Op Ed:  Moving to Jersey Village, Houston TX

In Spring of 2019 I moved to Houston for a job I’d interviewed for over Zoom… having never even been to Texas. It was a huge decision and I had a lot of concerns. Moving from California, could I handle the flatness? Do they just serve Tex-Mex? Is there sushi? (Everyone has different priorities!)

And the main question - where would I live?

I was moving on my own, so I packed up my little sedan to its brim and made the cross-country move (two days, lots of podcasts). My sister helped me move and we stayed in a hotel for a few nights while looking for an apartment for me. A future coworker had given me all the insights into where he thought I could be happy – where the foodies venture, where the best parks are, and so on, but I really wanted to see the places for myself.

Despite my deep appreciation for a good food scene, my priority was safety.

Having never lived alone, I wanted to make sure my apartment was in a low-crime area in a gated apartment complex. A short commute was also vital because I had just moved from Los Angeles - taking forty minutes to drive five miles gets old fast.

My office was in Jersey Village, so I set up multiple visits to apartment complexes all over the area. The first apartment I saw was at Copper Springs by Cortland. Honestly, I was sold right away, but I decided to give the other apartments on my list a shot for good measure.

None of them offered the same “coziness” or “niceness” as Copper Springs (CS). For me, it was a no-brainer, but here is a breakdown of exactly how I made that decision.

Reasons I chose to live at Copper Springs:

Honestly, this all comes at a really decent price if you’re moving to Houston from out of state (or to Jersey Village from downtown Houston). If I had to do it all again, I’d make the same choice.

Over time, I developed an opinion of Jersey Village area itself:

It’s kind of weird at first glance. Don’t know how else to say it. Driving through, it looks like an un-zoned combo of car dealerships, apartment complexes, a few little neighborhoods, and industrial buildings. But if you immerse yourself a bit, you’ll discover a few gems. Like the perfectly-measured one-mile loop I used to run on after work, or the Yoga Dragon studio.

Food options are present in Jersey Village, just sometimes hard to find. We all have Google so I won’t go into details, but there is some decent Asian food (Thai, Vietnamese, poke, and sushi!). It has all your staples, too: Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Jersey Mikes, Raising Canes, and Free Birds. The sit-down options are basically Lazy Dog, Backyard Grill, or my personal favorite - Jin Ya Ramen. It’s easier said this way… food is fine for workdays, but go downtown (Houston or Cypress) for weekend outings or dates.

Speaking of weekends and downtown - it’s so easy to get downtown! Jersey Village is close enough to downtown to do fun adventures on the weekend, while offering the safety some of the downtown areas can’t.