A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

[nabz]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

A few newly transported families i know settled down in Texas. its cheap, lots of desis (which means musjids, restaurants, etc) and fairly decent weather.

[Eastern_Dresses]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in “amreeka”

Read this on Business Insider, may be this would help:

Some stats

Source: The best and worst states to make a living - Business Insider

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[solarcipher]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

Wow! Thank you everyone - I'd been travelling again and had no idea would have so many responses here - thank you guys for your guidance and I'll try to respond individually to everyone's suggestions.

[solarcipher]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in “amreeka”

@Eastern_Dresses

Read this on Business Insider, may be this would help:

Some stats

Source: The best and worst states to make a living - Business Insider

Thanks @ Eastern Dresses, appreciate the link - I have gone over it and it seems that Texas tops the list due to low taxes again. Thanks.

[solarcipher]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

A few newly transported families i know settled down in Texas. its cheap, lots of desis (which means musjids, restaurants, etc) and fairly decent weather.

Thank you @ nabz - I guess it will come down to choosing between Dallas or Houston

[solarcipher]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

Raleigh, North Carolina. Google details.

Thank you @rosedreams - thats a unique one - To be honest, I had initially done a little research on Raleigh as it popped in quiet a few "best cities to live" listings, seems to be filled with young people and lots of high tech businesses however, I'm not sure about desi concentration there - found a page of Pakistani American Anjuman but nothing more. I have heard of racial tension in Raleigh too - though that is just my very initial perception based on what I have read on forums - please feel free to highlight if you believe there are other merits of that city too.

Thanks again

[solarcipher]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

San Francisco Bay Area is the hub of I.T as everybody knows. Temperature here is extremely pleasant. If you rent an apartment or a house in a good school district then that solves your problem of nice free public education for kids &if you yourself wants to continue your education San Jose State University is very economical. There are tons and tons of halal restaurants, grocery stores. You can find mosque in every City here. Having said that, the housing market here is CRAZY. In a good school district a nice two bedroom apartment rent wont b less than $2600- $3000/month and that is the biggest drawback of the Bay Area.

Thank you for the detailed insight on life in SF bay area - the housing cost is downright scary for someone just starting out but thanks for the information non San Jose University, I'll look it up.

[solarcipher]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in “amreeka”

@us1415

Houston is one of the best places to live since there is a lot of things to do here. If you have lived in Karachi Houston is something that is exactly like Karachi as far as the weather go. As long as your job is inside you sholudnt have an issue with the weather since every place here has A/C. Here is a list of zabiha places from zabihah.com for Texas. Houston has the 2nd largest desi populatiojn after New York and Tied with Chicago.

Houston Metro
2 93 253
East Houston Includes Baytown

1

Inner Loop Includes downtown Houston

2            10            26

Northeast Houston Includes Humble and Aldine

3            2

Northwest Houston Includes North Houston

27            48

Southeast Houston Includes Pasadena & South Houston

14            11

Southwest Houston Includes Sugarland

39            165

Austin/Round Rock Includes Round Rock and Georgetown
39 65
College Station Includes Bryan
2 4
Dallas-Fort Worth Includes Irving, Plano, & Richardson
1 148 214
East Texas Includes Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange
5 10
Panhandle Includes Amarillo, Midland, Abilene, and Lubbock
6 8
San Antonio
13 39
South Texas Includes Corpus Christi, Laredo, and Brownsville
4 8
Temple/Waco Includes Temple, Waco, Fort Hood, & Kileen
1 7
West Texas Includes El Paso
3 5

Halal places in Texas - zabihah.com: your guide to halal eating

I also work in IT and know quite a few people here who work in IT and the work here is always in demand. I am not too sure about Dallas. You talked about racism which is only towards east texas. You wont find racism in the major cities like Houston or Dallas.

Thanks @us1415 for sharing your experience of working in Houston - its comforting to know that the IT scenario is abuzz there. and I appreciate the details of the Zabihah places - seem to be abundant.
I’m now primarily torn between Dallas and Houston. I’m researching humidity levels.. initially, it seems there isn’t much difference between the two if I compare them to the levels here in KSA - Houston 89%, Dallas 60% to 70% compared to 6 % in Riyadh . I miss the dry hot furnace like desert wind already…

[us1415]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in “amreeka”

@solarcipher

Thanks @us1415 for sharing your experience of working in Houston - its comforting to know that the IT scenario is abuzz there. and I appreciate the details of the Zabihah places - seem to be abundant.
I’m now primarily torn between Dallas and Houston. I’m researching humidity levels.. initially, it seems there isn’t much difference between the two if I compare them to the levels here in KSA - Houston 89%, Dallas 60% to 70% compared to 6 % in Riyadh . I miss the dry hot furnace like desert wind already…

You are welcome @solarcipher. I guess it all comes down to humidity and snow when it comes to Houston vs Dallas. Houston never gets snow whereas Dallas got some last year. Houston is very hot where Dallas is not as hot.

[eastern11]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

Choose Atlanta, tons of desis and halal food options as well as masjids Good weather. Not as hot as Texas definitely and doesn't get extreme winter. Housing is much cheaper too. There are people of various ethnicities here. Haven't heard racism stories. The job market is growing fast there! My husband moved there 6 months ago for his new job while we, the rest of the family move there on Tuesday IA! He has had a great job experience so far! Everyone has been very accommodating at his job. I have worked both in Pakistan and the U.S. And generally speaking the work environment here is much better!

[solarcipher]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in “amreeka”

@us1415

You are welcome @solarcipher. I guess it all comes down to humidity and snow when it comes to Houston vs Dallas. Houston never gets snow whereas Dallas got some last year. Houston is very hot where Dallas is not as hot.

Thanks @us1415

[solarcipher]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

Choose Atlanta, tons of desis and halal food options as well as masjids Good weather. Not as hot as Texas definitely and doesn't get extreme winter. Housing is much cheaper too. There are people of various ethnicities here. Haven't heard racism stories. The job market is growing fast there! My husband moved there 6 months ago for his new job while we, the rest of the family move there on Tuesday IA! He has had a great job experience so far! Everyone has been very accommodating at his job. I have worked both in Pakistan and the U.S. And generally speaking the work environment here is much better!

Thank you @eastern11 for the input and adding to the confusion :'D ... I think I'll opt for either Dallas or Houston for now - once I'm there, perhaps then maybe lookout for some other cities.

[solarcipher]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

I would like to thank everyone at paklinks for helping me out with this very crucial decision - I've chosen Texas for now - still not decided whether to opt for Houston or Dallas.... I guess the internal dynamics of the company will eventually narrow it down to one.... meanwhile these days I'm comparing the two cities. I'll post what I find here, please feel free to add your own feedback as well!

[solarcipher]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

Weather:

From what I have collected so far - both are hot - Houston has very high humidity so it must be very muggy and sweaty. If I compare I numbers, it seems that in Dallas the humidity is around 40 to 60% whereas in Houston it stays above 80%. Not sure how the 40% difference feels like in real life - but seems it makes Dallas slightly more bearable

[solarcipher]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

Size and Diversity:

Houston wins here - Houston appears to be spread out and have greater diversity. More eating options, etc.

There's something that I constantly read about Dallas - everyone says that Dallas is very plastic! Is it very materialistic? I guess I'm accustomed to surviving with snobby folks and pretentiousness is part of the package when it comes to big cities.... :(

[rosedreams]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

Thank you @rosedreams - thats a unique one - To be honest, I had initially done a little research on Raleigh as it popped in quiet a few "best cities to live" listings, seems to be filled with young people and lots of high tech businesses however, I'm not sure about desi concentration there - found a page of Pakistani American Anjuman but nothing more. I have heard of racial tension in Raleigh too - though that is just my very initial perception based on what I have read on forums - please feel free to highlight if you believe there are other merits of that city too.

Thanks again

i have lived in Cary in Raleigh for a few months and I loved it. the community there is quite good. In fact there is someone on this forum who currently lives in Raleigh as well. California (Bay Area, LA) probably have more Pakistanis but Raleigh has a growing community as well, and theyre all extremely educated.

[rosedreams]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

I would like to thank everyone at paklinks for helping me out with this very crucial decision - I've chosen Texas for now - still not decided whether to opt for Houston or Dallas.... I guess the internal dynamics of the company will eventually narrow it down to one.... meanwhile these days I'm comparing the two cities. I'll post what I find here, please feel free to add your own feedback as well!

Texas sounds great. I would love to visit it one day. Good luck with the move! :)

[chapter_2]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

illinois!

[us1415]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

illinois!

You made me miss Chicago. :(

[awesomeunicorn]

Re: A good city for someone starting out in "amreeka"

I haven't read all the comments so don't know what others suggest. IMO, Houston is a great city.
Job prospects are good in any field.
The Pakistani community is strong. The Halal food/ restaurants and Desi grocery stores are all over the town. Pakistani social scene is for every type of lifestyle.
Being in the south of USA, it isn't as expensive to live like in the east or west coast.
Houston has UH, university of Houston along with the Lone Star community college systems.
Weather is HOT& Humid. No snow but winters can get cold. But the central cooling and heating solves that problem.
It is a large city and is crowded but not more then any other cities that you mentioned in your inquiry.
Don't get cold feet. If you haven't worked in US before, as you have mentioned then you should give it a try. It is a different lifestyle and experience.All the best in what ever you decide to do.