Moving from Alabama to Texas

Alabama and Texas share a lot of similarities – warm Southeastern states, with great cuisine and extensive heat, so why bother moving? Actually, these two share a lot of similarities than anything in common, and we can Texan Goliath has a handful of advantages over the Alabaman David without underestimating the latter.

Moving from Alabama to Texas

Located in the US southwest, Alabama and Texas are rather close by, so moving isn’t that of a huge issue. The two capitals – Montgomery and Houston are divided by a car ride of about 633, our roughly – 10 hours

Road trip and stops

If you’re in an adventurous mood when moving from Alabama to Texas, you can turn the whole ordeal thing into a weekend road trip. You can stop at Mobile, Biloxi, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, or Beaumont. Consider visiting Hot Springs National Park, Imperial Calcasieu Museum, or the Civil Rights Memorial.

Registering

1. If you want to register your car in Lone Star State, then you need to take the following procedure:
2. Has your vehicle been inspected at a certified inspection station?
3. Also, Texas requires state-registered vehicles to pass an annual inspection to ensure compliance with safety standards. Learn about the Vehicle Inspection Program on the Texas Department of Public Safety website.
4. Find an inspection station.
5. Show insurance coverage for the required minimums per person, per accident, and for property damage.
6. Get your vehicle registration and sticker at your local county Tax Assessor-Collector office.

You can renew it online, in person, by the Texas Mobile App, by mail, and – in some counties, at a subcontractor, such as a participating grocery store (check if this is applicable at your location).

Alabama is rather close to Texas, so driving is an option. However, when the distance is more than 200 miles many people prefer to ship their vehicles. Moreover, if you have more than one automobile you will certainly need to arrange transport for the vehicles that will not be driven.

Shipping a car from Alabama to Texas is the easiest way to move your vehicles.

Good bye Alabama!

The Yellowhammer State, Sweet Home Alabama is located in the Southeastern part of the United States. It has a population of nearly 5 million. The state has an access to the Gulf of Mexico through the port city of Mobile. Why bother moving out of Alabama to Texas or elsewhere?

Alabama has a rising economy with a GDP of nearly $230 billion. It has been on the rise for the last 5 years. GDP per capita is around $46.000 and is also considered rising. The booming industries in the state are aerospace, aviation, bioscience, and the automotive industry. Due to its warm and diverse climate, the agriculture the tourism are also strong. The largest employers in the state are the Redstone Arsenal, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (includes UAB Hospital), and the Maxwell Air Force Base.

Despite all this sounding good and hopeful many people choose to move to more prosperous Texas.

Southern Hospitality

Amongst other things, Alabama is very famous for its Southern Hospitality. People are generally happier than in other parts of the US. They are kind and welcoming to people from all over the world. That’s probably due to their fine beverages and the excellent Alabaman barbeque. So, prepare for a cuisine adventure, including barbecue, fried green tomatoes, boiled peanuts, fresh Gulf seafood, pecan pie, and peach cobbler.

Infrastructure

Alabama has six major interstates: Interstate 65 (I-65) runs north-south through the central state; I-20/I-59 runs from the Mississippi midwest border to Birmingham, and I-59 enters the state’s Northeast corner, I-20 continues east toward Atlanta. I-85 originates in Montgomery and travels northeast to the Georgia State Line, forming the main thoroughfare to Atlanta.

There are four toll roads in the state: the Montgomery Expressway in Montgomery; the Northport/Tuscaloosa Western Bypass in Tuscaloosa and Northport; the Emerald Hills Expressway in Wetumpka; and the Beach Express in Orange Beach.

Healthcare

Alabama has generally good healthcare. If in need, then head to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital, Huntsville Hospital, Ascension St. Vincent’s Birmingham, Andalusia Health.

Sweet Home Alabama

Admit it – we all associate the state of Alabama with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s song. It was released in 1974 as a response to Neil Young’s “Southern Man”, which was a shout-out against racism. Sweet Home Alabama described the natural beauty of the Yellowhammer State, the blue skies, and, well… In Birmingham, they love the governor (boo-hoo-hoo).

Despite all this sounding good and hopeful many people choose to move to more prosperous Texas.

Disadvantages of living in Alabama

Sweet Home Alabama is not just great food, blue skies, and Southern Hospitality.

1. Thanks to the close proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, the weather can turn in a matter of minutes – from bright sunshine to a hurricane.
2. Everything’s bigger in the Yellowhammer State – gators, spiders, snakes, and scorpions. And the cockroaches, too. Oh, and they can fly.
3. Most shops in the smaller cities are still closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
4. Some counties in Alabama have severe alcohol restrictions – some of them ban it in the weekend, while others prohibit it entirely.

Hello Texas!

Texas is one of the pillars of the US with its economic strength, diverse industry, business, high tech, and innovative significance.

Texas has a population of 29 million, which ranks it second in the US after California. The state’s capital is Austin, Houston is the largest city with over 2 million population, and the largest metropolitan area is the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex (amongst the rest, it includes the cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington, and has a population of just under 8 million).

Economy

Due to its diverse natural landscape, top universities, sheer size, and population, Texas boasts a very diverse economy. Raw materials and oil, as well as cattle farming area in the heart of Texan industry. They are still going strong in the 21st century, along with the new additions to the aerospace industry, the IT sector, energy, trade, and banking.

The Texan economy is led by Fortune 500 companies such as McKesson, ExxonMobil, AT&T, Dell Technologies, and Phillips 66. Foxconn Assembly LLC, Houston TX, Pizza Hut, and Keller Williams Realty are the largest employers in the state with several hundred thousand employees across the state.

Texas has one of the strongest economies in the world (yes, in the world) with a GDP of GDP $2.0 trillion and a GDP per capita of $60,922. This would give it tenth place if the state of Texas was an independent country. The unemployment rate is around 8.0%.

Tourism is also flourishing in Texas. Although still overshadowed by traditional destinations like California, Florida, and Hawaii, Texas has some excellent beaches like Boca Chica, Padre Island National Seashore, South Padre Island, Mustang Island, and Rockport Beach.

Education

There are more than 1,000 public school districts in Texas – all but one of the school districts in Texas are self-contained and independent of any form of municipal government. School districts can (and often do) cross city and county lines. Independent school districts have the power to tax their residents and claim significant areas of private property. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) oversees these districts and provides additional funding, but its jurisdiction is largely limited to underperforming areas of intervention.

One can’t have an economic boom without the appropriate higher education institutions. There are 38 universities in Texas and 34 of them belong to one of the six state university systems. All of them provide superb education, but if you aim for the finest, then head to the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, and the University of Houston. However, don’t overlook the University of Texas at San Antonio and Texas State University.

Infrastructure

The first freeway in Texas was the Gulf Expressway, which opened in Houston in 1948. As of 2005, 79,535 miles (127,999 kilometers) of public highways passed through Texas (up from 71,000 miles (114,263 kilometers) in 1984). To fund recent interstate growth, Texas has 17 toll roads (see list), and several more are proposed. In central Texas, the southern section of the Route 130 Turnpike has a speed limit of 85 mph (137 km/h), the highest in the United States.

The fastest street in America is in Austin. The 64-meter toll road has a speed limit of 85 mph (137 km/h) on rural roads between Austin and San Antonio. Texas also had the highest legal average speed at 78.3 mph (126 km/h).

Healthcare

The Texas Medical Center is a major point of interest. It is widely regarded as the most concentrated place among medical institutions-hospitals and research institutions in the world. This 2.1 square mile area has more than 106,000 employees, receives 10 million patients each year, and has a gross domestic product of 25 billion U.S. dollars.

Due to this fact, Texas healthcare sets the standards when it comes to both large and smaller medical centers. If in need, head to the Houston Methodist Hospital, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, Memorial Hermann Hospital, or Baylor University Medical Center.

Free time

Texas has ample opportunities for quality free time, both inside and out – top-tier sports teams, amazing parks (nature and urban), art festivals, and venues.

Sports

Victory is an all-Texan virtue. That is why the Lone Star State fields so many top-tier sports teams that are amongst the hot favorites of their respective leagues.

1. Texas has three NBA teams and each one of them had won a championship – the San Antonio Spurs, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Houston Rockets.
2. The Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans dominate the football scene in the state. The Cowboys have won 5 Super Bowls and are amongst the standard-bearers of this sport in the world.
3. The Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers are a constant in the baseball World Series.
4. The Dallas Stars are the Texan stars in the NHL, winning the Stanley Cup in 1999.
5. Even soccer is gaining popularity. FC Dallas and the Houston Dynamos both participate in the MLS and attract popular European names.

Parks and recreation

Want to spend your time in a nature park? Texas has it all – deserts, mountains, rivers, beaches, swamps with alligators, lakes, rocks, and all that your heart desires. And every single one of them is worth exploring. Here’s a short, open-ended list of the places worth visiting:

1. Big Bend Ranch State Park
2. Colorado Bend State Park
3. Pedernales Falls State Park
4. Caddo Lake State Park
5. Caprock Canyons State Park & Trailway

Historic sites

The vast nature of Texas can be matched only by its rich history. The Lone Star state was the arena of numerous historic events, leaving a trail in the history of the United States. Through the ages, the lands, composing what we know today as the State of Texas have been under the rule of France, Spain, Mexico, the Confederate states, the United States, and even a short period of independence as the Republic of Texas (1836–1845).

Famous sights include:

1. The Alamo
2. Port Isabel Lighthouse State Historic Site
3. Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site in Texas
4. The San Jacinto Monument
5. George Ranch Historical Park

Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has Landed

Did you know that the first word said on the Moon was Houston? Commander Neil Armstrong said these famous words on July 20, 1969, when the Apollo 11 Lunar Module successfully landed at the Tranquility Base on the Moon.

“Roger, Tranquility. We copy you down,” came the reply from Charlie Duke in mission control. “You got a bunch of guys down here about to turn blue.”

Commander Neil Armstrong, like many real and fictional astronauts after him,  was addressing the ground crew at the Manned Spacecraft Center, today called the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. This is the place where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted.

It houses the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center, which has provided the flight control function for every NASA human spaceflight since Gemini 4 (including Apollo, Skylab, Apollo–Soyuz, and Space Shuttle). It is popularly known by its radio call signs “Mission Control” and “Houston”. That is why astronauts in movies call Houston. The significance of the space center is so huge that it made a jump to mainstream arts and has become a superstar.

Disadvantages of living in Texas

Huge state, a huge city, huge industry, huge disadvantages?

Due to its similar geographical location, Texas shares a lot of its cons with Alabama, like the heat, the severe weather, and hurricane exposure.

The large cities suffer from hyper urbanization with all its consequences, like traffic, pollution, and high commute time. However, other areas are rather underdeveloped and have the opposite problems – they have significantly lower income, much slower internet, a bad power grid, and even bad accessibility.

Another disadvantage worth mentioning is the high property tax. This is the downside of the lack of income taxes. Texas is 45th of 51 states with the highest property taxes in the U.S. (including the District of Columbia).

Montgomery to Austin head to head

The easiest way to find the reason for moving from one state to another, in this case – from Alabama to Texas, can be found by comparing the two capitals.

Montgomery has a significant financial advantage in the real estate market – the housing in Alabama is by far cheaper than that in Texas. However, Austin has a higher average income, lower unemployment rate, and lower median age (the one in Montgomery is also considerably lower than the US average).

Austin also boasts a lower unemployment rate, but that’s easily understandable due to the large number of companies located in Texas. Healthcare is also cheaper in the Texan capital, but not at the cost of its quality.