Last year when my engineer husband was looking for a new position outside of Seattle, we had 2 places on our list – Texas and North Carolina (the headhunter also had San Diego – we had to be convinced). Being the engineer that he is, he did various spreadsheets on the different aspects in regard to the cost of living and the different salaries that he was able to get in each area. After doing the numbers, Texas (Dallas) wasn’t that great. In both areas (NC and Texas) the available salary wasn’t as high has he was getting in Seattle and not nearly as high as he was offered here. I really wanted to like Texas, but I was just spoiled by areas with natural beauty and outdoor recreation. Living in a 4,000 sq ft mcmansion in Dallas wasn’t worth the extra 250 dollars a month that we’d have living there. We’d rather live in our little house and go sailing and mountain biking every weekend. Which you can’t do in Texas! My very good friend moved to Austin 2 years ago, and she’s already wanting to move back to the West coast…I guess her 4,000 sq ft house with pool and outdoor kitchen hasn’t really bought her happiness…
