We Moved From California to Texas; We Make Lots a lot much less nonetheless Love the Way of life

• Gerardo and Tomi Ruiz moved from San Bernardino, California, to San Antonio, Texas, in September.
• They moved with their two youthful sons after a close-by fire destroyed their rented dwelling.
• The couple loves Texas for its cheaper worth of dwelling and the parents nonetheless misses California’s meals.

This as-told-to essay depends upon a dialog with Gerardo Ruiz, 29, and Tomi Ruiz, 26, native Californians who moved from San Bernardino, California, to San Antonio in 2024. The following has been edited for measurement and readability.

Gerardo: My associate, Tomi, and I are from San Bernardino, California. We met at a celebration in 2019 and married final April.

San Bernardino simply is not just about nearly as good on account of it was. Many factors, like homelessness and gang practice, appear to have gotten worse not too long ago.

Tomi: There have been factors we most popular about California. I had household solely about an hour away. I cherished being all through the snow or on the seashore every time I wished.

We had been speaking about leaving California for some time due to the price of dwelling was dramatically rising. We had talked about Texas, Arizona, or presumably Utah, nonetheless we weren’t excessive about it.

A fireplace lastly pushed us to go away

Tomi: In September, the Line Fireplace broke out in Highland, California, subsequent to my grandparents’ dwelling.

We had been renting a home on the opposite side of metropolis. The Line Fireplace wasn’t straight threatening our dwelling at first, nonetheless our neighbor’s dwelling caught fire. They talked about it began from an ember from the Line Fireplace.

It was terrifying. We had been asleep, and immediately, my husband woke as rather a lot as what appeared like an infinite explosion. I felt him pushing me and yelling.

After I sat up, I seen flames coming by our mattress room window, not even six toes away.

Gerardo: We’ve two youngsters, Anthony, who’s 3, and Charlie, who’s 1. We grabbed them each and ran exterior.

Tomi: We each ran out in our underwear due to we did not have time to get garments.

The hearth destroyed about half of our dwelling, plus there was smoke damage in every single place.

Gerardo: We misplaced almost every little think about our mattress room and the consuming home.

Tomi: We had been merely in shock. We sat exterior staring on the home for a extremely very very long time.

Gerardo: The Pink Cross gave us some cash for a resort.

We wished to restart our lives someplace

Tomi: Loads of days later, our landlord instructed us they wished to terminate the lease due to they may not estimate how extended the repairs would take and could not put us in a single completely different place all through the meantime. We had been homeless and realized that we might have favored to begin one different time.

Associated tales

We talked about staying in California, nonetheless beginning a mannequin new lease all through the state is expensive with a deposit, the primary month’s lease, and all the costs.

We figured if we might have favored to begin over fully, we is maybe elevated off beginning in Texas.

Gerardo: My brother has lived in San Antonio for about 10 years. We obtained proper right here out to go to fairly a couple of years as soon as extra and simply fell in love with town.

Tomi: We packed up what we had left, my husband took out his 401(okay), and we drove to Texas.

Texas is kind of a bit further low cost

Gerardo: Our first impression of Texas was how low-cost the lease is. We paid about $2,350 in San Bernardino for a 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom rental. We’re now in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom place in San Antonio and pay $1,250.

Tomi: We first utilized for fairly a couple of homes, nonetheless the wait took endlessly. We determined to utilize for an rental and bought licensed the following day. We stayed in a resort for 3 weeks till we acquired licensed for the rental.

Along with lease being cheaper, gasoline is cheap, which is sweet for us due to we now have fairly big autos.

Gerardo: Automotive registration is, too.

Tomi: Groceries, nonetheless, seem to be regarding the related.

Whereas the price of dwelling is further low cost correct proper right here, the pay is decrease.

I am a licensed phlebotomist, and in California, I used to be making about $25 an hour. Correct proper right here in Texas, I acquired some affords starting from $16 to $20 an hour, and I accepted one. I am making lower than I used to be in California, nonetheless with the cash we’re saving, it is not too big a distinction.

Gerardo: I am a tow truck driver. I labored two driving jobs in California, making $21 an hour and $24 an hour.

I anticipated to have the ability to discover a related job in Texas, nonetheless as rapidly as I acquired correct proper right here, it was extra sturdy than I assumed. The perfect-paying towing job I might uncover was for barely greater than $15 an hour.

For now, I have been holding off on getting a job to take a look at the children since we do not know many individuals correct proper right here in Texas who may babysit.

The state has exceeded our expectations

Tomi: We merely fell in love with Texas. It is rather a lot greener than we anticipated. We thought it is perhaps all desert and cowboys, nonetheless San Antonio has many good parks and playgrounds. It feels very family-oriented.

Gerardo: The ambiance out correct proper right here is sweet. My associate has some PTSD from the fireplace, and it is good that it is not as dry.

Tomi: You undoubtedly truly actually really feel the Texas warmth, although. It was nonetheless so scorching on Halloween. We’re used to a breeze in October.

It furthermore snowed since we have been correct proper right here, which is rare for San Antonio. We love the snow.

There have been some challenges, nonetheless we made the turning into selection

Gerardo: The toughest adjustment has been the meals. Even the McDonald’s correct proper right here tastes totally completely completely different. Texas avenue tacos aren’t like California avenue tacos in the slightest degree.

There was unimaginable Hawaiian barbecue in California. Since we moved, I’ve not at all been capable of finding related meals.

Tomi: Texas has been so good to us. I felt like I used to be dwelling instantly. I truly actually really feel like I’ve related to the parents. All people seems to be so sort.

Gerardo: Our objective is to remain in Texas long-term, nonetheless we need to change to Amarillo, Texas, lastly. It snows there further typically, and we love the chilly.

Tomi: I am so glad we moved. It was scary as quickly as we determined to do it, nonetheless we had nothing to lose and made it work.

Gerardo: The current fires in Los Angeles had been horrible, and we’re praying for everybody concerned.

The reassurance of not having to emphasize about wildfires correct proper right here like we did in California has been an infinite plus already.