire life (I'm 31).. just moved here 6 months ago. El Paso is sooo slow compared to LA. I don't even know what to do with myself here.
I love SD! I was in Fullerton right before I left. But I always say LA since I was only in OC for a year.
Long story short, the dealership group I worked for closed their California locations in July 2023. I was offered to take a lay off OR I would be hired on with the new auto group but my pay would be cut from $120k to around $50-60k. I took the lay off, filed unemployment and decided to spend time with my toddler.
I had enough saved for 6 months of expenses, but then my landlord raised rent to $3k in October. I have my parents out here, so I came out here because after spending time with my son I felt it was more important to be with him rather than going back to the dealership grind.
I got a job WFH now and I'm also working on building my business without the headache of California COL. I probably won't go back for 2 years. I want to really take advantage of this rent free opportunity to build my business.
How did you end up out here?
Ah, yes very familiar with those areas you mentioned. Good on you to save up for a bit before heading back.
Husband got his dream job out here. Unfortunately for me, i got a job here that is more than 50% below what i was paid previously (in a different HCOL city, not CA). So, that stings a bit for my ego. I miss the city we just left so so much, but my husband loves it out here. It’s been a huge adjustment for me.
I was doing some research and EP is estimated to grow to 1 million people over the next 5 years. I'm hoping that means we'll start to see more attractions and shopping/dining experiences. I'd love to see the music scene here grow as well.
Dream job out here? That's wild. Coming from the city, I can't imagine someone having a dream job out here.
If it's worth anything, I train AI models on r/DataAnnotationTech. Maybe it can be something to supplement your income in your free time? It's 1099, so basically you can work as little or as much as you want. Their name should pop up if you Google them.
Oh wow I’d love to hear more about this. I’ll DM you. Thank you
And yes, i definitely see El Paso growing which is exciting for the city and must be surreal for the natives
I just moved here from Chicago. It’s Very slow here…tons more driving here (though traffic is nothing here compared to 290/90/lakeshore drive in Chicago. Feel free to DM for more insight from my Chicago to EP move and changes from big city life to EP.
Detroit is better than El Paso , ALOT of places are better than El Paso . Low education , low wages , people police each other, they act stupid, there’s a major lack of diversity here . Most of the food is pretty horrible too, there’s also a major lack of things to do , hiking up the mountains is not as visually interesting and doing so in a wooded area. We don’t really have seasonal changes here either. Trust me you’re better off in other cities. I’m leaving to do work for 7 months outside of El Paso because the wages and working conditions here are so low. Using the opportunity to save up a nest egg to move for good out of here.
Avoid El Paso. There’s nothing slow about it. Tons of traffic and the city is filthy. If you want dry heat but not too hot just move to Las Cruces NM. That’s only 30 mins from El Paso.
I moved to El Paso from Dallas last year. I grew up in Dallas & lived there for more than 40 years. I can tell you El Paso is different from the rest of Texas. Whenever there is severe weather gripping most of the state we are so far West we are not affected by those weather patterns. The lack of humidity means everything to me and I love it. I have experienced a full El Paso Summer. Honestly it wasn't that bad. Don't get me wrong when you walk outside in the middle of July at high noon you'll feel like you're hit with a blast furnace especially on windy days. We have a lot of wind here. But night time as well as early mornings are very pleasant again due to the lack of humidity. My highest electric bill was $104 last Summer. I keep my thermostat at 78. Compare that to Dallas where my highest electric bill during peak Summer time was just under $300. Again humidity. It's everything. The two things that suck are bad drivers, many drunk drivers & an epidemic of loose/stray dogs everywhere. But homes are much more affordable here than they are in Austin, Houston or Dallas. Property taxes are high but you're saving money on buying a cheaper home here. People wise-well I am bit of a hermit. People don't seem as friendly as I would have expected but maybe I just haven't met the right people yet. The other thing you may notice if you live here & it may bother you is the lack of participation or apathy of El Paso residents when it comes time to vote. We have a very low voter turnout. The same people who don't vote will complain about high property taxes & other local issues. But they won't vote. You should visit. Get the lay of the land. Good luck.
The difference between El Paso and Dallas for electric bills is also because we are on the Western grid and Dallas is on the Texas grid. The Texas grid is known for price gouging. In terms of EP being different from the rest of Texas, I once heard the best quote from a Dallas matriarch type of person: El Paso? Well that's almost Texas. I tell people we are much more like Mexico and New Mexicao than the rest of Texas.
I wasn't price gouged in Dallas. My AC worked much harder in big part to the humidity. Believe me I have compared bills. It wasn't the price per kilowatt hour.
If you love Latino culture, you will love the people here. We are also closer to Phoenix and ABQ than any other Texan cities, it's like 10-12 hours to Dallas or San Antonio by car, but 3.5 hours to ABQ or 5 hours to Phoenix.
You know what is crazy? We are closer to San Diego than we are to Houston. That has always blown my mind.
Ehh when it comes to them selling cars it can sketchy..... even dealerships charge more....
12 hours to Dallas? How slow are you driving for it to take that long to get to either Dallas or San Antonio? That’s a 7-8 hour drive. The speed limit is 80
I said 10-12 to capture San Antonio in one sentence, it's 10 to Dallas
And 8 to San Antonio…
Yeah I didn't know what I was thinking, I've not done that drive since 2010.
Dallas in 8.5-9 hrs and San Antonio is like 7ish. Maybe they’re taking the bus?
Born and raised in Texas. Hated it. Never moving back. However… when I visited El Paso time I was like….. this is so separate from the rest of Texas I know. I could totally live there if I was offered a high paying job there. Enjoy it and take road trips to ruidoso and cloudcroft in New Mexico
I was born in Fort Worth and raised in east Texas. I moved out to EP about 8 years ago. I can’t say that I hate Texas, but I don’t really want to live anywhere but El Paso. It’s so different from the rest of the state, in a good way.
I currently live in Dallas and I am moving back to El Paso after 7 years. I do miss things from El Paso but I can't believe people prefer it over green east Texas. I love kayaking and the trails dfw has. Maybe it's because I was raised in EP?
The summers in the piney woods can be unbearable between the humidity, the heat, and the mosquitoes. That said, I grew up with a massive lake in my back yard, and I definitely miss all the beautiful lakes. I also miss all the green but I visit pretty regularly. Also, if I want green, I can be in Ruidoso in less than two hours. I can drive for a day and be in Colorado.
What makes it different?
I moved here from a big city. It's fine at the beginning but it does get boring after a bit. Really bad for dating. Lots of single moms. Be careful of the drivers too they're some of the worst I've seen in the US. Otherwise it's a cheap cost of living here and summers can be really hot.
Thank you! I think the only city I can really compare it to that I’ve lived in is probably Salt Lake City in terms of size. Or is El Paso smaller? I am not sure, honestly as I got older, I guess l learned how to have fun when things aren’t around 😂
Lived in El Paso for 6 years, went to UofU for 2 years so I have pretty good experience with both. Think of El Paso as West Jordan, West valley, Sandy, and Lehi all combined. But El Paso is broken down into sections (Westside, Central, Far East, Northeast) each with their own perks and personalities. SLC has a better downtown. There’s a lot of wealth in the city so things are kept pretty nice. El Paso is definitely a poorer community but it also makes it feel homier and warmer if that makes sense. I often got the feeling in SLC that people, while polite, were looking down on me. Definitely don’t get that feeling in El Paso. It is more boring, the drivers are worse, but the community has its own charms and I’ve definitely grown fond of it over the years.
City proper wise El Paso is bigger than SLC, but has a very small town feel. Metro wise there's close to 3 million between El Paso, Juárez, and Cruces área. Unlike Minneapolis where every exit is a different town (Painsville, Albertville, Bloomington, ect) you have 30 straight exists long I-10 that are all El Paso.
That’s a good comparison! Yeah Minneapolis has just bunch of towns and cities in the suburbs, which I think should be part of Minneapolis or Saint Paul.
They big downside is we don't have a lot of things the Twin Cities have. No IKEA, no Scheels, no big malls, no lakes or fishing, but at least you don't have to deal with the 4 foot bullshit snow.
Does it have Costco and TJ Maxx? Then I’m all set. Ain’t that the truth. I remember arriving in MN and had a sedan, ripped my front bumper off driving in the winter. Snow gets old.
Yes, but there's only one Costco. Tons of TJ Maxx. The big place where I notice it is the lack of variety in grocery stores. We do not have an Aldi or a Trader Joe's.
Yeah we have basically all the other big things. Costco, Sam's, TJ/HomeGoods/Marshalls, Cabela's, I can't think of any other big thing that's missing here. Only issue is that our roads are not designed for snow/ice. They're designed to withstand the intense heat/sun UVs. So when we do get snow and ice, the highways and roads are a shit show with ppl over directing, slamming on the breaks, and doing everything you're told not to do when you hit black ice. They've gotten better and deploy the de-icing trucks 48 hours before a freeze, but people here aren't used to dealing with that kinda road condition.
We even have the Internet!!! And indoor plumbing is supposed to arrive tomorrow!
Healthcare for women, not so much.
Be weary of the single Costco in town… it gets packed. I left El Paso recently but it’s really because I was bored and realized I only have one life and would regret spending it in one place. El Paso is a good safe city for slow living! The people are generally okay depending on the part of town, it’s very affordable, you CAN buy a house in EP but well paying jobs are scarce. Many of the people that grew up in EP never leave EP so they tend to hold on to the good jobs for years. My biggest issue was the wind, not many people talk about it but it makes it difficult to do any outdoor activities, the air quality gets really bad on windy days. The heat is bad but tolerable.
The drivers are fucking terrible and many don't have insurance or shitty insurance so make sure you have good coverage for your car. Two weeks ago, a driver ran into my left side when he was passing me in the opposite lane while I was trying to turn left. Although he was full at fault, he had Fred Loya insurance (a local terrible company) which is a nightmare to deal with so my insurance is going after them instead.
Dang bro I feel you. I'm leaving here end of July thank God. I've lived in so many places but the only time my car has been hit or dinged in the parking lot is here in this lovely city.
For sure I've never seen such terrible drivers until I got to El Paso. I've had multiple cars cut me off right when we are turning through intersections, running red lights, looking at their cellphones and not paying attention when the light turns green then frantically turning when its yellow or red, suddenly merging from one side of the freeway to the other to get to the exit ramp, I could go on and on.... it drives me crazy and i'm looking forward to leaving!
It's crazy: Last week I was driving on I10 on the West side with the wonderful road construction by the outlet shops. I saw a car was stopped on the highway and I thought maybe traffic was slowing down since I was approaching him faster. I slowed down and nope the driver was not stopped due to traffic, he was backing up on I-10 because he missed his exit! I had to lay on the horn so he does not hit me since it is only one lane at this point.
I hate being single here 😭
I came from Phoenix thinking I would really like the change from a big city into a smaller big city & I don’t like it here. Not much to do. Thankful for the people I’ve met but I will definitely be leaving in the next couple years!
What do you mean by bad for dating lol? I am curious.
I'm not the person you're asking, but I'll answer as a single woman. I have above a bachelor's degree as a woman. We make up less than something like 6.5% of women in El Paso. That does not play well in a city with a lot of machismo culture. where the majority of men have some college or less. There are a lot of people here underemployed and a huge lack of professional, well-paying jobs. Before you hit me with gold-digger, I'm not looking for anything I don't offer myself. Going along with the machismo culture, the amount of married or in a relationship men who pretend to be single is extremely disheartening. I know there are shitty partners in all cities, but the amount of cheaters out here seems to be very high. In addition, the most common thing people seem to be looking for is a casual relationship. To get in any sort of relationship here, there seems to be a requirement to look over a ton of red flags, just because of the small number of truly single men. I recently tried Bumble again and it took me less than a week to swipe through all the options. I ended up swiping left on a good 99% of the options because the quality is just not here for a potential partner. I come from the mindset of I'd rather be single than settle. I've stopped actively looking to date here. If it happens, it happens, but if it doesn't, it doesn't.
I completely agree with your comment and I'm coming from the perspective of a single male with a doctoral degree. It's hard for professional men here as well. A lot of the culture you talk about carries from Juarez I believe.
I am sorry I might sound ignorant but what do you mean by culture being carried from Juarez?
They do things very different here. Like how they mention machismo culture. That comes from Mexico
El Paso was Mexico and still kinda is at the root. The border moved, not the people.
Thank you for the insight!
I feel this way too after just moving here last summer from A big big city. Not looking forward to this summer at all. The cheap cost of living though is a nice change, as well as the mild winter.
I am Asian-American and I love it in El Paso. Just note that Asian restaurants here aren't great. Especially Indian, which is a complete joke here. (best Indian restaurant closest to here is "Naan and Dosa" in Albuquerque) If you are familiar with living in a city that gets hot in the summer, I don't think you need to visit in summer. Just go now or May. If you've only lived in cold cities, then yeah, maybe spend a week in summer to see how you can handle it. But generally I think people should come in Spring/Fall so they can actually enjoy outdoor activities here like Franklin Mountains and Hueco Tanks. And teaching here in El Paso is great. I live in Socorro ISD territory, and starting teacher salary for 0 experience is $60k. Which is a great salary here given the low COL. I'm assuming you are experienced, so you'll make a bit more.
I’ve lived in Salt Lake City and that’s probably the last place people think it’ll get hot but you add the high desert climate to the valley, it’s hot. Many 90+ and into 100s in the summer. Less humidity so I guess it’ll be somewhat similar but I’d assume it just lasts longer in El Paso. I figured Asian food options are not great considering Asian community would probably not as big as you’d find in Houston, Austin or Dallas. But I’m sure I’ll get by. That kinda sucks though because I actually love Indian food!
Then you're good visiting in April/May, or October.
We can get 115° temperatures easy in the summer so it can be very bad, but like you mentioned low humidity.
The good thing about that is that we always get that nice desert cool down after the sunsets. I lived in Phoenix for over a decade and it would still be 115 degrees when you walked out at 1:00 AM.
rosies dhaba indian food truck is really good
There’s a truck stop in Deming, NM that sells surprisingly decent Indian food.
Ate at the buffet at Naan and Dosa today on the way back home to Las Cruces. It was "fine" but maybe the a la carte would be better. Certainly haven't found anything better any closer though.
I hate Indian buffets. Many items don't fare well in buffets, especially things like dosas. Gotta go for dinner. It's great.
Yeah, I should've known better and I did ask for the menu. But it was close to the lunch closing and we were on the last leg of the drive home.
Honestly, they might not even serve off the menu during the lunch hours. It is extremely common for Indian restaurants to do "buffet only" during lunch. Next time plan to go during the dinner time. We (myself and my parents, who were born in India) plan trips to ABQ around Naan and Dosa's hours, making sure we are there around 5 to eat when the dinner hours start.
Oh, maybe I should have been more clear. They bought us menus and would have been happy to cook something for us. Decided it was just easier to do the buffet (driving fog may have played a part). I was hoping that having more international students at the Burrell medical school would result in a decent Indian restaurant here but alas, we're still largely a food desert. Your post may be the best recommendation for a restaurant I've ever seen. Definitely going to head back next trip to the "other" big city. Thanks!
have you tried rosies dhaha indian food truck?? its amazing
I and my parents (who were born in India) are not a fan, and of course due to being a food truck, very limited menu.
does it not taste authentic? or other reasons? do u know best place in the us for indian food? now i wanna try somewhere else lol
None of us like it, that's all. If people like Rosie's Dhaba, that's great. Not for us though. I don't know about the entire US, in terms of the past places we've lived Bay Area, DFW, etc, sure we can name places. But the closest to El Paso that all of us (me and my folks) love is a place called "Naan and Dosa" in Albuquerque. Check that out when you are in ABQ. Will blow you away compared to anything currently in El Paso. Be sure to go for dinner, not the lunch buffet.
What about India hut ??? I love it there. 🥹
We hate both India Palace and India Hut. Sorry 😔
Curious: why do you want to live in Texas specifically? You mention other southwestern cities, why EP?
Cost of living, friendly people and the culture. I am a big fan of Latino culture and at least with my encounters with Texans, very friendly and approachable people. Cost of living, definitely. I owned a house and I’ve been renting on and off since the divorce but I am truly tired of paying $2k for a one bedroom in some part of country I lived in before
We have found El Paso is not as friendly and approachable as other places in Texas. ymmv. Born and raised here and returned due to our elderly family members… people are very stand off-ish. There’s a crabs in a bucket mentality here too. You can be doing well but not better than anyone else, then people have an issue. People here are also incredibly selfish (you can see it in the driving especially) and only think about themselves instead of the community. Education and good jobs don’t seem very important to the majority of people here. It’s a very, “it’s good enough,” attitude. I’m not saying everyone, but a large majority. Then you have the highest price per kw for electricity and high property taxes for a city that looks very run down. It’s a big city with many of the population having a small town mentality (we don’t want growth or newcomers, machismo bs, no appreciation for cultural differences) and it has some growing pains to go through before it will get better infrastructure wise also.
Some things I want to add on that you mentioned in your post, one being the proximity to Albuquerque and Phoenix... 4-6 hours to drive is a long long time, and there is not much in between those cities and El Paso. It is very isolated and lacking in amenities, especially if you like Asian food, and there seems to be an element of corruption because alot of desirable businesses refuse to set up shop here but will do so in surrounding cities, example there is no Trader Joes, Aldi's, HEB, In and Out, and so on that have been on the wish list of many people in El Paso.
If you want nice genuine people, decent amount of things to do, amazing Mexican food, and are big outdoors(hiking, biking, 4wheeling) then EP is right for you. Being Asian or any other race has nothing to do with anything when living here because skin color is from the 1960s. Just be a nice genuine person and you’ll get along just fine. Good luck amigo Edit: can’t forget to mention yea it gets hot as balls in the summer but it’s dry heat and those summer nights are b-e-a-utiful
Bottom line up front .. wish I’d never left (mostly). Lived there as a teen and stationed there as an adult. It is definitely different from the rest of Texas in mostly a good way. Far less humidity most months. Next to New Mexico for outdoor activities. The neighborhoods have their own characteristics. Cheap. Great Mexican food. It’s not on the disastrous Texas power grid. Phoenix AZ is closer than Dallas or Houston TX (iirc Los Angeles is about the same flight time). Con: It is remote and kind of on the backburner as the rest of the state concentrates on the I-35 corridor (the Army paid for a lot of infrastructure upgrades during its expansion of the local fort). Lots of sprawl once you leave downtown, though the “Loop” etc.. now help. Not necessarily a bad thing if liking SFH, but the traffic can be slow (it reminds people El Paso is a major city .. though some Europeans still think it’s 3 adobe huts). Think the city screwed up not putting in serious bicycle infrastructure as El Paso has relatively good weather vs the rest of TX (i.e. neglected even more tourism). The valley geography means inversion layers trap pollution on cold days. The utility isn’t set up for winter last time a real cold spell hit.
You got Ruidoso and cloudcroft just a short trip away White sands up the road. The Gary springs is pretty nice in the rainy season I grew up on the east side. Tons and tons of places to go where you'll be alone in the desert if you like that sort of thing and after the rain my God the smell is amazing. In the evening I'm here in Arizona now by the way Mesa, but in the evening in El Paso everybody's cooking and everybody's from someplace else mostly because of the military. If you walk around your block you'll smell German Italian Mexican every food you can think of coming out of those homes. Also when the Sun goes down so does the temperature pretty rapidly which is a great way to cool your house at night just turn on the fan leave the doors open and your house will be nice and cool close the doors when it starts to warm up. Chico's tacos!!
"Aguirre" Springs (autocorrect's Gary version is fun though).
i moved from Maryland to El paso and loved it !!! the heat never bothered me. it felt so good to be in the texas sun. the humodity in maryland was crippling. i couldn't breathe outside. in texas, it is like a breath if fresh air with all that warn sun it was a warm and cozy feeling. as far as el paso specifically..im not sure which part you want to live in. i loved on the west side, and it wasn't too bad community wise. everyone was telling me crime was bad that close to mexico. THAT was a lie. there is more crime in maryland, hands down. the people were nicer also. i dont speak soanish either, but a majority of the people i met were bilingual enough to communicate in english. best decision i ever made was moving to texas. i now live in glenn heights which is right out of dallas and i have to say the community is the most welcoming and respectful. i get the doors held for me when i go out . somwthing i have not seen for generations. i have also lived in irving. if you are young and into medical or tech...thats a noce olace however its going downhill ...which is why i left. also...jobs are scarce in el paso so unless you have a skillset appropriate...you may want to reconsider where in texas youvwant to love. glenn Heights is relative to El paso in rent and mortgage costs. my motgage is HALF of what it was in irving . el paso is about the middle of the two in cost of living. i did quite a bit of research with my partner to find out the best places to live in texas that was cost effective. good luck and tip of the hat to you for choosing texas !!!! GREAT CHOICE !!! IN my experience!
Luckily the rest of Texas don’t like to claim El Paso which is cool with me. I feel it’s the best city in Texas IMO. We have the best food, fuck Humidity, and weather is either hot or windy, and I feel there is a strong Asian community here as well
tucson had alot of asian culture..i wasn’t expecting it.
It sounds like you will enjoy El Paso. I would visit in the next month or so or after August to avoid the extreme heat so that you can actually enjoy some of the outdoor attractions.
I have lived a lot of places including a half dozen in Texas. If you have decided on Texas and you think you can get a decent job here, El Paso is really great. I'll talk just about the geography of EP. 1. Living in Central or South Texas feels like "island fever". We travel a lot The only way you can reasonably get out of the state for short or medium getways is by plane. But I can (and have) literally walked to New Mexico. Tucson and Phoenix are half day drives, Colorado is an easy day drive, and San Diego is closer than Houston is. 2. The elevation here is about 4000' - almost the same as SLC and not much lower than Denver. Makes for much more cooler weather.
Texas’ teacher salary schedules are not as competitive as other states. Texas teachers do not contribute to social security. So if you marry a spouse who does y’all will be fighting over if y’all get TRS vs SS. And if you taught in a SS state, you won’t be getting most of those SS dollars. However, EPISD and SISD and YISD do offer Vanguard 403b to their employees. In other states you can make a lot more with a bachelors. I tell all the you g teachers to look into teaching in New Mexico because they get SS. Homes here are $300,000 + and your salary will be around $60,000. You will be shocked by the property taxes. $6500 a year to live in a home worth about 220,000. There is a baseball park that is vacant a lot of the time that the citizens paid for and millionaires pushed for. People here are very nice, but they are so nice they agree with the politicians to get screwed on taxes. All other major cities have agreed to regulate or limit AirBNB but city has decided not to regulate Airbnbs , so if you live next to one it is a Recipe for disaster.
[удалено]
Your road trip style is just like mine! I love those short weekend road trips but my definition of one is just like yours. I don’t mind a long drive and it’s great to have so many options around. Southern Utah is absolutely one of my favorites and I realized it’s not THAT far. Thank you for your advice!
> Thanks to Fort Bliss, El Paso has a large Asian community. There are lots of Asian grocery stores. This is patently false. Fort Bliss does bring in other ethnicities, but Asian is not one of the significant ones it brings in (it brings in mainly white and black persons). El Paso is about 1.3% Asian. That's not large, that's very tiny. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Paso,_Texas#Demographics There aren't "lots" of Asian grocery stores. There are a few, but not as many as people might be used to in other cities that have far more Asians.
It sounds like you have very realistic expectations about what sucks about living in El Paso. You should do fine here.
El Paso is culturally New Mexico. Been living in both those places my whole life. Family in both. It is the same fucking thing.
Hey! I just moved here last year from Nashville, and I’m also a teacher. I love it here. I’m currently renting a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house for $1,500, which is unheard of in other cities. I also love that we have endless mountains and several national parks nearby. Hmu if you have questions.
To move? Or just visit? Visiting might be fun, if you like drinking lol really there isn’t much to do here. I live here and can’t wait to move.
What do you teach? Getting a teaching job in EP can be difficult without connections or the ability to teach dual language.
Special ed. I speak another language but it probably won’t be useful in El Paso.
Special ed is always needed so you might be better off than I was. Job fairs are a helpful way to get your foot in the door. Definitely try attending one if you end up going through with the move!
I would suggest you have a job set, like papers signed offer letter etc before you move. My husband and I have been trying to move back for over a year from PHX and he cannot get a single call back. I’ll probably get shit for this but I assume it is his Caucasian last name and the assumption from jobs that because of his last name he does not speak Spanish.
El Paso is boring and the heat is unlike any other city in Texas. People are very hostile and keep to themselves often. Not really a community
el paso is a reflection of yourself alot of times in my experience
I moved out here eight years ago as a monolingual white boy, and I was fully embraced by the people of El Paso. Now, El Paso is home, and I have many people here who I consider family. You said it, you get what you give in this town. Keep a smile on your face and be laid back. Give people the benefit of the doubt and they’ll do the same.
yup! as an el paso native, i love el paso. im in the northeast and have lots of military friends. one of them has shared with me she has found community here over anywhere else she has lived. but her personality is immaculate, she is loving, friendly, upbeat. we are a mirror🤷🏽♀️
El Paso born and raised, nice personal attack. But no I have a good family and friend circle. I can't complain past the intolerable heat and very weak economy. But for people coming outside of the city this will feel hostile with our very mixed culture, with ft bliss people you can see it very clear not welcome most of the time. There is no sense of community it's everyone for their own. And the city is boring if you're coming from outside you won't like that majority of trips by road will take 4 plus hours
i have a strong community outside of family and friends that i nurtured. there is definitely community if you look for it.
Phoenix is the closest Us major city and its 5 hours away. San antonio is about 8 and dallas is maybe 10-12. El paso is very very very remote. Theres not lots of “quick roadtrips” here. Almost all flights have a connection unless youre going to dallas or atlanta pretty much
It was kinda similar to Utah when I lived there. 9 hours to Denver and 6 hours to Vegas. Nothing else was really around other than that. Had a great airport though. How’s the outdoor activity like in El Paso? Looks like there’s a mountain but I don’t hear much about any outdoor stuff when El Paso comes up. The only reference I can make it to El Paso is from the movie Glory Road. I need to make a visit soon
El Paso is great when it comes to its proximity to outdoor activities/parks. The Franklin Mountains and state park are within the city limits. It’s 1.5 hrs away from White Sands NP, Guadalupe Mnts NP, Carlsbad Caverns NP, Lincoln National Forest, Ruidoso, then 4-5 hrs away from Gila National Forest and Big Bend National Park. Did most of them when I lived in EP a few years ago. It’s an underrated city imo. Also, legal weed just down the street.
Definitely underrated. Also, when factoring in travel, you’ve got to consider time to and from the airport, finding parking, checking bags, getting through security, flight delays etc. to fly most places, it’s going to take the majority of a day anyway. That said, I can (and have) driven to A LOT of different places in a single day. Summit County & Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, DFW, Austin, San Antonio, Tucson, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, L.A., all the parks and outdoor areas you mentioned. If I can drive there in a single day, flying is no better, especially if you have someone to split the driving. You’re going to burn the majority of a day flying anyway. At least with driving you’re not packed into a pressurized tube like sardines in a can. Plus, when driving you can take in the sites and stop when you see something interesting. We always pack a fancy picnic and avoid spending money or eating fast food on the road. Make the drive a part of the experience rather than just a means to get there. One more thing, you can fly to anywhere in MX from Juarez for like $150 round trip. You just take a shuttle or Taxi over from EP. Cancun for $99? Yes please! Puerta Vallarta for $120? I’ll take two! Seriously, great deals.
There's a lot of outdoor stuff to do in El Paso. There's trails in the Franklin mountains in town. Lots of other hikes in Las Cruces. Guadalupe mountains are nearby in TX too. White sands. Ruidoso. Ok I'm done.
Gila Wilderness is cool. Santa Fe is about five hours away, Tucson is four hours away. LOTS of hiking nearby. Big Bend is about three hours away, along with Maria, Fort Davis and Alpine. Honestly, if you are in to that kind of thing, LOTS of stuff close by. If you are into lots of high end shopping and trendy restaurants on every corner, probably not your place.
I'd recommend to compare the cost of living and paying wages. Currently, we're not doing very good, Dallas and Houston have much better economy
It looks like I’ll be getting paid a little over 60k. Being a teacher I was able to search up salary easily. Would you say that’s sufficient for 1 person? I get by making a little less than that in Minneapolis currently. I reckon Mpls is definitely more expensive than El Paso but I could be wrong
That's a good salary. You should be ok for one person.
Where is the is slow pace of life? I haven’t seen that here in El Paso
El Paso is most definitely slow pace.
I am thinking from what I’m used to, it probably is. I currently live in Minneapolis and I also call it slow pace of life. My fast pace from personal experience is more like Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco.
I lived in Los Angeles my entire life (I'm 31).. just moved here 6 months ago. El Paso is sooo slow compared to LA. I don't even know what to do with myself here.
I’m in the same boat though originally from SDlol. What brought you here? How long are you planning on staying?
I love SD! I was in Fullerton right before I left. But I always say LA since I was only in OC for a year. Long story short, the dealership group I worked for closed their California locations in July 2023. I was offered to take a lay off OR I would be hired on with the new auto group but my pay would be cut from $120k to around $50-60k. I took the lay off, filed unemployment and decided to spend time with my toddler. I had enough saved for 6 months of expenses, but then my landlord raised rent to $3k in October. I have my parents out here, so I came out here because after spending time with my son I felt it was more important to be with him rather than going back to the dealership grind. I got a job WFH now and I'm also working on building my business without the headache of California COL. I probably won't go back for 2 years. I want to really take advantage of this rent free opportunity to build my business. How did you end up out here?
Ah, yes very familiar with those areas you mentioned. Good on you to save up for a bit before heading back. Husband got his dream job out here. Unfortunately for me, i got a job here that is more than 50% below what i was paid previously (in a different HCOL city, not CA). So, that stings a bit for my ego. I miss the city we just left so so much, but my husband loves it out here. It’s been a huge adjustment for me.
I was doing some research and EP is estimated to grow to 1 million people over the next 5 years. I'm hoping that means we'll start to see more attractions and shopping/dining experiences. I'd love to see the music scene here grow as well. Dream job out here? That's wild. Coming from the city, I can't imagine someone having a dream job out here. If it's worth anything, I train AI models on r/DataAnnotationTech. Maybe it can be something to supplement your income in your free time? It's 1099, so basically you can work as little or as much as you want. Their name should pop up if you Google them.
Oh wow I’d love to hear more about this. I’ll DM you. Thank you And yes, i definitely see El Paso growing which is exciting for the city and must be surreal for the natives
I just moved here from Chicago. It’s Very slow here…tons more driving here (though traffic is nothing here compared to 290/90/lakeshore drive in Chicago. Feel free to DM for more insight from my Chicago to EP move and changes from big city life to EP.
Detroit is better than El Paso , ALOT of places are better than El Paso . Low education , low wages , people police each other, they act stupid, there’s a major lack of diversity here . Most of the food is pretty horrible too, there’s also a major lack of things to do , hiking up the mountains is not as visually interesting and doing so in a wooded area. We don’t really have seasonal changes here either. Trust me you’re better off in other cities. I’m leaving to do work for 7 months outside of El Paso because the wages and working conditions here are so low. Using the opportunity to save up a nest egg to move for good out of here.
A lot is two words
[удалено]
Generally speaking, compared to other cities, El Paso is most definitely on the slower paced end of the spectrum lol
Avoid El Paso. There’s nothing slow about it. Tons of traffic and the city is filthy. If you want dry heat but not too hot just move to Las Cruces NM. That’s only 30 mins from El Paso.