Paramedic w/kids moving to Travis/Williamson county (Houston, Austin: houses, neighborhood)

[darthbubbles]

Hey all! I'm a single mom paramedic from So. California looking for some info on the best places to raise kids in these counties. Thinking about Austin or Georgetown. Would like to stay away from gang issues in schools.... Any ideas/help is much appreciated. Thanks.

[kawgpz550]

I notice you haven't had any replies, therefore, in case you haven't already done so, check out the thread about the pros and cons of Texas. They have some info there about Williamson County. Good Luck on your move!

[darthbubbles]

Thanks for the help.

[AustinTraveler]

Go to the Austin forum...tons of information there for you!

[Spookmeister]

Either city would welcome you with open arms as they're always in need of highly skilled and qualified EMS personnel. Neither has much of a gang problem, although there are individual schools with known trouble makers. You'll probably do better in Georgetown due to it's growth and potential for career advancement and pay as well. Whichever you decide, you can't go wrong...

[Christi D]

Hi,
I posted some threads earlier in response to someone looking to move to the area. I've copied and pasted them. Maybe they'll help:

I live in Round Rock (Williamson Co.) and LOVE it!
I even commute an hour away because I love the area so much.
There is an elementary school in our neighborhood, so at about 3 every day there is a rush of kids on bikes and foot....it reminds me of my childhood.
It's also very safe. The biggest problem we've had is with teenagers and noise.
They just built an Ikea and an outlet mall here, which I think is spurring more development. It's definitely becoming more of a suburb (pop 88,000), although downtown Round Rock has a very small-town feel. IT is SO convenient though.....access to just about any restaurant or store within 5-10 minutes. It also has a minor-league baseball team, which contributes to a large sense of community.
We go to a church that we love also - it's very warm and feels like a small-town church...or even better. We've met so many great people.
(tip:When we were looking at houses we were told that we wanted to live on the west side of HWY 35, although there's not really a BAD part of Round Rock - there's good and better).

Georgetown is about 10 min. north of Round Rock, and feels more like a small town, but is not too far removed. I worked at a summer camp through the city's Parks and Rec program - they have some wonderful parks and trails (as does Round Rock), and lots of really nice people. There is a small private university (Southwestern) around downtown. It's very charming and has a population of quality students. It's at least as safe as, if not safer than Round Rock. Although it's expanding, the population seems to be primarily white upper middle class. If this is what you're looking for, it'll be great. If you're looking for more diversity, it's probably not the best place.
A size comparison: There are 4 high schools in Round Rock ISD and only 1 in Georgetown (with plans to build a 2nd).

The Austin area in general is a very nice place to live. It has a huge music scene, people from all over the U.S. (and world), lakes, parks, nice people, etc.
I grew up in the Houston area and moved away from Texas as soon as I could. When the option was given to move back to Texas I said I would not live anywhere but Austin area =).

Here are websites:
http://www.roundrocktexas.gov/
http://www.georgetown.org/

One more thing about Austin-

If you decide to move to the Austin area and are commuting into Austin to work, try to avoid living in the south of Austin - the traffic is NOT fun. They just opened some new toll roads in the north (and one that goes N-S just east of the city), which has made commuting into Austin from the north much better.