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I have fallen in love with 2 cities and need help deciding on where I should "plant my seed" so to speak. I know that San Diego and Austin are 2 completely different cities, and probably hard to compare, but lets try .
What I love about Austin:
- A smaller community
- Nice public schools
- The people - I made a lot of friends when I lived in Austin and keep in touch with all of them. People seem easier to meet/talk to/have long lasting friendships with.
- Price of living. My current apartment 2 bedroom/2 bath in SD is $1675. A comparable apartment in Austin would be half that price. In fact thats a mortgage payment in Austin on a nice house. Yes, you get paid more in SD than you would in Austin, but not enough to where it balances out.
- Liberal
- Lake Travis/Lake Austin - which is now Lady bird Lake???
What I hate about Austin:
- The heat. I see a lot of people write about how they get use to it, but its hard for me. I was born and raised in Houston and have ALWAYS hated the summers. Anything over 95 is to hot for me. But is it worth sticking out hot summers for a great city?
- The traffic. Yes the 5 and the 15 is no joke during rush hour here in SD, but compared to the 35 and 1 in Austin its a breeze.
- Pro sports?
What I love about SD:
- The Chargers (11-3) GO BOLTS
- The weather obviously. You can't beat the perfect weather of SD anywhere else in the US. However, I do miss the seasons from time to time. (not including the 100 degree summers TX offers).
- The beaches
- If you have someone visiting their is always something to do. Seaworld, the largest zoo in the US, Wild animal park, lego land, etc... okay I know that these are things you do on a regular basis, but they are still nice to have.
- Only 4.5 hours to VEGAS. A huge plus on my list. And only 2 hours to LA, which is cool I guess. I'm not a huge fan of LA.
- Price for school. I'm paying $26 a unit at Mesa Community College, where in Austin I think its well over 50? Depnding on where you live. Which still Isn't that bad.
What I hate about San Diego:
- Harder to meet people
- Cost of living
- Economy Isn't the greatest - I know thats everywhere, but I hear Austin is doing pretty good all things considering.
About me: I'm a 24 year old male liberal male. I love the outdoors/nature/hiking/camping etc. My family is located in Houston. If I could move Austin and the people in it to SoCal I would be in heaven. I don't plan on making tons of money with my career. I wanna be able to buy a new house for $275,000 but I don't want to give up the perfect weather here.
Well, a $275,000 house in Austin will still run you about $2100 or so per month for the mortgage/property taxes/homeowners insurance give or take a couple hundred depending on how much your down payment is. You do need to be making pretty good money to afford a $275K house in the Austin area due to the higher property taxes here. Renting here is a good deal in my opinion, although $1675 for a 2 bedroom 2 bath in San Diego doesn't sound too horrible depending on the location. A 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment in downtown Austin could run that.
If I was 24 and didn't plan on having kids anytime soon, then I'd stay in San Diego and enjoy it for another few years. If I was trying to get married and have kids sooner than later and wanted to buy a house in the suburbs with good schools, then I'd move to Austin. If you have family in Houston, then why rule out Houston? It has pro sports and a lot to do for a younger person.
I grew up in San Diego (Carlsbad) and lived there until I was about 30 and I love the Austin area now. However, I'm not sure I would have wanted to give up living my childhood into my 20's in San Diego.
hey. im 25 and in los angeles. i am probably going to relocate to austin too. the only drawback to me going to austin really is the weather because it seems to be either warm, hot, or with variable winters (what i read here). that being said though, i did pilot trips to different cities in the us and austin is still my #1 place to relocate to. i dont know if you grew up in socal, but i realized how i couldnt survive in really cold climates. i am miserable in weather where i have to be bundled up at all times. louisville,ky would have been my #1 choice however, the weather was a huge factor. trust me, you think austin is affordable to own a house? louisville even better.
have you been to austin the summer? if not, i would make sure to do that to see if you can make do with the weather. i made sure to come to town in may, august, and september and to me, the weather was doable coming from los angeles.
with school, i would finish up school in ca because texas is pretty expensive for schooling unless you are a resident. i looked into taking classes at acc for fun, and it way too expensive coming from out of state just to take 6 units. my advice would be to take a pilot trip in the summer, and finish school in ca OR take a pilot trip in the summer, establish residency in town for a year then go to school (unless the price of school isnt an issue for you).
coming from la, i go to san diego a few times a year (usually to la jolla or just on my way to tj). i like san diego, but i dont love san diego. i think san diego is prettier than austin (but very different geography-wise) and you really arent far from many cities. however with austin you are near san antonio (i actually really liked san antonio).
- The traffic. Yes the 5 and the 15 is no joke during rush hour here in SD, but compared to the 35 and 1 in Austin its a breeze.
Can you expand on this a little please? SD gets consistently poor marks for traffic, and I never see Austin on the list. The 5 and 15 are notoriously bad during rush hour and weekends. How can 35 and 1 be much worse??
BTW we are trying to make the same decision, but very different circumstances: I am married with two teenage kids. My wife and I want to move to Austin mainly for the properties and the schools, but we worry about what it would do to the kids, since they clearly want to stay in SD (Carlsbad/San Marcos area); it's the only home they know.
The 5 and 15 are notoriously bad during rush hour and weekends. How can 35 and 1 be much worse??
It's not worse. I-35 and Mopac (1) are only bad during rush hour and/or if there is an accident. There is nothing as bad as the 5 and 805 split that I've seen in the Austin area. We both know that 78, and 76 actually, are terrible and dangerous freeways. There can be a lot of traffic in the Austin area, but it's not worse than what you're already use to seeing. I rarely see any weekend traffic like I would always see in San Diego. Luckily, Austin is not a major tourist destination like San Diego is.
I don't know but I just pass through Austin last week and let me tell you, I was highly impressed. Now I see why so many people are moving there. I came straight down I35 and saw nothing but new developments on both sides of the highway. I liked how the interstate separated in downtown too.. Now I see why Austin is able to hold the title as the state capital... and what I really like was the fact that I did not see a rough side of town....
I-35 and Mopac (1) are only bad during rush hour and/or if there is an accident.
I35 is always spotty mostly in the downtown area where the freeway has fewer lanes. I35 is the main artery through town and the main artery for commercial traffic going from Mexico to the heartland of the US. Mopac (Loop 1) is only bad during rush hours.
To the OP, Lake Austin is not Lady Bird Lake. Town Lake is now Lady Bird Lake. Lady Bird Lake and Lake Austin are separated by the Tom Miller Dam. And even though the Austin Metro area is about half the size of the San Diego Metro area, there are still 1.6 million people in the Austin Metro area. I would not consider that small. As for the heat, I lived in Houston for 5 years and the heat in Austin is nothing like the heat in Houston. Houston is so much more humid than Austin. That is one of the main reasons I left Houston to come back to Austin. This past summer was an anomaly in Austin. I think they said that it was the hottest summer on record. A couple of years ago (or maybe it was last year) we only broke 100 3 times.
I35 is always spotty mostly in the downtown area where the freeway has fewer lanes. I35 is the main artery through town and the main artery for commercial traffic going from Mexico to the heartland of the US. Mopac (Loop 1) is only bad during rush hours.
I can somewhat agree with that. I do think it's rare to hit traffic on I35 at 10:00am on a Sunday morning, where I5 in San Diego could have extremely heavy traffic on a Sunday morning. This is especially true during the summer when the normal attractions such as Sea World, Legoland, and the Zoo along with the Del Mar Fair or Racetrack are going. I'm not saying that Austin traffic is great. At times it can be bad, but bad is a relative term. It's not that bad when you compare it to traffic in any of the major cities in California.
As long as we're comparing cities ... someone mentioned the Del Mar (now the SD County) Fair.
Is there a fair that can compare with this one in Austin? I know there's a big one annually in Dallas (do Austin residents go to this?), but would like more info about what's closer in.
And as long as I'm going ...
- SD has lots of amusement parks nearby. Where do Austin residents go for this type of fun? Is Schlitterbahn all that, and is it very crowded? How about the Six Flags around there?
- SD has a great local zoo, and another (Wild Animal Park) in North County. Where do Central Texans go for zoos and are they fun?
- Another concern for us is alcohol & drug use among teens. For those who may have experience in both places, how do they compare? I know that drinking occurs among teens wherever you go, so just looking for any differences. I've heard that Austin kids have "less to do" so they turn to other ways to have fun like this ... any truth in fact? Out here (SD), drugs among teens seem to go with affluence.
As long as we're comparing cities ... someone mentioned the Del Mar (now the SD County) Fair.
Is there a fair that can compare with this one in Austin? I know there's a big one annually in Dallas (do Austin residents go to this?), but would like more info about what's closer in.
The State Fair in Dallas is about it. The UT vs OU football game is held during the fair so yes, alot of Austinites/students go to the fair. I have never driven to Dallas just to go to the fair though.
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- SD has lots of amusement parks nearby. Where do Austin residents go for this type of fun? Is Schlitterbahn all that, and is it very crowded? How about the Six Flags around there?
Schlitterbahn is pretty awesome. There is a reason it is always ranked as one of the best water parks. The water comes directly from the Comal River that runs right next to the water park. It is split into two sections and you can easily spend 2 days enjoying the park. Besides that, the closest amusement parks are in San Antonio. There is Six Flags and Sea World in San Antonio. From South Austin, it is about a 2 hour drive to Six Flags.
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- SD has a great local zoo, and another (Wild Animal Park) in North County. Where do Central Texans go for zoos and are they fun?
The San Diego zoo is legendary. There is nothing in Texas that compares. There is a small zoo in Austin that consists of mainly rescued animals. It has grown in recent years and is a nice little excursion. The largest zoos are in San Antonio and Houston.
Quote:
- Another concern for us is alcohol & drug use among teens. For those who may have experience in both places, how do they compare? I know that drinking occurs among teens wherever you go, so just looking for any differences. I've heard that Austin kids have "less to do" so they turn to other ways to have fun like this ... any truth in fact? Out here (SD), drugs among teens seem to go with affluence.
My oldest is 10 so I have not gotten to that point yet. But I'm guessing that teens are pretty much the same everywhere and will find legal and not so legal ways to entertain themselves. I'm so looking forward to the teen years, not.
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