_"_I'm a tool pusher from Snyder a little northwest of town. I've drilled in Beaumont, Kilgore, Borger and this is the best I've found. I'll keep pushing on a rotary rig til I'm 6 feet under ground." -- Slim Willet, "I'm a Tool Pusher from Snyder" (1950).
Located in the Southwestern Tablelands region of West Texas, Snyder is a booming town of 11,202 (2010 U
_"_I'm a tool pusher from Snyder a little northwest of town. I've drilled in Beaumont, Kilgore, Borger and this is the best I've found. I'll keep pushing on a rotary rig til I'm 6 feet under ground." -- Slim Willet, "I'm a Tool Pusher from Snyder" (1950).
Located in the Southwestern Tablelands region of West Texas, Snyder is a booming town of 11,202 (2010 U.S. Census data) that is 85 miles southeast of Lubbock and 3.5 hours west of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. If you want that classic Texas feel that you see in old Westerns, Snyder is the type of town you want to live in. Heck, Powers Boothe (the actor who played Curly Bill in Tombstone) is from the town, as is Barry Tubb (the actor that played Wolfman -- the fighter pilot with the cowboy hat -- in Top Gun), giving Snyder even more of a Western feel. It started as a buffalo trading post in 1878 by William Henry "Pete" Snyder (hence the name of the town), and there are even three statues honoring the albino white buffalo Snyder killed around town to commemorate that moment, making for an outstanding photo op for new residents and visitors. Unfortunately, there aren't any white buffalo roaming around the city streets anymore, but Snyder is doing just fine for itself. The town has undergone an economic revival in the past decade, as the success of the oil and wind power industries have been a boom to this West Texas locale.
If you are in the oil or petroleum industry, the time to move to Snyder is now. The boom in that industry has caused a spike in population and, in turn, a spike in the development of new homes and apartments. With the economy booming (something that isn't happening in many other places in the United States), the town is setting itself up for more and more people, as building permits have spiked in the past five years.
Here Comes the Boom
To piggyback on what was said above about building permits, 150 permits for new houses were issued in 2010 through 12. In comparison, from 1997 to 2009, only saw 63 building permits for houses granted. Now, if this was Dallas, Houston, or even Lubbock, this wouldn't be a very big deal, but in a town of just over 11,000 located over an hour from urban centers such as Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, and Abilene, this spike in permits is significant and means that there will be plenty of homes for new residents to choose from. While many of these homes will be classic mortgage purchases, there are rental homes available (over 1,000 according to city-data.com) and there are a few apartment complexes in and around town that serves as living options.
Newer stock
As the spike in building permits would suggest, a good percentage of the town's housing stock is new. Therefore, wear-and-tear issues are minimal to nonexistent, and Snyder gives homeowners and renters the opportunity to be the first person (or family) to live on a certain property. This dynamic doesn't only pertain to houses -- apartment complexes in the city are getting a makeover too. An example of this is La Posada Apartments on Brick Plant Road. Formerly boarded up and left for dead in the late 1990s, the complex was purchased in 2001 and completely renovated into a gated community. Even though the town itself looks like a tribute to the Wild West, moving to Snyder right now means the chance to live in new housing.
Bang for your buck
With demand for housing in Snyder going up, so have prices. But don't fret: Renting in Snyder isn't anywhere in the same stratosphere as renting in New York City or San Francisco when it comes to price. Heck, it's not even on the same planet as renting in Austin or downtown Dallas if you prefer to compare prices within the Lone Star State. Snyder is extremely affordable and has been rated in the top 20 of places with the lowest ratio between housing costs and median income. So as long as you are gainfully employed and don't spend too much of your income looking for albino buffalo, you should be fine. As far as moving in, it's very possible to find rental deals (a month off, reduced security deposits, free gas and water) if you put out the effort. It's definitely a buyer's (or renter's) market right now.
Snyder doesn't really have delineated neighborhoods, per se; but where you are in town is demarcated by the three white buffalo statues. The first statue on the northwest side of town welcomes visitors coming in from Lubbock, while the second statue is located south of downtown in front of the Scurry County Museum, which is on the campus of Western Texas College. The third statue is located in front of the Scurry County Courthouse located in downtown Snyder. Housing is found all over Snyder, while many of the apartment complexes are south of town along Texas Highway 350 or on 37th Street.
As with most small towns in Texas, high school football is a big thing. Snyder High School, which is located southwest of downtown on Austin Street. If you want to re-enact Friday Night Lights (the book, the movie, or the TV show) and summon your inner Mike Winchell or Tim Riggins, Snyder is a great place to do that. Downtown Snyder is also filled with activities to keep people entertained. As you might have guessed, the white buffalo is involved in some of these activities, as the White Buffalo Bikefest, held in August, features live music, beer gardens, a motorcycle show, a poker tournament, and a parade. White Buffalo Days, held in October at the Scurry County Courthouse, features cowboys and indians, arts and crafts, food and live music. As for non-festivals, the Scurry County Museum goes back over the history of Snyder, from buffaloes to cattle ranching to oil, and the recently restored Ritz Theater downtown has been featured in movies. As far as restaurants, check out Rolling Thunder Bar and Grill outside of town in Fluvanna for food, ice-cold beer and live music all year long. For those that want to get out of the city, Lubbock (the home of Texas Tech University) is about 90 minutes away.
