Advise for moving to Texas from southern CA (getting away from liberal ways) (Dallas: apartment, condo)

[Lacyserrao]

So my family and I are currently living in southern California and looking to get out of here. My dad drives an end dump, my BF is a project manager for a tech company, my brother is a welder and my sister-in-law is an RN. I do accounting so can really work anywhere. I was looking at Austin but it seems it is a very liberal city. My family is conservative and is the main reason we are looking to leave California. It is heading in a bad direction and we just can't deal with it anymore. My question is, are there any towns surrounding Austin that are conservative? Or do you have to go pretty far away from there to reach the conservative towns? My reasoning for Austin is that we've lived in Ca our entire lives (besides my dad from PA) and I like the actual state of California but not the liberal ways. As "yuppy" as California is, it is nice that there are so many different things to do. I think going from here straight to a super small town would be extreme culture shock. I'd like to end up in a small town, on lots of property eventually but I also want to make sure everyone adjust first. I like the idea of Austin having lots of restaurants, bars, music, lakes etc. The hospital there looks good for my sister-in-laws job (and she can easily transfer there) and my BF should be able to find a good PMP job there. We would never want to live in the actual city but somewhere on the outskirts. Maybe within 30 minutes for us younger ones?

Any advise would be useful. And for all you Texans, I promise we would never try to bring over the *California ways*. It appears we were born in the wrong state and Texas is looking great!

Thank you!

[CT_ATX]

I would think that any city you go to is going to be more liberal than a more rural area or small town. That is just kind of how America is.

[another_hot-day]

I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as fast as I could.

I moved to Lakeway from SF 17 years ago. It was a culture shock but not too bad. It would have been much more shocking had we moved far East, West or North first. After 4 years in Lakeway the commute drove us to NW Austin (183 and Anderson Mill area) where we spent another 9 years and eventually moved to a small town near Austin.
You will find the DT area Liberal.
Outskirts/Burbs are a mixed bag.
Georgetown, Leander, Cedar Park are all good options.

With your professions you don't have to limit yourself to Austin. Those jobs are in demand all over the place.

[Lacyserrao]

Yes Ct_Atx but Austin looks EXTREMELY liberal. Even Dallas doesn't appear to be as much but don't really want to be that far north. More so curious about the outer towns. I know for instance most towns (even 1 hour away) from Los Angeles are still pretty liberal. So just curious about the suburbs of Austin as Texas is a more conservative state. Is everyone pretty much just staying right in the city? Or can you go 30 min away to a different county and it be completely different? I really only have California to compare to so just seeking advise from others who live there

[cBach]

I would think that Dallas would have more of the conservatives that you may be seeking than Austin if you insist upon staying in Texas.

To be honest, if you want a super conservative city with amenities, I think Oklahoma City is the choice. Restaurants, bars, museums, hospitals, but ultra conservative.

If you dislike the politics in California you'll just be getting a watered down version here.

[cBach]

Let's look at surrounding cities. Pflugerville is actually quite liberal, it has an increasing African American population. Round Rock is middle of the road, Cedar Park is conservative, Georgetown is conservative.

Anything west of Austin is fairly liberal and where Californians prefer to live. Westlake Hills is uber liberal, Lakeway is fairly liberal.

Going even further out, Buda is conservative, Bastrop is middle of the road. I remember seeing some prominent signs with Democratic candidates in Bastrop.

I can't advise a hard core conservative to move to Austin. It just wouldn't fit.

[earthisle]

Austin is more liberal than where you're coming from. What exactly are you trying to escape? Half of California is conservative. Texas is only slightly more conservative overall, only because it's slightly more rural-- 87.5% of Texans are urban/suburban while 95% of Californians are urban/suburban Urban Percentage of the Population for States, Historical | Iowa Community Indicators Program

You are not going to find any difference. But you will get far fewer outdoors activities because conservation isn't really a thing in Texas. Almost all land is private and there are no natural lakes. The "lakes" you're thinking of are reservoirs. You should stay in California where you benefit from the liberal policies.

[ikoolu]

we did the same thing as you last year - i am from SO calif too born and raised - you won't find Austin to your liking - its way to liberal and yuppy and traffic is crap -

you need to take a few days -- a week and go see whats it like from Dallas- Austin- Waco - Tyler - etc-thats what we did and after 3 trips found a area we like - full of conservatives with strong values - i can tell you this - this site and the respondents are generally very liberal and be careful of what you read here-

PM if you want to know more

[CT_ATX]

Originally Posted by Lacyserrao

Yes Ct_Atx but Austin looks EXTREMELY liberal. Even Dallas doesn't appear to be as much but don't really want to be that far north. More so curious about the outer towns. I know for instance most towns (even 1 hour away) from Los Angeles are still pretty liberal. So just curious about the suburbs of Austin as Texas is a more conservative state. Is everyone pretty much just staying right in the city? Or can you go 30 min away to a different county and it be completely different? I really only have California to compare to so just seeking advise from others who live there

Well, we do celebrate Eeyore's birthday once a year. That's pretty hippie. They also don't seem to have any shortage of anti-Trump rallies downtown. And the people of the city will find about any excuse to throw a party for themselves that hopefully involves breakfast tacos and craft beers.

Overall though, I'm not entirely sure what liberal or conservative values are supposed to look like in day to day life (other than maybe a stereotype). Austin's personality is pretty chill. Politically, the city tends to vote liberal and the state votes conservative, so it can be frustrating for everybody.

[Lacyserrao]

So reasons for leaving California: Gun laws, sanctuary cities (although I see there is a Sanctuary city fight happening in Austin) state taxes, housing cost, utility cost, simply just the cost of living here - the list really can go on. I understand we may make more here than other states but it really doesn't scale up to the cost of living here. I live in a town 35 miles from Hollywood and the cost of a condo here (more the size of an apartment) starts at about $400,000 - it is quite ridiculous. We have a pretty decent down payment that we can take to buy a house somewhere else but it truly would not even make a dent in a mortgage cost in California. The state is wanting to raise minimum wage to $15/hour which is just going to raise the cost of everything even more. Although there are conservatives and conservative towns throughout our state, it doesn't change the fact that it still California.

I guess I can give an example of where we live.

So our town is 35 miles from Hollywood (really 2 hours with traffic though haha) and I very very rarely ever head out to Hollywood/LA - I think the last time I was there was in October for a concert. I am 28 and occasionally like going out, going to concerts etc. I like the idea of bands and singers stopping in Austin and being not too far to go to a concert if it is during the week. It seems like they have a lot of food festivals and things going on during the weekend (again this is just what i've googled so any tips from locals are welcome, maybe I am wrong) and having things to do would be ideal. The town I live in is pretty boring, which I am honestly totally fine with! I am not expecting to move somewhere and have it be like Los Angeles because 1) that is what we are getting away from and 2) I never even go there - I just want to go somewhere that has some sort of "life" in it - if that makes sense?

Again, we would not want to live in the city or A CITY ever but I was looking more so towards the outskirts of Austin than the outskirts of Dallas/Fort Worth etc.

My dad is trying to get us to go to Prescott AZ and it looks beautiful but from what I've read and heard - it is more so for older people looking to retire and not really for the rest of the family. Also, I don't really love Arizona.

So at the end of the day, sure we can stay and pay $600,000 to live in a decent neighborhood, on top of our neighbors and enjoy the great California weather and liberal laws that we oppose, or we can move to a more conservative state with a lower cost of living