Arielle Francois, 24, would tell her past self it’s fine to be nervous about making the move from South Florida to Dallas.
That move at the start of 2022 came with the unknown of what her “first big girl job” would be like. Francois would also have to figure out rent and finances, how to meet people, and everything else needed to thrive in a city and state she hadn’t been to before.
“There was no initial excitement or happiness at all just because it was an unknown city to me,” Francois told Business Insider.
She had been living with family in the Miami metropolitan area; she also attended college in Florida. Francois moved to Florida from Haiti because of the earthquake in 2010.
Fast-forwarding to the end of 2021, she had to consider moving for a job offer to take part in a program at PMG that required the relocation to Texas. She told BI she only had a short time “to find somewhere to stay, to learn about Dallas, to even figure out if I wanted to move to Dallas.”
Francois studied criminal justice but changed interests toward the end of college after getting a taste of digital marketing work as a college side hustle. “The program is specifically designed for post-grad students who are looking to kick-start their career in digital marketing,” she said.
After successfully completing the program, she works as a digital marketer on the influencer marketing team at PMG.
Francois is among the many people who moved to the Dallas metro area in 2022. Nearly 91,600 more people moved in than out of the Dallas area from elsewhere in the US during the period of July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, data from the Census Bureau showed.
“I find Dallas is up and coming,” Francois said.
Francois sees several positives to living in Dallas, including more visibility and opportunities as a content creator. With more and more Gen Zers moving into full-time employment while baby boomers enter retirement or leave behind full-time jobs, Francois talked to BI about advice for anyone uprooting their lives to move somewhere new.
Leveraging social media
Francois advised people who are moving to make sure they do their research. She has also found social media can be useful for moving — not only to see what life is like in the place you are heading to but as a way to reach out to people.
For instance, Francois said she used Smart City to find a place to live. She said it’s a service where you connect with a “locator to help you find the apartment that you want in your desired location.” Francois said she learned about this “through a Dallas local I reached out to on social media while doing my research. This highlights the importance of seeking advice from locals and leveraging social media during the moving process.”
“I feel like social media is the perfect place for you to discover a city because you have a ton of content creators who are creating amazing content about the good, the bad, pretty, the ugly about the city,” she said.
Beyond scrolling through social media posts and apartment sites, there are also rent and costs to think about.
“I recommend budgeting and saving as much as possible — your future self will appreciate it,” she said for other Gen Zers living on their own for the first time. She added that can include not spending too much on furniture and thrifting items.
Moving to a new city can also mean figuring out how to make friends. Francois said not to forget others may be new to the area and seeking new friends.
“Making friends can be intimidating, but there are often many social groups on Facebook or platforms like The Nudge that organize social events and provide lists of activities in your city,” she told BI. “Social media is also a great way to meet new people and discover local events.”
How her life in Dallas compares to Florida
“I think I would definitely say that my favorite part about the city is how helpful and open everyone is,” Francois said about Dallas.
She said going out with her colleagues is one of her favorite things to do in the area. For instance, she went to her first-ever baseball game with her coworkers.
Francois has also found Dallas a good city to live in as a content creator compared to Miami. “The visibility I got in South Florida was very limited just because there were so many other creatives in terms of models and artists and content creators,” she said.
Meanwhile, in Dallas, she feels she gets more visibility as a creator, “which has actually resulted in much more opportunities for me here,” she said. “For example, I get invited to a ton of Dallas creator events with some brands that I personally use, and I just actually feel like a creator here just because I get that visibility as a creator, and so I’m treated like I’m a creator.”
Additionally, Francois said she feels it’s more affordable to live in Dallas than South Florida for someone her age. According to Zillow data at the time of reporting, the median rent for a one-bedroom property is $2,700 in Miami and around $1,400 in Dallas.
Francois, who hasn’t had roommates while living in Dallas, paid nearly $1,600 a month in rent, including some fees, for her first apartment in the city. She moved earlier this year to a new building, where she pays over $1,800 a month.
She said she has “everything you could possibly need,” at her current place. “To me, it was worth the increase in rent, but I know not everyone would necessarily agree.”
Additionally, she finds that Dallas is quieter than Miami. “I remember when I lived there, I would say, ‘I live where you vacation,'” Francois said.
“If you want to party, you go to Florida, whereas I don’t think if you want to party, you would think of Dallas as the go-to city for that,” Francois said. “And I’m totally OK with living somewhere like that because of where I’m at mentally, professionally, and all of that.”
While she does miss being close to the beach, a personal pro for her of living in Dallas is seeing the differences in seasons and the changing weather.
“Because I grew up in the Caribbean islands, I’m very used to sunny weather and just basically summer weather all year long,” Francois said. “So, I actually like that in Dallas I’m able to see the seasons change.”
She also misses the Haitian community in Florida and says that if she’s craving Haitian food, she won’t really find it in Dallas.
“Because South Florida is so close to Haiti, you’ll find a huge population of Haitians in South Florida,” she said. “So when I moved to Florida, I didn’t feel like I was too far away from home because there were so many Haitian restaurants, so many Haitian churches. There’s even Little Haiti in South Florida. So, Haitian culture is very present there.”
Given the mix of things she misses about South Florida and the perks of being in Dallas, Francois said she would tell her past self who was getting ready to move that, “It’s normal to be nervous because change is uncomfortable” and it’s an uneasy feeling to experience this new chapter in life alone.
“It’s fine to feel how you feel, but if only you knew what was on the other side of all of that fear and anxiety, you would quickly wipe your tears and get to packing,” she said.
Have you moved out of Florida or moved to Texas? Share your moving experience with this reporter at mhoff@businessinsider.com.
