17 Reasons Not to Move to Dallas, Texas (Voted by the Locals!)

Dallas is one of the best places on Earth! The city has so much opportunity for growth and is a great city to choose to settle down and raise your family in. Every great place though has some downside to living there, and Dallas is no exception. Having lived there my entire life on both the South and North side of Dallas, I know the area very well.

Having known the area for my whole life, I knew quite a few things about the downsides of this great city. To add to my knowledge, I gathered info from other people who live here too. So, let’s dive into the 17 reasons you shouldn’t live here in Dallas, Texas.

17) There are a Ton of People

Dallas is a really really big place! It’s ranked as the 9th most populated city in the United States, but the 4th when you combine all the surrounding area.

If you aren’t a people person, this definitely isn’t a place for you. You’ll feel calustraphobic and will be stressed out all of the time because of all the people around you.

16) The Schools

There are some really good schools here in Dallas, but the majority of them are pretty bad.

For example, I was in the Duncanville School District, I was not getting the education that was helping me. I wasn’t prepared to go to my new school and the curriculum that they were teaching, because of the way that I was being taught in school.

Also, the Dallas Independent School District isn’t even in the top 100 school districts in the entire state. If you’re wanting better schools for your kids, go about 30-45 minutes north of downtown Dallas and you should have better schools for your children to go to.

15) The Crime

The crime here in Dallas is not the worst but is also not the best.

It’s more prominent in Southern Dallas but is present everywhere. Dallas is only safer than 6% of other cities here in the United States and has a violent crime rate of more than double the national median.

This makes Dallas one of the more dangerous cities to live and this mostly has to deal with the population that the city has. More people, the more likely you are to have crime happen in your city.

14) Criticism of Texas

Those who openly criticize Texas in Dallas, oh I pray for you.

If you say good things about Texas, you’ll be good friends with the people, but if you openly criticize the state get ready to get an ear full. Biting your tongue and not speaking your mind is probably one of the best things you can do in the presence of a life-long Texan, who is very prideful of the state they’ve been loving for a long, long time.

The pride the people have for the great state is at times overwhelming, making what you say about the state very important.

13) The City Sleeps

Dallas is a big city but is very different than New York City or Los Angeles. Most things will start to shut down at around 9 o’clock and then bars will close at around 2-3 in the morning.

For most people that are used to the party and city life going on all night, this will be a big downside to living in Dallas. The nightlife is still very lively, but it will be very different than most party cities.

12) Cost of Living

Depending on where you are in Dallas, it’s very expensive to live here. Where I’m originally from, the cost of living score is 113.8. The average cost of living in the U.S. is at 100, so the Dallas area is much more expensive to live here than most places.

The rent, insurance, medical care, and groceries here in Dallas are more expensive than most places here in the United States. This makes it a huge downside to living in Dallas.

11) Not a Good Place for Vegans

Even though there are more and more options opening up for Vegans, it’s still not a great place to be if you are one. Most people when you say you are vegan will look at you funny and judge you a little bit. Meat and animal-based products are pretty much a delicacy here in Dallas.

We love our barbeque, chicken, and steak. Those who are vegan will have a difficult time living here in Dallas.

10) Potholes and Construction

Construction is a constant problem around the country, but here in Dallas, it’s excruciating. They will simply leave potholes on the roads for the longest time.

I remember heading to work down this one road, and it took them probably 3 years to fix all of the potholes that it had. The section that I would drive was around 8 miles, so I would think that half of the summer or a full summer would be how long it should’ve taken to resolve the problem, but no, it took 3 years.

These problems occur all over the Dallas area. Construction signs, no matter where you go will, be up year-round and will make it harder for you to get to the places you need to go.

This will add more time to driving, which will only cause you to be more and more frustrated with living there.

9) Guns!

Guns are also something that Texans are very passionate about. I remember learning how to shout a gun at a young age for boy scouts. Trying to take away a gun from a Texan is not a very good idea.

With us Texans being very stubborn and passionate, we will fight to keep our guns to make sure to maintain the right to bear arms.

Those who have opposing views will have a pretty difficult time here in Dallas. Texas has more guns that are registered than any other state in the union at 588,696 guns registered in the state.

With Dallas being the third most populated city in Texas, you can say that it makes a very big contribution to that number.

8) Mixed Culture

The Mexican Culture is very prominent as well. Dallas has arguably the best traditional Mexican food that you can get here in the United States. With growing up here in Dallas, I’ve been able to see how important the Hispanic culture is and how good the people are.

Their traditions and presence in the Dallas area help what makes Dallas, Dallas.

This isn’t a place for you if you don’t like their culture or beliefs. With the Hispanic population in Dallas being at 36.8%, you’ll be able to see a lot of it.

Cinco De Mayo is arguably one of the most important holidays that is celebrated here in Dallas because of the heavy presence and influence that their culture has here. This will be difficult for anyone that dislikes their culture.

7) Cowboy Culture

One of the first things that you think about Texas is the Cowboys that are all over the place here. To be honest, it depends on where you are at here in Dallas where the Cowboy Culture will be prominent, but there will be a strong presence of the culture wherever you go.

There will be a barbeque restaurant everywhere you look, men and women in cowboy hats and boots, and country music being played pretty much everywhere that you go.

This might be very unusual for people that are from other parts of the country. For Texans, especially those that live in Dallas, it is a way of life.

6) Tollways

With there being no public transportation, tollways come into the picture. The most efficient way to get around the Dallas area is to take the tollways.

These tollways though are pretty pricey. The toll tags range from $20-$40 dollars and are set up with a prepaid account. Each time that you use the tollway, there is a certain amount of money that will then be taken off of the prepaid account.

They are also very confusing once you start driving on them, so a GPS is necessary whenever you are on them so you don’t take the wrong exit and up on the opposite side of Dallas that you wanted to go.

These tollways are a pain though because everyone wants to take them. This causes more traffic, which will cause more accidents because of the crazy drivers that we have here in Dallas.

Tollways are effective but they will bring stress and a hole in your wallet.

5) Lack of Public Transportation

In Dallas, public transportation is hard to find, making it super unreliable, and will hardly get you anywhere. There isn’t a city bus or subway that will be able to take you from suburb to suburb here, so your own form of transportation is essential.

Dallas is very spread out as well, so it would be very hard to walk anywhere, and it would be too dangerous to bike, so you’d need to find yourself a good, reliable car to get around.

4) It’s Necessary to Love Sports

If you don’t have a passion for sports, Dallas is probably not the best place for you, partner.

Dallas, even though they have not been the best recently, is very passionate about their sports teams. Whether it is their Pro, College, or even high school teams, they will go all-in for their teams.

Say you go to one of the smaller towns in the Dallas area such as Waxahachie or McKinney on a Friday night in the fall, you’ll see that the town is shut down. The reason being will be that there is a high school football game going on.

Then the next day, they’ll either be in the house glued to the screen watching College Football or at a high school field again to watch kids play little league football. This goes for all sports year-round for Dallas as well whether it’s Baseball or Soccer, they will go all-in for their sports.

Don’t even start with me about the Cowboys. Say one thing wrong about the Dallas Cowboys football team, and you’ll get an hour-long lecture about how the Cowboys are the greatest organization in the world.

3) Scenery

Buildings, buildings, buildings that’s what you’ll see whenever you come here to Dallas. The city is very flat and doesn’t have mountains or a beach to entice you with its beauty.

Dallas and its surrounding area are flat and don’t have much other than plains and woodland out to the east.

Now, if you love seeing buildings all around you everyday good for you, but if you want a place that has beautiful scenery Dallas is definitely not the place for you to live.

2) Traffic

The traffic is an all-day event. Having to drive to get to my jobs this past summer, traffic was all day every day. It didn’t matter if it was at 6 in the morning or at 3 in the afternoon, the highways are always busy and full of those crazy drivers.

Get ready for those Texas drivers. They are crazy, ruthless, and pretty bad. They’re the kind of drivers that will do anything to make sure they make their exit. It doesn’t end there.

If traffic stresses you out and you don’t want to deal with the thousands of people on the highways, Dallas is not a place for you.

1) Terrible Weather

The weather here in Dallas is a bipolar storm. It doesn’t matter if it is in the middle of June or New Years’ Day, there is always a chance of it being in the mid-’80s.

You will also get hit by massive rainstorms, humidity, extreme heat, hail the size of baseballs, a tornado or two in the spring, and ice instead of snow if it even gets to that point.

Once you think the weather is going in the right direction, it turns on you and hits you with either a 2 week stretch of 100-degree days or an 80-degree day in the middle of January.

In the 20+ years that I’ve lived in Dallas, I’d say that the weather is the only thing keeping me from living the rest of my life here.