This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Guadalupe Galindo-Nevarez, 63, who moved from California to El Paso, Texas, with her husband and daughter in 2022 and now plans to move back to California. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I grew up in El Paso, but I ended up going to college in Sacramento and living there for 47 years.
A couple of years ago, I started feeling homesick. I wanted to move back to El Paso, be closer to my family, and raise my teenage daughter in a different environment. My husband and I both thought Texas could be a good fit for her because it has high school programs that allow students to earn their associate degree before graduating.
In December 2022, we moved from Natomas, a neighborhood in Sacramento, to El Paso. We bought a brand-new four-bedroom, three-bathroom home for $250,000. Compared with California’s expensive housing market, it felt like an incredible bargain.
Texas’s lower cost of living has been great. Groceries and dining out are noticeably cheaper, and gas prices were as low as $2.34 per gallon before they started rising because of the Iran war. The lack of state income tax is also huge.
But while we’ve enjoyed those advantages, we’ve come to realize there are a lot of trade-offs to living in Texas — and for us, they outweigh many of the benefits. We once thought living in El Paso would be a permanent relocation, but now we’re happily making our way back to California.
Life in Texas isn’t what we thought it would be
When I told my family I was moving to El Paso, they were excited. They kept telling us, “Everything is so much cheaper and better here,” and they were right — for the most part.
El Paso really is a beautiful place with very kind people. It sits along the border, near Mexico and New Mexico, so there’s a unique blend of cultures. I wish more people knew about El Paso’s culture and its incredible, authentic Mexican food.
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I was used to living in El Paso because I grew up here, but it has been much harder for my daughter and husband to adjust.
When we first moved here, my daughter immediately said, “I don’t like it.” She started school and made a couple of friends, but she said a lot of people treated her like an outsider.
She’s very happy we’re going back to California. She’s interested in pursuing a degree in molecular biology and is hoping to get into UC Davis.
Courtesy of Guadalupe Galindo-Nevarez
My husband was over Texas within the first two weeks of us moving here. One of the biggest adjustments for him has been the weather.
In El Paso, summers regularly get above 100 degrees, and the winters can also be surprisingly harsh. Temperatures can dip to 18 degrees, which is much colder than what we are used to in California.
The wind in El Paso has also been challenging. We didn’t do enough research before moving, especially about the neighborhood where we bought our home. It’s a nice, brand-new neighborhood, but there’s a lot of open land behind us, so the wind feels even stronger. Just last week, winds reached 41 mph, tearing the curtains off our pergola. Dust storms are also common, especially in the spring.
We’re moving back to California as soon as possible
We are very sports-oriented and try to do a lot of activities as a family. In California, we would go to Monterey Bay, Los Angeles, Dodger games, and other baseball games. But in El Paso, there just isn’t as much to do, especially for a 16-year-old.
There are places to hike, but overall, it the activities here feel much more limited. I find myself looking forward to visiting places like San Francisco, Reno, Lake Tahoe, and Monterey Bay again.
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My husband worked for the State of California for 30 years, so we have excellent insurance in California. My medical treatments will be a lot more affordable for us there.
We know we’re probably going to have a higher mortgage when we move back to California, but the property taxes in Texas are much higher than we expected, so we’re comfortable with that trade-off.
Right now, we’re looking into buying my oldest daughter’s home in Sacramento. She has been looking for a bigger home for her family for about eight months, so our timing depends on when she finds something. But we know we’re going back.
We call this whole experience a learning lesson. If we ever move again, I will definitely do more research. We should have looked more closely at the neighborhood, the weather, the medical benefits, and the overall lifestyle before making such a big decision.
Did you move to a new state, only to realize it wasn’t the right fit? We want to hear from you. Email reporter Alcynna Lloyd at [email protected] to share your story.
