I lived in Dallas for almost 19 years. I grew up in the smaller neighborhood which is now currently “up and coming.” I figured that since so many people are interested in Dallas I would share my experience here. Please keep in mind that I am writing from my experience growing up which was a while ago. I will try and insert more current knowledge based on my many visits there.
Also, I am just going to copy and paste what Dan wrote about CLE and tweak it based on how it applies to Dallas. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I will definitely try to get you an answer if I know it (and even if I do not, I will find it for you because my family still lives there).
Another note before I post. In general there are about 3 different communites within the “Dallas,” area. There is the SOUTH, NORTH, and the newly developing PLANO area. I grew up in the NORTH neighborhood, so my post will be about the NORTH and I will through in some comparisons with the SOUTH neighborhood.
Pros: When it comes to safety this is THE neighborhood. I cannot stress how calm and relaxed everyone is. I do not think in all my 19 years there I heard of any burglary or mugging or anything even close to that. To stress how safe it I will tell you that almost everyone in my community leave their doors unlocked all the time. EVEN WHEN THEY ARE NOT HOME. There was this one guy who went to the Catskills for the summer and left his door open the entire summer in case people needed things from his house.
Housing is very cheap in the NORTH neighborhood. To be honest, it is even cheaper in the PLANO neighborhood, but the community is new and not as developed as the NORTH community. A five bedroom house can go for about 300k. A three bedroom house can go anywhere from 150k-190k. If you are looking to build a house I think the current price I heard was $175 a sq foot.
As in Cleveland, “parking is plentiful and traffic is nothing compared to most cities.” There is a bit of construction going on now which contributes to it, but I don’t think there are many cities with 4-5 lane highways. The airport is about 45 minutes away which is a little schlep. However, it is constructed brilliantly.
Streets are clean and everyone has a garage. There's no alternate side business and no parking meters. There are places such in downtown that have meters, but in the residential areas you will not find a single meter.
To be honest, I do not know a thing about the taxes; however, from what I hear from my friends and family is that it’s nothing compared to NY, Miami, LA etc. Everyone tells me it is dirt cheap.
People in general are just warm and nice. I am even referring to the goyim. They have this strange knack for trying to make themselves as helpful as possible for you. This also is true with the stores. If they cannot help they will apologize profusely and try to work something out for you.
As Dan said: “Kids seem to come out of schools like the Academy with their heads on straight, generally not nearly as corrupt as some that I've seen come out of LA/Miami/NYC.” I find this to be true as well in Dallas; however, I never attended yeshiva in high school so I am unsure of what my stance would be in regards to this. In regards to schools there are a couple: Solomon Schechter (conservative), Torah Day School (yeshivish), Akiba (modern orthodox), Chabad (I am not really sure about their school system but I know they have some type of school for young children). For high school there is: Yavneh (co-ed modern orthrodox), TTI (chofetz chaim), Mesorah (bais yaakov). I am not 100 percent sure if I classified these schools all correctly but if you want more information I will be happy to get it for you.
There has been an influx of young couples moving to Dallas. I can count at least 7 that moved within the past 6 months. There are tons of job opportunities here. I know that a couple of my friends got jobs within the first two weeks that they were there. EVERYONE there is ready to help you find a job. They want you there. JUST ASK and they will do whatever they can.
Downtown is nice. There is a small modern orthodox community there. They have two frum rabbis that are trying to make it more “up and coming.” We have the Cowboys, Mavericks, and Stars. There are a bunch of museums. I just visited the Perot museum which is PHENOMENAL.
There are no beaches but we do have lakes within 45 minutes distance. People use boats and jet skis. Also Oklahoma is right on the border where you can find fun lakes too. There are also bike and walking trails. We do not have too many hills so not too much hiking. We have six flags OVER TEXAS (biggest one in the country). There is speed-zone (where you can drag race, drift, or just do normal go carts). There are a lot of other things like the State Fair, The Science Place, Putt-Putt, etc.***Note some of these attractions consists of 20-45 minute drives.
We have some kosher resteruants. To name some: Café Fino (milchig/pizza), Milk and Honey (grill), Aderet (fleishig/mediterranean and more), Natalie’s Kitchen (fleishig/Israeli), Benny’s Bagels, Tom Thumb (supermarket that has sushi, bakery, deli sandwiches pre-prepared, and much much more!)
The seasons here are “true seasons.” You will experience a fall, winter, spring, and summer. There is at least one day of snow a year. A lot of things close down
nice for the kids who want to stay home and make hot chocolate and smores! Dallas does not know how to clean up snow. I do not think they even have one street plow.
Cons:The learning in the community is fairly small. There is no kollel in the NORTH. The SOUTH; however, does have a kollel, so if you are up for a drive everyday then you can take advantage of that.
Politics between shuls and members but you will probably find that everywhere.
As I mentioned there are only a few kosher restaurants. They all pretty much are Mediterranean but also serve the classic burger, dog, and fries. There is not that much of a variety.
If you are looking for a night life then this is not the place for you; although I truly cannot be too sure on this because I have never been the kind of guy who has a “night life.”
Not too many CVS’ sell VRs.
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