Which Has Best Quality of Life? (San Antonio, Austin: low crime, house, university)

[vantexan]

Hoping to get some good ideas here. The company I work for has a number of offices in Texas and after we spend 18 months in one we can bid on openings elsewhere as they occur. So far I've worked in Amarillo, Lubbock, Eagle Pass, and McAllen. I'm avoiding the biggest cities as it's a driving job. So here are the places I'm considering: San Angelo, Del Rio, Abilene, Nacogdoches, Longview, Victoria, Tyler, Texarkana, Sherman, Waco, College Station, Temple, Beaumont. I drove thru San Angelo several months ago, most of the rest I haven't seen in 10 years and some I've never seen. I'd like your opinion of the 2 best places for quality of life and the one place you'd avoid out of that list. Trying to get a consensus so I can concentrate on a couple of areas. I'm leaning towards one but don't want to influence responses. I'm 46, would like to stay in one place until I retire, and when not working just want to relax in a nice, friendly environment, catch a movie, get a bite to eat, deal with as few hassles as possible. Hope you can help me!

[love roses]

I don't really know one I'd stay away from. I guess if I have to pick I'd say Beaumont. The ones I'd pick for quality of life would be Tyler, Waco, College Station. Don't know enough about San Angelo, Del Rio, or Abilene. Nacodoches, Longview and Victoria, Sherman and Texarkana I've not heard anything bad about. I had an aunt who lived in Victoria, but I never visited enough to form much of an opinion. Seemed like a nice enough place though.

[NOTAM]

Temple-very nice mid sized town...safe, quiet, near Lake Belton and Stillhouse Dam/Lake. also benefits from being near Ft Hood so you have multi-cultural dining-three Hawaiian restaurants, a handful of Thai, Vietnamese, Caribbean, etc in Killeen.
and lots of activities, even civilians can enjoy on post-the sporting clays, rifle/gun club/shooting range, golf course.
very affordable housing and land. centrally located-you can be in DFW or San Antonio in just under 2 hours, or Austin in less than 1 hour....cant beat the central location making everything accessible. if you want to fly, you have several great options-DFW or San Antonio for Austin or "value" airlines or major airlines, or catch a hop from a very nice quiet airport in Killeen. sportsmans paradise for fishing/hunting all around the area. small town Texas at its best. convenient to make Hill Country day trips
i love this area. one of my good friends/coworkers owns a house and ranch in Temple-absolutely gorgeous.

[JamesAbilene]

I, of course, rank Abilene as one of the best. Most of the others are good places except for Del Rio and Beaumont, which I place at the bottom of the list.

Here are my top picks:

San Angelo, Abilene, Nacogdoches, Tyler, Sherman, College Station, Temple

These are my secondary picks:

Longview, Waco, Victoria

And these are the places I would remove from the list:

Del Rio and Beaumont

[case44]

Two to strongly consider, vantexan. Here they are: Tyler and ---- this one may surprise you --- Sherman. They both are good places and they aren't far from the big city, but far enough away from the hassles. You'll have the best of both worlds. Tyler is larger, but Sherman is smaller and near the humongous Lake Texoma.

[southeasttexas]

Nacogdoches, Waco at the top.

Del Rio, Beaumont, bottom.

[NOTAM]

Yep i agree with several here about Del Rio and Beaumont being on bottom, last choices for sure.
I still vote for Temple. Second choice toss between Abilene, College Station and Waco

[ripley]

I was born in San Angelo, am very familar with Longview and Tyler, had a child at Baylor in Waco, another child at A&M in College Station, have a family friend at Abilene Christian University, and have visited Nacogdoches & Texarkana several times.

Many good options on the list, but I would suggest areas on the outskirts of Longview or Tyler (such as Hallsville, Harleton, New Diana, Union Grove, Gladewater, Lindale, Mineola, Big Sandy, Overton) as a potential fit.

Minutes from town, but far enough removed to slow down the pace and relax.

[Rathagos]

I can only recommend San Angelo, because aside from Abilene, it's the only other city on the list I've visited. I currently live in San Angelo and chose this one to move/work in after 21 years in the Navy. I like the small town feel (the only thing that I think distinguishes it from Abilene), the friendliness, the cost of living, and low crime.

I'm not sure what you like to do... but I imagine most of those cities on your list are actually very similar.

Can't go wrong with San Angelo. If you want a step up (in city size and feel), I would say Abilene next.

[Cowboybootnut]

My vote would be for any of the cities you listed, except Del Rio, Victoria, Beaumont and Texarkana.

Del Rio - To close to the border.

Victoria - I don't like being near the coast.

Beaumont - Too close to a lot of refineries and the coast.

Texarkana - Located in two states, that must be confusing!

My personal favorites;

Abilene - I like the western culture, it has a lot of it.

San Angelo - See Abilene

Tyler - If I had to live in the Piney Woods, it would be here. I lived there for 6 months, it has a lot of things going for it.