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Austin TX is the last place I lived before Chicago. I love it, and still visit at least once a year. It's a beautiful, weird, crazy, congested city. Plenty of parks and green space, but also plenty of people and insane traffic. They've got a vibe like no other place I've lived, and an amazing assortment of independent businesses. No state income tax in TX, of course, so the cost of living is a bit less, but home prices are only slightly less than Chicgao.
It's true what Texas tourism claims, "It's like a whole other country." If you live in TX, you either love it with a passion or hate it fiercely. Austin is kind of it's own little pocket of different from the whole state, a "blue" town in a very "red" state. You must be prepared for a much different way of thinking when you leave the Austin enclave, at least in many other areas of the state.
I must admit, I love Chicago almost as much, it's my adopted hometown, it's more diverse than Austin, and of course much bigger, so you have more culturally in the classical areas of museums, libraries, etc. Having lived in both, I can honestly say I would happily live in either. And there's a lot of back-and-forth between Illinois and Austin, so you'll run into plenty of Chicago ex-pats in Central Texas.
If you have any other specific questions, I'd be happy to help.
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move to Austin
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