Moving from Austin, TX to Colorado Springs, CO (Marble Falls, Colorado City: ski resorts, sales)

[txngrl29]

Hello!

My husband, daughter and I are trying to decide between living in Austin, TX or Colorado Springs, CO. He has been offered a job in Colorado Springs, but we love Austin and are having a hard time deciding to leave. We went out to visit CO and felt it had a lot to offer in terms of things to do outdoors, but the city overall seemed a little tattered and in need of renovations. Has anyone lived in both cities that could give a better insight? Are there any trendy/Austinish areas in The Springs?

Thanks!

p.s. We've heard Dist#20 is the place to be for schools.

[Mckellyb]

Funny you mention this, as just today, my wife convinced me to expand my job search to include CO, which is a place we've lived in the past. First place after Texas, in fact.

The Springs is a wholly different town than Austin. There really isn't any way to compare them. While we've not lived in The Springs, we had friends there, and have done quite a bit of visiting because we lived fairly close by.

Tattered-looking. Well, the winters are mighty harsh on the Front Range, which likely accounts for the look. I know what you mean...it seems a little dirty, literally. Not much rain to wash away the rocks put down on the roads in winter.

I truly miss having a basement! And having deer bedding in the yard...and that VIEW!

Beware of the cost-of-living difference. The housing difference is not large, it's immense. A chasm. Plus, there you have state income tax. Your cars will need changes to make the winter roads useable...a separate set of wheels and snow tires (to ease changeover, and honestly, it pays for itself after two winters, BTDT). If you have a decent 4x4, a set of BF Goodrich All-Terrain's will have you planted solidly, year-round, however.

I honestly cannot think of any trendy areas, as we weren't nightlife people when were were in The Springs. We lived about 80 miles of serious mountain roads away, and late nights + elk = severe hazard.

FWIW, I worked in Denver at the time, but the two cities are not far apart. We lived in Bailey, NW of The Springs and SW of Denver.

The high-country's climate is awesome in summer, and honestly, both my wife and I miss both the dry summers and snow in the winter. You'd be shocked how not cold 15F can be. Full sun, no wind, dry air...not cold. Just like what low relative humidity does for heat, it does for cold.

This said, -5F, at night...it's brutally chilly...outside. Comfy and cozy inside, though.

You're not going to get the same kinda food, there. BBQ...Tex-Mex...forget it. There are a couple of places, but you have to hunt for 'em, and it's still not the same.

Don't mention you're from Texas. It's not as bad as it was in the '80's, but Texans are still not looked at well by long-term residents.

One other thing. They take automobile license plates seriously, there, because of the property taxes it generates. When they say 30 days of residency and you'd better have CO plates, they mean it. The police in the Denver-area have been known to track, passingly, cars with out-of-state plates, if they pass the same area day-after-day. Seems anal, I know, but that's a large income generator for the state.

[MJinAustin]

I've lived in Co Spgs - though it was a long time ago. I was there recently and it sort of has the same feel. The north and south are flanked by the military and in between is a sleepy town without a lot of special character or personality. There are some lovely historic areas, but it just doesn't have a "vibe" like Austin and it's not an urban energetic metro area like Denver. The views are absolutely gorgeous though. And Co Spgs is home to a lot of Joel Osteen type mega churches and Focus on the Family, so there's a fair number of people who participate in modern worship...whether that's good or bad ????

[YvZ]

We live in Colorado Springs and we are looking at moving to Austin. Haven't lived in Austin before, so I can't compare the two. I can just tell you how we experience Colorado Springs.

Let's start by the obvious, the weather. We have lived here for 9 years and the Winters are gettig colder every year. The first 7 years of living here we had no blizzards but in the past 2 years we have 4. Many people will tell you it isnt really that cold here. Granted, it is not the coldest place in the US but it still gets pretty cold. I agree that the cold doesn't always feel as it should but the past 2 years we have had a lot of windy days which makes it unbearable. Now do take into account my husband and I grew up in South Africa, so we are used to heat and have never seen snow till we moved here. We have 2 boys and it is killing me to raise them indoors for the biggest part of the year. There are people who would disagree with this and tell you their kids play outside all year round. My kids are like their Mom, they do not like to be cold.

Before continueing, I would like to make it clear that this is our personal experiences and opinions that I am expressing. It might not be how you will experience it or it might be exactly what you are looking for.

Colorado Springs is very conservative, for the most part. Often too conservative for our liking. We feel that you dare not express your political or religious orientation here unless you are on the conservative side. We have also found that people are very outspoken about their beliefs, just asuming everyone shares those beliefs. The huge military presence makes for a very interesting dynamic in the town.

The reasons we are looking to move -
1. My husband's current job allows him to live anywhere as long as it is close to an Airport as he travels to clients almost every week. Before this he worked for Verizon, that is what brought us to Colorado Springs. In the event of my husband wanting to change jobs in order to be home more there will be a very small possibility that he will be able to find a job in town. Many of our friends that went through lay offs in town travel to Denver every day for work.
2. The weather. It is just too cold for us for too many months of the year.

The nice things -
1. Lots of sunshine
2. Amazing Summers (June, July and August). September is all over the place with temperatures. October is mostly cold, so at most you have 4 months of Summer. Those months are great for camping, hiking etc.
3. Good schools.
4. Most of the people here are very religious and raise their kids with very high morals.
5. If you look west (at the mountains) it is a pretty view. Can't say the same if you look any of the other 3 directions. Unless you enjoy seeing Monopoly house roofs for miles at end.

The negatives (for us) -
1. Weather unless you enjoy snow and cold.
2. Availability of jobs, depending your field of work
3. It is very dry here, you will feel it on your skin. If you wear contacts you might find it challenging. It is also not at all possible to have a lush garden like in Austin, so if you thrive in a green lush environment Colorado is not for you.
4. It is not cheap to live here. With a huge amount of Californians that moved here the house prices went up a lot! Food is also very expensive, especially fresh produce.
5. Not that much to do on a daily basis, especially in the Winters (which is the majority of the year). Ski resorts are at least 3 hours away, so you can only do that on a weekend and it will cost you $100 a shot just for lift tickets and renting ski's. We don't get enough snow often enough down here to sled in town on a regular basis.

I hope this helps you a bit. Feel free to email me if you have any specific questions regarding Colorado Springs.

[Mike78613]

I am from Colo Spgs, CO. We moved here back in 1996. I never had a good J-O-B that paid well in CoS. Once I came here. It was all opportunity. We been blessed since we moved here. Wonderful down to earth people / folks, homes much cheaper (then) but the only thing Austin lacks over CoS is mountains, 4-seasons and we do-not get snow. Just ICE.

You will be amazed how bad this city gets when we have huge rainstorms during the week and trying to go home. It is like a total lock-down!

One good thing I like is when it freezes, it freezes and the city has shut down. Unlike CoS. It snows, your going to WORK (at least most of the time, unless you are stuck in the driveway!

Oh- you will forget what a snow shovel and ice scraper looks like. I use DE-ICER to get rid of the little bit of ice we get on the windshield once in a while. I talked to couple of folks that made the moved from CoS to ATX in the past year on here. #1 complaint was the colder winters all-year long.

[achtungpv]

Originally Posted by Mckellyb

You'd be shocked how not cold 15F can be. Full sun, no wind, dry air...not cold. Just like what low relative humidity does for heat, it does for cold.

I was in Reno for work a few years ago and got up early and walked a couple of blocks down to a breakfast joint in jeans, sweatshirt, and gloves. It was cold but it felt like a supermarket freezer so it wasn't uncomfortable. Got back to my room and the weather channel said it was 12 degrees!

[golfgod]

We just moved from Austin (Marble Falls actually) and took a hard look at COS. I didn't find houses to be particularly more expensive, and the bit more you pay for a (well built, they have building codes here!) house is offset by the lower property tax and homeowner's insurance. Our taxes are 1/3 and our insurance if ONE FIFTH.

OTOH, registering your car is more expensive, we just paid about $600 to reg our '04 Lexus and '03 Infinity! They'll go down next year, but not to the $60 we were paying in TX. However, our car insurance dropped by about 20%.

We haven't run our A/C yet, although our heat runs a bit at night.

We drove this winter on the same tires/wheels as we drove on in TX and never had any problems. That includes 3 weeks skiing so I've driven many of the passes in heavy snowstorms, front wheel drive, not all wheel drive.

The income tax isn't as much a problem for us as we're both retired but we still have income so we'll be paying income tax next year. But, we only pay 6.7% sales tax vs. 8.5%.

We may go back for a few months in the winter, but I'm never moving back to TX.

Check out Woodland Park, up the mountain a bit but it's beautiful and it looked like it got overbuilt, especially on the golf course!

I lived in the Springs in '70 and '71 and other than I 25 I don't think they've built or widened any roads since then.

golfgod

[ilovemypitbull]

I am in the exact opposite position as you are, moving from Colorado Springs to Austin. I think that Colorado Springs and Austin are so different!

Austin is a lot (A LOT) more tolerant than Colorado Springs. Colorado Springs is not as religious as people make it out to be, but I find it very culturally dead. Good luck finding a decent restaurant that's open after nine on a weeknight! As far as culture goes, there's not much for urbanish people of any age - especially adults.

For me, moving to Colorado Springs was pretty much a mistake. I am not traditionally liberal, but I am very socially liberal. I am also childfree, a vegan, and an atheist. It is really hard for me to find other people like myself and my husband. For us, Austin (specifically Hyde Park / Central area) is a perfect match.

Knowing nothing about you, I would say the more "Austin" you are the less you will probably like Colorado Springs. However, if you do decide to move here, you will probably feel most comfortable in Old North End (near downtown), Old Colorado City, or Manitou Springs (not technically Colorado Springs, but close enough. Of these, Manitou Springs has the best schools (I think).

I have spent a lot of time recently in both Austin and Colorado Springs very recently, and I can answer any questions you may have.

[ilovemypitbull]

Originally Posted by YvZ

We live in Colorado Springs and we are looking at moving to Austin. Haven't lived in Austin before, so I can't compare the two. I can just tell you how we experience Colorado Springs.

Everything you described is precisely my experience here in Colorado Springs. It's actually refreshing to see someone with a similar point of view!

[YvZ]

Originally Posted by ilovemypitbull

Everything you described is precisely my experience here in Colorado Springs. It's actually refreshing to see someone with a similar point of view!

We should get together