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Shame that this has been upvoted, because it's not really true. The Gini coefficient of CA and TX are extremely similar [1]- CA is ranked #44 in the US, and TX

Shame that this has been upvoted, because it's not really true. The Gini coefficient of CA and TX are extremely similar [1]- CA is ranked #44 in the US, and TX is ranked #43. However, social mobility of the poorest percentiles is significantly higher in Californian cities [2]. In fact, of the major US metropolises, the top four best cities for social mobility of children in the bottom quintile are: San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego, in order. [2] Social mobility in Texas is significantly lower, and extraordinarily lower throughout the rest of the southern US. (Texas is a nice exception) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_Gini_coefficient https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_Gini_co... [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/business/in-climbing-income-ladder-location-matters.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/business/in-climbing-incom...

nugget 11y ago
It's about quality of life, not relative income. I used these two states as examples because I've spent a lot of time and have a lot of friends in both. In Texas, a middle class income sets you up with a decent house, in a decent hood, with a decent school district, and a fairly low stress life. You mix with others from random walks of life. In California, it feels like you spend every dollar just to survive, and you tend to associate with a narrower spectrum of peers.
- tzs 11y ago
  Is it actually possible to have a "decent school district" in Texas after what the Texas State Board of Education has done to the history textbooks? McCarthy's blacklists were justified because of widespread Communist infiltration? Slavery was just a side issue in the Civil War? No mention of Jim Crow or the Ku Klux Klan? Four major thinkers who greatly influenced the Founding Fathers were Locke, Montesquieu, Blackstone, and Moses? Science doesn't really fare well with the Texas State Board of Education, either.
- eli_gottlieb 11y ago
  > In Texas, a middle class income sets you up with a decent house, in a decent hood, with a decent school district, and a fairly low stress life. Of course, the hard part is obtaining a middle-class income in Texas.
saryant 11y ago
I think "significant" is probably overstating things. In the bottom quintile in San Jose has a 12.9% chance of making it to the top, Houston is 9.3% (nearly the same as Sacramento). I grew up in California but moved to Houston half-way through high school. The school I wound up in in Houston was light-years better than the one I left in California.

nugget 11y ago

It's about quality of life, not relative income. I used these two states as examples because I've spent a lot of time and have a lot of friends in both. In Texas, a middle class income sets you up with a decent house, in a decent hood, with a decent school district, and a fairly low stress life. You mix with others from random walks of life. In California, it feels like you spend every dollar just to survive, and you tend to associate with a narrower spectrum of peers.

tzs 11y ago
Is it actually possible to have a "decent school district" in Texas after what the Texas State Board of Education has done to the history textbooks? McCarthy's blacklists were justified because of widespread Communist infiltration? Slavery was just a side issue in the Civil War? No mention of Jim Crow or the Ku Klux Klan? Four major thinkers who greatly influenced the Founding Fathers were Locke, Montesquieu, Blackstone, and Moses? Science doesn't really fare well with the Texas State Board of Education, either.
eli_gottlieb 11y ago
> In Texas, a middle class income sets you up with a decent house, in a decent hood, with a decent school district, and a fairly low stress life. Of course, the hard part is obtaining a middle-class income in Texas.

saryant 11y ago

I think "significant" is probably overstating things. In the bottom quintile in San Jose has a 12.9% chance of making it to the top, Houston is 9.3% (nearly the same as Sacramento). I grew up in California but moved to Houston half-way through high school. The school I wound up in in Houston was light-years better than the one I left in California.