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Austin's downtown is no better than any other sunbelt downtown. Austin is hot as hell and humid beyond get up in the summer. The traffic in Austin is abysmal. Austin is not as liberal as people from Texas play it off to be...if San Diego was located in Texas then it would be labeled as a liberal heaven due to it's surroundings when in fact it's a fairly conservative city. No matter how hard it tries Austin is a southern city in it's heart. Go with Denver.
Austin's downtown is no better than any other sunbelt downtown. Austin is hot as hell and humid beyond get up in the summer. The traffic in Austin is abysmal. Austin is not as liberal as people from Texas play it off to be...if San Diego was located in Texas then it would be labeled as a liberal heaven due to it's surroundings when in fact it's a fairly conservative city. No matter how hard it tries Austin is a southern city in it's heart. Go with Denver.
Just because Austin may not be the go to doesn't mean the OP should default to Denver. Denver is full of people looking to leave because they didn't quite notice all the cons till they lived there a while.
Austin's downtown is no better than any other sunbelt downtown. Austin is hot as hell and humid beyond get up in the summer. The traffic in Austin is abysmal. Austin is not as liberal as people from Texas play it off to be...if San Diego was located in Texas then it would be labeled as a liberal heaven due to it's surroundings when in fact it's a fairly conservative city. No matter how hard it tries Austin is a southern city in it's heart. Go with Denver.
Okay as much as I like Dallas, Austin has a much better Downtown than most sunbelt cities. That's where most of the great nightlife, restaurants, and outdoor scenery is located. It pales in comparison to anywhere in the Northeast though, which is probably your frame of reference. Denver also has a nice Downtown, but beats Austin in urban neighborhoods surrounding Downtown. Austin neighborhoods are incredibly suburban IMO -- too many SFH, very residential, lack of sidewalks, etc. Austin isn't conservative and neither are most of the major Texas cities. They aren't West Coast liberal either, so your mileage may vary....
High cost of living while jobs pay less on average in Colorado than elsewhere, a shifting culture that has become very pretentious, lack of water, poor quality schools, significant traffic issues, and Denver is not in the mountains and access is harder than some thought due to having to actually work 60 hours a week to live here.
I had an interesting conversation with a consultant that was brought in by a local school district and city yesterday. He was brought in to help do research on why so many local Denver kids leave. According to their own studies the native kids that go to college and get an education leave the state, while the non college educated stay in Denver in borderline poverty, and educated young people move to the state but only stay for a handful of years. He said it was known as the Colorado paradox, and was something unique that is rarely seen. The question they are studying is why it is occurring and how to change it.
My answer was that you do not need a study to figure out why, it is not that hard. When you grow up in an area you know the truth, the good and the bad, and people who are able to get out at a young age do so. The people that move here seem to think it is a paradise until they have lived here a couple of years and realize that all that boarding and hiking they thought they would do is really time they spend working for lower wages than they get elsewhere. Denver is only paradise for a few that have higher income, been here long enough to have bought cheaply and have rental income, or trust funds, otherwise it is really only a great place to visit. I have met doctors, IT professionals, accountants, and many other professionals, as well as blue collar workers that tell me they could make much more elsewhere and want out of here as soon as they can do it, but feel trapped due to lack of funds to get out.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,427,125 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jwiley
High cost of living while jobs pay less on average in Colorado than elsewhere, a shifting culture that has become very pretentious, lack of water, poor quality schools, significant traffic issues, and Denver is not in the mountains and access is harder than some thought due to having to actually work 60 hours a week to live here.
I had an interesting conversation with a consultant that was brought in by a local school district and city yesterday. He was brought in to help do research on why so many local Denver kids leave. According to their own studies the native kids that go to college and get an education leave the state, while the non college educated stay in Denver in borderline poverty, and educated young people move to the state but only stay for a handful of years. He said it was known as the Colorado paradox, and was something unique that is rarely seen. The question they are studying is why it is occurring and how to change it.
My answer was that you do not need a study to figure out why, it is not that hard. When you grow up in an area you know the truth, the good and the bad, and people who are able to get out at a young age do so. The people that move here seem to think it is a paradise until they have lived here a couple of years and realize that all that boarding and hiking they thought they would do is really time they spend working for lower wages than they get elsewhere. Denver is only paradise for a few that have higher income, been here long enough to have bought cheaply and have rental income, or trust funds, otherwise it is really only a great place to visit. I have met doctors, IT professionals, accountants, and many other professionals, as well as blue collar workers that tell me they could make much more elsewhere and want out of here as soon as they can do it, but feel trapped due to lack of funds to get out.
You forgot the biggest con, spring and fall snowstorms. This year, Denver got a blizzard on May 1st ffs that ended up closing the roads for several hours!
You forgot the biggest con, spring and fall snowstorms. This year, Denver got a blizzard on May 1st ffs that ended up closing the roads for several hours!
That is only a con if you live somewhere without a winter, the snow was totally gone in 36 hours and helped make the scenery stay green a couple of months longer. Overall winters are pretty mild compared to most places in the country.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,427,125 times
Reputation: 9169
Quote:
Originally Posted by jwiley
That is only a con if you live somewhere without a winter, the snow was totally gone in 36 hours and helped make the scenery stay green a couple of months longer. Overall winters are pretty mild compared to most places in the country.
Well, I grew up someplace with too much winter (just like Denver, but with much more overcast), and hated it. I purposely moved to Phoenix to get away from snow cold and grey
I know Austin traffic is bad, but my buddies in Denver also say the traffic is getting horrendous there. With that said, the bus system is supposed to be decent
MAss transit is much better in Denver.. Much.. Denver to it's credit has most of the big city amenities that Austin is just now getting Austin just grew so blazingly fast. lol and still no sports teams. It really is a large college town trying to put on it's big boy pants. It's a fun place though. up until you are 45 or so.
All other things aside, if you prefer water to mountains/hiking you probably won't like Denver. Kayaking, rafting, and fishing dominate what little water we have available.
X2. I'd recommend removing it from your list. More water sports can be found more quickly with closer proximity in Phoenix than in Denver.
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