Considering relocating to Texas

Regarding housing, I'm currently leasing a small (<1000 sq ft) 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom house built in the 1950s and located in Loveland which is not really a "top destination" for $1500/month. And that's the best I could do to find a decent place I could live without roommates. I just did a quick search on Zillow for homes around Fort Worth, TX and I'm seeing houses for rent for similar prices but generally a bit larger and newer with nicer amenities. The prices are pretty close but there are also FAR more listings to choose from. Around here you'd get a handful of search results and if you didn't jump on one within a day or 2 it would be gone. Another oddity about here is housing costs don't really change going away from the major cities and towns unless you get way out east in "West Kansas" where nobody really wants to live anyway lol. Main reason being all our cities and towns are surrounded by picturesque mountains and natural areas that people are willing to pay big bucks to live around.

Ideally I'd like to start with a small house in a suburb a bit outside the city with maybe a 30-minute commute to my job, which also depends on the location of whatever company I go to work for. Overall the prices may be similar but it seems places in Texas just have FAR more options available.