Austin or Houston? (San Antonio, Pearland, Spring: closing, quality of life, place to live)

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by Gorfml

Lets not play around here...Houston is terrible...

Hit and run comments with no substance.

[love roses]

Houston's 6th street: Washington ave., Rice Village, Richmond, etc...

Innovative cuisine? Turn around and throw a stone, you'll hit something every time.

Although not F1 tracks, a Google search yeilded about 7 results.

No Barton Springs, but there are lakes and the ocean.

Cool people can be anywhere. When you grow up, you'll learn that.

[alwaysmiling]

Hopefully my last statement on the subject: If you like Houston, go live there. If the culture in Houston is good for your personality, then you should move there. The OP sounds like she might actually be a Houston person. Great! There is simply something intangible that Austin has. I guess it's hard to explain. It's hard to distinguish why this place is what it is. When someone posts Austin vs Houston, I want them to know my opinion. If you think Houston is great, then I'm glad you are happy living there, or Hutto for that matter. Perhaps I like Austin because being young is fun. I love "growing up" here, and you couldn't pay me to live in Houston. period. Your not wrong for liking Houston. I think that most people in Austin when you ask them about Houston get grossed out because we moved here for the landscape, the music, the liberal mentality, the "vibe," the lack of I-10, the reduced humidity and everything else that we love about Austin and we are proud of it. The only data that I can present is my passion for this city. When I am in Houston, all I want to do is get back to Austin. These are things that people should know when trying to choose one city over the next... Life is about quality not quantity. You may have more in Houston, a bigger house, a bigger car, etc, but Austin is just better IMO. Blues on the green was great the other night!! Went sailing on Lake Travis on Sunday and was on a party barge on Saturday, and I'm headed back to Zilker Park now for swimming, disc golf, and theatre in the park. Life is good in Austin. Y'all can have Houston.. Have a good weekend everyone!!

[Gorfml]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

Hit and run comments with no substance.

I lived in houston for 20 years...I hit the nail squarely on the head...

[innirski]

I just moved here to Houston a few weeks ago. My fiancee and I were considering Austin and Houston, and decided on Houston after we received far more interest for immediate interviews. As in, we both applied for ten jobs. 75% of the jobs from Houston contacted us back, with 50% of them wanting to interview us. We both received one call back / email back from places in Austin.

That's why we're in Houston right now.

That said, Austin seems a whole lot more attractive to us, being younger, and more liberal. To be honest, we were scared off by some of the reddit.com/r/Austin people, telling us about how difficult it is to find a nice place that's affordable while you wait months to get a decent job. In Houston, it took us both one week to find gainful employment.

But that said, driving around the city, looking at what it has to offer, and absolutely hating the traffic problems, we can see ourselves not settling down here for too long. Maybe a year, to show some consistency in terms of employment opportunities in the future.

[AK123]

OP, it's hard to say. Have you two applied to jobs, then just wait to see what happens? I'd assume there's more opportunity in Houston for those industries, but can't say for sure.

Do you have friends/family in either?

I've lived in both. I prefer Houston, but that's me. You'll find lots of people who lived in Houston decades back when it was much different (not as nice as it is now) and so say general nasty comments about it, as seen in this thread and others. I found Austin's "big city amenities" (museums, arts/culture, etc.) horribly lacking. The restaurants in general were pretty bad when I lived there too, but have improved much in the last few years. The traffic was better when I lived there... now it's much, much worse, or at least seems that way. The drought... horrible. The Lake is so low now. Generally, I find Austin overrated, once I was over the age of about 25... but like I said, that's just me. Those into frequent hiking, and boating & drinking on the lake will feel differently. You will also have to learn to disregard the Austitude from some when asking for comparisons between Austin and other cities in Texas. They can sometimes be misleading. I'd say, visit and become familiar with both. And go into the cities, not just suburbs for observation, to get a real feel.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by innirski

That said, Austin seems a whole lot more attractive to us, being younger, and more liberal. To be honest, we were scared off by some of the reddit.com/r/Austin people, telling us about how difficult it is to find a nice place that's affordable while you wait months to get a decent job. In Houston, it took us both one week to find gainful employment.

But that said, driving around the city, looking at what it has to offer, and absolutely hating the traffic problems, we can see ourselves not settling down here for too long. Maybe a year, to show some consistency in terms of employment opportunities in the future.

You should be living in the central areas... the Heights, Montrose, West U, Midtown, etc. It would be more to your liking.
Houston's and Austin's suburbs are similar... older population, more conservative. Austin's traffic isn't much better. By some measures, it's worse. The positive? The city is less spread out.

[Trae713]

Originally Posted by alwaysmiling

It IS something to be proud of. I'm a spurs fan, and a Cowboys fan. Houston's pro teams suck. That's why they moved to Tennessee. If I want museums, I go to NYC, not HTown. I was an Astros fan, but they are horrible, now baseball sucks in general. Houston has nothing to offer me. I live in central Austin within a stones throw from downtown, in one of the most lively and happening cities in the WORLD. We have more things I'm interested in going on in a weekend than Houston has in a whole month. You're obviously older and not in the same boat. I have properties that have appreciated 25% in the past 2 yrs. Our museum district is just down the street if I want to to the Blanton or Bob Bullock or I used to frequent AMOA downtown as well. Where is your 6th street? Where is your innovative cuisine. Where is your racetrack? Where is your Barton Springs? Where are your cool people? They are in Austin.... I enjoy FPSF, but you probably don't know what that is... NASA is cool though. Best field trip I ever had....

Wow, you're clueless. No surprises though.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by alwaysmiling

Houston is where people go that can't hack it in Austin... UT grad. proud of it. 8 yrs ago... MY ADVICE, don't mislead people into thinking Houston is a better place than Austin. They will be sorely disappointed when they find out for themselves.... Gotta love the beautiful hills surrounding Houston!!! What a dreamy place to live..

This has got to be a huge joke. I love Austin and appreciate the beautiful landscape and the gorgeous planned out city but if some of you guys think that Austin somehow beats Houston in cultural amenities, opportunities and city living....then you guys are extremely delusional.

I was always under the impression that those who move to Austin or stayed in Austin were to chicken to make it in real cities like Houston or Dallas. I mean the one thing that keeps me from moving to Austin is this insular, annoyingly quirky ("keep it weird" LOL), and forever slacker attitude about the residents.

You guys need to get this through your heads; Austin is like Portland, San Diego, New Orleans or a San Jose at it's best. Houston is akin to the major league; NYC, LA, Chicago, Miami. It's HUGE. How does your UT educated mind fail to comprehend that? All that time spent on intellectually stimulating your Pixies listening, Richard Linklater/Wes Anderson worshipping, dumpster diving, techie wannabe brains and not once did you guys realize that you were making fun of an actual city.

I plan on moving back to Texas with Austin in mind but not because I think it's the coolest city on Earth but because the thought of living around natural beauty and a nicely planned city grew on me. It is not because I somehow came to realize how much of a powerhouse city Austin is and how it trumps a real major player in the urban game.

I apologize for the huge rant but everytime I hear about how Austin is more of a city than Houston I want to knock some sense into people. With the exception of tech, I really cannot see how someone can say that Austin is more of a power player than Houston. The only people that say that are the young, naive and stoned.

[philopower]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

This has got to be a huge joke. I love Austin and appreciate the beautiful landscape and the gorgeous planned out city but if some of you guys think that Austin somehow beats Houston in cultural amenities, opportunities and city living....then you guys are extremely delusional.

I was always under the impression that those who move to Austin or stayed in Austin were to chicken to make it in real cities like Houston or Dallas. I mean the one thing that keeps me from moving to Austin is this insular, annoyingly quirky ("keep it weird" LOL), and forever slacker attitude about the residents.

You guys need to get this through your heads; Austin is like Portland, San Diego, New Orleans or a San Jose at it's best. Houston is akin to the major league; NYC, LA, Chicago, Miami. It's HUGE. How does your UT educated mind fail to comprehend that? All that time spent on intellectually stimulating your Pixies listening, Richard Linklater/Wes Anderson worshipping, dumpster diving, techie wannabe brains and not once did you guys realize that you were making fun of an actual city.

I plan on moving back to Texas with Austin in mind but not because I think it's the coolest city on Earth but because the thought of living around natural beauty and a nicely planned city grew on me. It is not because I somehow came to realize how much of a powerhouse city Austin is and how it trumps a real major player in the urban game.

I apologize for the huge rant but everytime I hear about how Austin is more of a city than Houston I want to knock some sense into people. With the exception of tech, I really cannot see how someone can say that Austin is more of a power player than Houston. The only people that say that are the young, naive and stoned.

This. I live in Austin for school and it's a good lifestyle but I don't see myself here past college. Houston is more of a city than Austin will ever be. It just offers much more. Food, diversity, jobs, etc. Austin is pretty and the hills are gorgeous but what made this city interesting is dying.