Where do Austinites fed up with Austin move? (Houston, Dallas: real estate, 2014)

[tom331]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

But wouldn't San Diego and Seattle be a lot higher COL than Austin?

Other than house, COL in San Diego and Seattle is not that much higher than Austin. The saving from paying less property tax is more than enough to offset the higher cost of living. Plus, the nice weather is a huge bonus. There is no state income tax in Washington state either. The property tax is about 1.1% in Seattle area.

[CptnRn]

//www.city-data.com/forum/seatt...t-seattle.html

I visited Seattle for a week one summer and thought it was an amazingly beautiful city. The sun shone almost every day all day while I was there. Unfortunatly, I was told by the locals that rarely happens.

The biggest thing that I do not like about Seattle is that the sun rarely shines:



I know Austin COL has gone up, but it probably is still not anywhere close to San Diego.

Mar. 2012 cost of living index in San Diego: 131.3
Mar. 2012 cost of living index in Seattle: 116.6
Mar. 2012 cost of living index in Austin: 95.8
Mar. 2012 cost of living index in St. Petersburg: 94.1

The cost of living calculator on those City-Data web pages says that if you had an income of $50,000 in Austin, you would need $61,744 to match it in Seattle.

You would need $69,317 in San Diego or $50,419 in St. Pete.

[ctr88]

Originally Posted by tom331

Other than house, COL in San Diego and Seattle is not that much higher than Austin. The saving from paying less property tax is more than enough to offset the higher cost of living. Plus, the nice weather is a huge bonus. There is no state income tax in Washington state either. The property tax is about 1.1% in Seattle area.

That is what is so crazy about Austin house prices & rents right now. You are in the middle of TX with no views or coast, but you have the same or higher housing costs than most of the West Coast (the Bay Area is still much higher though). I think once you add in the property tax, Austin is pretty much on par housing cost wise with San Diego and Seattle. That is insane! Seattle you have no state income tax and property taxes are HALF what they are in Austin. Rents in Austin are pretty much on par with Seattle & SD too.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

I know two long term Austin residents (40+ years) who have moved to New Mexico. I know others who have gone out to Smithville and Lockhart. I'm tempted by New Braunfels, maybe someday, when I am old and gray. I know several native Austinites about my age who moved out to Dripping Springs 15-20 years ago because Austin was "too crowded" now they are unhappy in Dripping with all the development and are thinking about San Saba. When in West Texas, you meet former Austinites everywhere! In Marfa, Marathon, Alpine, Ft. Davis.

Interesting post (for me). I've always loved NM (especially northern NM...now that's what I think of when I think "vibe"...it's almost spiritual), but family (& mrs. hound) would prevent this move. I'll be retiring in 7-12 years and all of the cities that centralaustinite mentions are on my list....some on my short list. Got to stay in Texas because of family, but want to get property taxes manageable. (Say 2% on 150K instead of 2.6% on 380K)

Lockhart & NB are too close to Austin & SA (out of the frying pan & into the fire regarding future sprawl & crowds) & Smithville isn't a county seat. I'm not wealthy, so I won't be joining the wealthy retirees in Fburg & Marble Falls (or Kerrville). I like these towns, but it's not a fit for me. Since I want a county seat with a cool courthouse & I want to be far enough from a city that there's no chance of being a suburb, I want to be 80 miles + away.

Been looking at San Saba, Goldthwaite, Hamilton, Lampasas (NW) & La Grange, Gonzales, Halletsville & Goliad (SW). Burnet has an ugly downtown/courthouse, as does Giddings, so there out. Seguin, Bastrop & Lockhart are "too" close (to urban areas). Cuero & Floresville seemed Eaglefornicated. Columbus & Brenham seemed too close to Houston.

I'm definitely narrowing in on San Saba & Gonzales (but love the look and the idea of Goliad). I wish Ft. Davis was closer. Also need to take another look at Mason. I read not good things about Cameron & Caldwell, but I do like their location.

If I wanted smaller but still urban, I'd either go with Waco (definitely on the rise) or Corpus. (it's pokey, but I love the beach, the cheap seafood & also the old style tex/mex vibe. & I'm approaching the age where I enjoy pokey.).

But it won't be Austin....& I'll come visit you guys in St. Pete.

[ctr88]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

//www.city-data.com/forum/seatt...t-seattle.html

I visited Seattle for a week one summer and thought it was an amazingly beautiful city. The sun shone almost every day all day while I was there. Unfortunatly, I was told by the locals that rarely happens.

The biggest thing that I do not like about Seattle is that the sun rarely shines:



I know Austin COL has gone up, but it probably is still not anywhere close to San Diego.

Mar. 2012 cost of living index in San Diego: 131.3
Mar. 2012 cost of living index in Seattle: 116.6
Mar. 2012 cost of living index in Austin: 95.8
Mar. 2012 cost of living index in St. Petersburg: 94.1

The cost of living calculator on those City-Data web pages says that if you had an income of $50,000 in Austin, you would need $61,744 to match it in Seattle.

You would need $69,317 in San Diego or $50,419 in St. Pete.

I'm not sure I agree with you on San Diego and housing costs vs. Austin. I lived there for 7 years and rented and owned and still own property there, and moved to Seattle in 2013. I think if you look at the Austin older core areas, it is on par with rents and housing prices in San Diego. And you have a 1% property tax in SD vs. 2.2% in Austin. San Diego has expensive areas like La Jolla, Del Mar that have multi-million dollar houses, but that is not most of San Diego. But in CA you do have a high state income tax which makes CA more expensive. But housing costs are pretty much on par for the most part in Austin vs. SD. Austin you might be able to go far out to the burbs and get cheaper housing than you could far away from SD.

I also don't agree with Seattle being more expensive. That is the trouble with those calculators, they are often not very accurate.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by ctr88

That is what is so crazy about Austin house prices & rents right now. You are in the middle of TX with no views or coast, but you have the same or higher housing costs than most of the West Coast (the Bay Area is still much higher though). I think once you add in the property tax, Austin is pretty much on par housing cost wise with San Diego and Seattle. That is insane! Seattle you have no state income tax and property taxes are HALF what they are in Austin. Rents in Austin are pretty much on par with Seattle & SD too.

That's why people are fed up & contemplating moving. (see the thread title). That and all the wonderful progress being shoved down our throats.

I'd be bailing Seattle & greater SF/Oakland too (for 6 different reasons). But If I had a paid off home in SD or OC, I'd probably stay put.

[Aquitaine]

I'm not sure I agree with you on San Diego and housing costs vs. Austin.

It isn't him you're disagreeing with; it's the statistics. They're not his opinion.

Let's grant that things have changed since March 2012 (how often does city-data update its COL index?).

I had a lot of family in SoCal and I'm there now on business. The only way San Diego COL comes out ahead of Austin's is if you compare the cheaper areas of San Diego to Austin's central core. Any apples-to-apples comparison, even taking into account property taxes and salary differences, will still favor Austin - unless your particular industry has a wider-than-average gap between what it pays in CA and what it pays in Austin. This does happen, too, but it is the exception to the rule.

Sure the 1% property tax in San Diego beats Austin's typical 2.3-2.5% - but the state tax burden is tremendous, while Texas' is practically non-existent (as property taxes are county and school district taxes, not state).

[Danbo1957]

Bought my house in Santa Fe a while back... six months to go and it's adios muchachos.

[Shredding_Gnar78]

i already touched on this years ago

//www.city-data.com/forum/austi...ve-if-you.html

[ctr88]

Originally Posted by Aquitaine

It isn't him you're disagreeing with; it's the statistics. They're not his opinion.

Let's grant that things have changed since March 2012 (how often does city-data update its COL index?).

I had a lot of family in SoCal and I'm there now on business. The only way San Diego COL comes out ahead of Austin's is if you compare the cheaper areas of San Diego to Austin's central core. Any apples-to-apples comparison, even taking into account property taxes and salary differences, will still favor Austin - unless your particular industry has a wider-than-average gap between what it pays in CA and what it pays in Austin. This does happen, too, but it is the exception to the rule.

Sure the 1% property tax in San Diego beats Austin's typical 2.3-2.5% - but the state tax burden is tremendous, while Texas' is practically non-existent (as property taxes are county and school district taxes, not state).

I lived in SD for 7 years and owned and rented there. I agree with you on the CA state income tax making Austin more affordable than SD (the CA state income tax is one of many reasons I moved out of that state). I do not agree with you on housing costs. The Austin core is more expensive than the cheap areas of San Diego in both rents and buying a house. And the Austin core is on par with a lot of areas like downtown SD, North Park, Hillcrest, inland North County SD, Clairemont. The only part of SD that is more expensive than the Austin core are the more expensive coastal areas of SD like La Jolla, Del Mar, Encinitas, etc...

Also Austin has much worse traffic than SD. SD surprisingly does not have bad traffic. Seattle's traffic is horrible probably worse than Austin, but not by much. This is off the topic of cost of living but traffic has a "mental cost" and quality of life cost to it.

WA State on the other hand does not have an income tax and has a 1.1% property tax so it is very much in par with Austin in terms of overall cost of living.

I have always thought cost of living calculators are a complete waste of time for me. There are too many variables that are different for everyone when looking at the total cost of living anywhere.