Abilene Options

[schwab]

I got a job offer there, is that town really that bad?

Anything to do there?

[Billy]

I am from abilene and I will testify that it is indeed much better now than it was in the past. Businesses are actually moving to abilene. However, the city is not really growing...just moving. I would not recommend living in abilene if you are the 'city' type, as there is little you will enjoy there. On top of that, being that it is such a small monotonous city (very little diversity), you will get bored very fast if variety is the type of thing you enjoy.

On top of that, Abilene is just that...abilene. There is nothing near abilene. The surrounding areas are just welfare towns, which are all shrinking very fast. If you get tired of abilene, it is not easy to take a short trip to one of the larger cities. Dallas is three hours away. Austin is 5 hours. So unless you intend to make your trip a weekend trip, it is senseless to go anywhere.

The scenery is only pretty four months out of the year: april through june and sometimes july. The rest of the year whatever was green turns yellow and stays that way for awhile. However, it is cheap to live in abilene, but that is not without reason: not enough people are moving to abilene to cover the people who are leaving. For the most part, abilene's population is stagnant.

There are very few people here from abilene who will recommend living there. The only people who will recommend it are people who have visited, but have had the option of going back to the civilized world. Abilene is worse than lubbock as far as quality of life is concerned, if that says anything. The only people who recommend living in abilene that are from abilene are those who have accepted their low lot in life and are ignorant of anything better.

Final verdict: If you can find a job elsewhere, I would take it. It would take a sigificant annual salary ($200,000+) for me to live in abilene to compensate for the dull unhappiness of living there.