Job opportunities abound, depending on what you want to do. Dallas is even stronger on job availability. Land is still available if you don’t mind a commute. Safe to walk downtown (mostly). Good food available. Easy airport access for DFW.

The west side of the DFW metroplex is the good side.  Plenty of jobs (well, if you're not looking to work in a restaurant, anyway...).  Political climate is NOTHING like Austin, or even Dallas.  Fort Worth has a more western attitude than a southern attitude.  It's still a big city, though.  You'll have a month of triple digit heat in the summer, and a week or so of freezing weather in the winter.  The further out of town you go, the easier/cheaper it will be to find some acreage, just like with every city, but you can find 50 acres within a 30 minute commute to downtown Fort Worth.  It's not cheap, though.  Think of ten grand per acre as a baseline for large lots of land that close to town.

I've been in Ft Worth for 21 years now.  Second and Third to the comment that it is nothing like Austin or Dallas in terms of political climate.
Defense and Oil/Gas are big employers here.  A nice home, on a postage stamp sized lot, inside or just barely outside the loop is up in the  $300K - $400k range now. Fort Worth ISD is not the greatest , but it outshines the Dallas school system.  Some of the close in burbs have excellent public school systems. Think 30 min drive to downtown.

If you are 3 years out, then I suggest you plan a full week vacation, to see what the area has to offer.  The first round of drinks will be on me.

If you want to visit on the phone, IM me your number and what times are good and I will answer any questions I can.

Was on the West side of FTW for years, retired and left.... too cold for me, prowlers would  hike from the South to roam...try door knobs, etc..... Left to live miles South.... now near San Antonio..... learned that many were migrating to Weatherford... West of FTW w. very low low crime rate... but I need warmer wx..... the area is growing so traffic jams at rush hour cause many work in FTW, etc to the East of their bedrooms....I visit FTW as I can, stay w. relatives ... if not would motel outside the urban action.... car break in craft well known... use to motel on West side but no more..... blessed w. kinfolks that enjoy me and my 9 mm. at this old timers side..... get a Texas license plate on your auto, far away state tag can invite an attempt..... Use to do stays in your N. East cities..... no urban charms found...let the devil enjoy his work. Good Luck, Paul Kersey

North and Northwest Ft Worth are great areas to live if you can put up with the traffic.

Don't even think about living anywhere inside the loop (Loop 820), unless you want an expensive loft downtown in the upscale area.

As a 911 Operator, you will find many opportunities with good municipalities (Keller, Southlake, etc.) north of Fort Worth. Like Master Shake said, stay out of the loop (820)!!! It is both extremes; ghetto or too expensive.

As for land, it will come at a big price and long commute.

We are just south of Wetherford and it takes my wife 50ish minutes to get to her gig in White Settlement.  Its worth the drive to have a little piece and quiet, and goats, and chickens, and maybe a cow..  

It wasn't cheap though but man I wish I would have done this when I was still working in Iraq and just skipped the starter house in town.

@djsmiles Keller has the dispatch center for the northeast ft worth suburbs. ping me if you have any questions about the neighborhoods, unsure if that area will meet your criteria since it's cookie cutter suburbia but it's nice and quiet

OP,,,As a lifer here in Tx. I'd tell you that we're looking hard at moving to Oklahoma.   Tx. will be Blue soon and our state .gov is easily as corrupt as DC. Good luck. BTW,,,,enjoy the ever increasing property tax while getting less and less for your money.

There are several smaller towns at the edge of commuting range from Ft. Worth that may be worth a look.  We moved from Ft. Worth to Granbury 8 years ago and love it.  We miss some of the city amenities that Granbury lacks but the overall lifestyle is worth it, and Ft. Worth is less than an hour away.  Fort Worth is a very livable city, but you can get most of its benefits without some of its problems by picking a smaller town @ 20-30 miles out.  Granbury also has a lake that you can live waterfront on if you choose (though it can be $$$).  No matter what, Ft. Worth is much different from Dallas, and IMHO much better. Trump got over 80% of the vote both in 2016 and 2020 in Hood County (Granbury), so you will be among kindred spirits.

The only problem with Granbury is 377 and if you need to go to Fort Worth chances are you'll be fucked by the Cresson Train.  They cannot get that overpass/bypass built fast enough.   We lived on the West end of town and moved to Lipan and its been nice so far.    It was nice being able to have my boat on the water in less than 5 minutes though.

I've been stuck watching that train go back and forth for over 45 minutes once.   It sucks.   Isn't the bypass just a year or so away from being done?

I wouldn't dare forcast a completion date, but construction is well underway on the bypass that will take care of the railroad issue in Cresson.  Probably be finished in roughly a year.

Check out Heim BBQ on Magnolia, Defender Outdoors Shooting Center near downtown, and I would suggest looking west of Fort Worth for housing.

I've lived in Arlington, Cedar Hill, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. Cedar hill was decent when we first moved there but went downhill quickly and we moved. Dallas was okay but expensive housing made us move to Arlington. Moved to Houston for work, and the family and I did not care for the climate, traffic, or crime. Moved back to Arlington, near the lake. Housing is a bit high, but we moved for the school for my daughter. We like the area, and live in a small gated community.

North of Fort Worth growing way too fast to consider moving there.

Are you looking to have a nice trip, or are you coming to research moving here?

If both, then whenever you go somewhere to visit, simply drive around in an increasing radius before or after each place.  Sure, there are some nice parts of downtown/uptown Dallas, but what's it look like a couple blocks over from Deep Ellum?  Sure, the Fort Worth Medical District has some nice restaurants (pro-tip, every medical district in the nation has great restaurants), but how's the next neighborhood over?  Don't drive directly to your destination, drive the freeway loops to get a feel for how long it takes to drive from DFW Airport to Benbrook, Weatherford to south Arlington, etc...   Maybe think about how long of a commute you're willing to endure, and see how far out of Fort Worth you can get in that amount of time, in different directions (e.g., one hour west takes us past Weatherford, one hour east puts us in the middle of Dallas, one hour North is still Tarrant County due to traffic, one hour south is Stephenville which is two counties away)

EDIT:  Oh, this isn't specific to our area, but I thought about it while agreeing that the best place to live is generally further west in the metroplex: But if you work a day shift, consider living east of your workplace or buying some good sunglasses.  I can't stand the fact that at various times of the year, I drive directly into the rising sun and the setting sun on my commute.

If you want to check out Burleson, or points South, IM me.

What is your budget?  What do you like to do?

If you want to be in a town but still close to attractions, airport and outdoors I would look at Southlake or Grapevine. If you want land you have to drive.

Moved from Granbury to Phoenix in September of ‘91

Although I do love Arizona, the wife wants to move back to Texas.

Not totally against the idea, just hate the thought of not being able to go out to the desert to do some shooting.

Wife will probably win but now she’s talking Tyler.

Well we could prevent that if we don’t discourage conservative refugees of communist states from coming here. I say that we need all them we can get. Otherwise it will be a combination of incoming liberal virus cells and home grown soy boys that will turn the state blue.