From Houston suburbs. Thinking about being a professor down there. I'm in my 60s. How is life there? Adjustments? Housing & living expenses?

Go hang out at the Houston Flea Market for a few consecutive weekends in a row. If its all good, then head on south. If you get uncomfortable while you're there, though, RGV probably isn't the place for you.

Kidding aside, the Valley isn't all bad, no matter what the Chronic or other major market rags print. If you enjoy hunting, fishing, or the beach, great place. The pace of life is slower than Houston, mostly. Housing and living expenses are some of the lowest in the US. You looking at Brownsville or McAllen/Edinburg?

Carl does a pretty good job of describing things. On my level the thing that I appreciate the most about living in the RGV is that I feel extremely safe here. In my old age that is valuable to me. The area respects authority, is socially conservative (I would say the most socially conservative in TX based on my experience and travels) and, if you can get past screaming kids in restaurants and littering, is very wholesome. Police and authority are respected here as opposed to many places in the US.

I like the weather, especially the 6 months or so of mild summer as opposed to the other 6 months of blistering summer. But the RGV is windy as hell and that helps with the heat.

There are a lotta of hidden pluses about the valley, one of the ones I appreciate is being able to travel into Mex via the Mexican airports which cuts down on the cost of some neat tourism. There is true year round golfing if that is your thing. After moving here in my early teens I couldn't wait to leave, now in my 50's I can't wait to return. Plus the tortilla situation locally is very good, which is vitally important to a kid raised in Mexico. Prior to Mexico going to hell it was so neat to live here due to the ease of travel and going and coming, for most folks Progreso is the only option now, but I still go across at other places or travel by land into Mexico. Lots of really cool things nearby in Mexico, alotta fun if you can stay safe.

From what I can tell housing costs are better than Houston and most of the bigger cities. If you don't have a school district preference you can still get some good bargains in the Vallley. Plus the Mexican food is really good.

I grew up in the RGV.

I left the RGV.

I returned to the RGV.

I left the RGV permanently.

I only return to visit my tribe in small increments. The RGV is no longer for me and mine.

Love it here but its certainly not for everybody.

We have a bunch of family from both sides here so its a no brainer. Moved back home in 1995, raised 2 kids here, have an insurance office in San Juan, dont plan to ever leave.

One thing I have picked up on over the years; some folks absolutely love the RGV and others just seem to despise it. As I close out my 50's what is strange is that there seems to be number of returning friends from my youth. Most that do return attribute it to feeling safer and the slower pace and cost of life.

Any thoughts on hebbronville, Zapata, Starr county? Or any of the small towns north of the RGV and south of everything else?

The above posters, all built good. It's interesting. Everyone has a much different perspective of the RGV.

I look up on it very fondly as when I was young we did not live in the valley.

We move back to be near family when I was in elementary and stayed for a number of years and then left again.

Didn't come back again until 2015. Needless of things things changed since I moved away in the 80s.

It took some time to adjust, but the biggest thing I noticed was that there was no longer a social divide. In the 70s and 80s, especially in Harlingen, there is a tremendous amount of enmity between Anglo and Hispanics.

By the time I got back in 2015, it seems to have faded away. People were exceptionally friendly, and even went out of their way to accommodate others.

Of course Others said if you like hunting fishing or the beach, there's nowhere else with that combination.

If I were you and you're at a place in your life where you can do it, give it two years. You'll either love it or despise it.

Bing said, there are so many changes happening in the valley, I'm not sure that this advice holds up in five more years.

Very poor. Take a small town in Central or North Texas and then take out 50% of the money.

However, if you like nice people and an easy way of life, you can't beat it.

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It took some time to adjust, but the biggest thing I noticed was that there was no longer a social divide. In the 70s and 80s, especially in Harlingen, there is a tremendous amount of enmity between Anglo and Hispanics.

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Very apt post, as you usually do, a wonderful take and good summary.

The more things change the more they stay the same. My mother was born and raised in STX, Alice, as her maternal side has been around STX since about the 1820's or so, so lots of takes. In speaking with my grandmother and great aunts, as well as my mother, about the 20's through the 70's in STX they conveyed an interesting take on things in terms of the races and STX. Others I have spoken to also relayed much of the same information.

Discrimination and or segregation in the RGV was communicated under the guise of race, but more so it was like Mexico or other LatAm countries in the sense that segregation was more economic. My grandmother has told me that at the public pool in Alice in the 30's and 40's "Mexican" kids weren't allowed, but "Spanish" kids were. Who were the Spanish? The wealthy and landowning Hispanics. I have heard the same thing about movie theaters and swimming pools in the RGV, especially in "old" cities like Brownsville and Mission and such, also Laredo. Why? Because in the older cities along the border there has been intermarriage between gringo's and latins/Mexicans/Hispanics since forever and there have always been wealthy folks of the aforementioned decent.

During the depression I understand that poor whites, migrant workers back then, were discriminated against big time in the RGV. They were forced to live in the same places that the Mexican migrants had to live and the kids were sent to the "Mexican" schools. The Country Clubs in McAllen, Brownsville, Laredo and such have had "Spanish" member since the start and nobody with any financial acumen was ever going to discriminate against the wealthy "Spanish" families and landowners in the area.

What you relay about Harlingen is so very true, it is the one place I always picked up a separation between the races. Nothing against HRL, but it is my least favorite city in STX, not because of the previous. I have lived from Browntown to RGC and points in between, and some of that on the Mex side, and HRL is the one place that had -0- appeal for me.

Ironically for me, when I moved to the RGV at 14 years old I had never seen so many Anglos in my life, save for summers with my grandparents in Houston. It was a pretty big shock.

Mixed marriages are very common in STX now, and were to a lesser degree in the past, and also the area has a proliferation of "coconuts", I even married one. The majority of folks in and from the RGV consider themselves first Texans and second from RGV, race really isn't relevant. In the 80's I didn't pick up much negative racial stuff, but Good Lord all of us would have been expelled and likely executed by the PC police nowadays on how we spoke to each other and all the stuff we said, and what was great is that nobody took offense as all us knew it was all in good fun.

aggieSO said:

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Any thoughts on hebbronville, Zapata, Starr county? Or any of the small towns north of the RGV and south of everything else?

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If I had to pick a spot with small town criteria to live in, I would pick San Isidro. It is quietly developing into a retirement area with several yankee's picking it to live in. The plus is that you are only about 45 min from decent civilization (for our area) and doesn't have the dying city feel of places like Hebbronville or Freer.

Starr County, Rio Grande City in particular is an interesting place. Those that live there love it and it has gained a lotta conveniences lately. Fal or Riviera might not be bad.

Like Ord said, those places are fairly poor and have the Tshirt to prove it.

This aligns with what I have heard as well.

It seems the present divide is just people in the RGV outside of Harlingen looking down on it, or that seems to be the impression I get.

San Isidro has come up in my searches as well. I noticed it seems to have a few restaurants right around the area. Next time I am down near there I will try to check it out.