Howdy-

I have recently been given the option to spend the next 4 years in either Houston, College Station, or Temple. Obviously I've already lived in College Station, I've lived in Houston for the past 2 years, but I don't really have any experience in the Temple area.

So what's it like? I know cost of living is cheap. Population is ~60,000, right? Is it pretty much like BCS where you go back and forth to neighboring cities (like Belton maybe), or do you tend to stay in Temple? Are there any very well-known stores or restaurants that are missing in the area? I've spent most of my life in Dallas so I'll admit I'm used to having anything and everything close by, but I don't know if it's like that in Temple. What airport do you use? I'm guessing traffic is not an issue. What's the population like (age/race)?

Thank you everyone for your help. I'm sure I'll have more questions come to mind.

Pick College Station.

Temple has improved, and with Killeen so close and Austin just down the road it is not terrible, but it is still to a large extent and old person's town.

If you are married it is a great place for a family, but not for a single so much.

Like 3rd said, most all of Central Texas is a great place to "settle down" and rear a family...that is exactly why we left Houston and moved to Waco!

The night life that young adults thrive on is non-existent in the areas you mention. We are however, a short drive to Austin or Dallas and Austin gets closer to Temple every day!

For four years I could tolerate CS but I don't like the weekend influx that creates insane traffic in the fall.

If you are talking about medical schools then you need to weigh lots of things and how much "free time" you will have anyway. No sense living in CS with NorthGate down the street if you can't ever go there. Think about your ability to get from A to B so when you do have free time it doesn't take all day to get there. I would never want to live in Houston again!

Single and young? If you want a nightlife, go to Houston. Second choice would be temple -enough to do within an hour that you you can find whatever you want. As for restaurants, whatever temple doesn't have, Killeen and heights probably do. Restaurants pop up over there like dandelions, and some are quite good. Temple is an hour from Austin, and you could settle down the road in belton or salado, which puts you 45 minutes from Austin. Temple would be 1st choice if you don't need the Houston night scene, restaurants, museums, etc.

Personally, college station would be my 3d choice. Great college town, but beyond that, you're too old if you're single, unless you chase college chicks, which is pretty pathetic if you're over 23.

Temple people fly out of Killeen or Austin usually.

Demographics, central Texas isn't THAT old. Lots of professionals at S&W, and if you go to a restaurant in killeen, it is packed with young military. But no, not chock full of yuppies, if that's what you're asking. Gotta head down the road to Austin for that.

I agree with Captain Pablo in that Temple really isn't that old, anymore.

In reality, Belton has such a YOUNG, upwardly mobile population that it helps support the growing restaurant/bar scene in Temple.

In my opinion, Belton/Temple is one large area with a vibrant population.

If it were me, though, I'd choose College Station. Heck, I might even choose Houston,;but then again, I've lived in Temple most of my adult life and am ready for more options restaurant-wise.



[This message has been edited by janag81 (edited 11/17/2010 11:14a).]

[This message has been edited by janag81 (edited 11/17/2010 11:14a).]

FYI I'm 24 and married. I'll be going to medical school and am not much of a drinker, so bar scene/nightlife isn't much of a factor for me.

For housing, are there plenty of houses and neighborhoods to choose from to rent? Or is it slim pickin's? I'd prefer not to live in an apartment.

Well, how does the A&M med school work? Isn't the first two years in CS, and the last two in Temple? Or has that changed? How would you have a choice in that situation?

Also, I.m assuming you are deciding between Baylor or UTHSC and A&M. I'd base your decision on the school, not the town. That seems like a no brainer, but that's just me.

Yeah, just checked - A&M med school is 2 years in College Station, and finish in Temple. So, how would that leave you with a choice between the two?

And there's rental property in Temple/Belton all over town, just like everywhere else in this market.






[This message has been edited by Captain Pablo (edited 11/17/2010 5:02p).]

there is a poster on here, Grinder99 who lived in a very nice rental home. I would have thought he owned it, yard was nice, neighborhood nice....perfect situation. When he finished his residency he bought closer to Belton, I think he said.

I will email him and maybe he can give you his experiences.

A&M med school has recently changed. You can do 4 years Temple, 4 years CS, or 2+2. Since I'm married I would favor the 4 year tracks so my wife doesn't have to look for a new job after 2 years.

I'm deciding between UT-Houston and A&M. The school definitely is the most important factor in making the decision, but I thought I'd just go ahead and ask what it would be like to live in Temple. Thank y'all for the responses!

and Mom if you need my email it's my username at yahoo dot com. Thanks

I would op for 4 years in Temple, if it were me...but then I am 100 years older than you are!

I was born in Houston and spent my first 11 years there, returned 20 years later and lived off 59-South and worked next to the Astrodome.....couldn't get out fast enough.

32 years now in Hewitt and can't say enough about rearing my family here...churches, schools, opportunities to grow up slowly but close enough to action when we wanted it.

like I said, I am probably biased because of age and experiences but I would opt for Temple in a heartbeat!

I concur. Married, not a nightlife person....

Pick the school first. Tiebreaker goes to central Texas, hands down. In Houston, you're either going to pay a fortune for a broom closet down by the med center, or you're going to be commuting an hour each way. If you choose temple or college station, you're 5 minutes from campus. And traffic isn't a problem. But these are personal
preferences. Either you like the huge city, or you like the smaller town.

obviously, I'm not a med student, but a Former Student

I like it here, alot...but, I'm older, and have already done the big city thing, AKA Dallas-Fort Worth, San Diego, California, & Awstin...lived in CS, waYco, Lake Travis

I do miss Lake Travis (of all places), but then it was time to move on

Currently in Belton, 5 minutes from my job in Tempel. Not a fan of Killeen, but sometimes work in Harker Heights (15 minutes from the house)

life is too short to be stuck in traffic

I've had a number of friends who moved to Temple to attend med school there around your age (single and married). All of them couldn't wait to get out. If you pick Temple just know you will die of boredom until you move.

my wife and i have been in temple for over 3 years now and love it. moved here from dallas for a medical device sales job. we knew basically no one when we moved here but we've settled down, found a great group of friends and absolutely love it here now. in fact, we like it so much we're looking at building a new house in the next year and making this our longterm home.

so if you're interested in renting/buying, i will have a house worth looking at in the historic district in north temple.

the reports of temple being an "old person town" are vastly overblown. yes, pretty much everyone i know has a grandparent that lives here. but there is a huge young population here as well. social scene is fine but, like y'all, we aren't big drinkers/partiers. but like i said, we've made great friends in the 3 years we've been here and we're close enough to dallas, austin and san antonio that we're never bored.

as far as the med schools go, i've heard that doing your 4 years in temple is the way to go. better teaching and experience in temple as compared to CS.


[This message has been edited by whitey2002 (edited 11/18/2010 10:42p).]

Here is my 2 cents.

I had an opportunity to go to Houston or Lubbock for law school.

I went to Lubbock. I lived in a great neighborhood, purchased a home and sold it for what I had in it when I left and only drove 5 minutes to school.

My friends who went to Houston for law school paid twice as much for an apartment than I did for a mortgage and insurance; and they drove on average 45 minutes each way to school.

Med school is more time consuming than law school. That extra 1.5 hours a day is an incredible advantage to keeping your sanity.

I live in Georgetown and work in Belton/Killeen. Traffic is wonderful, people are great, and there are some pretty decent restaurants scattered around Bell County.

But let me reiterate that driving to school in 5 minutes will be a very important part of your life over the next 4 years. It is an element of your day that is certain. Unlike Houston traffic.

Full Disclosure - I have been drinking so I might regret this later. I'm sure mom will see this but I kinda hope that BohunkAg gets a look too.

I was in Waco about 4 weeks ago and well... It wasn't that bad. Of course I'm 40 now so my perspective has changed. I had a great lunch with EMY92 and some other Midway HS friends. We're all older now and aren't into much else besides kids and nonsense hobbies (Cars, Baylor Athletics - not me, Scuba).

Anyways, it doesn't sound like what the OP is looking for but, in Central Texas, I'm still aspiring to own a house around Lake Belton. It's probably going to take me another 10 years to pull it off though.

Now, after I was in Waco, I spent the following weekend in College Station. Maybe I'm getting old but B/CS seems over priced and pretentious now. I'd head straight to Temple. It's only 90+ minutes from Austin if you really need something that only 6th Street can offer.

I would think S&W, VA, and Darnell would be a better learning experience that what you'd get in BCS.

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It's only 90+ minutes from Austin if you really need something that only 6th Street can offer.

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Not even that far. Its about an hour to downtown.

There is plenty to do here if you are married.

We moved here about 2 years ago, knowing nothing about the area other than it wasn't San Angelo, where I was born, raised, went to school, went to college and worked in for my first 3 years out of college.

moved here w/ no friends or knowledge of the town or what was around here. hated it for the first 6 months. Finally got plugged into a church, bought a house and now have more friends and things to do in a week than I know what to do with.

when people ask me if i like it here i say it's the best place in the state to live, but the worst to visit. once you put roots down here, you find where to shop, eat, go to church, find friends, etc. it's an incredible place to be and I can't ever see leaving.

you're less than an hour to Austin and Waco and 2 or less to Houston, Dallas, CS, and San Antonio. You don't have to screw with traffic, bar a rare bottleneck on I-35, which can easily be avoided.

DRINKING AT 7AM???? What a sot!

Well, I have long held and told that Central Texas/Waco is a wonderful place for families but it sucks for young adults wanting nightlife. If you aren't a Baylor student with those associated venues then there isn't much going on.

I will say my daughters have gotten involved with the Waco/McLennan County A&M club and the Waco Young Professionals so there are some options but not many.

Again, I would never go back to Houston for more than a short visit and CS is fine other than football weekends...it still has a college town mentality that at times gets on my nerves but Waco/Temple/Belton is the absolute best of all worlds. It takes a different type person who craves calm and routine to choose a smaller town before they have children. We did and have never ever regretted it.

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DRINKING AT 7AM???? What a sot!

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Yeah, unfortunately TexAgs time is fixed in GMT -6 and I'm in GMT +10 plus DST right now. Just waking up to a lovely Saturday morning.

Yeah, I guess it is less than 90 minutes to Austin from Temple I just didn't know if everybody drove as fast as I do. Also, I guess traffic has improved now that they've got that toll road open around the east side of Austin.

Also, with the AUS airport south of town now (I know it's been there for 11 years already), the definition of which part of Austin you're going to can vary by quite a bit. IKEA in Round Rock isn't that far away, right

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Anyways, it doesn't sound like what the OP is looking for but, in Central Texas, I'm still aspiring to own a house around Lake Belton. It's probably going to take me another 10 years to pull it off though.

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Lake Belton is a great area to live around

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Lake Belton is a great area to live around

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I'll throw my two cents in seeing that I'm not that far off in age from you. If I were making my decision solely off of a town I would pick CS, but all things considered I think I'd go for Belton/Temple. I have grown up and gone to school in the Waco/Temple area for most of my life and feel I have a pretty good handle on what's going on around here. I live in Woodway/Waco right now, but am very familiar with the Temple area. I also feel I'm not so far in years from my college experience that I can still give some perspective from a CS standpoint.

I would choose Belton/South Temple, because on the rare occasion that you'll have some free time it will be an easy drive to G-Town/Round Rock/Austin. These areas are a ton of fun and you'll have a great time taking your wife out to eat and going to events in those various cities. Also, I'm not an expert, but I gather from the outstanding reputation that S&W's main campus has that you'll learn quite a bit more from your experience there than you would in CS. I know there are some outstanding doctors at both places, but S&W is very well known. You'll also only be an hour and twenty from CS for an occasional football game. The downside to the area is that the nightlife is not all that great (but that's not that important to you), the restaurant selection has improved, but I still think CS has a better selection, and if you lived in the Belton area, which I would want to, you'll be a little further from S&W than you might be from the Med School at A&M if you lived in CS. Still, in Belton/Temple you wouldn't have to travel that far to get the necessities, Wal-Mart, HEB, catch a movie, shopping, etc... would probably all be within a 5-10 minute radius from each other, depending on where you lived.

In CS you would be more familiar with the area so probably more comfortable in general. I think your wife would have better luck finding a job she liked in CS, unless she's in the medical or industrial field (Temple is great in those areas). Restaurants are better, nightlife is better, you'd probably still know some people in the area, etc. The downside to CS, to me, appears to be the downgrade in the medical school experience, living in CS another 4 years (even though it's comfortable, I could see how it could wear on you), sort of close to Houston, but still an hour and half out from a major metropolitan area.

Those are just my thoughts and ramblings, hope they help. Let us know what you decide.

My wife will be graduating from PA school (physician's assistant) around the same time that I start med school. We don't anticipate her having trouble finding a job no matter where we live, as PA's are usually in high demand.

After some thought, if it's solely based on the school itself, we would pick UT-Houston over A&M-College Station. However, I have yet to see the Temple campus, and I am scheduled to do a "second look" on January 6 so I can see what Temple and the school there are like. Then I have to make a final decision by January 10.

Thank you everyone for your opinions and thoughts, if anyone has more keep 'em coming!

I lived in Temple for three and a half years, and I couldn't wait to get out. I'm 30, single, and have lived in the big cities throughout Texas (San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Houston). I'm not much for nightlife anyway, but Temple really has NOTHING. There's no good shopping (do they even have an Old Navy yet?). They're definitely getting better restaurants...finally. The mall sucks.

I was miserable for three years. Had some friends from work, but I was never really able to meet people outside of work. Everybody in that town seemed to be older (there was always a new retirement home being built somewhere), or they were my age but married with children.

I've moved to Austin, and I love it so much more than Temple. Even with the hippies and t-sips. If you like the quiet, everything-closes-at-9 type of place, you might like Temple. If you're used to all of the stores, restaurants, and conveniences of a big city like Houston or Dallas, you might not like Temple.

Sigh

I was going to take issue to the "old people" stereotype, then realized maybe he's talking about me!!!

BTW, there is an Old Navy in Harker Heights, 15 minutes from Temple and 10 minutes from Belton. Essentially, if Temple doesn't have it, Killeen/HH probably does. Bell County has 300,000 people. Not huge, but not podunk USA, either.

I really like the new center in Harker Heights. It has a big city feel to it.

I don't know if "the new center" or the place with Old Navy is the Harker Heights center with Target, Ulta, Barnes&Noble and Genghis Grill but we have driven there six times in the past three months and love it!

Yes it is. I love it also.