Best Places to Live and Launch 2008: No. 9, Fort Worth
From Eddie .los Angeles I love fort Worth ,I lived in it for 6 years, I was on my own and was able to build a good life many were still trying to get for many years.people are nice,friendly and kind.Un lucy me to leave Fort Worth and move to California.The only thing is better is the weather.
From Dell Bransom Charles Darwin is not welcome in Ft. Worth. For horse and buggy types, who believe that global warming is a hoax and Tom Delay will make a comeback, it's a great place to live. Liberals need not apply.
From LZ Fort Worth I moved to Fort Worth over 4 years ago. Within the past 2 years the cities leadership has opened the floodgates to money hungry gas companies that have snatched up any one acre lots all across tarrant county within the city limits as well as outside. the hungry gas companies as well as the city leadership have no concern for the safety or satisfaction of its residents as the gas wells are dangerous, noisy, polluting the ground water not to mention all the heavy equipment running up and down the city streets causing large pot holes and more noise and traffic than ever before.
From chung lee I have been living in Fort Worth for 30 years. It was a great town and had the cow town atmosphere.The population has exploded and the traffic during anytime of the day is horrible. Now I hate the traffic specially during the rush hour because of poor planning. It is going to get worse.The travel time has more than doubled. I wish that my home is closer to my work.
From Kent Williams, Naperville, IL Fote Woerth is where you get your money's woerth owt of yer cowboy boots! Yeehaw.
From Nat I ******* hate it here.It's the worst place to live.
From kranker, Portland OR Texas is the best place to live. Much better than Oregon – so move to Texas. Dallas Cowgirl fans never cry or complain about anything – at least not as bad Okie fans. I heard wages in that state are up to $5.00 / hr now. Oh, and one more thing, all the cowboys are real cowboys.
From Frank C Fort Worth has no leadership in their city government, the workforce is poorly educated and I can not wait to get out of here.
From Kelly Schmidt, Fort Worth, TX I have lived near Fort Worth for almost 30 years (my whole life)and I have lived in Fort Worth for 3 years. My mother was born in Fort Worth and my husband's mother and her parents were born in Fort Worth. It is a GREAT place to live and is a GREAT place to raise a family. The people are nice and laid back. And, I think that it is amazing that they still have a cattle drive every day!!!!
From Frankie, Ft Worth,Tx I have lived in Ft Worth all my 23 yrs & I enjoy it every bit. There is nationally recognized museums, zoo's, golf coursess, & corporations. It's a city on the rise that is changing with the tide. I & a lifetime long friend are thinking of opening a new business & trying spread our knowledge to others. I think there are some areas that need to be worked on just like an another city, but hey you have to start somewhere & we are doing a pretty good job!
From Mike C, Fort Worth Texas I've lived here since 1987. It's a good place to live. If Fort Worth could improve their traffic light system to allow better traffic flow, traffic wouldn't be an issue. The traffic system tends to leave you sitting at a light with no crossing traffic and doesn't change until the back traffic has caught up to you. There's not much you can do about rush hour traffic since most of us all go and get off work at the same time.
From C Parnell, Keller, TX While I live in Keller (north east of Ft Worth) and work in West Ft Worth, I absolutely love Ft Worth over any of its neighbors. When I first moved to the metroplex in '84, I lived in Irving and partied in Dallas. Since those days, I have learned that Ft Worth is much better than Dallas and the pompous people that live there. If you like down home living, very affordable living and excellent night life and arts, then Ft Worth is the place to be.
From Justin wall fort worth sucks as far as living is concerned. The areasaround fort worth especially to the southeast and north are much better to live
From Martha Brothers Fort Worth, Tx Bill,
I have lived in Fort Worth for 50 1/2 years of my 52 years. It has friendly people, lots of great businesses, both large and small. There are lots of great grocery stores, and many, many restaurants. Some neighborhoods have sidewalks and are quaint while others are more up scale and modern. There are several city parks with bicycle/jogging paths and the large Trinity Park near the Trinity river. We are also near Benbrook Lake, Eagle Mountain Lake, Lake Worth, and Lake Grapevine. I would find it hard to leave Fort Worth, it's my home. For higher education there's TCU, Tarrant County College, and nearby Univ. of Tx at Arlington (where I went). We also have a very good library system here, a central library, 3 regionals, and about ten branches. I think that you would be happy here.
From Jack, Fort Worth, Texas I have lived in Fort Worth all my life, except for a three year stint in North Dallas. Down Town Fort Worth is so much better than Dallas in every way. I live outside of Down Town by about 10 miles and it takes me just 15 minutes on average to get to work in Down Town F.W.
Sure there are a lot of things I hate, but you have to look for the balance.
From Kelli, Ft.Worth, TX I've traveled the world, but I call Ft. Worth home. It is a beautiful city with amazing entertainment features. Business is booming and if you are in IT then you are in luck because right now finding employees that can do programming is hard to find because they are so in demand.
The weather is hot, and yes, the city needs to work on public transportation (but to be fair many people voted the idea down a few years ago when gas prices weren't that bad). However, despite those few drawbacks (and what city doesn't have a couple) Ft.Worth is one of the great places to live.
From M.Bramlett – North Richland Hills, TX I love Ft.Worth.
I actually live in the mid-cities – but Love Ft.Worth. I have worked in San Fran; Boston; LA… and have been forced to commute to Dallas.
Ft.Worth has everything one would want And as for the comments about parking rates, traffic — really – there is no comparision. Traffic / parking / – everything is better in Ft.Worth. The main reason I like it – you can walk everywhere downtown Ft.Worth; and it only takes 20 minutes to get out the mid-cities – even in traffic.
From Lauren Fort Worth, TX I have lived in Fort Worth my entire life, with a small stint in New Mexico, and I wil never leave. I live just outside of downtown on the Trinity River, it is a beautiful area right in the middle of everything. All my shopping, dining and recreation is done with in the immediate area (mostly small businesses), I love it, I recommend it to anyone with a small town sense and a big city desire.
From Anonymous Ahhh my home town…what I would give to move back there from San Diego…I could pay 2 months, almost 3 months rent for what I pay out here in San Diego. I can't wait for my husband to get out of the Marines so I can go back HOME!
From J. Torn, Fort Worth, Texas I own a business with annual billings of 35mm and I chose Ft. Worth over Dallas.
From Bill Pat, Malden, MA I am living at Malden, MA and I wish to move to Fort Worth please comment on my this idea.
From Kim Marin, Southlake, TX Traffic? Really? I am a realtor in the Fort Worth area and traffic is the least thing on my mind when I venture out. With the exception of a few bottle-necks at rush hour, it's very easy to get around in Fort Worth. There are many ways around that don't take you much out of your way & you find out quickly that you don't get on northbound 35 from downtown at evening rush hour!
From Debbie, Fort Worth, TX Awesome place to live….I moved here from Houston and there is no comparison. Theatre, Museums, Music/Bass Hall, Architecture, Major Horse Events, the Historical Stockyards, and of course Cuisine.
From Brenda, Fort Worth, Texas You were kidding about traffic, I hope.
There is traffic from Ft. Worth to Dallas, but not much heavy traffic locally except for 7-8 a.m. and 5-6 p.m. Certainly nothing like Dallas, Houston or Austin! A great place to live with great live theatre and music, excellent restaurants and still some nice affordable housing.
From Rob, Fort Worth, TX I can't argue that Fort Worth is not a good place for business. Too good in fact. Our city leaders care more about lining their buddies' pockets than the quality of life of average residents. Many of our elected officials are politicians, not public servants.
The city is poorly managed and has been reactive rather than proactive to the issues that population growth creates. They've been late to start assessing impact fees on developers, they sign away large sums of money i.e. their outsourcing of negotiating leases of city land to energy companies drilling in the Barnett Shale, they have accounting issues that are stalling road development projects, and are generally asleep at the wheel i.e. allowing a child curfew ordinance to expire and having to pay back $36,000 or so in fines, only to have city council have to vote on the ordinance again to put it back into effect.
Perot Jr. has too much control over the development of North Fort Worth. That's a whole other story for another time.
From Jamie I've lived in Fort Worth for decades and unfortunately city leaders have no vision of the future. As an example, they allowed a free downtown subway that connected to a 5,000 space parking lot to be destroyed in 2002.
Parking rates hvae since tripled downtown.
From James, San Francisco CA I grew up in Fort Worth. I've lived in Des Moines, Boston, Lowell (MA), Reading (MA), and now I'm in San Francisco. The city that I've always called home is Fort Worth – you just can't beat the prices, the community, the friendliness, or the houses. People always look at me funny when I say prices – I can feed my entire extended family in Fort Worth for what my wife and I spend on a small dinner for 2 in San Fran. I miss Texas dearly and will move back there when I get the chance.
From Travis, Killeen, TX Of all the big cities in Texas, Ft. Worth is one I could live in. Having grown up in a small Texas town of 800, the big city life doesn't appeal to me. However, there are good jobs that pay well. I live and work in Killeen and my wife lives and works in Ft. Worth. I am curreently looking for a job there since she has had no luck finding employment around here for a year and a half.
From Cooper Haslet, Texas Absolutely, Ft. Worth is a booming area. Especially when you consider the surrounding areas just North of Ft. Worth. I live just ten miles outside the city limits, near Alliance Airport (Ross Perot's baby) and the Texas Motor Speedway. An article just came out that this area (North Ft. Worth area) is set to gain 10 million people in about 15 years.
So, yes the economy is exploding. Not only that, the people have the $$$ to spend here. Let me just tell you I am a stockbroker who owns my own business; my neighbor on the right is a plumber with his own business; and my neighbor to the left is a landscaper with his own business. And, things are good for all three of us. My town had about 600 people just a few years ago. Now we are hovering at 40,000+. Unfortunately the landscape is getting torn to hell with all the development, but of course business is BOOMING. Don't believe me????
Come and took and look for yourself. North Texas is the place to be IMHO.
From Lisa, Fort Worth, TX I love Fort Worth. Dallas is dirty and far too crowded. Fort Worth has the big city amenities, particularly with Dallas nearby, but it still has that smaller-town sort of feel to it. Still, the traffic isn't great and neither is the smog. But living just outside in the suburbs is easy enough if you don't travel at rush hour, or if you use side streets. I'm hopefully about the Trinity Rail Passenger train expansions…
From Kyle, Lubbock, Texas The only good thing about Fort Worth is it's next to Dallas. The workforce is much better in Dallas, but then again, it's a quick drive for workers from Dallas over to Fort Worth.
Dallas has a thriving and growing transit system and they are linking Dallas and Fort Worth Together now. This will make things better in Fort Worth. But, stick with Dallas if your opening a biz!
From scowley Have you found the town supportive of local businesses?
Not sure who makes these lists. I lived in Fort Worth from 2005 to 2008. Heard good things, like this article. Fort Worth is one of the worst cities I have ever even visited, never mind lived in. And, I have lived in most of the largest cities in the United States. Worst schools, high crime rates, corrupt City Officials, many, many slum areas and No Quality of Life. Yes, cheap houses, but you get what you pay for. Decent paying jobs and low unemployment. So, cost of living is low. But, then what do you do for entertainment? It is the headquarters of the Bible Belt, so VERY few bars and restaurants. Downtown is dead after dark and dangerous. To go to one of the few entertainment sites, you must pay high parking rates. Most areas of the city should be condemned and start over. Worst roads in the United States. Large clay soil content. Clay expands on average, 6 inches from dry to wet. So, all roads MUST be poured concrete as asphault will crack and fall apart. But, even the concrete cracks and entire chunks of the road SINK. Your car hits the edge of the cracked road and BANG, flat tire and bent rim. I have never seen a house slab in Fort Worth that didn't have a major slab crack! Yellow Book has more than 10 pages of ads for House Slab Repair companies!!!! Homeowners surround their houses with soaker hoses and run them during the summer to TRY to keep their slab from cracking. Code Enforcement only enforces by politics. Which is the way that Fort Worth runs. It's the Good Ole' Boy system. If you know someone, you can do whatever you want and City Hall will allow it. Conversely, if some Good Ole' Boy doesn't like you, City Hall will bankrupt you. The only more corrupt city that I know of is New Orleans.