Relocation to Austin (Houston, San Antonio, Round Rock: best neighborhoods, amusement parks, high crime)

[actutus]

My wife and I have lived most of our lives in Boston, and are planning to relocate to central Texas, but we are still undecided as to whether we should move to Austin or San Antonio. Are concerns are the intellectual and cultural life of the two cities, as well as traffic, public transportation, crime and schools as well as the best neighborhoods to raise a family in. We need all the info we can get, so we'd appreciate any views or info anyone out there would like to share. Thanks!

[holenone]

You would enjoy Austin way more than SA. I relocted here from the DC area.

[Austinitegirl]

I've lived in different parts of the country (DC, midwest, south, etc.) and Austin is one of my favorite places BY FAR. In comparison - San Antonio is like a dumpier, larger, poorer cousin to Ausin.

Austin is nicer, smaller (but big enough to have a lot of big city benefits), wealthier (but not significantly more expensive to live in), more liberal and has much more of a personality to it.

I think the problem with San Antonio is that it's such a huge tourist draw (with the Alamo, the amusement parks, etc.), but the city has done a poor job dealing with the population explosions, so it has all the problems of a big city with none of the benefits.

My husband and I were in San Antonio last weekend and it took us almost 2 hours to get OUT of the city because of the unbelieveable traffic congestion. Austin has it's traffic problems too (I'm a commuter - I should know), but nothing like San Antonio or Houston.

As far as where to live in Austin - that's really a matter of opinion. I personally live in Round Rock (a northern suburb of Austin) and I absolutely love it. It's clean, nice, family-friendly, minimal crime and convenient to lots of major employers and retailers (without looking over-commercialized). There are a lot of other nice suburbs - Pflugerville (Round Rock's less affluent neighbor - but still nice and family-friendly), Cedar Park (very nice and up-and-coming area) - Leander (a little far for me, but you can buy a lotta house out there for not much money and it's also up-and-coming) - Manor (rural suburb with a lot of growth) - Kyle and Buda (also very rural and a little far south for me, but some people really like it there).

If you want to live in Austin proper - expect to get raped on property costs. The nicer neighborhoods (Allandale, Hyde Park, Tarrytown, northwest Austin) have 60 year-old, 900 sq. ft. homes going for ~ $450,000. No joke. It's very fashionable to live in one of those old 1930's tract homes and remodel it - which is why so many people live in the suburbs. There are many more moderately priced neighborhoods in Austin - but expect to get what you pay for. In other words - if it costs you less than $200K - it will LOOK like it costs you less than $50K - or it will be in a crappy neighborhood or in a crappy school zone or in an area with high crime.

Thankfully - there really aren't any scary parts of Austin (the native Austinites would disagree with me, but I've lived in some big cities with scary parts that I wouldn't drive through in the day time - Austin doesn't have ANY areas like that). But the "less desirable" neighborhoods are generally going to be east of I35 (or close to I35) between William Cannon and Parmer Lane. Generally speaking - the farther north and west you go of the city's center - the better the neighborhoods (and the higher the prices).

I would steer clear of the downtown area (unless you're a millionaire) and I would avoid the Parmer Lane area east of MoPac (Loop 1) because of the traffic congestion.

I have some friends that live in South Austin and they are pretty convinced it's Nirvana - around the South Congress (which hip cool Austinites call "SoCo") area. I think there's some nice stuff in south Austin around Brodie Lane and I know there's a SWEET neighborhood called Circle C Ranch in southwest Austin which I'M pretty sure is Nirvana. And I know there are some new housing developments popping up near the old Mueller Airport site (near Airport and I35 - which would be my only exception to the rule about avoiding the I35 area south of Parmer Lane).

I've lived here for 8 years and I love it more every year. I hope that helps!!

[sequoias]

thanks austinitegirl for the detailed info about austin and the suburbs. we are thinking of recolating there from seattle metro area. we will go visit there sometime this year or next year before deciding.
I think round rock is a nice placè to recolate and work. we will see.