Austin, TX vs. San Antonio, TX vs. Raleigh, NC

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by march2

Raleigh
San Antonio
Austin

Can you elaborate how San Antonio outranks Austin in terms of good schools and non HOA's especially when considering most of Austin proper has no HOA's?

[Taynxtlvl]

Originally Posted by MrJones17

Which city ranks best in terms of:

- Abundance/available selection of public school (K-12) systems that are decently rated.
- Ease of finding a house that has a pool and no HOA.
- Most laid back traffic culture.

So. I'm from Raleigh, now live in Austin and have been to San Antonio many times.

1. Raleigh hands down has some of the best public schools anywhere in the South. Like virtually no one does private schools there. There is no need. This is what put them on the map back in 1994 when it first started to boom. Texas cities tend to have a lot of private schools I've noticed, not sure why that is. That being said Austin schools arent terrible and San Antonio depends on where you are in the city.

2. Austin or San Antonio. Because of the long long summers (May to October) essentially every 4th or 5th house in Texas has a pool. I feel like HOA's depend on the age of the house the newer the house is the more likely there is to be an HOA and this crosses all three cities and their suburbs.

3. Raleigh will win for the niceness of people on the Roads. But San Antonio has the best infrastructure of highways by far. Raleigh would be second. Austin due to poor planning back in the 50's through 80's is one of only a handful of cities with no outer loops. It was and is dumb, very dumb and we are paying for it dearly. Hopefully they pass the referendum this fall to expand the light rail which is very sleek but currently much to limited. Simply adding more train cars to the current set up would actually help things some at the very least.

San Antonio has three loops and numerous highspeed highways. Raleigh nearly has their second loop complete and highways are good east/west. Slightly less so North/South.

Hope this helps

[rnc2mbfl]

Originally Posted by Taynxtlvl

So. I'm from Raleigh, now live in Austin and have been to San Antonio many times.

1. Raleigh hands down has some of the best public schools anywhere in the South. Like virtually no one does private schools there. There is no need. This is what put them on the map back in 1994 when it first started to boom. Texas cities tend to have a lot of private schools I've noticed, not sure why that is. That being said Austin schools arent terrible and San Antonio depends on where you are in the city.

2. Austin or San Antonio. Because of the long long summers (May to October) essentially every 4th or 5th house in Texas has a pool. I feel like HOA's depend on the age of the house the newer the house is the more likely there is to be an HOA and this crosses all three cities and their suburbs.

3. Raleigh will win for the niceness of people on the Roads. But San Antonio has the best infrastructure of highways by far. Raleigh would be second. Austin due to poor planning back in the 50's through 80's is one of only a handful of cities with no outer loops. It was and is dumb, very dumb and we are paying for it dearly. Hopefully they pass the referendum this fall to expand the light rail which is very sleek but currently much to limited. Simply adding more train cars to the current set up would actually help things some at the very least.

San Antonio has three loops and numerous highspeed highways. Raleigh nearly has their second loop complete and highways are good east/west. Slightly less so North/South.

Hope this helps

Good summary. I'll concur on Raleigh's public schools. As a singular consolidated system at the county level, Wake County schools perform very well at the national level among large school systems.
I'll add to this summary that pools aren't all that common in single family homes in Raleigh, though the city has a pretty good network of public pools in the city, inclusive of year-around options. In general, Raleigh has a fantastic parks system inclusive of an ever growing greenway system that connects many of these public pools and its parks.

[MrJones17]

Originally Posted by Taynxtlvl

So. I'm from Raleigh, now live in Austin and have been to San Antonio many times.

1. Raleigh hands down has some of the best public schools anywhere in the South. Like virtually no one does private schools there. There is no need. This is what put them on the map back in 1994 when it first started to boom. Texas cities tend to have a lot of private schools I've noticed, not sure why that is. That being said Austin schools arent terrible and San Antonio depends on where you are in the city.

2. Austin or San Antonio. Because of the long long summers (May to October) essentially every 4th or 5th house in Texas has a pool. I feel like HOA's depend on the age of the house the newer the house is the more likely there is to be an HOA and this crosses all three cities and their suburbs.

3. Raleigh will win for the niceness of people on the Roads. But San Antonio has the best infrastructure of highways by far. Raleigh would be second. Austin due to poor planning back in the 50's through 80's is one of only a handful of cities with no outer loops. It was and is dumb, very dumb and we are paying for it dearly. Hopefully they pass the referendum this fall to expand the light rail which is very sleek but currently much to limited. Simply adding more train cars to the current set up would actually help things some at the very least.

San Antonio has three loops and numerous highspeed highways. Raleigh nearly has their second loop complete and highways are good east/west. Slightly less so North/South.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the comprehensive break down! I didn't realize how good Raleigh's public schools are in comparison to other southern cities.

Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl

Good summary. I'll concur on Raleigh's public schools. As a singular consolidated system at the county level, Wake County schools perform very well at the national level among large school systems.
I'll add to this summary that pools aren't all that common in single family homes in Raleigh, though the city has a pretty good network of public pools in the city, inclusive of year-around options. In general, Raleigh has a fantastic parks system inclusive of an ever growing greenway system that connects many of these public pools and its parks.

Thanks for the comment! The park system is definitely a major plus for Raleigh.