Small towns outside of Austin? Commuting? (New Braunfels, Spring: movie theater, schools, living)

[talulah22]

I've recently received a job offer in Austin (yay!). Due to the nature of my work and the details of this position, I only work 3 days a week, one of them being a weekend day. I'm not a big 'big city' girl and so I'm very interested in hearing about small towns outside of Austin that would be decent commuting options for me. 'Decent commuting options' for me means about an hour or so outside of town. Like I said, I'm only going into Austin 3 days a week and I've made much longer commutes before in my life...

I'm not really interested in suburbs either, I'd much prefer a small town with it's on sense of community. Population wise I'd like to keep it around 15,000 or smaller. I have a young one who's starting school next year, and I'd like/need it to be very safe, have some fun options for little ones (we don't need anything too crazy or excitable, she and I have fun doing the stupidest things) but we do love street fairs and town activities. We're coming from another small town that's very close knit and we'd like to find something similar if we can. Schools are important as well (obviously), but I believe that the ranking/standing of a school is only one part of the overall success of a student, my own student included, so as long as the school is decent, I'll take it.

Anyway, I'll take any advice you guys have! Thanks, thanks!

[TexasHorseLady]

Georgetown, Taylor, Liberty Hill, Dripping Springs, Leander, possibly Jarrell or Bartlett if you're looking for very small.

[shankaupas]

I was also going to suggest Georgetown. You might also consider New Braunfels, Kyle, Buda, Lago Vista, Marble Falls. Salado is another nice little town but that may be a bit far north.

[neddy]

Jonestown,Bertram maybe even Burnet or Marble Falls

[TexasHorseLady]

Salado is a good idea! It's about 10 minutes north of Jarrell, which is 40-45 minutes north of North Austin, so it wouldn't be out of the question, just at the edge of the commute.

Bertram is another possibility. Not sure if Johnson City is more than an hour out from South Austin.

talulah22, in what general part of Austin would you be working?

[HappyTexan]

If the OP is looking for a town of 15K or less that would put Georgetown out of the picture..aren't they at or near 50K now ?

Taylor, (12K), Thrall (900), Thorndale (1K), Coupland (1K), Elgin (10K)
All are north and east of Austin.

[TexasHorseLady]

You're right, I missed that part (15,000 or less).

So Georgetown is out on that count, but the others mentioned are still possibilities.

[talulah22]

Wow, thanks for the amazingly fast responses! I hadn't previously heard of most of these towns, so thank you again for turning me onto some options.

Um, is it terrible that I'm not entirely sure where in Austin I'll be working? Wherever Austin State Hospital is located and I'm not entirely sure where exactly in Austin that is...sorry, I've never been to the city itself and I'm afraid my geography skills are lacking.

I do have a couple of real quick questions about some of these towns though; where my daughter and I previously lived there were only about 10,000 people and yet we had a small, but eclectic mix of eateries, shops and community activities, do any of these towns (in your opinions) match that description? I completely understand that Texas and these towns are not my old hometown and I am not looking to find it exactly in Texas, but I am looking to find something close enough to it just because I loved living there so much.

Thank you again and I will start my list of towns to visit when I head down to Texas in March, thanks!

[TexasHorseLady]

Okay, that's central Austin (on Guadalupe 41 blocks north of Lady Bird Lake).

To answer your question, Salado meets that description. Marble Falls does, Taylor's a bit more country but it does have a selection of restaurants if you know where to look and it's growing. Hutto is closer in to Austin, but it's a possibility and it also has more than one would think from a surface glance. Dripping Springs (south of Austin) might fit the bill, as well. Liberty Hill is small, but growing, and shopping isn't very far away (just down 183 towards Austin).

If anything else pops up that I've forgotten, I'll post it here.

[HappyTexan]

When I read "eateries, shops, community activities" Salado and Taylor both popped into my head.
Taylor even still has an old movie theater the Howard Theater that has been renovated and has had the life come back into it.

Howard Theatre