re: How are people able to just up and move states like it’s nothing and why

I left Louisiana for Texas in my late 40s and have not regretted it a single second. It was a spur of the moment decision for a better paying job (didn’t have much means at the time but took the chance) and it paid off exponentially over the past several years in every way.

Like 90% of the posters here, i too have spent time living in Texas.. I’m not even sure if I would count Texas as “moving away“… I am half kidding.. To me, Texas, especially the Houston metro, is just an extension of the Northshore… It’s like if you crossed the Causeway and instead of sitting in traffic for 45 minutes before you reached your home, you kept driving for another three or four hours, that’s basically Houston.. also, true story, I went to way more crawfish boils while living in Texas than I ever did while growing up in NOLA, for whatever that’s worth.

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LA politics was nothing compared to f’d up blandness spirit (or lack thereof) of people and place in many other places.

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Ahh, the old I stay in Louisiana for the culture and food bullshite

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rented a room from a young woman

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Pics?

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I could easily transfer to Mississippi where taxes, insurance, and cost of living are significantly cheaper than Baton Rouge. The particular area of MS has great public schools meaning we’d save an extra 20k per year.

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I made that move in 2023 and it’s been great.

I went to HS and some college here, but the area is much better now in terms of nice areas to live, variety of restaurants (especially ethnic like Thai, Indian, etc), and number of LSU fans.

Your response reads like you asked ChatGPT to reply, but nonetheless

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New Orleans isn’t just a place—it’s a living culture. Music, food, language, and traditions blend in ways found nowhere else. It represents the soul of America: diverse, creative, and deeply rooted in history.

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Sure, this is the 10,000 foot view. Except it's also just complete nonsense when you dissect this at a granular level. If you're referring specifically to Jazz music and creole food then yes, New Orleans stands alone there. So if Jazz music and creole food, and crime and corruption are your thing- No arguments, you are in the best place for it. The diversity in New Orleans is black people, white people, and Vietnamese people in the east. It's got the same cultural diversity as Bayou La Batre, but on a larger scale.

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it’s a living culture. Music, food, language, and traditions blend in ways found nowhere else

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Except other cities with generations of immigrants. New Orleans living culture is tied to the French and Africans that came here by boat, willingly or unwillingly. Miami offers the same thing with Cubans, Colombians, and islanders instead of French. New York offers the same thing with large populations from all over the globe. China, India, Eastern Europe, Italy, Ireland. New Orleans is unique in their makeup of diversity, not their diversity. New Orleans has a unique food culture, but comparatively to other places it is not a diverse food culture. It's dominated by Cajun and Creole cooking with Viatenamese blending into that. You can argue that makes it better than a place Miami (and I would agree) but it doesn't make it more unique or diverse, just different. You can find the same uniqueness there, just in Cuban and Caribbean cuisine instead of Creole and Cajun.

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People in New Orleans define the city more than infrastructure does. The city endured trauma but refused to lose its spirit.
Recovery wasn’t just physical—it was emotional and cultural. The city’s persistence symbolizes hope and endurance.

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You can say that about dozens of places. Look at NYC after 9/11, Boston after the Marathon bombing, and many other examples

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Imperfection Is Part of Its Value. Corruption, poverty, and dysfunction exist—but they don’t define the city. Its flaws make it real and relatable

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Yea this is just complete gibberish and has no real world practicality. This reads like the outro to an Anthony Bourdain episode

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New Orleans teaches lessons about joy, connection, and living fully. It values celebration, music, and human connection over efficiency.

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You can drop into any small town in Appalachia and find the exact same thing. They'll even throw in the poverty if that's your thing

I think that's the whole point. New Orleans gets romanticized a lot like it's the only place with "culture" in the country. It's just not. This all coming from a guy that thoroughly enjoys visiting New Orleans and South Louisiana as a whole. My Mom spent part of her childhood in New Orleans, my palate wouldn't be what it is today without that influence, it's just not the cultural Mecca it's made out to be. It's on that list with many others

So what you are saying is you choose Texas and she could tell?

I can’t imagine working a job, and being “transferred” to another state and just being like, “okay, yeah I’m going to pick up my entire life and move to a different state because my company said that’s what I need to do”.

It just seems like such a ridiculous concept to me.

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It’s all they can point towards, they probably never go to festivals and eat much more fast food than fine LA dining.

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Suggesting that LA is the only place that has "culture" is low IQ

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Uptown New Orleans is my favorite neighborhood in the US. That’s not that say it’s without flaws, but I find it hard to categorize that area as a dump. It is definitely too ghetto-adjacent and the risk of crime is too high for an area as nice as it is though.

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So given the perks, totally fair to say it's not a dump. Given the cons you just mentioned, I think it's also entirely reasonable that there are neighborhoods in the US you would like much more that are not ghetto adjacent and you have to worry about getting carjacked at a red light.