Moving family from Phoenix to Austin (Spring, Nash: 2013, HOA, violent crime)

[TonyMacaroni]

Looking to get away from the insane nonstop heat and get a nice change of scenery.

We have two kids, a 5 year old and a 6 month old. We like living here but the weather is miserable 6-7 months out of the year, and I'm tired of fighting off scorpions crawling around. The desert is no place for me. We like the town we're in now, but could use a change of people and living conditions. We live in one of those communities where the houses are nice, but there are no yards and every house is about 6-7 feet apart from each other, we need some space.

Basically, looking for that good old place where everyone is friendly, you can leave some bikes laying out outside and not worry about someone coming along and taking them, and you can leave your door unlocked and not have to worry about anything. It's very crowded here and there are some shady people that are sometimes lurking about, but all in all it's not too bad. So basically I am just wondering what towns in And around Austin would be a great fit for a family? We're pretty laid back and relaxed. Enjoy some fishing and movies and meeting new people. Any info at all would be great, thanks everyone!

[centralaustinite]

ummm . . . we also have quite hot weather! And Austin is more humid than Phoenix too. I can't see Austin summers as much improvement over Phoenix. We also have many MANY developments where houses are 10 feet apart, five feet on each side of the lot line.

What's your price point and do you have a job lined up in Austin?

For a bit cooler weather, have you considered Nashville or Chatanooga TN? Denver? Colorado Springs?

[Idlewile]

Uh, summers here are no improvement over Phoenix.

Our friends in Scottsdale constantly remind us they've got it easy over us -- "at least it's a dry heat." We took a weather vacation (away from here) to Scottsdale last August. Felt the same or cooler in AZ bc it's so dry in contrast to here.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

I can't see Austin summers as much improvement over Phoenix.

Phoenix average summer highs:

June - 104
July - 106
August - 105
September - 100

Austin average summer highs:

June - 92
July - 96
August - 97
September - 91

[Idlewile]

(And NONE of this accounts for HUMIDITY levels)

Curious HOW HOT 'summer' is in Austin? Spend some time looking at the numbers….

Summer 2011
KVUE had this link (which another user posted a wile back) that provided insane numbers. They've since re-vamped their site and the link is lost. Here's a more genreal snapshot http://www.weather.com/outlook/weath...ves_2011-07-15

Summer 2013

MAY 2013
Number of days temps 98+ =
Number of day temps 100+ =
Highest high during the month = 96 degrees


JUNE 2013 Weather History for Austin, TX | Weather Underground
Number of days temps 98+ = 13 days
Number of day temps 100+ = 5 days
Highest high during the month = 108 degrees

jULY 2013 Weather History for Austin, TX | Weather Underground
Number of days temps 98+ = 17 days
Number of day temps 100+ = 11 days
Highest high during the month = 105 degrees

AUGUST 2013 Weather History for Austin, TX | Weather Underground
Number of days temps 98+ = 25 days
Number of day temps 100+ = 20 days
Highest high during the month = 107

SEPTEMBER 2013 Weather History for Austin, TX | Weather Underground
Number of days temps 98+ = 9 days
Number of day temps 100+ = 6 days
Highest high during the month = 104

OCTOBER 2013 Weather History for Austin, TX | Weather Underground
Number of days temps 98+ = 0
Number of day temps 100+ = 0
Highest high during the month = 93
Mean temp: 85
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[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by TonyMacaroni

Looking to get away from the insane nonstop heat and get a nice change of scenery.

We have two kids, a 5 year old and a 6 month old. We like living here but the weather is miserable 6-7 months out of the year, and I'm tired of fighting off scorpions crawling around. The desert is no place for me. We like the town we're in now, but could use a change of people and living conditions. We live in one of those communities where the houses are nice, but there are no yards and every house is about 6-7 feet apart from each other, we need some space.

Basically, looking for that good old place where everyone is friendly, you can leave some bikes laying out outside and not worry about someone coming along and taking them, and you can leave your door unlocked and not have to worry about anything. It's very crowded here and there are some shady people that are sometimes lurking about, but all in all it's not too bad. So basically I am just wondering what towns in And around Austin would be a great fit for a family? We're pretty laid back and relaxed. Enjoy some fishing and movies and meeting new people. Any info at all would be great, thanks everyone!

That's probably not going to happen in Austin, or any of its surrounding areas.

Yes, Phoenix heat is insane, but even though the Austin area's temperatures don't generally reach those of Phoenix, you're trading an oven heat for a sauna heat, with Austin's high humidity. You won't gain much (if anything) on the comfort scale when you trade one for the other.

Some of those who live in Austin will tell you it's not humid, but coming from dry Phoenix, you WILL notice it.

[centralaustinite]

Actual temps in Phoenix are going to be hotter than Austin, no doubt about that. But if my main reason for leaving Phoenix was to escape the heat, would Austin be the obvious choice? I don't think so.

[hts]

Funny. We moved from Phoenix (Anthem) to Austin earlier this month with our kids. So far we love it!

I don't know if the weather for the first three weeks of June has been typically (or unseasonably cool), but so far this is *much* more comfortable for us than the Phx summer, and I'm one of the crazies that's pretty comfortable up until about 105 in Phoenix.

[Idlewile]

Originally Posted by hts

Funny. We moved from Phoenix (Anthem) to Austin earlier this month with our kids. So far we love it!

I don't know if the weather for the first three weeks of June has been typically (or unseasonably cool), but so far this is *much* more comfortable for us than the Phx summer, and I'm one of the crazies that's pretty comfortable up until about 105 in Phoenix.

Just you wait....

[G Grasshopper]

In addition, I would not recommend leaving bikes around and leaving doors unlocked in Austin. Although we don't have a high violent crime rate, there is a lot of property crime. We moved from northern CA. I would not call that a totally safe area, but there is much more property crime reported about here. We have lots of warnings from our HOA to lock up, park cars in garages rather than streets, don't leave garage doors open, etc.

I have never lived in AZ, but I have spent quite a bit of time in Tucson, and the weather there is similar to Austin, only drier, as many have said.

If you were to move out a distance from the center of Austin, you could get some space, but you don't mention where your job would be. Commute traffic is bad here.

I can understand your wanting a change from Phoenix, but I'm not sure Austin is your place.