A relocation journey from MN to TX

I don’t want to discuss why I made decision to move to TX from MN. (But money was a not factor.)

However I was told that there is no state tax in TX, you will save a lot after relocation etc. 

So in this post, i will starts with finance discussions. ( I have to start with something.)

In MN I used to own a small home (1750 Sq. foot & I used to pay ~2K property taxes.1% of home value)

After moving to TX, I brought a home 3300 Sq. foot & now I am paying 10.5K as taxes on 440K home. (Around 2.5% of home value)

In TX, I am not paying any state tax on my full time pay check. 

On similar salary, I used to pay 6K MN state tax.  

In summary, property tax in TX alone equates property tax in MN + state tax.

For one year, I rented an apartment before buying home here in Austin, TX

Again if are compare renting at MN vs, TX. 

In a good neighborhood, rent is minimum $300 to $400, more on similar size apartment compared to MN. 

On average for 12 months, this is equals MN state tax.

Bottom-line, don’t assume you are going to save a lot by moving to TX if you want to send kids to good schools. (In both approaches i.e. via rent or home.)

Coming to public services, for example, applying to kids’ passport etc., I used to spend 10 minutes at MN post offices. It was very quick. Here in Austin, TX, it is more than 3 hours process. 

Same case with Vehicle registration. For some reason, smaller teams serves larger public. 

Particular if both parents works, it is kind of ½ day forced vacation situation for this kind of simple situation. 

On side note, on average gas is 30 cents cheaper compared to MN. (It all depends on how many miles you drive your car. I don’t drive a lot for work...)

Another amazing about Austin TX is, school kids play lots of competitive games right from primary school. For example, my kids started playing chess and now they compete at many schools. We drive a lot to Dallas, Houston or San Antonio. Not only Chess, there is lots of competition for Tennis, Swimming etc. If you want to expose kids how competitive the worlds is this is very good place.