We just wrapped up a trip to Port Aransas, and the pull to move there full time is very strong. The idea of raising our kids by the beach, in a small-town community with a (seemingly) strong school district, is incredibly appealing.

That said, we're currently in a larger city and are trying to think through what we'd be giving up. Things like easy access to healthcare, shopping, kids' activities, and social outlets are things we might take for granted now.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has made the leap, especially with a young family.

What are the biggest pros and surprises of coastal living?
What are the real-life cons or regrets, if any?
How do things like schools, healthcare, community, and weather challenges hold up over time?
Thanks in advance for any insights!

I think the biggest thing is even though it is a solid school district compared to solid suburban districts the overall education will probably be a notch or two below. Small schools just don't have the resources larger districts do. Also if you are used to amenities close by you need to prepare yourself for longer commutes. Another thing is holiday and summer traffic along with some riff raff. Even though this isn't totally at the top of the list but if you have a son realize that Port A doesn't play football.

Port aransas has a great school district. A lot of wealthy families (few) in corpus send their kids there via owning a home in Port A, plus with remote work a lot of professionals moved to Island Moorings over the last few years. You won't find demographics like that anywhere if you buy into that type of data. A lot of traffic 2-3 weeks per year but the rest of the time it's extremely low key. No football, but your kids will probably learn to surf and be bad ass fishermen (fisherwomen?)

Thanks for the replies. Yes, we both work remote so feels like a real possibility. How is the Corpus airport? I do travel some and I am guessing there are flights to Houston to connect to other destinations?

It's expensive to use but honestly one of my favorite airports to fly out of due to ease. Only has about 7 gates and doesn't fly many places, but can get there 45 minutes before your flight and not worry about making it on time. They've got enough flights daily to the other larger Texas airports. Has I think only 1 restaurant, so don't expect it to be a place you could enjoy a long layover or delay at, but the tininess of it is a good thing in my opinion. Is also pretty nice and clean.

I live on the water of North Padre. Class of '08, lived in Houston for 10 years and moved down here in 2018. We don't have kids so can't speak to the school districts. What I can say is we don't regret the move, and I doubt your family would either if they love the outdoors. Traveling out of Corpus airport isn't bad, like mentioned above it will add 1-2 hours on the overall flight with a layover in DFW or Houston, but the convenience of a small airport is also nice. Insurance isn't cheap like mentioned above, but we look at is as the cost of business living on the water.

I guide out of a skiff, during the summers I really try to avoid hitting the Port A boat ramp because it's so congested. But other than that, I love the area. Tons to do if you like nature and the salt water.

Thanks for all the insight. Definitely gives us lots to think about.

London looks to be a solid school district as well, and there are some nice private schools in corpus it seems. I am from San Antonio and corpus in general seems like a mini San Antonio on the coast… think it could be fun.

I feel like living in port A during the summer would be crazy, but if you can afford it, and yall WFH, you can probably go somewhere calmer (and cooler) a couple months during summer eh?

I live in the area. As to airports, San Antonio is 1.5 hours away. That's where we fly out of.

My kids are nine and six and we've been in corpus since 2011.
Social Outlets: There's a very solid group of people here that if you get plugged into the right organizations, corpus becomes a very small world. But honestly, there is plenty to do. We just don't have a lot of green spaces and parks/lakes like the bigger cities do. I guess we make up for that with the beach.

Education: London has a great school district as well as flour Bluff. CCISD is not bad but I would agree probably a not two under what you find in the big cities, but if your kids can test into the IB program it's actually ranked top 5 in the state.

Healthcare: being in health care, it's interesting. Pediatrics has a really great program here with the Driscoll system. A lot of support for them and resources. For adults it's pretty poor. Hard to find a PCP and if I had to have some kind of major procedure or cancer treatment done I'd be looking to go to SA or Houston.

Airport: CRP is finally getting another non stop location! They'll be starting in October flying direct to DEN a few times a week. They've renovated the airport quite a bit so it's nice. But yes you usually have to either connect in hou (with sw ) IAH (United) or DFW (AA). But if I'm by myself it takes me 7 minutes from drop off to my gate so that's a huge plus.

Overall I don't regret moving down here. We've made some great friends and gotten involved with several organizations.

Definitely miss having a ton of options for nice places to eat or hang- don't get me wrong there are nice places here- but not nearly as many options as say Dallas where I moved from. I also get a little irked with how some ghetto riff raff can bring the vibe down in some establishments but money just try and stay away from those.
Weather wise: It's hot af here but in the evenings we get a nice sea breeze unlike Dallas where it will be 95 at night. So that's nice. But it's also very windy here a lot.
I find myself more and more wanting to be a winter Texan lately but would prob keep my Texas home base here.

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Healthcare: being in health care, it's interesting. Pediatrics has a really great program here with the Driscoll system. A lot of support for them and resources. For adults it's pretty poor. Hard to find a PCP and if I had to have some kind of major procedure or cancer treatment done I'd be looking to go to SA or Houston.

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Been wondering about this. We've kept our PCP in Dallas mostly because it's just a PITA to try and re-source that. I've always had it in my mind that I would just go back to Dallas or Houston for anything major.

We are actually moving down this fall for my work. We have a 2yo so we got lots of feedback on schools from locals. We did a reconnaissance trip last week and I think we are deciding on Rockport with Portland as a back up. We really liked some of the childcare options there over CC and South Bay. Interested to see where this thread goes and interested in some of these organizations mentioned.

HtownWilly12 said:

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We are actually moving down this fall for my work. We have a 2yo so we got lots of feedback on schools from locals. We did a reconnaissance trip last week and I think we are deciding on Rockport with Portland as a back up. We really liked some of the childcare options there over CC and South Bay. Interested to see where this thread goes and interested in some of these organizations mentioned.

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What's the decision criteria for choosing one over the other?

My wife's expectations on aesthetic appeal of neighborhood lol. Corpus and even Calallen felt "exhausted". The area just felt used and not much by way of revitalization of restaurants or neighborhoods. Portland just feels small community and same with Rockport. Rockport and the trees just felt more homey to her and I.

Do you have to go in the office Monday - Friday? Rockport to corpus could be tough commute. If it's 3 days or less a week, though, probably not too bad

Yeah, you are looking at about 40-45 min commute one way from Rockport to Corpus.

I just looked at the houses in the London school district and man, they are expensive for some cookie cutter new builds in corpus??

School district must be real good.

Sorry, not trying to derail thread

I'm in Houston so 40 min one way is on the low side for most people. Plus in sales so schedule is fairly fluid.

HtownWilly12 said:

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I'm in Houston so 40 min one way is on the low side for most people. Plus in sales so schedule is fairly fluid.

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On bright side, Rockport is not Houston so that commute could be tolerable.

Yeah a commute that is 40 minutes but 40 mi versus 40 minutes and 15 Mi is a very different feel and experience lol

When I moved down here I lived in Portland & worked in Corpus. All the older generation that I worked with who grew up in the area thought it was absolutely bonkers that I made that "long haul" every day. It was 20 minutes if I went 55 the whole way….guys a 20 minute commute with no traffic is a dream in any other city.

I've been here 19 years. Never thought I would stay this long, but we have. It's home now. But we will not live here when I retire.

I'd live in Portland over CC if i had the chance to do it over. We have a nice house in a good neighborhood CC, so it's all good. The problem with CC is that it is just so backward. It's hard to get things done from home repair to anything else.

Mom lives in Rockport and I like it there, but their schools are rough. Even in CC we do private but will do public high school.

The Chicken Ranch said:

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I've been here 19 years. Never thought I would stay this long, but we have. It's home now. But we will not live here when I retire.

I'd live in Portland over CC if i had the chance to do it over. We have a nice house in a good neighborhood CC, so it's all good. The problem with CC is that it is just so backward. It's hard to get things done from home repair to anything else.

Mom lives in Rockport and I like it there, but their schools are rough. Even in CC we do private but will do public high school.

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Where would you retire to instead? Interesting conversation for me because I'm retiring in 2 weeks. We moved to Rockport almost 2 years ago and we are going to be here for some time, I suspect.

I'm frankly not a huge fisherman/water sports guy and would rather be in elevation, but this is where my wife wants to be for now. And I'm not going to complain all that much because where we are is beautiful and nice. It could be a whole hell a of a lot worse.

We will retire in Florida, but that's 13 years from now for me. Assuming I can hang on that long.

My wife likes the Keys, I like the Pensacola area (I know, not that different from where I am.). Honestly, I could see us moving to a place like Crystal River or Hermasasa Springs and have a condo or something in the Keys. We would like to be able to do year around water activities.

I like the mountains in Tennessee also, so I'd like closer access to that.

The Chicken Ranch said:

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We will retire in Florida, but that's 13 years from now for me. Assuming I can hang on that long.

My wife likes the Keys, I like the Pensacola area (I know, not that different from where I am.). Honestly, I could see us moving to a place like Crystal River or Hermasasa Springs and have a condo or something in the Keys. We would like to be able to do year around water activities.

I like the mountains in Tennessee also, so I'd like closer access to that.

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We have family in Pensacola. Best thing about that town is that you get Destin beaches without the Destin and 30A crowds. I like that place.

Also love TN. That's our backup plan if we ever decided to leave here.