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Old 06-05-2022, 11:10 PM
 
Location: Dallas suburbs
315 posts, read 221,620 times
Reputation: 505

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Austin is easy to get burnt out on (the irony of UT's colors being burnt orange is not lost on me) because the myth and legend is grester than the reality. Dallas is fun enough when you're young and you can grow with it nicely at any age. Dallas tries very hard to be a international city, and achieves it. Houston seems to achieve international status a little more effortlessly. But at the end of the day, you choose a city that you resonate with, and that fits you well. When I was a UT student, I couldn't wait to get out of Austin and that is allegedly when people should love it the most. Do what feels right for you.
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Old 06-07-2022, 02:22 PM
 
2,978 posts, read 1,927,818 times
Reputation: 4688
Quote:
Originally Posted by FreeVilley View Post
Austin is easy to get burnt out on (the irony of UT's colors being burnt orange is not lost on me) because the myth and legend is grester than the reality. Dallas is fun enough when you're young and you can grow with it nicely at any age. Dallas tries very hard to be a international city, and achieves it. Houston seems to achieve international status a little more effortlessly. But at the end of the day, you choose a city that you resonate with, and that fits you well. When I was a UT student, I couldn't wait to get out of Austin and that is allegedly when people should love it the most. Do what feels right for you.
Haha it's amazing how much this post reflects my own experience. When I was at UT I couldn't wait to leave Austin either. Literally my entire circle of friends left for places like Dallas and Houston. At the time (a decade ago) Austin felt like a big college town with an identity crisis about it's future. It wasn't a place any of us (grad students at the time) felt good about starting a career there since we were not in tech. It felt very limiting.

I visit Austin a lot now and the feel is a lot different from what I remember. It feels like a real city now with more to offer, and it feels like the people there have finally accepted the area's ultimate destiny to be a major city. There seems to be less (although still plenty of) talk and more action. There are major problems with affordability and homelessness, but on some level, this has been the case in Austin for decades - it's just a bit worse now. But all in all, I'd probably rather live in today's Austin than the Austin of 10 or 15 years ago personally.

With that said, I still prefer Houston and Dallas as places to live - as much as Austin offers, both of them are still on another level in everything but outdoor activities and music venues.
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Old 06-07-2022, 09:31 PM
 
3,950 posts, read 2,939,537 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ForgotTheMilk View Post
Houston and Dallas are not going to be an improvement on these two points.
Pretty sure Dallas and Houston are taken more seriously than Austin. But yeah, the sprawl is much worse.
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Old 06-07-2022, 09:33 PM
 
3,950 posts, read 2,939,537 times
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Houston is cheaper than Dallas which is cheaper than Austin (might not be by much anymore). San Antonio is the cheapest of them all.
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Old 06-08-2022, 10:41 AM
 
Location: Round Rock, Texas
13,437 posts, read 15,347,491 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hereticiam View Post
Last year we were looking into moving to Texas.
Austin was our first choice due to our careers.
Housing prices were way too high.
We looked into living in cities around Austin to lower the housing prices.
Even though housing prices were lower the schools were not as good as we wanted them to be.
Were were looking at Round Rock, Georgetown, Dripping Green etc.
We began looking at Dallas next. We were looking in North Dallas. Dallas seemed 15-20% less than Austin. Public schools were excellent. Over the last 2 years there has been a massive run up in prices in North Dallas well. Every home was selling at 25% over asking price, had to waive all contingencies.
We are now leaning towards Houston. Even though Houston has also had a run up in housing prices it is still about 15% less expensive than North Dallas. There are few bidding wars, there is a lot of housing development, nicer master planned communities like Towne Lake, Bridgeland, Cinco Ranch, Cross Creek Ranch. Even for 15% less than North Dallas we get bigger yard, newer home and better amenities. Public schools in the place like Katy/Cypress are as good as North Dallas public schools.
We are also considering North Atlanta but it is also as expensive as North Dallas.
The Austin suburbs have good, strong schools, along with weaker ones, just like any other place in Texas including Dallas and Houston.

On topic,

As a New Yorker, I like Houston. It is truly a big, cosmopolitan and international city, reminiscent of NYC.
The pay is higher and there are lots of professional opportunities in Houston.

But my heart truly lies in San Antonio.
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Old 06-08-2022, 11:23 AM
 
3,187 posts, read 2,304,193 times
Reputation: 2700
Quote:
Originally Posted by Need4Camaro View Post
It really depends on what burbs. N.Dallas burbs are not cheap. You could easily spend as much on a house up there as you would in Austin or it’s burbs. Places like Westlake/Southlake (DFW) are probably among the most priciest places to in Texas, Frisco and W.Plano are averaging $600 - $700k home values which is neck and neck with Cedar Park and much further away from Downtown too.

S.Dallas burbs are more affordable but you are displaced from all of the white collar jobs if you’re in tech.

Another issue is, today a $100k annual salary just isn’t what it used to be when considering inflation, the cost of goods and the inevitable increase of home values. Today a $100k annual salary is yesterday’s $64k a year (approximately year 2000) when adjusting for inflation.
The one thing to consider about the north Dallas suburbs is there are more employment centers than areas north of Downtown Austin. So one can live there and work at more Fortune 500 companies than one would find in Austin's suburbs. I worked for awhile as JPMorgan Chase's new campus (2017 opened) in Plano. Capital One, Toyota, Fannie Mae BofA, NTT Data, FedEx Office, Dr. Pepper, Liberty Mutual, Frito Lay, USAA, Prosperity Bank for example, all have big offices there.
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Old 06-08-2022, 11:33 AM
 
3,187 posts, read 2,304,193 times
Reputation: 2700
Quote:
Originally Posted by atxcio View Post
We know. Houston and Dallas are more cosmopolitan than Austin. But no one who would be concerned about "Cosmopolitan" would live in Texas anyway, so the twin big ones in TX are relegated to the consolation prize status to the upwardly mobile in this country. The coasts and Austin are different of course.
define "Cosmopolitan"
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Old 06-08-2022, 01:13 PM
 
10,130 posts, read 19,792,628 times
Reputation: 5815
Quote:
Originally Posted by walker1962 View Post
define "Cosmopolitan"
Interesting to people on the coasts or the rest of the world. Which Texas, in general, is not.
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Old 06-08-2022, 03:12 PM
 
969 posts, read 517,336 times
Reputation: 2204
Quote:
Originally Posted by riaelise View Post

As a New Yorker, I like Houston. It is truly a big, cosmopolitan and international city, reminiscent of NYC.


But my heart truly lies in San Antonio.
As a former New Yorker (15 yrs Downtown Manhattanite) I echo your sentiment.

I need to discover the beauty in SATX, I didn’t pay much attention for the river walk or Alamo, but if you would kindly share the interesting parts of SATX? I find the Hill Country part very interesting, I’m fascinated by the olive ranches there.
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Old 06-08-2022, 03:43 PM
 
335 posts, read 286,661 times
Reputation: 477
Quote:
Originally Posted by riaelise View Post
The Austin suburbs have good, strong schools, along with weaker ones, just like any other place in Texas including Dallas and Houston.

On topic,

As a New Yorker, I like Houston. It is truly a big, cosmopolitan and international city, reminiscent of NYC.
The pay is higher and there are lots of professional opportunities in Houston.

But my heart truly lies in San Antonio.
I am using School Digger to find high school rankings.
Here is what I found

Round Rock High School 157/1861
Dripping Springs High School 246/1861
Leader High School 610/1861
Cedar Park High School 249/1861
Georgetown High School 836 /186
Pflugerville High School 911/1861


Houston and Dallas suburbs had many schools in top 5% and 10% but majority of the Austin suburbs I looked at did not have good ranking. Only Round Rock was in top 10%.

Perhaps you were looking at different rankings or different suburbs.
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