Whats living in austin tx like pros and cons or is it over hyped (Houston: best cities, real estate)

[Newguy981]

Whats living in austin tx like pros and cons or is it over hyped

[Austin97]

overhyped

[Need4Camaro]

Depends on what you're expecting. I personally wasnt expecting to like Austin largely because it's the smallest city I've ever lived in but I found that I really enjoy this place. I do think the whole thing about making America's best city to live in is a bit of an overstatement however.

Pros:

From my experience, the people here are friendly and fairly neighborly...fairly.

Crime here generally isnt too bad when comparing to most major cities.

Compared to cities that I've lived in before, traffic isnt as bad as they make it out to be, but it is a pretty big issue and worsening with little to no relief in sight. For reference though I'm pretty used to 2 - 3 hour commutes ranging 30 - 60 miles one way before I moved here where my commute was reduced to aprox 8 miles and ranges between 15 to 30 minutes on a bad day. Others who have to commute Downtown or out of Bee Cave or Lakeway area have it worse however.

Plenty of recreation.

Some parts are pretty scenic.

Always something going on for a city its size.

Cons:

Looniest politics I've ever seen in a city, especially a city this size...This is coming from someone having lived in Chicago

Not much in the way of jobs outside of IT, Government, Retail, and Real Estate.

It gets hot as .... here.

Weather can get absolutely holacoustic and extremes of all ends can be seen here in relatively short periods.

Region is prone to wild fires

Homeless epidemic

Tollroads

City needs better transit and better infrastructure but there is no plan in sight for those improvements while this region is ceaselessly growing

My overall opinion, Austin is awesome and I like it here but I do have to admit that I'm kind of afraid of what will happen here once this place becomes overpopulated while nothing is done to address the infrastructure.

[cirrusly]

OVER HYPED!! but also a nice place to live.

But seriously, do you want endless amazing nature to explore? It’s not in Austin or Texas, and the little we have is overfilled with millennials and their dogs. Do you want big city amenities like museums, zoos, and live entertainment? Try literally any other big city inside or outside of Texas for more options. How about food? We’ve got lots of food trucks, but other places do too, otherwise we’ve got a lot of “foodie” restaurants but we lack in variety of ethnic foods. Austin feels like a huge suburb if you’re from the northeast. The weather can break some people who can’t handle heat. Traffic isn’t the worst in the country, but plenty of people in the suburbs have 2 hour round trip commutes, which can definitely affect physical and mental well-being. Housing is expensive in the city and average to slightly above average everywhere else in Texas compared to national average. If you’re a liberal moving in from out of state I definitely don’t understand why, because you’re moving to a blue bubble in a Red Sea. And it’s not even THAT blue. There are big red donors in the hills.

Furthermore.... I think the shopping could be a little better, especially considering the high proportion of millionaires in the vicinity. The beaches in Texas are terrible so you might as well consider this place land locked, and AUSTIN ISNT THAT WEIRD. It’s about as quirky as one of the thousands of college campuses across the US and that’s about it. I also find it hard to make friends. Most of the people moving in have plans to move out, but every time they move out they get replaced by someone similar trying to move in.

Pros: Safe. Affordable suburbs. Jobs. Clean.

[Need4Camaro]

I think where Austin really shines is a cheaper alternative tech hub relocation spot for people living in larger, more congested, and much more expensive metro's like SF, Boston, D.C. area, NYC, Seattle, ect.

[Lakeway Man]

Overhyped. Stay where you are please.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Cons:

Looniest politics I've ever seen in a city, especially a city this size...This is coming from someone having lived in Chicago

You've got to be kidding?!?

The home of Todd Stroger (the blue Dubya), Blago (worth an F-ing Senate seat?), Ryan (check his desk drawer), Rep. and Mrs. Jackson Jr. (Note to self: Don't plaster your renovated palatial South Side home on HGTV primetime lest an IRS or IL Department of Revenue Agent might be watching to relax after work!), and fiscal and morally corrupt Rep. Hastert (talk about being nabbed on money laundering like Al Capone!).

At least the federal prosecutor is making an effort to clean up Illinois. His counterparts in this state are deeply wedded to the GOP. I was hoping Perry would end up like Blago, but alas, the trial was tilted.

Cons:

It gets hot as .... here.

Weather can get absolutely holacoustic and extremes of all ends can be seen here in relatively short periods.

Region is prone to wild fires

Probably the similarity to suburban inland SoCal and East Bay is what makes Austin attractive to Californians, wildfires included.

Tollroads

City needs better transit and better infrastructure but there is no plan in sight for those improvements while this region is ceaselessly growing

My overall opinion, Austin is awesome and I like it here but I do have to admit that I'm kind of afraid of what will happen here once this place becomes overpopulated while nothing is done to address the infrastructure.

Tollroads--not much different than the North, NW, and West Chicagoland Suburbs. Austin has the worst out of the major 3 with tollroads; the interstate is the only free highway crossing the city like in Orlando. Dallas only limits it to Collin County. Houston limits it to the new sections of the Grand Parkway and the 3 radial toll roads.

Originally Posted by cirrusly

The beaches in Texas are terrible so you might as well consider this place land locked

Careful, the Gulf Coast is home to flavorful Cajun/Creole cuisine. You can eat crawfish étouffée made with fresh seafood in Galveston! Saltwater fishing is a popular pastime in the Texas Gulf. Might want to spend a weekend away from landlocked Texas for once.

[El Chingaso]

Sniff sniff sniff... hmmm smells kinda swampy under this bridge.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Honestly, east of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Appalachian Mountains, I haven't seen any city that looks nicer than Austin, from one end of town to the other. The city is clean and well-kept for the most part with plenty lush vegetation throughout the city, nice outdoor weather, mild winters, lots of long distance views to enjoy, shiney new buildings, a sparkling skyline, lots of good music, festivals and events, streets are relatively smooth and lots of nice wide boulevards, good food and different kinds of food, populated with mostly nice friendly, easy going laid back people with a live and let live type mentality, a relatively very safe city and metro for as big as it is. Other than the traffic, the high cost of housing and rent, and high property taxes, there's really not too much about Austin not to like or to complain about. Austin is far from perfect, but I really don't think it's over-hyped. For all it has going for it, most large cities would love to have Austin's problems. It really is among the best cities in the entire country.

Austin, Texas, where the future's so bright, you gotta wear shades.

[Idlewile]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

Other than the traffic, the high cost of housing and rent, and high property taxes, there's really not too much about Austin not to like or to complain about.

Aside from abysmal weather (temps and lack of seasons) and severe allergies. And I don't say that lightly having lived in every quadrant of the country and multiple cities. Neither are just "average". The forum proves it by sheer number of posts on both topics.