Austin housing/job/weather etc (Houston, Dallas: how much, houses, job market)
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Hi,
I have some questions about Austin I hope that some residents can help me with. Can you tell me about the weather? How hot is the summer, how cold is the winter, etc?
Also, have read a few posts on here and it sounds like SW austin is the area recommended by a lot of people if you have younger kids. We may be considering relocation to Austin area and we have children 8 and younger. We'd be looking for a reasonable size house (4 bed, 2 bath, nothing huge). We wouldn't necessarily care about it being brand new, but just would like the kitchen etc updated and not from 1960. We ideally would like to be not to far from things to do, etc, but would like a house with an acre to a few acres of land around it. I was wondering if that are any areas in SW austin like this, or do we have to go farther out into the country to get land with a house? We'd also be concerned about staying within a good school district (elementary for now), although from what I read on here it sounds like most schools are good in this area.
How about restaurants? Does austin have a good variety? We like all types of food and like variety.
How is the job market there at the moment with regard to tech jobs? How is traffic as far as morning and evening commute?
Can you tell me about the weather? How hot is the summer, how cold is the winter, etc?
Summer : Austin summers are very dreadful. I would consider May-Sept as the worst months for Austin. The temperatures hower around 100F mark.
What you should be worried about is heat index. Due to humidity, you won't find many days May-Sept when the heat index does not reach 100F. This summer so far has been very dry and hot. However I personally prefer that compared to 4-5F less temperature and high humidity. Ofcourse since it is not raining, you will have higher water bills, specially in your case since you are looking for a larger lot. Just to give you glimpse of summer, the temperature tonight at 9.45pm showed 93F..!!
Winter/Pleasant : Weather/temperatures start getting better, end of Sept onwards through mid/late April. Dec-Feb may feel chilly to some with night lows around 40F. It snows on average one day/year. It is negligible compared to North East, Midwest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jbimommy
Also, have read a few posts on here and it sounds like SW austin is the area recommended by a lot of people if you have younger kids. We may be considering relocation to Austin area and we have children 8 and younger. We'd be looking for a reasonable size house (4 bed, 2 bath, nothing huge). We wouldn't necessarily care about it being brand new, but just would like the kitchen etc updated and not from 1960. We ideally would like to be not to far from things to do, etc, but would like a house with an acre to a few acres of land around it. I was wondering if that are any areas in SW austin like this, or do we have to go farther out into the country to get land with a house? We'd also be concerned about staying within a good school district (elementary for now), although from what I read on here it sounds like most schools are good in this area.
SW Austin, Westlake, NorthWest, Leander, Cedarpark, Round Rock all have good schools. You would be able to find a house on larger lot in those areas. Ofcourse it depends on your budget as to how far you will have to go from city center. Some areas around downtown also have good schools, but I am not sure if you can find larger lots there. May be a realtor can help you there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jbimommy
How about restaurants? Does austin have a good variety? We like all types of food and like variety.
TexMex is awesome in Austin. Most people love it. I haven't seen anything similar in other parts of country. What I hear from people around is that BBQ, Steakhouse are really good. I haven't tried it because I am vegetarian and not many options there.
However I don't find other cuisines good in Austin. May be because I am from Bay Area and comparing against it. There are not many good options for Thai, Indian, Italian, Mediterranean.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jbimommy
How is the job market there at the moment with regard to tech jobs?
Overall tech is quite good in Austin. Ofcourse not as great as bay area. But definitely one of top tier cities for tech. There are plenty of companies : Dell, Intel, AMD, Freescale, Apple, Nvidia, Cypress and more. The hardware scene is better than software. I think Google, Oracle and Facebook have small design centers here. Eventhough there is good hiring in tech, I would still suggest not to move before you have job lined up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jbimommy
How is traffic as far as morning and evening commute?
Austin traffic is one of the worst in US for comparable cities. Idiotic planning, no future planning, lack of desire to solve the congestion makes things even worse.
Austin's North-South commute is nightmare during rush hours. Expect max 15mph average speed during rush hour. I-35 and Mopac are the main north-south freeways and both are parking garages during rush hours. The only way to reduce frustration and commute time is to live as close to work as possible and work/live on same side of the river.
Last edited by infoseeker2010; 06-14-2011 at 11:45 PM..
would like a house with an acre to a few acres of land around it.
That is the kicker - how much money you have to spend? The rest of your criteria can be met fairly easily in several areas of Austin, including, but not limited to, SW Austin. Currently, the commute from SW Austin to downtown is one of the easier ones, although it can be long enough.
Anyway, there are some lots with acreage in Sunset Valley, I think, which is kind of off the Brode/290 area (and south of there). Also, Shady Hollow has some larger lots, although I am not sure they are as big as you are looking for. A bit further out, off of 1826 (Camp Ben McCullough Rd.) there are some really nice houses on 2-5 acre lots, although I think those are Dripping Springs schools (which are very good, btw). Commute starts to get a bit longer, though.
In the NW Austin area, there are a few large lots off of Duval (Angus Valley area); again, it all comes down to money, since close in acreage is a very, very valuable combination.
Summer : Austin summers are very dreadful. I would consider May-Sept as the worst months for Austin. The temperatures hower around 100F mark.
What you should be worried about is heat index. Due to humidity, you won't find many days May-Sept when the heat index does not reach 100F. This summer so far has been very dry and hot. However I personally prefer that compared to 4-5F less temperature and high humidity. Ofcourse since it is not raining, you will have higher water bills, specially in your case since you are looking for a larger lot. Just to give you glimpse of summer, the temperature tonight at 9.45pm showed 93F..!!
I really wouldn't worry much at all about a heat index. A heat index in Austin almost never happens because of the almost constantly dry air--In the mornings, the humidity is higher, but the temps and lower, thus not producing any heat index. With the exception of the mornings, Austin's climate is similar to Tucson's (bit not quite as hot as Phoenix) The main concern would be the relentless, desertlike heat, that goes on week after week, month after month. It tires quickly for most people, but it's a way of life here.
Winter/Pleasant : Weather/temperatures start getting better, end of Sept onwards through mid/late April. Dec-Feb may feel chilly to some with night lows around 40F. It snows on average one day/year. It is negligible compared to North East, Midwest.
Pleasant in the winter?? Are you kidding me? As rare as the clouds are in the summer, is as rare as the sun is in the winter. It's cold, overcast, and windy most days in the winter. Freezes are common occurances, with nighttime temps dropping well down into the teens on several occasions last winter. There are SOME warmer days (into the 70's,) but they are quickly followed by 40MPH winds and rapidly dropping temps the next day. The worst thing about the winter is that you don't avoid the cold, by dealing with the extreme summer heat.
SW Austin, Westlake, NorthWest, Leander, Cedarpark, Round Rock all have good schools. You would be able to find a house on larger lot in those areas. Ofcourse it depends on your budget as to how far you will have to go from city center. Some areas around downtown also have good schools, but I am not sure if you can find larger lots there. May be a realtor can help you there.
I haven't been to South Austin in years, so I probably wouldn't be much help here.
TexMex is awesome in Austin. Most people love it. I haven't seen anything similar in other parts of country. What I hear from people around is that BBQ, Steakhouse are really good. I haven't tried it because I am vegetarian and not many options there.
As a whole, healthfood choices aren't to common here in the Austin area. You probably would do best to look around the downtown or central parts of Austin since a higher percentage of the population would make use them.
However I don't find other cuisines good in Austin. May be because I am from Bay Area and comparing against it. There are not many good options for Thai, Indian, Italian, Mediterranean.
Very true. You want good Thai, Indian, and Italian?? I would try Houston or Dallas. Not sure about Mediterrenean.
Overall tech is quite good in Austin. Ofcourse not as great as bay area. But definitely one of top tier cities for tech. There are plenty of companies : Dell, Intel, AMD, Freescale, Apple, Nvidia, Cypress and more. The hardware scene is better than software. I think Google, Oracle and Facebook have small design centers here. Eventhough there is good hiring in tech, I would still suggest not to move before you have job lined up.
Austin has a higher than average number of high tech companies for a city it's size. But don't be fooled by the marketing campaigns. Jobs are hard to come by here just like any other place.
Austin traffic is one of the worst in US for comparable cities. Idiotic planning, no future planning, lack of desire to solve the congestion makes things even worse.
Austin's North-South commute is nightmare during rush hours. Expect max 15mph average speed during rush hour. I-35 and Mopac are the main north-south freeways and both are parking garages during rush hours. The only way to reduce frustration and commute time is to live as close to work as possible and work/live on same side of the river.
Once again, another way of life here. I refer to the Austin infastructure as the "horse and buggy" system. It's basically designed to handle about 250K metro population efficiently. The city refuses to acknoledge this problem, and has for many many years. They want to focus exclusively on the "rich" population and continue to improve the area downtown. The vast majority of the population who has relocated to this area in the past 10 years has ended up in the suburbs.
eepstein's winter weather in Avery Ranch must be different than it is for everyone else in the area.
Winters in Austin are mild. Temperatures below freezing are not common at all, though we do have morning lows below 32 for a few days. Daytime highs below freezing are uncommon. Freezing precipitation is rare. And we have sun 50% of the time in the winter as weather data shows.
A nice summary of the lowest temps in recent history below:
Austin Winter Temperature History | kvue.com Austin (http://www.kvue.com/community/blogs/marks-weather-blog/AustinWinterTemperatureHistory-80764012.html - broken link)
How about restaurants? Does austin have a good variety? We like all types of food and like variety.
How is traffic as far as morning and evening commute?
We are new to the area and in SW Austin. Although the variety in restaurants is somewhat lower than in the Bay Area, we have found very good Indian and Thai food. (Had to run through a few so-so places, but we found it.) Haven't found really great Japanese yet, but we are still trying things out. Austin may not be "world class" as far as restaurants, but I don't think it is as bad as people say. (And I wouldn't want to pay for "world class" anyway.) When you start looking beyond Tex-Mex and Barbeque, there are other choices. It probably depends on where you are living and what happens to be close. Maybe in some areas food selection is limited, but not in my area.
I don't have much experience with the commute (retired), but I drove from Circle C to downtown this morning, leaving at 8:20, and I found that part of the rush hour to be quite easy - nothing compared to what people experience in the Bay Area. Maybe at other times it is worse. I think the problem with traffic in Austin is poor road design, not poor drivers. Of course, there are bad drivers in all states, but no more here than anywhere else, in my opinion. In fact, I think the majority of Texas drivers are more patient than lots of places. But I really resent the fact that lots of freeways don't have proper exchanges to other freeways and force people to go onto surface streets. It seems like the freeways were just thrown up, and the exchanges were left for "some time, if we get the money," which is not the way to build a freeway.
I really wouldn't worry much at all about a heat index. A heat index in Austin almost never happens because of the almost constantly dry air--In the mornings, the humidity is higher, but the temps and lower, thus not producing any heat index. With the exception of the mornings, Austin's climate is similar to Tucson's (bit not quite as hot as Phoenix) The main concern would be the relentless, desertlike heat, that goes on week after week, month after month. It tires quickly for most people, but it's a way of life here.
Don't agree. Following is Austin/Tuscon comparison for Morning and Afternoon Humidity.
>> For each month for both cities the afternoon humidity is more than morning.
>> Difference in afternoon humidity between both cities is ~70% for May&June
>> Difference in afternoon humidity between both cities is ~25% for July-Sept.
>> Austin summer(may-sept) average highs are less than Tuscon. But Tuscon has much less humidity in those months compared to Austin. Which is why Tuscon is dry heat and Austin is humid heat. That is when heat index comes in picture.
Morning Humidity : City Climate Comparisons
Pleasant in the winter?? Are you kidding me? As rare as the clouds are in the summer, is as rare as the sun is in the winter. It's cold, overcast, and windy most days in the winter. Freezes are common occurances, with nighttime temps dropping well down into the teens on several occasions last winter. There are SOME warmer days (into the 70's,) but they are quickly followed by 40MPH winds and rapidly dropping temps the next day. The worst thing about the winter is that you don't avoid the cold, by dealing with the extreme summer heat.
I don't know why you don't find winters pleasant. A few exceptional days do occur. But still overall I would rate Austin winter's quite pleasant/mild. "hoffdano" has nicely summarized it.
Don't agree. Following is Austin/Tuscon comparison for Morning and Afternoon Humidity.
>> For each month for both cities the afternoon humidity is more than morning.
>> Difference in afternoon humidity between both cities is ~70% for May&June
>> Difference in afternoon humidity between both cities is ~25% for July-Sept.
>> Austin summer(may-sept) average highs are less than Tuscon. But Tuscon has much less humidity in those months compared to Austin. Which is why Tuscon is dry heat and Austin is humid heat. That is when heat index comes in picture.
Morning Humidity : City Climate Comparisons
I don't know why you don't find winters pleasant. A few exceptional days do occur. But still overall I would rate Austin winter's quite pleasant/mild. "hoffdano" has nicely summarized it.
Weather is subjective, that's why.
I personally find Austin's winters a tad too cold for me, I prefer Houston's mild winters. If you've ever visited Houston during the winter you'll know what I'm talking about. However, the dry heat in the summer makes up for that so it's much preferable to be here than Houston.
To me, March (70's everyday), April (80's), May (80's/90's) is absolutely perfect weather, as is mid September (low 90's), October (80's), November to mid December (70's). The period from mid December to end of February is erratic, unpredictable, and vascillates from very mild (70+) to pleasantly cool in the 50's/60's (most days) to unbearable cold (days in the 40's and nights in the 20's). Summer is hot, around 98 degrees most days, but dry and there is always a breeze. It's great for water activities and other activities if done in the morning.
Overall, I think Austin probably has one of the better climates east of the Rocky Mountains.
Like I said, during the morning, it's more humid in Austin than Tucson. But during the afternoon and evenings, the air and pretty much the same. No heat index, and often times it's so dry, the heat index is actually BELOW the temperature. Don't believe me, try going outside between 4-6pm and see what the humidity is like.
Quote:
Originally Posted by infoseeker2010
Don't agree. Following is Austin/Tuscon comparison for Morning and Afternoon Humidity.
>> For each month for both cities the afternoon humidity is more than morning.
>> Difference in afternoon humidity between both cities is ~70% for May&June
>> Difference in afternoon humidity between both cities is ~25% for July-Sept.
>> Austin summer(may-sept) average highs are less than Tuscon. But Tuscon has much less humidity in those months compared to Austin. Which is why Tuscon is dry heat and Austin is humid heat. That is when heat index comes in picture.
Morning Humidity : City Climate Comparisons
I don't know why you don't find winters pleasant. A few exceptional days do occur. But still overall I would rate Austin winter's quite pleasant/mild. "hoffdano" has nicely summarized it.
Winters in Austin have gotten progressively colder and colder since i've lived here. We have snow occurances yearly now (two measureable snowfalls last winter) and teens have occured on several occasions during the past 3 years (perhaps not in central austin, but within the metro area) The nearly constant overcast and wind makes Austin FAR colder than most people expect. Yes, Houston could be considered a "mild" winter, it's far warmer than Austin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cBach
Weather is subjective, that's why.
I personally find Austin's winters a tad too cold for me, I prefer Houston's mild winters. If you've ever visited Houston during the winter you'll know what I'm talking about. However, the dry heat in the summer makes up for that so it's much preferable to be here than Houston.
To me, March (70's everyday), April (80's), May (80's/90's) is absolutely perfect weather, as is mid September (low 90's), October (80's), November to mid December (70's). The period from mid December to end of February is erratic, unpredictable, and vascillates from very mild (70+) to pleasantly cool in the 50's/60's (most days) to unbearable cold (days in the 40's and nights in the 20's). Summer is hot, around 98 degrees most days, but dry and there is always a breeze. It's great for water activities and other activities if done in the morning.
Overall, I think Austin probably has one of the better climates east of the Rocky Mountains.
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