Moving or traveling? that will help.

One of my BFFs is from a little town outside Lubbock and she said the wind blows all the time; she was glad to leave there.

Hi Kids,

Thanks for responding. My Daughter has a job offer and is thinking of taking the job.

sooey

The only thing I ever heard about this city/town is the old country western song, "Happiness is Lubbock Texas In my Rear View Mirror" My roots from my fathers side are in Texas, and always wanted to visit there, mostly Austin, Abilene and Plano. Good luck in your fact finding mission, sorry I wasn't more help.

Your daughter might want to check out various sites on Lubbock TX, like reading the newspaper, checking out Texas Tech site.. she might get a better feel for what it is like to live there, what things cost, etc. I don't know anyone personally who lives there.

Hi Kids,

Yes cate52, my Daughter has already done all that and more. She has had meetings, conversations and has spent some time there during the interview process so she is all set. I ask this question only for myself. I have never been to TX, except for the airport in Houston, so I have no first hand knowledge of the state. I was hoping someone here at the KT would have an inside view of the area. I hadn't thought of checking out newspapers online, good idea, thank you.

Lubbock looks interesting from what I can find and the HGTV show, 'House Hunters' did a show on finding a home in Lubbock...a young couple found a great house for just over $100,000...amazing! I also see that it seems to be very conservative, lots of churches, very flat, two colleges, not a lot of trees and two WalMarts.

So, what else should I know about Lubbock, TX or, even that area of the state?

sooey

I know they get snow in the winter and pretty cold temps. I have a chat room friend who lives there. The people sure sound friendly from what he says.

Excellent! Thank you yayagal, I am happy to hear that! Sounds like I could still knit sweaters and hats for her!

sooey

I live in the Texas panhandle about 180 miles from Lubbock. My son graduated from Texas Tech and I have family at Lubbock.

Yes, Lubbock gets wind and sand storms and snow and ice in the winter sometimes, but I really like Lubbock. It is a nice size town and alot of things to do within a short distance.

That said, I will say having lived my entire life here that you never get used to the wind and the dirt blowing! It's not a daily thing, but occasional.

I have a cousin in Lubbock that is a realtor and I think knows everyone and everything about Lubbock. If you or your daughter would like her phone number email me. I know she would do whatever she could to help her out.

Thanks trixietx! Wind AND dirt? Humm...that sounds like a challange. We lived in CO for a year, down in the San Luis Valley and boy did we get wind. It started as soon as the sun came up and warmed the valley floor. The wind blew from east to west until the sun went behind the mountains and the valley floor cooled down and was almost on a daily basis. I found that to be was so interesting and is what formed the sand dunes at the base of the mountains which is now The Great Sand Dunes National Park. Ohhh...I am now reminded of the dust bowl of the 1930's. OK, wind, I got it now. Yes, Lubbock will have times when it is windy. When I think of the panhandle I think of OK, the long, narrow part of the state that is between TX and KS. When people talk about the panhandle of TX, is it the same general area?

Thanks, Kids.

sooey

To me, Texas is basically 4 panhandles! But what's referred to is the northernmost part of the state.

I like checking out places like city-data.com to get info on places as a starting point. You can find out things about income, crime rates, incomes, housing and a lot more. I'd also check local papers and news organizations, TV stations, radio stations and the like to gain a feel for the area. If time permits it might be worthwhile to subscribe to the local paper(s) to get info on the area.

Some tidbits from City-data:
For population 25 years and over in Lubbock:
â¢High school or higher: 79.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher: 26.6%
â¢Graduate or professional degree: 9.3%
â¢Unemployed: 6.0%
â¢Mean travel time to work: 16.2 minutes

Estimated median household income in 2009: $38,602 (it was $31,844 in 2000)

Mean prices in 2009: All housing units: $128,376; Detached houses: $131,094; Townhouses or other attached units: $126,636; In 2-unit structures: $127,791; In 3-to-4-unit structures: $197,115; In 5-or-more-unit structures: $115,918; Mobile homes: $46,414; Occupied boats, RVs, vans, etc.: $38,486

Median gross rent in 2009: $713.

381 registered sex offenders living in Lubbock, Texas in December 2010

My grandparents lived in Lubbock, and my ex husband went to Tech. We lived there a couple of years, and my daughter was born there. My information is 30 years old, but I doubt it has changed much. Lubbock is on the Llano Estacado, the staked plain. That means it is flat. They had to use stakes to keep from getting lost when they first began to settle that part of Texas. It is surrounded by farms. Cotton used to be king, but the water table has gone down in the Ogalla Aquifer so they have moved to more dry land farming. It is a nice sized small city with just about anything you would need. It has the two colleges, a pretty good airport, and you are within a reasonable drive of Ruidosa, New Mexico in the mountains where you can get away from the heat in the summer and ski in the winter. Tech had a teaching hospital that had opened just days after our daughter was born. I am sure it has grown since then. There are some dust storms in the spring, and they are in tornado alley. They had a bad tornado in the early 70's when my brother was at Tech. I agree that you don't get used to the dust storms. Lubbock is on the plains, and it does get cold in the winter. It feels like that wind comes straight from Canada. They get snow on occasion, but the ice storms were more of a hassle. It is a friendly place. All in all, it is a good place to live.

Thanks, Kids, all of this information is great to have. I can look at all the stat sheets and graphs out there, but nothing is as good as hearing these typs of things from people who live there or, in the area.

If my Daughter takes this job it will be a very big change for her. Not a bad change, but a change just the same. She grew up on the east coast, born in New Haven, CT and lived her life on the shore of Long Island Sound until she left for college in St. Paul, MN. Lubbock, TX is a far cry from the east coast or even northern mid-west city life. But, she is awesome in every way and will adjust without a hitch. When I ask these questions I do so only for my own information/comfort level. She knows exactly what she is doing and will get the job done...no matter how hard the wind blows.

So thanks, Kids. You have helped this Mom get more of a human picture of Lubbock into her head. I can relate to the wind. We talked yesterday on the phone and I asked her if anyone had said anything about the wind when she was on her interview visit. She said yes, the Realtor she met with mentioned it.

cynic, I have found several good sites for demographic information on the net. I have used city-data.com and have found it very useful. Another good one that I like a lot is zipskinny.com . It gives you info broken down by each zip code within a town or city. way cool!

Thanks, Kids! Folks at the KT Rock!

sooey