- [Briggs] Wanna find a great rural Texas town,
call real estate agent and start making mortgage payments?
If you said yes, you're not alone.
Texas has been the belle
of the relocation ball for some time now.
The lone star state
is one of the most popular states to relocate to.
Like many states, the most popular places
to relocate to are the major cities,
the Dallas Fort Worth area
probably being the most popular in Texas
with Austin, Houston and San Antonio metro areas
making serious gains in population in recent decades.
More and more people moving to Texas
are on the lookout for rural towns to call home.
Retirees and remote workers
are changing the American relocation landscape.
Cities aren't a necessity when looking for a job
as much as they used to be.
These videos are sort of geared
towards the remote worker and retirees,
basically two demographics that don't need jobs.
The downside of most small rural towns
is employment options.
The lack of jobs is what normally kills small towns.
No jobs, people move out.
People move out, tax dollars start to dry up.
Town's budgets get slashed and more people move out.
It's a horrible cycle.
If you haven't watched this series before, let me explain.
What we're looking for is that sweet spot:
a decent place to live that isn't too close
to any major cities.
It's easy on the crime rate.
It's not five hours away from a hospital
or so far out in the sticks you can't get decent internet.
In the other videos I also explained
that not all states have 10 good rural towns
and I don't wanna waste your time
with some places that are a reach
and shouldn't be on the list just to get 10.
A lot of rural Texas towns didn't make the list
because of a different reason.
I've talked about 'em a lot in recent videos,
so I'd say about seven of 'em got scratched
because we just talked about 'em within a year.
Also crime and access to healthcare
kind of killed a few other ones.
Got it, get it?
Good.
Let's take a look.
Number five: Buffalo, Texas.
Buffalo sits almost midway between Dallas and Houston,
with Dallas to the north being a little bit closer.
It's about a 90-minute drive up interstate 45.
I'm been getting asked to include
the what the weather's like in these different places,
so here's what it says.
The climate in this area is characterized
by hot humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.
So it's not terrible.
If you've ever been to this part of Texas,
it's not swampy like Louisiana,
but in the summer you kind of get that feel.
A good amount of mosquitoes.
I like this part of Texas.
I've always found it to be a very beautiful place.
Have any of you Dallas or Houston residents
been to Buffalo, Texas or been through there,
spent time, whatever?
Let me know in the comment section below.
Buffalo has a population of about 2000 residents
and they get a thumbs up for their crime rate.
It's 44% lower than the national average,
which is pretty good, especially for this part of Texas.
Now, all the towns on this list have a very low crime rate.
That won't stop people in the comment section
from claiming that the stats are wrong.
It's always someone claiming to be a local
and they know better than the stats
the FBI and the local police department are gathering.
They always make their comments
seem like they have some knowledge
of a secret society of criminals
that doesn't factor into all the crime stats.
They always like to add on there,
like to legitimize what they're saying
that "I've lived here 20 years, I've lived here 15 years,
"I've lived here 60 years."
It's always something like that.
It's like, okay, have you been out
on the streets every night counting the burglaries,
the assaults, the murders?
Have you been doing that or are you
just going by rumors and reputation?
Anyway, moving on.
They also get a big thumbs up for their internet.
They get one gig from Windstream
and they cover 99% of the town, which is pretty good.
This is a rural town sort of in between two big metro areas.
They're getting solid internet.
They have a couple other options that offer like 100 MBPS,
but they only cover like 20 and 30% of the town,
so still big thumbs up.
When it comes to real estate, they're doing pretty good,
so they're gonna get a thumbs up there, too.
A decent home here runs around $200,000.
Getting something with at least a couple acres
outside of town will start around 300,000
and go up from there, way up.
But this is a very affordable area
when it comes to real estate.
When it comes to healthcare, they get another thumbs up.
They have a couple doctors in town
along with a medical clinic.
If you need anything beyond that,
20 minutes to the north in Fairfield,
you have a full blown hospital
called Freestone Medical Center.
Anything past what they can handle,
you're probably gonna head into Waco,
about an hour to the west.
Number four: Honey Grove, Texas.
Besides sounding like a section of the Willy Wonka factory,
Honey Grove is a nice little town
northeast of downtown Dallas,
about 20 minutes west of Paris, Texas.
Davy Crockett discovered the area of Honey Grove
when he camped there on his way to join
the Texas army in San Antonio in 1836.
He ended up at the Alamo and things didn't work out for him.
He never made it back,
but Crockett did send many letters back to Tennessee
and in a few of them, he talked
about the abundance of honey-filled trees in this area,
and that's how the town got its name.
There was no mention of Willy Wonka
or a chocolate factory in any of Crockett's letters.
These days, Honey Grove has a population
of about 2000 residents
and they get a thumbs up for their crime rate.
It's 44% lower than the national average.
They get a faded thumbs up for their internet.
They have AT&T DSL, which offers 100 MBPS.
Now this is the good thing,
Starlink, which people keep bringing up
in the comment section which is the SpaceX thing,
Elon Musk, whatever, they do get good reviews
for this area using Starlink.
So that's an option, too.
When you can get Starlink it's normally a good connection.
So we'll give 'em a faded thumbs up at least.
When it comes to their real estate, they get a thumbs up.
They have homes right now that are decent, livable,
might need a little bit of work for around 130,000 in town.
If you want to go outside of town a little bit,
that starts off around 350,000
and that'll get you a little bit of land.
And it goes all the way up.
There's one right now that has eight acres
outside of town $850,000.
Eight acres for $850,000 is not that bad.
$850,000 in San Francisco will get you a broom closet
someone installed toilet with
and they call it a studio condo with a city view.
That city view in San Francisco
is often referred to as a homeless encampment.
When it comes to healthcare,
we're gonna give 'em a thumbs up also.
They have a family clinic in town along with a nursing home.
So that's good.
Anything you need past what the clinic can do,
you got Paris, Texas 20 minutes to the east
or Bonham, Texas about 15 minutes to the west.
If you're a veteran, they have a VA hospital there
and a VA home, which is for like disabled retirees
that need a place to stay.
I'm broad brushing what they do there.
There's so much more to it.
That's not the focus of this video,
but this is a good area if you're a veteran.
Number three: Port Isabel, Texas.
This one isn't as much a rural town
as a nice beach community away from a major metro area,
I guess you could say.
It's about 30 minutes east of downtown Brownsville
across the water from South Padre Island.
So this one's on the fence
whether it could be considered rural town or not.
I just thought I'd add it because it's a nice place to live,
and it's also an affordable beach community.
They have a population of just under 5,000 residents
and they get a thumbs up for their crime rate.
It's actually 49% lower than the national average,
which is pretty good.
They also get a thumbs up for their internet.
They have Spectrum here that covers 100% of the town
with one gig internet, so that's outstanding.
When you look at their healthcare,
it's gonna get a faded thumbs up.
They have a couple doctor's offices in town
and a couple of clinics, nothing big.
Anything major or an emergency room,
you got a 30-minute drive to Brownsville
and they got a big hospital there and no worries,
but not even having an urgent care or anything like that,
that kinda and being this close to the coast and all that,
it just sounds like a recipe for a disaster in some cases.
If an urgent care or something sprung up
and I don't know about it, please let me know.
Couple weeks ago I did a video and I said
they didn't have an urgent care.
Well, about four days before I uploaded the video,
I guess an urgent care had opened up.
Oh my god, these locals got all up my butt about it.
It's a great place to live if you like to fish.
They got a nice pirate's landing fishing pier
right there that goes along the Queen Isabella Causeway.
It's a pretty cool place to live.
Now, here's the other great thing about living here.
They get a thumbs up for their real estate
because they have something for every price range
and almost every single thing is a short walk to the water.
Have you ever wanted to live at a mobile home park
that is right on the water?
They have that.
It's one of those planned areas
where they have these little peninsulas
and a bunch of houses on 'em.
You could have your boat right outside your mobile home.
There's definitely a lot of options here.
Number two: Ganado, Texas, or Ganado, Texas.
I did hear one guy call it Ganado,
but most people call it Ganado from what I've picked up.
Ganado is about 90 minutes southwest of Houston.
The city of Ganado was a ranching community
when it was first settled.
Most of the settlers lived near the Mustang Creek.
Ganado is also known for a theater
that was part of a now defunct chain of theaters
in Texas called Long Theaters.
The theater in Ganado opened in the 1930s
and it is still in operation to this day, maybe.
They shut down during the pandemic
and their website says they'll open again soon.
I called their phone number.
They said that as soon as they have more information,
they'll let people know,
but doesn't look like they've had any movement on it
since early 2021, so maybe it's gone for good.
Who knows?
If you know anything about it, let me know
in the comment section below.
Ganado has a population of about 1,775 people
and they get a thumbs up to their crime rate.
It's actually 57% lower than the national average,
which is outstanding.
When it comes to their healthcare,
they also get a thumbs up.
They have a couple family practices
and the Ganado Medical Center,
which is small, but it's there for you.
They also have a local dentists.
Anything past that, you gotta head out to Edna,
which is only 10 minutes west of Ganado.
And they've got a full blown hospital
and everything you need right there.
Ganado has a Mustang Creek,
which kind of opens up into this lake area
just south of town.
So if you like to fish or just be on the water,
that's a great option for you.
When it comes to their internet, they get to thumbs up.
They have YK Communications, which offers one gig
and that covers 97% of the town.
They also have another one called Sparklight,
which offers one gig and they cover 76% of the town.
So a lot of people living there have some options.
If you decide to buy a house in Ganado or Ganado,
whichever, the real estate's decent place.
A good home will run you about $250,000.
They do have cheaper things,
but they'll probably need a little work.
250,000 is what you're looking at starting with
and in recent months they've sold things outside of town,
and that usually starts around 400,000,
works its way up and it probably has an acre or two.
All right, before we get to number one,
don't forget we have another channel called On This Day.
There is a link down below.
And number one: Sonora, Texas.
Sonora sits about two hours
northwest of San Antonio and it has
a schoolhouse that could be seen from outer space.
This building has the reddest roof I've ever seen.
If you look at the satellite image of this town
it's like the schoolhouse jumps out at you.
Sonora has a little history.
On the night of April 2nd, 1901, William Carver,
a member of Butch Cassidy's wild bunch,
was shot and killed in Jack Owen's bakery
by the local sheriff and his deputies.
They were trying to arrest him
for killing someone else and ended up being a shootout,
and he got shot in the bakery,
pistol in one hand, loaf of bread in the other.
That's gotta be humiliating.
In the old west you're supposed to die in a gun fight
on main street or in a saloon or something like that,
not in a bakery.
The only thing worse is getting shot
while having afternoon tea, I imagine.
It was horrible.
There was blood and doilies everywhere.
Sonora has a population of just over 3000 residents
and they get a thumbs up for their crime rate.
It's 72% lower than national average, which is outstanding.
72%, that is great.
There are not many towns this size
in this part of Texas that are doing that well
when it comes to their crime rate.
When it comes to their internet, they also get a thumbs up.
They have HCTC, which I've never heard of,
but they offer one gig to 78% of the town.
They also have Suddenlink, which I've heard of.
They offer one gig to 80% of the town.
So you got a couple options there.
One's cable, one's fiber.
Sonora gets a big thumbs up for their real estate.
They have every price for every price range
and they have old homes, they have new homes,
but I would say if you got 150,000, maybe 135,000,
you can get into a home that is decent, livable
and ready to go.
If you want to go even higher,
you can get like five bedroom homes for $299,000.
And outside of town, they have ranches with acres.
And those, they can get up into the five, 600,000 area,
but they have plenty to choose from.
Healthcare also gets a big thumbs up here.
They have LM Hudspeth, I believe it's pronounced,
Memorial Hospital in town.
They also have a medical clinic.
They have a dentist.
This hospital has everything from cardiac rehabilitation,
hospice, to sports medicine and emergency room.
So you're gonna get everything you need taken care of here.
It looks like a really nice place and it's pretty good size.
Sonora is definitely a place you wanna move to
if you don't mind the desert,
'cause this is kind of a desertous area.
Technically, it's not a desert though.
Sonora's climate is sub-humid, subtropical,
but they've had periods of long droughts,
so it's pretty much a desert.
(gentle music)
All right, that's today's video.
Hope you guys enjoyed it.
Hope you got some information out of it.
I wanna apologize.
I have COVID again,
and so if my voice doesn't sound right, I do apologize.
It took me three days to record this,
'cause my voice was so bad.
Also, some of these small towns,
I wanna mention that they don't have
a lot of available footage,
so I have to use stock footage of Texas.
May not be exactly where I'm talking about,
but I do my best.
All right, everyone, have a great day.
Be nice to each other.