People Who’ve Lived In Red And Blue States Are Sharing The Major, Staggering Differences

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Lastly: “I was born and raised Chicago and its north suburbs. When my husband and I retired, we moved down to Houston because two of our adult kids were already living there. On the one hand, I will say that ‘Southern hospitality’ is a thing: our neighbors (and just about everyone else we meet) are far friendlier than the various neighbors we had up north. In times of trouble, they genuinely help one another. And the cost of living is markedly less. Our nice house (and its property taxes) are substantially less than in Illinois, and gas and food prices are also lower. Houston, demographically, is actually a lot like Chicago — a blue island in an otherwise red state. BUT, I’m grateful we don’t have small children or grandchildren here, because the public schools are terrible and seem more concerned with banning books and suppressing LGBTQ+ people than in actually providing an education.”

“The Texas grid is on par with that of a third-world country, and we have had more power outages in five years than in over half a century in the Midwest. The crime rate in Houston is very high, and there are fewer cops per capita to respond. Even our quiet family-friendly area has its share of car thefts and shootings. And of course, Texas’s political bass-ackwardness is known around the world. If we didn’t have kids here, we would definitely live elsewhere.”

—Deb, 67, Texas