Moving to Houston: Pros, Cons & What to Know
Moving to Houston is a big-metro interstate move with two Houston-specific wrinkles: Texas's deregulated electricity market means you pick your own retail electric provider rather than calling a utility, and Houston's lack of formal zoning means neighborhood character is governed by private deed restrictions rather than a city zoning map -- worth checking before you buy, not after.
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Learn moreTexas New-Resident Deadlines: License and Registration Are Different Timelines
New Texas residents have 90 days from the date they move to the state to get a Texas driver's license in person at a Department of Public Safety office, per TxDMV and DPS guidance -- you can legally drive on a valid out-of-state license for those 90 days. Vehicle registration has a shorter, separate deadline: 30 days from establishing residency. Because DPS generally requires a vehicle to already be registered in Texas before it will process a driver's license application, handle registration first even though its deadline is later than you'd think from the license rule alone. New-resident vehicle registration also carries a one-time $90 new-resident use tax if sales tax wasn't already paid on the vehicle in another state.
Choosing Your Own Electricity Provider
Houston sits in Texas's deregulated ERCOT electricity market: CenterPoint Energy owns the poles, wires, and meters and delivers power to every Houston address, but it does not sell electricity directly to residential customers. You choose a retail electric provider (REP) -- Reliant, TXU Energy, Gexa Energy, and Green Mountain Energy are commonly cited options -- by comparing plans on the state's Power to Choose comparison site. This is a genuinely different process from most states' one-call utility setup, and worth doing before move-in day since plan terms (fixed vs. variable rate, contract length) vary meaningfully.
Water Service Depends on Exactly Where You Land
Inside City of Houston limits, water and sewer service comes from the city itself. In many surrounding suburban areas -- Katy, Cypress, and parts of Sugar Land among them -- water and sewer instead come from a Municipal Utility District (MUD), an independent special district with its own rates and, often, its own small MUD tax layered on top of standard property taxes. Confirm which applies to a specific address before assuming "Houston" means one utility structure citywide; MUD status is easy to overlook and affects both your utility bill and your total tax bill (see the property-taxes topic page).
No Zoning Means Check Deed Restrictions, Not a Zoning Map
Houston is the largest U.S. city without formal zoning -- voters have rejected it three times (1948, 1962, 1993). Land use is instead shaped by private deed restrictions filed by neighborhood associations (covering roughly 45% of the city, per Kinder Institute/Houston Landing reporting), the city's Chapter 42 development code (lot sizes, setbacks, parking minimums), and floodplain/environmental overlay rules. In neighborhoods without deed restrictions, commercial and residential uses can sit closer together than movers from zoned cities expect. Pull the deed restrictions (if any) for a specific property before closing, not the citywide zoning map that doesn't exist.
Bind Insurance Before Hurricane Season Complicates It
As on the rest of the Gulf Coast, Florida-style timing rules apply here too: Texas homeowners and renters insurers can pull back from writing new policies once a named storm is active and threatening the coast, and standalone flood insurance (see the flood-hurricane-risk topic page) typically carries a 30-day waiting period before it takes effect. If your move date falls anywhere in hurricane season (June 1-November 30), get homeowners and, if relevant, flood insurance quoted and bound early rather than during an active storm watch.
Key takeaways
- Texas driver's license: 90 days from move-in. Vehicle registration: 30 days -- and register the vehicle first, since DPS generally requires it before processing a license.
- Houston is in the deregulated ERCOT market -- you choose your own retail electric provider (via Power to Choose) rather than calling a default utility.
- Water/sewer service depends on address: City of Houston utilities inside city limits, but many suburban areas (Katy, Cypress, parts of Sugar Land) are served by an independent MUD with its own rates and taxes.
- Houston has no zoning; check a specific property's private deed restrictions (covering ~45% of the city) before assuming any land-use protections apply.
- Bind homeowners and flood insurance early if moving during hurricane season (June 1-November 30) -- flood coverage also carries a standard 30-day waiting period.
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