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One of my best friends moved from Austin to Boulder last year. After about three months, he packed up and returned. Said it was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made.
To summarize the reason for his return to Austin in a few short words, he simply found that his "Tribe" did not exist there.
For example, the local SEO meeting he attended had 5 people show up, and he was the only one over 30. I attend the monthly SEO meetups in Austin and there are regularly over 100 people, of all ages and stripes.
Whatever you're into in Austin that involves gathering regularly with large groups of like-minded people (name your activity/interest), you have ample outlets to seek and find the communities to which you want to belong and participate. My friend, who is a high tech freelancer who can live/work anywhere, essentially felt starved of the brain-trust and networking that he felt plugged into in Austin. It took leaving Austin to really become aware of the importance this played in life and lifestyle.
This is not to say that Boulder lacks people interested in and intelligent about all manner of topics, they just exist in insufficient numbers to create the "tribe" feeling you get when you attend a local Austin meetup and find yourself amongst dozens, or 100+ people who share the same passion as you for the given subject or activity.
I've been to Boulder numerous times and I love visiting there. I was in the main square downtown at midnight with my kids when the final Harry Potter book was released. It was a blast and we had a great time and really enjoyed the people.
But you could give me a free retirement home there and I'd still not live there, not even for free. It's an island disconnected from the surrounding communities in such a way as to create what, for me, feels like a weird vibe. It's over regulated (you don't "own" you own dog in Boulder, for example, you're it's "guardian", or something weird like that) and self-proud, but in a self-indulgent "uppity Hippy" sort of way. We have a subset of that clan here in Austin, for sure, but we keep them confined to the '04 zipcode and they don't dominate anything other than City Council elections and the protest de jour.
But for me, the main issue would be the connectedness to others that Austin makes readily available. You can in fact "find your tribe" here in Austin, in abundant numbers, whether you're a bible thumper, a pot smoker, a quilting demon, frisbee golfer, morning swimmer, etc. You name it, we got it. Boulder cannot say the same.
Boulder and Austin are just different animals, that's all. You can't really compare them.
There are many cities like Boulder -- pretty, small cities with a high cost of living and seemingly completely free of crime, low income residents, etc. Like living in a resort town, almost. Compare Boulder with places like Carmel (California), Santa Fe, Aspen, Newport (or really dozens of East Coast towns with old money & no real economy)...
For better or worse, Austin isn't like that. For one thing, it's much much bigger. It's always been a bit of a mix between college town and real city, with a little bit of the positives (and negatives) of both. It's diversity of people and economy (at least in comparison to Boulder & similar cities) means that there is a more diverse political and religious spectrum here. And, being in Texas means that there is a libertarian streak that is almost as big as the conservative one you'd find outside of Austin. As far as patriotism, there might be a little more here, but you'll definitely see the state pride. That's a thing which is huge in Texas.
Overall I think you'll like really the vibe. It's very independent, that's for sure. But I wouldn't call it similar to Boulder.
Lived in Denver for 4 years and worked in Boulder all 4 of those years. Lived in Austin for 12 years. As many people have pointed out, Boulder is much more liberal than Austin and I agree with whomever said that Austin is probably more like Denver than Boulder. That's why I always laugh when people talk about how liberal Austin is. It's all relative to the most liberal place you've been and for me that's Boulder and Berkeley...so Austin doesn't seem so liberal to me. In fact I am a conservative and was plenty happy there. Though I am a conservative in Seattle and I am plenty happy here too (of course I am a big recycler, am pretty tolerant of right and left and I own a dog which score big points out here!).
I used to say if I moved back to Denver I'd never live in Boulder but when I visited my in-laws in December my tune was changin'! It's Denver I couldn't live in now...Boulder looks pretty awesome.
Lived in Denver for 4 years and worked in Boulder all 4 of those years. Lived in Austin for 12 years. As many people have pointed out, Boulder is much more liberal than Austin and I agree with whomever said that Austin is probably more like Denver than Boulder. That's why I always laugh when people talk about how liberal Austin is. It's all relative to the most liberal place you've been and for me that's Boulder and Berkeley...so Austin doesn't seem so liberal to me. In fact I am a conservative and was plenty happy there. Though I am a conservative in Seattle and I am plenty happy here too (of course I am a big recycler, am pretty tolerant of right and left and I own a dog which score big points out here!).
I used to say if I moved back to Denver I'd never live in Boulder but when I visited my in-laws in December my tune was changin'! It's Denver I couldn't live in now...Boulder looks pretty awesome.
A conservative that recycles - a combo that may be more common that many think! My father is a staunch conservative, but chooses to buy very fuel efficient cars and works on water conservation. Makes sense to me.
don't live in Austin yet, folks! I am talking about other parts of Texas! I am hoping it is different in Austin... because I don't much like being asked, upon discovering I am new to town, if I have found a church yet and when I say I am not Christian, having the afforementioned "friendly native" *still* invite me to her church anyway, complete with address and meeting times...just in case I change my mind. There's maybe-you-would-want-to-make-some-friends-at-my-church friendly and there's oh-dear-your-not-Christian,-I-will-pray-for-you-to-change-your-heathen-mind-and-do-my-best-to-try-to-get-you-to-hear-the-Lord's-word friendly. I have only seen the later in Texas. I never lived in the Bible Belt before though. Good to hear that people wont care much in Austin proper.
I grew up in Wisconsin and lived there until I was 31, and never did anyone ask what church I belonged to with the idea of being "friendly". In Wisconsin, most people figure you will join either the Lutheran or Catholic church of your choice and wouldn't think of asking such a personal question within five minutes of meeting you. I moved to Plano, TX ten years ago, and frequently was asked this question within minutes of meeting me. I think it's very intrusive and unfriendly. My atheist friend was really put off--what, she has to discuss her nonbelief with strangers. I felt uncomfortable as well since I'm Jewish. I'm not ashamed to be Jewish, but maybe I don't feel like being judged for my religion immediately. I also don't want to pretend to be a Christian and be interested either. I haven't had any questions like this in Austin, but I will say the Austin schools are much less religiously diverse than Plano schools.
I grew up in Wisconsin and lived there until I was 31, and never did anyone ask what church I belonged to with the idea of being "friendly". In Wisconsin, most people figure you will join either the Lutheran or Catholic church of your choice and wouldn't think of asking such a personal question within five minutes of meeting you. I moved to Plano, TX ten years ago, and frequently was asked this question within minutes of meeting me. I think it's very intrusive and unfriendly. My atheist friend was really put off--what, she has to discuss her nonbelief with strangers. I felt uncomfortable as well since I'm Jewish. I'm not ashamed to be Jewish, but maybe I don't feel like being judged for my religion immediately. I also don't want to pretend to be a Christian and be interested either. I haven't had any questions like this in Austin, but I will say the Austin schools are much less religiously diverse than Plano schools.
Ok, here is the deal with "the church question" in Texas. It's taken me years to figure out, but what it amounts to is this --
Up north, midwest, etc... people are religious. They belong to a religion, and they go to the appropriate place of worship for their religion. It's a strange question to ask "what church do you go to?" for people in these places, because it's akin to asking "are you Jewish?" or something like that. People just attend the church of their religion.
In Texas, and perhaps other places in the south -- religious is not really the accurate word. Church-oriented is perhaps a better word. People pick churches which are not in their particular denomination quite readily, it seems, based on whether they like the church itself. It's a social as much as a worship concept. Now, you may think that "the question" comes up because everyone just assumes you are the same religion as they are -- this is not the case. There are plenty of different religions in Texas. But for the many who do orient their worship around their favorite church rather than a strictly religious/denomination basis, "the church question" feels as natural to them as asking about where you shop for groceries. And if you feel like they are trying to sway you to their church, well, it's probably true -- but it's not like they mean to proselytize. It's more about trying to convince you to join a social circle.
Anyway, not that you'll get the question much in Austin, but it really can happen anywhere in Texas at any time. Doesn't bother me at all, but it helps to have a little understanding of where it really comes from and what it really means -- it's not what you initially think.
I do not remember being asked once, since I moved to Austin in 1984, what church I went to or belonged to.
And I am not a hermit. I have a normal social life.
Same here. Been in Austin since 1985. I don't even know why people have this fear/fobia/issue. If someone DID ask me, I wouldn't be offended, I'd just answer the question. What's the big deal?
What I do sometimes get weird responses about is that I don't drink (alcohol). People assume that I do drink, I guess, because they seem surprised when I turn down a beer or a glass of wine and opt for water. They say, "oh, really ... why not?". I have an assortment of one liners, depending on the situation and the social setting, but I just don't drink and people find that weird.
But I've not had one single person in Austin, ever, not once, aks me about church. Not a client, not a friend, not colleague - nobody.
I've had people ask, but then again, our activities put us in contact with many church goers. Our kids went to a church sponsored pre-school (it came highly recommended, even though we are not Christians) which of course brought many instances of "so, do you go to this church" followed by "... then which church do you attend". By the fact that I allowed my kids to attend this preschool shows that my attitude towards the church is not antagonistic, they are free to believe whatever they want, and I'm not intimidated by it, don't feel the need to belong to a church to "fit in", nor am I insulted by it. I think this goes a long way towards explaining why we have friends who fall into many different religious categories (from practicing Catholics to Atheists to Hindus and more).
It's similar to race. There are those who will take actions/words by others to be offensive/off putting because that is their nature/experience. There are others who will take many of the exact same words/actions and not give it a second thought. There are obviously examples where the actual _intent_ is negative/condescending/insulting/etc and that's not what I'm referring to. Just how different folks will interpret these things differently.
Bringing this back to Austin, IMHO, I don't feel that Austin is any different than other cities I've lived in in this regard. A lot depends on your particular demographics (where you live, what you do, kids, even race).
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