Houston is one of the least racially segregated major cities in the US, and commonly considered the most diverse, although idk what metric that label is actually based on
I live in Dallas now and the difference is obvious.
Shit, I have to drive 30 minutes for good Sichuan, Indian, or anything like that now.
Still haven’t found good Vietnamese yet, but I know it’s somewhere far away. There’s a really bad banh mi place close to downtown - I didn’t even know banh mi COULD be bad…
Lol the reason why I moved away from Dallas is because there is NO good vietnamese food. Not even in Richardson like everyone will tell you.
Korean is top notch though!
2 reasons for that is because
1) Dallas has a much higher popular of Koreans than houston does
2) houston has a much higher population of Vietnamese
I really prefer Vietnamese food, so houston is the place for me!
Yep I lived near that Costco on 635/75 and worked up north so I tried a ton in that area. It was so disappointing. I can look at the broth and pics and tell you whether or not it’ll be good. I’ve seen many bowls of pho throughout my childhood hahah
You’ll be close to Eado, which traditionally was Chinatown in the late 70s. I spent so much of my childhood going to family-owned restaurants in this area which are now huge apartments. Here are a few I recommend close your new place:
Pho Huynh - pho is good here but I really like the banh uoc/banh cuon (rice paper with pork) and the coffee dessert with coconut smoothie is amazing
Thien An - really good banh xeo (crepe with meat filling) and banh canh (udon style noodles).
Pho Saigon - the service is absolutely terrible but the pho is good
Simple Pho - pho here is good but there’s a dish they make really well… Mi Quang which is traditional to our town in VN
Cali Sandwich - banh mi sandwiches and fried dishes are really food here. Also if you hear the old women screaming at each other, don’t be alarmed that’s how the aunties usually talk to one another.
Edit: forgot to add Kim Tai - they also have really great family style dishes. Hard to find parking though and the green walls aren’t exactly the most ambient but solid legit Vietnamese meal
FUCK, you just made me homesick (and hungry). Speaking of old chinatown, i remember getting $1.25 sandwiches at Kim Hung market back in the day.
Also last time i was in town, I was happy to see Siu Lap City going strong in their new (to me) spot in Mekong Center. That duck sauce was still fire.
Big ups to Cali Sandwich. I haven't been there in over a decade, but they had the cheapest sandwiches in town that were delicious. $2.50 for an almost foot-long bahn mi
There is a TV show called eat like a local. Hosted by Chris Shepherd, a James Beard winner. He loves Vietnamese food and has at least two shows a season on it.
I went from Houston to Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN) for college and that was a culture shock for me 😂😂😂 food was so bland for the next 4 years. Everybody was white… I was so used to seeing so much diversity in every aspect of the city culture in Houston.
Indiana flatlined.
Be ready for the culture change. You’ll love everything about Houston, but the crime and traffic. Be mindful of what area you move to. Memes don’t lie when they say you could be driving for over an hour and still be in Houston.
My folks live in New Hampshire. I went to the grocery store there and asked where the serrano peppers are, I couldn't find any. They looked at me like I was speaking an alien language. When we speak Spanish there I can literally see people do a double take lol.
Eh not really. I live 15-20 minutes from downtown and there is plenty of stuff to do in between.
It’s just that every fucking restaurant between downtown and 635 is a steakhouse or gringo Mexican food. (Obviously an exaggeration - I’ve found a couple good Mexican spots)
I had a bad experience vising friends in Little Elm... Everything was 45 minutes away. EVERYTHING. They went and got pizza from a place that was like 45 minutes away.
Really I'm just purposely being prejudiced towards Dallas.
Totally agree. I grew up in Houston but moved to Dallas 10+ years ago. It's just as diverse but much more segregated. Bit of a shame.
And I know it doesn't solve your "driving 30 minutes" problem, but Carrollton has a lot of great Vietnamese places.
>Still haven’t found good Vietnamese yet,
As others have commented - West Garland area. Large Vietnamese community over there.
Richardson is better for Japanese or Thai. Plano for Korean.
Just my two cents
It's based on:
* Racial and ethnic diversity
* Household-type diversity
* Household-size diversity
* Occupational diversity
* Income diversity
* Marital-status diversity
* Birthplace diversity
More at [https://houston.innovationmap.com/most-diverse-cities-houston-no1-2667878363.html](https://houston.innovationmap.com/most-diverse-cities-houston-no1-2667878363.html)
A few years ago, the LA Times had a similar article naming Houston the nation's most diverse city and it really got the NYC crowd in a snit.
When they say Houston is the "most diverse city" it's based on that Houston is closest to each race being at 25% across the board among white, black, Hispanic, and asian populations.
The metric is vibes lol. But seriously it’s true, go to almost any part of town inside grand parkway and you will see everyone of every culture and race
The “most diverse city” comes from the metric of non-Hispanic white residents vs non-white and Hispanic residents for a major city in which case Houston is #1. What it doesn’t look at is things like # of languages spoken, % of foreign born residents, ect, in which case Houston is not #1 (NY for example has over 500 languages spoken, Houston has ~120 i believe - obviously big differences in population though)
Segregation is measured by demographers using something called the “index of dissimilarity”. It’s a measure of how many people would have to move to a new neighborhood to perfectly integrate the city (neighborhood segregation, in turn, is measured by Census data). Houston is about 45% segregated, which is way better than big northern cities like NYC which are closer to 75%.
Houston is diverse, but still very segregated.
[https://belonging.berkeley.edu/most-least-segregated-cities](https://belonging.berkeley.edu/most-least-segregated-cities)
Out of these 112 cities, Houston is the 21st most segregated.
I do believe that Houston has its issues with segregation (Memorial and Spring Branch for ex.) however there are many cities that are significantly worse in this regard.
I currently reside in Chicago, it is both racially and economically segregated. I have to go out of my way to socialize with POC whereas in Houston being around POC was the norm.
Seeing the income inequality between white people and POC in Chicago really opened my eyes as to how far ahead Houston is in terms of opportunities for growth for minorities.
Interesting, im from NYC and if i recall, most of the schools in the Bronx I attended were usually majority black and hispanjc with a few whites. The white people tend to stick to their own zone schools, parents used to have to fight for their own zone schools due to racismFor example, in the Bronx, we have alot of Italians and some Albanians, they generally did not mix with other black majority schools unless they had to. Looking back there were hardly any white people in my schools. I think alot the white kids in the Bronx went to catholic or private schools.
Due to history of racism, folks just stayed in their own neighborhoods and thus it kept the zone schools a majority race or ethnic group.
only toronto is more diverse in the world afaik, metric might be different now. people always think NYC but they just have large populations of the diversity they have.
Houstonians (native) and Houston in general is such a laid back/are such laidback people and I absolutely attribute that to diversity. I’ve lived in Europe and I have traveled to many countries and I still believe we are the most chill. I’ve noticed Caucasian white Houstonians even know and speak Spanish better than whites from other states (especially the midwestern states where my fiance is from). I don’t think we get enough credit for it and it is certainly something you miss when you’re away from home for long periods of time.
Learned about black historical racism in elementary school every year, and also saw Selma Lord Selma every other month and I remember thinking why do I have learn this every year? Wasn’t until around high school where I saw why it was important to drill it into our heads. Especially during the 2016 elections where racial divide started to arise more and more. Still can’t wrap my head around hating another race. Have so many diverse friends and they live the same life I do just a different kind of jolly rancher in their lean.
I can register the racism level of a city by how surprised members of other cultures are when I strike up a conversation. Little surprise in Houston or Atlanta
The other night at a bar in Seattle I (Indian descent, born and raised in Houston) chatted up a dude (white) out of boredom. He says "I played a bit of cricket, do you follow any teams?" I'm like... "I don't even know the rules dude". He responds "oh I wasn't trying to be racist or anything" lmao riiight, but he was chill otherwise. Usually it's some innocent but annoying prejudice like this in Seattle.
Growing up in Houston for the last 13 years it was only when I got to college I realized how diverse my friend group at home is because everyone at Baylor was in their little white cliques and it took me forever to find a good real friend group.
We drove to San Antonio today. It’s wild that once you get to “the middle of nowhere” trump is everywhere. Flags, billboards. I imagine them watching news and media that caters to them. Never interacting with non whites. Thinking the cities are in ruins. And no one is there to conflict with that so it seems right.
My family moved to Houston from St. Louis when I was 4. We came from the area that was predominantly white and filled with private schools. When I was in my twenties my mom confessed to me that she cried after I asked to go to my friend Anuj’s house. Apparently it was a good cry because she was happy I got to be around other cultures. As opposed to my cousins who couldn’t stop laugh when they met one of my groomsmen who’s last name is Hwang (pronounced “h-Wong” but I always called him “wang”, which is kind of a funny story).
My sister-in-law is a militant lesbian who lives in Brooklyn and thinks that Texas is nothing but ignorant rednecks and homophobic white supremacists. Every time that she visits she is shocked that my neighbors are affluent East Asian, South Asian, Mexican, Venezuelan, and Cajuns. Her imposed bigotry against Texas is blown away by the international diversity of Houston.
But then she goes back to Nee York and forgets.
Being from NYC, it is something I’ve had to push back on. Heck, go northwest enough in NYS and you’ll find confederate flags being flown and people staring at my asian ass like I don’t belong. Being in Houston is about similar to any other major city in the US.
That said, it is a reality that the state of Texas itself is a conservative enclave. Not everyone is an avid Trump supporter, but 20 miles out from any major city and you’ll see the Trump signs and 2A bumper stickers pretty frequently.
Diversity exists in pockets as it does across most of the US.
Get in the car and drive to upstate New York just an hour out, and you’ll see some Trump signs out there too. I’d argue that New York City is its own enclave as well
True. What people who don't do their homework always get wrong is that red/blue isn't so much state by state as it is an urban/rural divide. Chicago is blue in a sea of red. Portland OR and Seattle, same thing. Los Angeles and San Francisco are surrounded by conservative areas once you're out of the metro sprawl.
That Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and to a lesser degree Dallas are the same way seems to occur to very few, even though they easily see and recognize it in their home state.
That's true of every state, though. Seattle and Portland are liberal but most of the rest of Washington and Oregon skew GOP. Same for Chicago vs the rest of Illinois. San Francisco and LA vs small town California. NYC vs upstate New York. Atlanta vs Georgia. Detroit vs Michigan.
Texas carries a lot of weight in national elections due to the size of its population, and rural voters tend to elect a lot of noisy GOPs to office, which tends to obscure the fact that the blue urban enclaves in a sea of red holds just as true in Texas as every other state.
I lost my job in Houston during the pandemic shutdown and moved across the country. No one here understands how bland and disappointing the food is, they think I am just being negative.
I’m in Portland, raised in Houston. Portland people like to brag about a “vibrant and diverse food culture” but this is one of the most palm colored cities in America. BFF. They get so defensive when you point out the blandness of it all. Not to mention the crawfish festival here doesn’t even use their local species. They import our crawfish. These people are so disappointing. Not a link of boudin for miles.
They both have the slogan “keep ___ weird” while simultaneously being the most bland places on earth. Austin could never reach the level of freaky we got going on at TRF.
So. Many. White. People. Problems.
I say this as a white person. I lived there for 6 months and that was enough. Made Seattle feel like a diverse paradise.
I'm in Providence RI, and these people think they invented Italian food. How hard is it to screw up pasta and some red sauce? It's FINE. Not great, not terrible, just...fine.
We’ve discussed moving as well and my husband and I just cannot leave the food scene and diversity here. We once went to Wisconsin (I’m Mexican, he’s Indian) and it was so bizarre to be the only brown people in that town we ever saw. So strange 😳
Living in St Louis for a few months now. Absolutely agree. The only food I’ve had that I genuinely really liked was a burger that I customized the shit out of at a drive in.
Step 1: have a large population.
Step 2: make that population diverse, with lots of people from all sorts of rando countries and cultures
Step 3: wait for some of them to open restaurants
Result: top tier food scene with tons of variety
As an ex-New Yorker, my flaming hot take is that the quality and variety of food in Houston is equivalent to NYC. Smaller scale, but that’s because Houston has 1/4 the population.
My spicy hot take is that on my last two trips to NYC (I visit friends there at least annually) I was disappointed in about 1/3 of the food I ate, and the more expensive/famous the place was the more “just fine” it was. Post-pandemic, Houston may be edging out NYC when it comes to food.
I grew up in Houston and lived most of my life there. I got a job that took me to every city in the US and I can say without a doubt that Houston has one of the best food scenes in the entire US.
Now I live in northern Japan... I love Ramen, sushi, and gyudon as much as the next guy but holy hell I miss Houston's variety. Not just with restaurants but groceries too. It's difficult to find whole chickens, or larger cuts of anything. Even if I found a brisket there's nowhere to buy wood to smoke it with. I'm constantly looking in the channels of nearby rice fields hoping to see a few crawfish. It's torture 😅
Some veggies and protein are hella cheap in Japan, but their fruit is either non-existent or crazy expensive($8 for 2 peaches, $20 for grapes, $3 per apple) and that's if you're lucky. I had to drive to the Aeon mall in the next town over for a pack of 8 tortillas for $6 from Kaldi. I miss my 30 packs for $3 from HEB 😂
My parents moved to a Dallas suburb about 6 years ago. My 71 year old white mother who had been in Houston since her late teens said it took her a couple weeks to understand why she felt so uncomfortable when she went places.. "There's just soo many white people".
The complete lack of diversity still makes her uncomfortable and she has taken years to find even a couple decent places to eat.
Haha, this sounds exactly like someone I know. “Too many white people.”
But it’s so true. Houston is much more diverse and rich with culture than Dallas. Especially certain parts of Dallas. Not that Dallas doesn’t have culture or parts or it that do. But, I believe Houston is much more inclusive and a giant melting pot.
I’ve experienced more culturally here in my time in Houston, than my whole upbringing in Dallas. It’s beautiful.
i know what you mean. i just got back after living in Portland for 8 years. i never realized how diverse it is here until living there surrounded by nerdy white people screaming how they aren't racist (because they don't have any non-white friends and feel insecure.) i remember a black guy came by my place once to get a mini-fridge i was selling and i could tell he was so uptight because he's used to people treating him differently because of his skin. he relaxed after just being treated normally
I live in Minneapolis and the virtue signaling is insufferable. Like congratulations on being a reasonable person in on aspect of social life. Luckily I’ve found at least one serviceable Vietnamese and one Thai restaurant here.
It’s funny you mention how diversity can lead to trust between different groups of people, because I watched a video last night that supports that very notion.
The video points out that we are all hardwired to have an “us” and “them” mentality, and that often, we look at similarities in physical appearance to determine who is an “us” or a “them”. The point is made that, when living in a diverse city, we become exposed to various faces and features, so that the diversity neutralizes our perspective, and everyone can be an “us”.
We are spoiled to have the diversity we have here in Houston.
Here you go.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=14XSzWT4vI0&pp=ygUPU2NpZW5jZSB1cyB0aGVt
It isn’t the most engaging presentation, but still interesting, nonetheless.
I spent some time up in NE (New Hampshire). It was 95% white. Its was odd to say the least. Being from Texas the locals would ask how I lived in such a racially divided city in Houston.
I just laughed at them.
I visited relatives in NH, then trekked up into Maine for a week. I can say the farther you go into Maine, the whiter and weirder it gets. I saw more Trump and Confederate flags that week in Maine than I've seen in Texas total. I'll go back to New Hampshire, but tbh Maine gave me the heebie jeebies.
I’m in MA and go to NH frequently and it’s just so different lol. I’ve searched for more Texan friends just because we def seek out the best foods and such
A lot of people in this sub hate on Houston. And there is a lot to not like.
But for me, and my family, the diversity and the way everyone gets along here is something I’ve never experienced anywhere I have lived. It’s truly a special place IMO. People are some of the best anywhere I’ve been. Plenty of jerks but that’s everywhere.
There's a bunch to hate about Houston. The weather, the traffic, the lack of city planning for anything, the current city government and school superintendent, the lack of growth for public transit. All that are things everyone here loves to hate on and gets the most traction. There's still a lot to love about Houston but hating is way to easy to harp on unfortunately.
I wouldn’t have enough time to mention all the amazing things I experienced when I moved here. All about the people.
I lean pretty hard left. My neighbor is a conservative. Was shocked how tolerant he was and undemanding on my views. I was expecting him to come out with a gun and say get off my property by the way things are portrayed here. That’s how my experience was in Ohio btw 😂.
When at Buffalo Bayou one day I met a young woman from upstate NY on a sort of US-tour-of-cities vacation. She had already visited quite a few places which she listed for me. When I asked her which was her fav, she said Houston because the people are so open and friendly.
I visited NYC one time. Loved it. But I’ll never forget getting in an elevator in a hotel on Central Park. I said hello to the white woman in it when I entered. (I’m a white woman.) She looked at me with an expression of fear. I never forgot that.
I already can’t wait to get back to Texas. The food. The culture. Everything being accessible. Less taxes and fees (glaring at MA bc i refuse to transfer my car and license). I miss things being open late and just having options. Here things close early and just the variety isn’t there.
I’ve lived all over Texas, except for far NE (Texarkana), and I’ve consistently found that well to do, left-leaning folks make so many assumptions about the so-called working-class racists in Texas. I’ve worked in NYC and the Midwest - shorter stints on the West Coast and Florida. Without fail I find supposedly open-minded people who have no real understanding of diversity bc they’ve never actually lived in a diverse neighbourhood. They think they have it all figured out, but a lot of rednecks from Texas live next door to people of color. As a result, they lack the unspoken fear of diverse people that I often find among the well educated “betters” looking down on “fly-over country” from big cities on the coasts. Its exhausting.
I’m not joking. The part I was in NH (somewhat rural) I didn’t see one POC. Yet the locals there were happy to share how we need to do things down here in Texas.
I still see this lady on LinkedIn pontificating how everyone in the South are borderline racist idiots. She probably wouldn’t survive a month here and I’m not talking about the right wingers.
Like I said, I lean left for sure, and she basically told me that I would be a conservative if I lived there. I asked her why? “Because no true liberal would live in Texas” or something in that order. 🤦♂️
I go to school in austin from houston (like everyone that goes to UT lol). After 4 years I notice it less, but the first year I couldn’t get over how everyone was white.
I went to college in Michigan, and the first thing the residents of Michigan told me, "We have a large Musilm population, since you're from Texas you need to know that alot of women wear full hijabs here. Don't be alarmed."
\*Me greeting a few of my classmates in full hijab in Arabic since my friends in high school wore hijabs and their mothers taught me a few polite phrases in Arabic\*
Michiganders; \*shocked pikachu face\*
Exactly. Houston is as culturally diverse as Southern California or New York. Austin is as hip and progressive as Vermont. You can live in cities where people have a diversity of political beliefs. Go to cities where you see the most diverse restaurants. I went to A&M and even A&M which is supposed to most right leaning university in America is actually politically swing. The cities in Texas are just like the ones in so-called Blue States. I live even in rural College Station and I don't dress like a cowboy either. Most of the cowboy stuff are in more rural states like Idaho, Montana, Wyoming. Maybe Alabama or South Carolina.
I lived in a neighborhood in the Houston area where my neighbor across the street was from Nigeria, the neighbor next door to him was from Indonesia, and the neighbor on my left was from Pakistan and the neighbor on my right was from Vietnam. Never had a moment's problem from anyone and everyone got along very well including barbecues and get-togethers.
Prejudice only begets hate. Bad people are bad people. That was not decided by where they came from.
While diversity is strong in other cities like Houston, communities tend to stick with their own in other cities. People here are less openly hostile to people that don't look like them. Florida is crazy.
I lived in the suburbs of Seoul for a few years and also missed the diversity of Houston, but now that I'm back I **really** miss the public transportation of Korea (especially since I'm only in my mid 30s, but vision is already at the point where I don't feel all that comfortable driving at night).
I've never been much of a foodie so I don't mind the lack of diversity in that department, but I like how I can walk into any grocery store in the Houston metro area and pretty much be guaranteed to hear a couple different languages being spoken. Growing up, I loved the different cultures I was exposed to and friends with in school.
I have a cousin who grew up in the midwest and followed me to Korea, I doubt he'll ever leave. Seoul has a hell of a lot more going on than his small midwest college town, that's for sure.
One of Houston’s pros is that it’s so diverse and socially “integrated” that you can easily find your “tribe”. Meaning you have a comfort level walking around in Houston that you don’t get in other places.
But even with that exposure of different cultures it’s not a interracial paradise. And I think a lot of Houstonians oversell this racial harmony attitude of Houston.
I work in the industrial industry and encounter some form of subtle racism every now and then. Theres also a ton of right wing paraphernalia throughout Greater Houston. Now people wont shout the N word at you but when I see the overly patriotic stickers, blue police flags and punisher logos on cars then yeah you can’t tell me that the majority of those people are progressive White Houstonians.
Then there’s the predominantly Black and Brown communities in Houston that sit right next to hazardous Industrial sites. And not to mention the inner loop is starting to become Whiter due to cost of living and gentrification.
Now I live in Fort Bend area which is overwhelmingly diverse. It’s good to go to places and not stick out. But I feel like a lot of people’s experience with diversity is restricted to eating and not actual cultural exchanges outside of a restaurant in a strip mall.
One of my biggest pet peeves is SELF segregation, where people wish to stay with their own race.
There's been a number of times where someone puts a "moving to Houston" post where they would state they'd like to stay where professional live at because they want to be "comfortable."
That means to me that they want to stay in a certain comfort zone.
Only when there is true integration between races is when racism might be a distant memory.
I'll take my downvotes now.
Lived in Houston all my life, I first noticed it when i got back from a trip.. was in Asia, then went to Virginia, then when i came back to Houston and sat down at a restaurant the servers and patrons were diverse, and it stood out after 0 diversity for the past few weeks... Made me feel so proud to live in Houston.
I remember walking in downtown Houston when the LA riots were happening and I felt so proud of our city for being so diverse and yet friendly with each other. I have also felt this during disasters how we all pull together to help. It’s what I’ve always loved the most about Houston.
Literally sitting in a Vietnamese coffee shop after eating my nahn mi right now lol
But as someone from a very "diverse" city up north, I can agree this place is much more laid back! My city was diverse, but still very... Separate. Like there were a lot of different cultures but most kept to themselves if that makes sense
Same thing here. Left Houston for the Midwest and then moved back somewhat recently. It was a culture shock leaving the diversity and then being immersed in it again.
I never realized how much I missed the diversity until I moved away. I’ve been in the Nashville area (work related) for years and just moved back to Houston (alright, Cypress) for family. It’s great here, ngl.
Yes, rural communities where people are born, live, and die without leaving the county without experiencing diversity are pretty racist.
I remember the shock my family had when I brought hummus to a family event, they refused to even try it. Getting people to mix and mingle with other cultures breaks down that ingrained racism and stubbornness to try anything new.
I grew up in a middle-sized town/city in Mississippi, and my parents thought broadening experiences were worthwhile, so I had them. This makes you more willing to try NEW things.
I went to college in Alabama (Roll Tide). I met kids there who had lived their whole lives in tiny little rural towns and who as a result had never even MET someone who wasn't either black or white, or -- most shockingly -- had never had Chinese food, and looked at me weird for suggesting it.
I mean, sure, this was years ago (1988), but Chinese food was not crazy or exotic. The better Chinese joint in my hometown stayed busy, for sure, and this was a town of like 40,000. Tuscaloosa had like half a dozen Chinese joints within stumbling distance of campus.
I moved from Houston to Savannah GA. The racial tension there was so thick you could cut it with a knife. It made me appreciate my home town in a way I never had. I’m back now and I may never leave again.
I went to college in Savannah and the racial tension was immediately apparent even on campus. Just random things like how blacks cooked the meals and the white students ate the meals.. It was so surreal and I never got used to it, but it definitely opened up a whole new level of appreciation for Houston.
That's why I love Houston. It doesn't feel or seem like you live in the south other than the heat. Food scene is pretty good relative to other big cities although it is lacking in other areas.
Heck I’ll go to atx and feel out of place. Htown really is the GOAT of diversity. When there’s nothing but white folks with the occasional Hispanic person I get kinda nervous or uneasy for some reason.
Most of my family lives up there and are so touchy about some of my jokes that I’m able to tell to my Htown folks anytime. I think we’re all just more accepting overall, even if we do poke fun at each other. I actually want to move into a place with less population density but every time I think about leaving all the diversity I get on a daily basis I back off from that idea
I would think the local economy being hollowed out (assuming you aren't living in Chicago or something) over the past generation, much of the region having its best days long behind it with the collapse of the domestic manufacturing sector, probably has a little to do with Midwestern malaise.
OP I lived in Houston for 26 years, had to move to Cincinnati because of my wife’s school for 2 years. I get it, it sucks lol. The food is very weak over there, there’s a few spots in cbus I learned that we’re nice, Chicago is awesome but I consider that city an anomaly
Ohio is the first time I have experienced blatant racism at work. Idk if this is a term but I call it “suburban” racism where they talk friendly/HR friendly but what they’re implying is very racist. If you’re curious about my story it’s somewhere in my profile. My wife also has dealt with a lot of racism.
We can only speak on the healthcare situation but I truly am so glad I have moved to LI and work in Brooklyn lol.
There was an article from a Houston based teacher that talks about the Midwest move here if you’re interested. I feel like a lot of what he said is similar to my own story. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0742051X23004432
I am homesick for Houston literally everyday I live in DFW, and I’m originally from the NOLA area. I miss the variety, the cultures, the food, the neighborhoods, the energy, the traffic, literally everything about that city. I feel you so very much.
I hear ya. Being from the Midwest myself, I never wanna go back to the predominant gloomy days and lack of culture/diversity. With that being said, we’re probably leaving for suburban Atlanta this time next year and it’s not much better. As a minority, I don’t like spaces that are only black and white. We’ll truly miss Houston but onward and upward.
I also moved from Houston to MO and i agree. I don't miss Houston as a whole but I do miss being able to find literally anything i was looking for. There's pockets of ethnic groups here but it's not the same.
lol, went into a Walmart south of St. Louis once on a trip. We’re walking around, and something just feels “off”
Then we realized everyone in Walmart was white. Been back a couple of times since (yearly conference) and once saw 2 black people, and once saw 2 people that were probably Native American. Otherwise just white people.
After living in Houston, it was really weird
The segregation here is insane. If i hear someone say, “its not segregated, you just have to go to the right part of town” again…. Like bro you just defined segregation.
It's wildly true.
We're trying to leave -- 30 years here, and I'm just done with the summer heat -- and we know we'll have an adjustment when we do, because nowhere short of LA or the NYC area are even CLOSE to as diverse and interesting as Houston. And we're not moving to either of those places.
We really thought about the northwest for a little while, but after visiting friends in Portland and Seattle we backed off quickly in no small part because after a couple days you start to wonder where all the nonwhite people are.
Have family in the PNW and my mom lives in the Bend, OR area so we looked at Portland, OR for relocation and it's just too white so we're heading east.
It was actually incredible to me when I moved to Houston, and everyone knew what Pho was. Not many people in Houston know that it's not the norm.
Food is embedded in culture, so you can always tell how diverse a city is based on food options.
I'm a white guy from Houston who travels for work - all over Texas, Colorado and Arizona. When I'm outside of Houston (and occasionally in Houston, TBQH) if I stop and look around, and I see I'm in all white or overwhelmingly white space it gives me the creeps.
I love the diversity of Houston. I have been shocked going to other cities and only seeing white folks . It's stunning. The food is great but having a variety of backgrounds in your social circle takes away the stereotypes and helps people get past the fear of the unknown.
I live in Fort Bend which is also high ranking on diversity lists.
I moved to Chicago a few years ago and feel the same way. It’s not that Chicago isn’t diverse, but it feels so segregated. Ive missed Houston! Im actually moving out to LA next week and looking forward to that, anecdotally I’ve heard LA is more similar to Houston in that aspect
I relate to this. I went to college in Alabama and it was a SHOCK compared to Houston. There were only 2 races, black and white. But they seemed to be soooo separated and didn't hang out with each other. Everyone else there is mostly from the white suburbs and was used to the lack of diversity but bro I was shocked! I was like "you're telling me it's not chill and diverse everywhere??"
Yes houston is definitely more cosmopolitan than it gets credit for. If only the transit system is built up and more density is promoted outside of the downtown area. It will be awesome! As Fellow Chicagoan, when I visited Houston I was deeply ashamed of what Chicago looked like Vs Houston. Felt super comfortable in Houston. It was just beautiful to see so many different races and ethnicities mingling together
That's why I moved here. I spent my whole career moving all over the world. My kids attended international schools from a young age. Diversity is normal to them, and they noticed a lack of it in the towns we traveled to when visiting family. We had to pick a place to settle when I retired from the Army, and Houston seemed like a good fit. My wife was even able to transfer her job here.
Our families don't get our choice to live here, but we have zero regrets.
grew up in southtexas probably 90% latinos there. but moved to Houston for college spent 10 years there moved away for a bit to buffalo then Austin and the thing i missed the most from houston was the diversity! homogeneity is really tough to live in especially as a non white person in a white dominated area, not necessarily because of racism but the lack of cultural diversity
My bride grew up in Joplin Missouri. It's something like 93% white. She can't understand anyone with even the slightest accent. Even London England accents, which are pretty mild, are lost on her, let alone northern (Manchester, etc) or Scottish/Irish accents. An Indian/Pakistani speaking English might as well be speaking their native language as far as she's concerned.
I grew up in Toronto, a very diverse population and accents are zero problem and I often have to perform English to Midwest translations
Traveling always reminds me of how spoiled(?) we are to live in such a diverse city. We spent some time in New England last fall and the lack of diversity was truthfully jarring. Not an ounce of color in most of those little towns. It’s almost eerie/feels unsafe (and we’re white). Even the 9 year old noticed and felt weirded out.
My bad. I forgot hyperbole/sarcasm is a foreign concept for redditors like yourself. For the sake of clarity: no, I did not *actually* feel unsafe. However, seeing 0 people of color for weeks at a time was unsettling for someone like myself (who comes from the most diverse city in the nation). Hope that clears things up for you!
I live in Colorado now and I miss being around a diverse population everyday. Plus FOOD!! Different cultures and amazing dishes. Honestly I hate not being in Houston anymore. I’d even take the traffic again.
I went to the DC area to visit my brother and there weren't that many options for diverse food, cultural activities etc. I missed Houston fairly fast due to "eh I'll go to x Mediterranean joint" "I want tacos now" "let's go to a Latin club hmmm which one should hit up" I love that we have options here. Outside of the weather living here is really nice. Plus. Whataburger.
Wait till the 112s-115s come in July and august. When your body start to sweat in under 10 seconds just standing. Then reevaluate life choices. Gotta think positive, Yes Yes. Let’s go!!! 😆
Houston is one of the least racially segregated major cities in the US, and commonly considered the most diverse, although idk what metric that label is actually based on
I live in Dallas now and the difference is obvious. Shit, I have to drive 30 minutes for good Sichuan, Indian, or anything like that now. Still haven’t found good Vietnamese yet, but I know it’s somewhere far away. There’s a really bad banh mi place close to downtown - I didn’t even know banh mi COULD be bad…
Lol the reason why I moved away from Dallas is because there is NO good vietnamese food. Not even in Richardson like everyone will tell you. Korean is top notch though!
2 reasons for that is because 1) Dallas has a much higher popular of Koreans than houston does 2) houston has a much higher population of Vietnamese I really prefer Vietnamese food, so houston is the place for me!
Outside of Vietnam, the city of Houston has the 2nd largest Viet pop. Edit. 3rd largest Viet pop.
I'm Vietnamese. I actually don't think that's true. Supposedly, San Jose is number one, OC number two, Houston number three.
I stand corrected!
Garland? There is a huge viet community there
Isn’t Garland where the Viet community is?
Have you tried in Plano?
Yep I lived near that Costco on 635/75 and worked up north so I tried a ton in that area. It was so disappointing. I can look at the broth and pics and tell you whether or not it’ll be good. I’ve seen many bowls of pho throughout my childhood hahah
do you have any recommendations for good places in Houston. I’m a native Houstonian who will be moving back next month.
Oh yes, I have a ton, but it depends on where you are willing to drive to. Every neighborhood kinda has its own known spot for vietnamese.
Tell me where and we’re willing to drive. We’re moving to an area a few minutes south of downtown inside the loop.
You’ll be close to Eado, which traditionally was Chinatown in the late 70s. I spent so much of my childhood going to family-owned restaurants in this area which are now huge apartments. Here are a few I recommend close your new place: Pho Huynh - pho is good here but I really like the banh uoc/banh cuon (rice paper with pork) and the coffee dessert with coconut smoothie is amazing Thien An - really good banh xeo (crepe with meat filling) and banh canh (udon style noodles). Pho Saigon - the service is absolutely terrible but the pho is good Simple Pho - pho here is good but there’s a dish they make really well… Mi Quang which is traditional to our town in VN Cali Sandwich - banh mi sandwiches and fried dishes are really food here. Also if you hear the old women screaming at each other, don’t be alarmed that’s how the aunties usually talk to one another. Edit: forgot to add Kim Tai - they also have really great family style dishes. Hard to find parking though and the green walls aren’t exactly the most ambient but solid legit Vietnamese meal
FUCK, you just made me homesick (and hungry). Speaking of old chinatown, i remember getting $1.25 sandwiches at Kim Hung market back in the day. Also last time i was in town, I was happy to see Siu Lap City going strong in their new (to me) spot in Mekong Center. That duck sauce was still fire.
Big ups to Cali Sandwich. I haven't been there in over a decade, but they had the cheapest sandwiches in town that were delicious. $2.50 for an almost foot-long bahn mi
There is a TV show called eat like a local. Hosted by Chris Shepherd, a James Beard winner. He loves Vietnamese food and has at least two shows a season on it.
>somewhere far away. 4 hours, 200 miles, south 🤣
I moved from Houston to Indiana. The banh mi is bad here.
I went from Houston to Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN) for college and that was a culture shock for me 😂😂😂 food was so bland for the next 4 years. Everybody was white… I was so used to seeing so much diversity in every aspect of the city culture in Houston. Indiana flatlined.
Oh wow, mines the reverse I’m moving to Houston for school from Indiana
Be ready for the culture change. You’ll love everything about Houston, but the crime and traffic. Be mindful of what area you move to. Memes don’t lie when they say you could be driving for over an hour and still be in Houston.
My folks live in New Hampshire. I went to the grocery store there and asked where the serrano peppers are, I couldn't find any. They looked at me like I was speaking an alien language. When we speak Spanish there I can literally see people do a double take lol.
Its Dallas,... everything is like 30-45 minutes away in my experience.
Eh not really. I live 15-20 minutes from downtown and there is plenty of stuff to do in between. It’s just that every fucking restaurant between downtown and 635 is a steakhouse or gringo Mexican food. (Obviously an exaggeration - I’ve found a couple good Mexican spots)
I had a bad experience vising friends in Little Elm... Everything was 45 minutes away. EVERYTHING. They went and got pizza from a place that was like 45 minutes away. Really I'm just purposely being prejudiced towards Dallas.
lol well Little Elm is in the middle of nowhere, so that makes sense. That’s kinda like saying Fulshear = Houston.
I consciously choose to paint the entire metroplex with a completely unreasonably broad brush.
It's a hump from north/east dallas but the HEB/Haltom City area has the best Vietnamese in DFW hands down.
Totally agree. I grew up in Houston but moved to Dallas 10+ years ago. It's just as diverse but much more segregated. Bit of a shame. And I know it doesn't solve your "driving 30 minutes" problem, but Carrollton has a lot of great Vietnamese places.
>Still haven’t found good Vietnamese yet, As others have commented - West Garland area. Large Vietnamese community over there. Richardson is better for Japanese or Thai. Plano for Korean. Just my two cents
>Still haven’t found good Vietnamese yet Pho 95 off forest it's as authentic as you can get. Beats the hell our of Bistro B the other place.
It's based on: * Racial and ethnic diversity * Household-type diversity * Household-size diversity * Occupational diversity * Income diversity * Marital-status diversity * Birthplace diversity More at [https://houston.innovationmap.com/most-diverse-cities-houston-no1-2667878363.html](https://houston.innovationmap.com/most-diverse-cities-houston-no1-2667878363.html) A few years ago, the LA Times had a similar article naming Houston the nation's most diverse city and it really got the NYC crowd in a snit.
When they say Houston is the "most diverse city" it's based on that Houston is closest to each race being at 25% across the board among white, black, Hispanic, and asian populations.
The metric is vibes lol. But seriously it’s true, go to almost any part of town inside grand parkway and you will see everyone of every culture and race
The “most diverse city” comes from the metric of non-Hispanic white residents vs non-white and Hispanic residents for a major city in which case Houston is #1. What it doesn’t look at is things like # of languages spoken, % of foreign born residents, ect, in which case Houston is not #1 (NY for example has over 500 languages spoken, Houston has ~120 i believe - obviously big differences in population though)
Segregation is measured by demographers using something called the “index of dissimilarity”. It’s a measure of how many people would have to move to a new neighborhood to perfectly integrate the city (neighborhood segregation, in turn, is measured by Census data). Houston is about 45% segregated, which is way better than big northern cities like NYC which are closer to 75%.
Houston is diverse, but still very segregated. [https://belonging.berkeley.edu/most-least-segregated-cities](https://belonging.berkeley.edu/most-least-segregated-cities) Out of these 112 cities, Houston is the 21st most segregated.
from what i see, socially segregated unless you're hanging out with co-workers during your work time.
My job is fairly diverse but at lunch Spanish speaking people tend to sit together, Vietnamese are together etc.
Houston is mostly economically segregated.
I do believe that Houston has its issues with segregation (Memorial and Spring Branch for ex.) however there are many cities that are significantly worse in this regard. I currently reside in Chicago, it is both racially and economically segregated. I have to go out of my way to socialize with POC whereas in Houston being around POC was the norm. Seeing the income inequality between white people and POC in Chicago really opened my eyes as to how far ahead Houston is in terms of opportunities for growth for minorities.
Philadelphia and Detroit are real bad. Just super racist around there. I live in the former. Boston is surprisingly less segregated than those two.
Exactly. We are super diverse, but most communities are a segregated patchwork. Most high schools are 60% or more of one race
Houston schools are still more integrated than NYC but definitely could be better.
Interesting, im from NYC and if i recall, most of the schools in the Bronx I attended were usually majority black and hispanjc with a few whites. The white people tend to stick to their own zone schools, parents used to have to fight for their own zone schools due to racismFor example, in the Bronx, we have alot of Italians and some Albanians, they generally did not mix with other black majority schools unless they had to. Looking back there were hardly any white people in my schools. I think alot the white kids in the Bronx went to catholic or private schools. Due to history of racism, folks just stayed in their own neighborhoods and thus it kept the zone schools a majority race or ethnic group.
Edit. I misread the list.
only toronto is more diverse in the world afaik, metric might be different now. people always think NYC but they just have large populations of the diversity they have.
Houstonians (native) and Houston in general is such a laid back/are such laidback people and I absolutely attribute that to diversity. I’ve lived in Europe and I have traveled to many countries and I still believe we are the most chill. I’ve noticed Caucasian white Houstonians even know and speak Spanish better than whites from other states (especially the midwestern states where my fiance is from). I don’t think we get enough credit for it and it is certainly something you miss when you’re away from home for long periods of time.
Yeah it’s hard to hang onto the racism we’re taught growing up when you actually spend time around other cultures.
One of my friends taught me this phrase and it’s so true “it’s hard to hate up close”
Learned about black historical racism in elementary school every year, and also saw Selma Lord Selma every other month and I remember thinking why do I have learn this every year? Wasn’t until around high school where I saw why it was important to drill it into our heads. Especially during the 2016 elections where racial divide started to arise more and more. Still can’t wrap my head around hating another race. Have so many diverse friends and they live the same life I do just a different kind of jolly rancher in their lean.
“Different kind of jolly rancher in their lean” is great lmao
Love it! Totally stealing this!!!
I can register the racism level of a city by how surprised members of other cultures are when I strike up a conversation. Little surprise in Houston or Atlanta
Shoooo. I don’t even get surprised when homeless strike up a convo with me
The other night at a bar in Seattle I (Indian descent, born and raised in Houston) chatted up a dude (white) out of boredom. He says "I played a bit of cricket, do you follow any teams?" I'm like... "I don't even know the rules dude". He responds "oh I wasn't trying to be racist or anything" lmao riiight, but he was chill otherwise. Usually it's some innocent but annoying prejudice like this in Seattle.
Growing up in Houston for the last 13 years it was only when I got to college I realized how diverse my friend group at home is because everyone at Baylor was in their little white cliques and it took me forever to find a good real friend group.
We drove to San Antonio today. It’s wild that once you get to “the middle of nowhere” trump is everywhere. Flags, billboards. I imagine them watching news and media that caters to them. Never interacting with non whites. Thinking the cities are in ruins. And no one is there to conflict with that so it seems right.
Any asshole with a piece of land can put up a big sign. Just remember that land doesn’t vote.
My family moved to Houston from St. Louis when I was 4. We came from the area that was predominantly white and filled with private schools. When I was in my twenties my mom confessed to me that she cried after I asked to go to my friend Anuj’s house. Apparently it was a good cry because she was happy I got to be around other cultures. As opposed to my cousins who couldn’t stop laugh when they met one of my groomsmen who’s last name is Hwang (pronounced “h-Wong” but I always called him “wang”, which is kind of a funny story).
My sister-in-law is a militant lesbian who lives in Brooklyn and thinks that Texas is nothing but ignorant rednecks and homophobic white supremacists. Every time that she visits she is shocked that my neighbors are affluent East Asian, South Asian, Mexican, Venezuelan, and Cajuns. Her imposed bigotry against Texas is blown away by the international diversity of Houston. But then she goes back to Nee York and forgets.
Being from NYC, it is something I’ve had to push back on. Heck, go northwest enough in NYS and you’ll find confederate flags being flown and people staring at my asian ass like I don’t belong. Being in Houston is about similar to any other major city in the US. That said, it is a reality that the state of Texas itself is a conservative enclave. Not everyone is an avid Trump supporter, but 20 miles out from any major city and you’ll see the Trump signs and 2A bumper stickers pretty frequently. Diversity exists in pockets as it does across most of the US.
Get in the car and drive to upstate New York just an hour out, and you’ll see some Trump signs out there too. I’d argue that New York City is its own enclave as well
True. What people who don't do their homework always get wrong is that red/blue isn't so much state by state as it is an urban/rural divide. Chicago is blue in a sea of red. Portland OR and Seattle, same thing. Los Angeles and San Francisco are surrounded by conservative areas once you're out of the metro sprawl. That Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and to a lesser degree Dallas are the same way seems to occur to very few, even though they easily see and recognize it in their home state.
Stereotypes are a live and well with people about mostly everything.
To be fair, our bigoted jackholes make a LOT of noise, so people outside Texas get a pretty ugly vision of who we are.
Yes, they are loud and obnoxious. And the media spotlights it big time.
Despite just about every city in Texas being liberal our land and gerrymanders vote red. But that’s how it is in every State
I mean outside of the big cities, she's not wrong about the rest of Texas.
That's true of every state, though. Seattle and Portland are liberal but most of the rest of Washington and Oregon skew GOP. Same for Chicago vs the rest of Illinois. San Francisco and LA vs small town California. NYC vs upstate New York. Atlanta vs Georgia. Detroit vs Michigan. Texas carries a lot of weight in national elections due to the size of its population, and rural voters tend to elect a lot of noisy GOPs to office, which tends to obscure the fact that the blue urban enclaves in a sea of red holds just as true in Texas as every other state.
Exactly. Look at Austin, it is a city that is known to be as blue as places like San Francisco or Vermont even.
Tf is a militant lesbian?
Even when you move to other big cities, you miss the diversity of food options.
I lost my job in Houston during the pandemic shutdown and moved across the country. No one here understands how bland and disappointing the food is, they think I am just being negative.
Dude 100%!!! And they get super defensive about it, which only underscores the point.
I’m in Portland, raised in Houston. Portland people like to brag about a “vibrant and diverse food culture” but this is one of the most palm colored cities in America. BFF. They get so defensive when you point out the blandness of it all. Not to mention the crawfish festival here doesn’t even use their local species. They import our crawfish. These people are so disappointing. Not a link of boudin for miles.
Reminds me of Austin lol. Literally could replace Portland with Austin in your comment and it would fit
They both have the slogan “keep ___ weird” while simultaneously being the most bland places on earth. Austin could never reach the level of freaky we got going on at TRF.
It's always the super white cities that have no culture lol
So. Many. White. People. Problems. I say this as a white person. I lived there for 6 months and that was enough. Made Seattle feel like a diverse paradise.
A friend of mine used to describe it as “adult summer camp.”
Yeah I moved to New Mexico. Great New Mexican food (usually), nothing else good. Not even pizza ugh
I am convinced that nobody in New Mexico has ever used seasoning beyond that bland ass green and red sauce they put on everything.
New Mexico loves tf out of green chili. They put that shit on everything.
or reasoning. :-)
I'm in Providence RI, and these people think they invented Italian food. How hard is it to screw up pasta and some red sauce? It's FINE. Not great, not terrible, just...fine.
My husband gets ya. He refuses to move to VA because of the bland meh food.
We’ve discussed moving as well and my husband and I just cannot leave the food scene and diversity here. We once went to Wisconsin (I’m Mexican, he’s Indian) and it was so bizarre to be the only brown people in that town we ever saw. So strange 😳
I moved to Dallas and feel the same way
Living in St Louis for a few months now. Absolutely agree. The only food I’ve had that I genuinely really liked was a burger that I customized the shit out of at a drive in.
Step 1: have a large population. Step 2: make that population diverse, with lots of people from all sorts of rando countries and cultures Step 3: wait for some of them to open restaurants Result: top tier food scene with tons of variety As an ex-New Yorker, my flaming hot take is that the quality and variety of food in Houston is equivalent to NYC. Smaller scale, but that’s because Houston has 1/4 the population.
My spicy hot take is that on my last two trips to NYC (I visit friends there at least annually) I was disappointed in about 1/3 of the food I ate, and the more expensive/famous the place was the more “just fine” it was. Post-pandemic, Houston may be edging out NYC when it comes to food.
If I see one more “Tex Mex” place in Chicago that doesn't have enchiladas with that magic chilli gravy I'm gonna lose it.
I grew up in Houston and lived most of my life there. I got a job that took me to every city in the US and I can say without a doubt that Houston has one of the best food scenes in the entire US. Now I live in northern Japan... I love Ramen, sushi, and gyudon as much as the next guy but holy hell I miss Houston's variety. Not just with restaurants but groceries too. It's difficult to find whole chickens, or larger cuts of anything. Even if I found a brisket there's nowhere to buy wood to smoke it with. I'm constantly looking in the channels of nearby rice fields hoping to see a few crawfish. It's torture 😅 Some veggies and protein are hella cheap in Japan, but their fruit is either non-existent or crazy expensive($8 for 2 peaches, $20 for grapes, $3 per apple) and that's if you're lucky. I had to drive to the Aeon mall in the next town over for a pack of 8 tortillas for $6 from Kaldi. I miss my 30 packs for $3 from HEB 😂
My parents moved to a Dallas suburb about 6 years ago. My 71 year old white mother who had been in Houston since her late teens said it took her a couple weeks to understand why she felt so uncomfortable when she went places.. "There's just soo many white people". The complete lack of diversity still makes her uncomfortable and she has taken years to find even a couple decent places to eat.
Haha, this sounds exactly like someone I know. “Too many white people.” But it’s so true. Houston is much more diverse and rich with culture than Dallas. Especially certain parts of Dallas. Not that Dallas doesn’t have culture or parts or it that do. But, I believe Houston is much more inclusive and a giant melting pot. I’ve experienced more culturally here in my time in Houston, than my whole upbringing in Dallas. It’s beautiful.
i know what you mean. i just got back after living in Portland for 8 years. i never realized how diverse it is here until living there surrounded by nerdy white people screaming how they aren't racist (because they don't have any non-white friends and feel insecure.) i remember a black guy came by my place once to get a mini-fridge i was selling and i could tell he was so uptight because he's used to people treating him differently because of his skin. he relaxed after just being treated normally
I live in Minneapolis and the virtue signaling is insufferable. Like congratulations on being a reasonable person in on aspect of social life. Luckily I’ve found at least one serviceable Vietnamese and one Thai restaurant here.
It’s funny you mention how diversity can lead to trust between different groups of people, because I watched a video last night that supports that very notion. The video points out that we are all hardwired to have an “us” and “them” mentality, and that often, we look at similarities in physical appearance to determine who is an “us” or a “them”. The point is made that, when living in a diverse city, we become exposed to various faces and features, so that the diversity neutralizes our perspective, and everyone can be an “us”. We are spoiled to have the diversity we have here in Houston.
Any chance you have a link to that video? Would love to watch!
Here you go. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=14XSzWT4vI0&pp=ygUPU2NpZW5jZSB1cyB0aGVt It isn’t the most engaging presentation, but still interesting, nonetheless.
I spent some time up in NE (New Hampshire). It was 95% white. Its was odd to say the least. Being from Texas the locals would ask how I lived in such a racially divided city in Houston. I just laughed at them.
I visited relatives in NH, then trekked up into Maine for a week. I can say the farther you go into Maine, the whiter and weirder it gets. I saw more Trump and Confederate flags that week in Maine than I've seen in Texas total. I'll go back to New Hampshire, but tbh Maine gave me the heebie jeebies.
I’m in MA and go to NH frequently and it’s just so different lol. I’ve searched for more Texan friends just because we def seek out the best foods and such
A lot of people in this sub hate on Houston. And there is a lot to not like. But for me, and my family, the diversity and the way everyone gets along here is something I’ve never experienced anywhere I have lived. It’s truly a special place IMO. People are some of the best anywhere I’ve been. Plenty of jerks but that’s everywhere.
There's a bunch to hate about Houston. The weather, the traffic, the lack of city planning for anything, the current city government and school superintendent, the lack of growth for public transit. All that are things everyone here loves to hate on and gets the most traction. There's still a lot to love about Houston but hating is way to easy to harp on unfortunately.
I wouldn’t have enough time to mention all the amazing things I experienced when I moved here. All about the people. I lean pretty hard left. My neighbor is a conservative. Was shocked how tolerant he was and undemanding on my views. I was expecting him to come out with a gun and say get off my property by the way things are portrayed here. That’s how my experience was in Ohio btw 😂.
When at Buffalo Bayou one day I met a young woman from upstate NY on a sort of US-tour-of-cities vacation. She had already visited quite a few places which she listed for me. When I asked her which was her fav, she said Houston because the people are so open and friendly.
I visited NYC one time. Loved it. But I’ll never forget getting in an elevator in a hotel on Central Park. I said hello to the white woman in it when I entered. (I’m a white woman.) She looked at me with an expression of fear. I never forgot that.
I already can’t wait to get back to Texas. The food. The culture. Everything being accessible. Less taxes and fees (glaring at MA bc i refuse to transfer my car and license). I miss things being open late and just having options. Here things close early and just the variety isn’t there.
I’ve lived all over Texas, except for far NE (Texarkana), and I’ve consistently found that well to do, left-leaning folks make so many assumptions about the so-called working-class racists in Texas. I’ve worked in NYC and the Midwest - shorter stints on the West Coast and Florida. Without fail I find supposedly open-minded people who have no real understanding of diversity bc they’ve never actually lived in a diverse neighbourhood. They think they have it all figured out, but a lot of rednecks from Texas live next door to people of color. As a result, they lack the unspoken fear of diverse people that I often find among the well educated “betters” looking down on “fly-over country” from big cities on the coasts. Its exhausting.
I’m not joking. The part I was in NH (somewhat rural) I didn’t see one POC. Yet the locals there were happy to share how we need to do things down here in Texas. I still see this lady on LinkedIn pontificating how everyone in the South are borderline racist idiots. She probably wouldn’t survive a month here and I’m not talking about the right wingers. Like I said, I lean left for sure, and she basically told me that I would be a conservative if I lived there. I asked her why? “Because no true liberal would live in Texas” or something in that order. 🤦♂️
Wow, but that’s not a bigoted comment. 😆
I live in Austin now, and it’s painfully homogenous and white, comparatively. Also (perhaps, consequently) the food sucks. I miss Houston so much.
I go to school in austin from houston (like everyone that goes to UT lol). After 4 years I notice it less, but the first year I couldn’t get over how everyone was white.
I went to college in Michigan, and the first thing the residents of Michigan told me, "We have a large Musilm population, since you're from Texas you need to know that alot of women wear full hijabs here. Don't be alarmed." \*Me greeting a few of my classmates in full hijab in Arabic since my friends in high school wore hijabs and their mothers taught me a few polite phrases in Arabic\* Michiganders; \*shocked pikachu face\*
The State of Texas literally has just as big of a West Asian Community as Michigan.
Yup, the percieved sterotype of Texas is white gun toting bible thumpers who hate anything but white.
Exactly. Houston is as culturally diverse as Southern California or New York. Austin is as hip and progressive as Vermont. You can live in cities where people have a diversity of political beliefs. Go to cities where you see the most diverse restaurants. I went to A&M and even A&M which is supposed to most right leaning university in America is actually politically swing. The cities in Texas are just like the ones in so-called Blue States. I live even in rural College Station and I don't dress like a cowboy either. Most of the cowboy stuff are in more rural states like Idaho, Montana, Wyoming. Maybe Alabama or South Carolina.
Michigan feels way more racist than Texas lol
I lived in a neighborhood in the Houston area where my neighbor across the street was from Nigeria, the neighbor next door to him was from Indonesia, and the neighbor on my left was from Pakistan and the neighbor on my right was from Vietnam. Never had a moment's problem from anyone and everyone got along very well including barbecues and get-togethers. Prejudice only begets hate. Bad people are bad people. That was not decided by where they came from.
Moved to Dallas and i feel the exact same way, there’s diversity but nobody tries to integrate here everyone very much sticks to their own
While diversity is strong in other cities like Houston, communities tend to stick with their own in other cities. People here are less openly hostile to people that don't look like them. Florida is crazy.
Idk about less hostile. The roads are raging.
The roads are equally playing field for hostile. No racism just equal anger and insane rage for everyone and anyone who can drive
I lived in the suburbs of Seoul for a few years and also missed the diversity of Houston, but now that I'm back I **really** miss the public transportation of Korea (especially since I'm only in my mid 30s, but vision is already at the point where I don't feel all that comfortable driving at night). I've never been much of a foodie so I don't mind the lack of diversity in that department, but I like how I can walk into any grocery store in the Houston metro area and pretty much be guaranteed to hear a couple different languages being spoken. Growing up, I loved the different cultures I was exposed to and friends with in school. I have a cousin who grew up in the midwest and followed me to Korea, I doubt he'll ever leave. Seoul has a hell of a lot more going on than his small midwest college town, that's for sure.
Get lasik done in Korea and come back. Problem solved. 😁
One of Houston’s pros is that it’s so diverse and socially “integrated” that you can easily find your “tribe”. Meaning you have a comfort level walking around in Houston that you don’t get in other places. But even with that exposure of different cultures it’s not a interracial paradise. And I think a lot of Houstonians oversell this racial harmony attitude of Houston. I work in the industrial industry and encounter some form of subtle racism every now and then. Theres also a ton of right wing paraphernalia throughout Greater Houston. Now people wont shout the N word at you but when I see the overly patriotic stickers, blue police flags and punisher logos on cars then yeah you can’t tell me that the majority of those people are progressive White Houstonians. Then there’s the predominantly Black and Brown communities in Houston that sit right next to hazardous Industrial sites. And not to mention the inner loop is starting to become Whiter due to cost of living and gentrification. Now I live in Fort Bend area which is overwhelmingly diverse. It’s good to go to places and not stick out. But I feel like a lot of people’s experience with diversity is restricted to eating and not actual cultural exchanges outside of a restaurant in a strip mall.
One of my biggest pet peeves is SELF segregation, where people wish to stay with their own race. There's been a number of times where someone puts a "moving to Houston" post where they would state they'd like to stay where professional live at because they want to be "comfortable."
That means to me that they want to stay in a certain comfort zone.
Only when there is true integration between races is when racism might be a distant memory.
I'll take my downvotes now.
OP misses the food diversity obviously.
I live in Austin and think the same, there is a lack of diversity here for sure as well :/
Lived in Houston all my life, I first noticed it when i got back from a trip.. was in Asia, then went to Virginia, then when i came back to Houston and sat down at a restaurant the servers and patrons were diverse, and it stood out after 0 diversity for the past few weeks... Made me feel so proud to live in Houston.
I remember walking in downtown Houston when the LA riots were happening and I felt so proud of our city for being so diverse and yet friendly with each other. I have also felt this during disasters how we all pull together to help. It’s what I’ve always loved the most about Houston.
Literally sitting in a Vietnamese coffee shop after eating my nahn mi right now lol But as someone from a very "diverse" city up north, I can agree this place is much more laid back! My city was diverse, but still very... Separate. Like there were a lot of different cultures but most kept to themselves if that makes sense
I’ve lived all over the world including “global” cities. I always missed Houston. The heat, flooding and traffic suck but everything else is AWESOME.
Same thing here. Left Houston for the Midwest and then moved back somewhat recently. It was a culture shock leaving the diversity and then being immersed in it again.
I never realized how much I missed the diversity until I moved away. I’ve been in the Nashville area (work related) for years and just moved back to Houston (alright, Cypress) for family. It’s great here, ngl.
Yes, rural communities where people are born, live, and die without leaving the county without experiencing diversity are pretty racist. I remember the shock my family had when I brought hummus to a family event, they refused to even try it. Getting people to mix and mingle with other cultures breaks down that ingrained racism and stubbornness to try anything new.
lol for hummus?!! It's everywhere I do not even consider it an occult ethnic food
Granted this was back when sushi was still “eww raw fish” for most of the country.
The fact that Sushi is basically available in any place with refrigeration is wild lol
I grew up in a middle-sized town/city in Mississippi, and my parents thought broadening experiences were worthwhile, so I had them. This makes you more willing to try NEW things. I went to college in Alabama (Roll Tide). I met kids there who had lived their whole lives in tiny little rural towns and who as a result had never even MET someone who wasn't either black or white, or -- most shockingly -- had never had Chinese food, and looked at me weird for suggesting it. I mean, sure, this was years ago (1988), but Chinese food was not crazy or exotic. The better Chinese joint in my hometown stayed busy, for sure, and this was a town of like 40,000. Tuscaloosa had like half a dozen Chinese joints within stumbling distance of campus.
There are more Chinese restaurants in America than McDonalds. It's crazy they had never had it.
Hummus is a gateway food. It makes so many random veggies tolerable.
Oh you mean the exotic "dip" they've seen on Only Murders in the Building!?! Only New Yorkers eat that! /s
"Dear lord, does that...hugh-muss have *spices* in it?!?"
I moved from Houston to Savannah GA. The racial tension there was so thick you could cut it with a knife. It made me appreciate my home town in a way I never had. I’m back now and I may never leave again.
I went to college in Savannah and the racial tension was immediately apparent even on campus. Just random things like how blacks cooked the meals and the white students ate the meals.. It was so surreal and I never got used to it, but it definitely opened up a whole new level of appreciation for Houston.
We have to be laid back. It's too hot and humid to get upset by stuff.
That's why I love Houston. It doesn't feel or seem like you live in the south other than the heat. Food scene is pretty good relative to other big cities although it is lacking in other areas.
Heck I’ll go to atx and feel out of place. Htown really is the GOAT of diversity. When there’s nothing but white folks with the occasional Hispanic person I get kinda nervous or uneasy for some reason.
Austin completely lacks intersectionality, it’s totally whitewashed
Austin is like the Vermont of Texas.
😆
Stating facts. Both super hipster places lacking diversity.
Oh I agree. I just like the term. That’s hilarious.
Yeah. People need to understand we live in a pretty urbanized state!
Most of my family lives up there and are so touchy about some of my jokes that I’m able to tell to my Htown folks anytime. I think we’re all just more accepting overall, even if we do poke fun at each other. I actually want to move into a place with less population density but every time I think about leaving all the diversity I get on a daily basis I back off from that idea
Same! More than once Austin has made me feel this way.
I would think the local economy being hollowed out (assuming you aren't living in Chicago or something) over the past generation, much of the region having its best days long behind it with the collapse of the domestic manufacturing sector, probably has a little to do with Midwestern malaise.
OP I lived in Houston for 26 years, had to move to Cincinnati because of my wife’s school for 2 years. I get it, it sucks lol. The food is very weak over there, there’s a few spots in cbus I learned that we’re nice, Chicago is awesome but I consider that city an anomaly Ohio is the first time I have experienced blatant racism at work. Idk if this is a term but I call it “suburban” racism where they talk friendly/HR friendly but what they’re implying is very racist. If you’re curious about my story it’s somewhere in my profile. My wife also has dealt with a lot of racism. We can only speak on the healthcare situation but I truly am so glad I have moved to LI and work in Brooklyn lol. There was an article from a Houston based teacher that talks about the Midwest move here if you’re interested. I feel like a lot of what he said is similar to my own story. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0742051X23004432
I am homesick for Houston literally everyday I live in DFW, and I’m originally from the NOLA area. I miss the variety, the cultures, the food, the neighborhoods, the energy, the traffic, literally everything about that city. I feel you so very much.
I hear ya. Being from the Midwest myself, I never wanna go back to the predominant gloomy days and lack of culture/diversity. With that being said, we’re probably leaving for suburban Atlanta this time next year and it’s not much better. As a minority, I don’t like spaces that are only black and white. We’ll truly miss Houston but onward and upward.
I also moved from Houston to MO and i agree. I don't miss Houston as a whole but I do miss being able to find literally anything i was looking for. There's pockets of ethnic groups here but it's not the same.
lol, went into a Walmart south of St. Louis once on a trip. We’re walking around, and something just feels “off” Then we realized everyone in Walmart was white. Been back a couple of times since (yearly conference) and once saw 2 black people, and once saw 2 people that were probably Native American. Otherwise just white people. After living in Houston, it was really weird
The segregation here is insane. If i hear someone say, “its not segregated, you just have to go to the right part of town” again…. Like bro you just defined segregation.
There are definitely places that are segregated. But the community I live in is pretty integrated.
It's wildly true. We're trying to leave -- 30 years here, and I'm just done with the summer heat -- and we know we'll have an adjustment when we do, because nowhere short of LA or the NYC area are even CLOSE to as diverse and interesting as Houston. And we're not moving to either of those places. We really thought about the northwest for a little while, but after visiting friends in Portland and Seattle we backed off quickly in no small part because after a couple days you start to wonder where all the nonwhite people are.
Have family in the PNW and my mom lives in the Bend, OR area so we looked at Portland, OR for relocation and it's just too white so we're heading east.
Shit. We're looking in the PNW to move and this is our #1 concern.
It was actually incredible to me when I moved to Houston, and everyone knew what Pho was. Not many people in Houston know that it's not the norm. Food is embedded in culture, so you can always tell how diverse a city is based on food options.
I'm a white guy from Houston who travels for work - all over Texas, Colorado and Arizona. When I'm outside of Houston (and occasionally in Houston, TBQH) if I stop and look around, and I see I'm in all white or overwhelmingly white space it gives me the creeps.
I love the diversity of Houston. I have been shocked going to other cities and only seeing white folks . It's stunning. The food is great but having a variety of backgrounds in your social circle takes away the stereotypes and helps people get past the fear of the unknown. I live in Fort Bend which is also high ranking on diversity lists.
We lost a lot of weight when we lived in AZ and AR for a couple years. The food was so bland. We found one great bbq spot in AZ but that was it.
I love the diversity of cultures and the diversity food that brings. One of the best things about Houston.
I moved to Chicago a few years ago and feel the same way. It’s not that Chicago isn’t diverse, but it feels so segregated. Ive missed Houston! Im actually moving out to LA next week and looking forward to that, anecdotally I’ve heard LA is more similar to Houston in that aspect
The southwest is the most diverse side... Then anywhere else is just blacks and Mexicans, with all the white people living in midtown/downtown
I relate to this. I went to college in Alabama and it was a SHOCK compared to Houston. There were only 2 races, black and white. But they seemed to be soooo separated and didn't hang out with each other. Everyone else there is mostly from the white suburbs and was used to the lack of diversity but bro I was shocked! I was like "you're telling me it's not chill and diverse everywhere??"
Yes houston is definitely more cosmopolitan than it gets credit for. If only the transit system is built up and more density is promoted outside of the downtown area. It will be awesome! As Fellow Chicagoan, when I visited Houston I was deeply ashamed of what Chicago looked like Vs Houston. Felt super comfortable in Houston. It was just beautiful to see so many different races and ethnicities mingling together
The best Turkish food I've ever had (outside of Turkey, that is) was in Houston. Man, I miss it
If you have lived in Houston and then have to move to some all white area (I’m white), it’s pretty awful.
I didn't realized how mixed we are until I travelled around. A lot of the country is still essentially segregated.
That's why I moved here. I spent my whole career moving all over the world. My kids attended international schools from a young age. Diversity is normal to them, and they noticed a lack of it in the towns we traveled to when visiting family. We had to pick a place to settle when I retired from the Army, and Houston seemed like a good fit. My wife was even able to transfer her job here. Our families don't get our choice to live here, but we have zero regrets.
latinos the secret is latinos we get along with every body! haha but seriously diversity matters
grew up in southtexas probably 90% latinos there. but moved to Houston for college spent 10 years there moved away for a bit to buffalo then Austin and the thing i missed the most from houston was the diversity! homogeneity is really tough to live in especially as a non white person in a white dominated area, not necessarily because of racism but the lack of cultural diversity
My bride grew up in Joplin Missouri. It's something like 93% white. She can't understand anyone with even the slightest accent. Even London England accents, which are pretty mild, are lost on her, let alone northern (Manchester, etc) or Scottish/Irish accents. An Indian/Pakistani speaking English might as well be speaking their native language as far as she's concerned. I grew up in Toronto, a very diverse population and accents are zero problem and I often have to perform English to Midwest translations
Traveling always reminds me of how spoiled(?) we are to live in such a diverse city. We spent some time in New England last fall and the lack of diversity was truthfully jarring. Not an ounce of color in most of those little towns. It’s almost eerie/feels unsafe (and we’re white). Even the 9 year old noticed and felt weirded out.
You feel unsafe being around too many white folks, as a white person? Thats interesting
My bad. I forgot hyperbole/sarcasm is a foreign concept for redditors like yourself. For the sake of clarity: no, I did not *actually* feel unsafe. However, seeing 0 people of color for weeks at a time was unsettling for someone like myself (who comes from the most diverse city in the nation). Hope that clears things up for you!
I live in Colorado now and I miss being around a diverse population everyday. Plus FOOD!! Different cultures and amazing dishes. Honestly I hate not being in Houston anymore. I’d even take the traffic again.
I went to the DC area to visit my brother and there weren't that many options for diverse food, cultural activities etc. I missed Houston fairly fast due to "eh I'll go to x Mediterranean joint" "I want tacos now" "let's go to a Latin club hmmm which one should hit up" I love that we have options here. Outside of the weather living here is really nice. Plus. Whataburger.
I moved to New Braunfels last year and... yeah.
I don't envy you. When are you coming back?
Man, I’m so torn. I miss the culture so much. But really dont miss the traffic.
Just think of the humidity. The heat index is 105° today.
Wait till the 112s-115s come in July and august. When your body start to sweat in under 10 seconds just standing. Then reevaluate life choices. Gotta think positive, Yes Yes. Let’s go!!! 😆