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Education - Slight edge to TX because of UT-Austin, but UCF and USF are no slouches.
Economy - Edge to TX, more diverse and not as hospitality-focused
Transportation - FL, easier access to rail and better flight options
Culture - TX, take your pick of Hispanic, cowboy/Texan, German, or tech bro culture (Austin). Outside of few pockets (eg Cuban culture in Miami), central and south FL have little cultural identity.
Scenery - Tie; gulf coast in the Tampa area and the Hill Country north of SA/west of Austin are both great.
Recreation - FL, hard to beat the theme park capital of the country, plus many other things to do.
Location - ???
Dining - TX. To whatever poster said SA Mexican food was underwhelming...get your tastebuds checked.
Entertainment - Same recreation.
Better Future - TX. Tampa/St. Pete could be partially underwater in 100 years. SA is growing a ton but you’d never know it because of how big of a powerhouse Austin is.
I spend my life in San Antonio or San Marcos right beside Austin. The Hill Country literally begins east of i35 from San Antonio to Austin. San Antonio and Austin's biggest growth are coming from the city moving and pushing into the Hill Country. They are flat in the city cores but outside have a lot of hills and also a a lot of beautiful rivers for tubing and swimming.
I would say west of 35 is where the Hill Country officially begins but both cities have the Balcones Escarpment bisecting both Urban areas with hills in North or West San Antonio and West Austin
I don't see how Orlando/Tampa being the the southern most peninsula, is closer to major cities. Where can you drive to those major cities? Miami? Jacksonville. Atlanta is like 9 hours north. Charlotte, Birmingham, Nashville and Raleigh are even farther.
Austin/San Antonio is closer to New Orleans than Orlando is to Atlanta or no farther. A/S is 4 hours tops to Dallas/Fort Worth, and 3 hours to Houston and 5 hours to El Paso. Austin is 6 hours to OKC, 7 hours to Tulsa. Drive I-35 aka the NAFTA highway you realize how much commerce comes through those towns.
As far as flying, yes, Central Florida is closer to larger populations of the U.S. but you've got to fly to NYC Boston, Chicago, D.C. and NC. Central Texas is closer to resorts of Mexico. Central TX is 2 hours to Denver and closer to Chicago than Florida. And of course its 3 -3 1/2 hours to the west coast. Skiing opportunities are even farther for those in Florida. Up to PA/NY or NE. The southern Rockies are a 90 minute flight to Santa Fe, NM.
Economically Orlampa would surpass Austintonio because Orlando is attracting transplants (and immigrants) away from the traditional Miami-Fort Lauderdale S. FL magnet. Those Disney World vacations probably left an impression on people. Orlando is rapidly becoming the second city of Florida, probably fueled by rising COL and aging infrastructure in South Florida.
Austin and San Antonio face huge hurdles to catch up with DFW and Houston. It's also known as the "Armpit of Texas" among Texans because of their provincial mindset.
WTF? Armpit describing Austin/San Antonio!? That's never been said from anyone I know. I know some, including me, find southside of San Antonio flat and boring, probably like Tampa/Orlando were years ago.
Sorry but Orlando is a one trick pony economy - Tourism. Austin for the 21st century has been the fastest growing city over 500K really in north America. Economies of Austin/San Antonio has better future and is more diversified with the former having a large State Capital, having significant Tech employment. While there is no Disney/Universal studious, Central Texas gets plenty of tourism for its series of lakes, it noteworthy wine country (TX is top 5 for wine and tequila production), hiking, tubing on the river, and dining. Central Texas economy has far more US Military personnel. MacDill AFB and US Central Command is around 16,000 employees (active and civilian) in Tampa. Joint Base San Antonio (Fort Sam Houston, Randolph AFB, Brooks Army Hospital, Camp Bullis, etc) is 73K active and civilian. https://comptroller.texas.gov/econom...itary/jbsa.php
WTF? Armpit describing Austin/San Antonio!? That's never been said from anyone I know. I know some, including me, find southside of San Antonio flat and boring, probably like Tampa/Orlando were years ago.
Sorry but Orlando is a one trick pony economy - Tourism. Austin for the 21st century has been the fastest growing city over 500K really in north America. Economies of Austin/San Antonio has better future and is more diversified with the former having a large State Capital, having significant Tech employment. While there is no Disney/Universal studious, Central Texas gets plenty of tourism for its series of lakes, it noteworthy wine country (TX is top 5 for wine and tequila production), hiking, tubing on the river, and dining. Central Texas economy has far more US Military personnel. MacDill AFB and US Central Command is around 16,000 employees (active and civilian) in Tampa. Joint Base San Antonio (Fort Sam Houston, Randolph AFB, Brooks Army Hospital, Camp Bullis, etc) is 73K active and civilian. https://comptroller.texas.gov/econom...itary/jbsa.php
Right. The only Texas city of size I can recall being referred to as an 'armpit' was Beaumont but definitely not Austin or San Antonio.
WTF? Armpit describing Austin/San Antonio!? That's never been said from anyone I know. I know some, including me, find southside of San Antonio flat and boring, probably like Tampa/Orlando were years ago.
Sorry but Orlando is a one trick pony economy - Tourism. Austin for the 21st century has been the fastest growing city over 500K really in north America. Economies of Austin/San Antonio has better future and is more diversified with the former having a large State Capital, having significant Tech employment. While there is no Disney/Universal studious, Central Texas gets plenty of tourism for its series of lakes, it noteworthy wine country (TX is top 5 for wine and tequila production), hiking, tubing on the river, and dining. Central Texas economy has far more US Military personnel. MacDill AFB and US Central Command is around 16,000 employees (active and civilian) in Tampa. Joint Base San Antonio (Fort Sam Houston, Randolph AFB, Brooks Army Hospital, Camp Bullis, etc) is 73K active and civilian. https://comptroller.texas.gov/econom...itary/jbsa.php
Still has a long way to go to shed its theme park image however, but it has been in the top 10 in job growth in tech for at least the past 5 years, including being number 4 in 2021: https://technical.ly/pittsburgh/2021...h-report-cbre/
Anyway, yes, tourism brings in lots of cash, but Orlando has been diversifying immensely in recent years.
Also, you’re correct that Austin has been the fast growing large metro in the last decade. The second? Orlando.
Is Austin's growth sustainable though?
If it were to pull off another 33% growth this decade that would be 750K (33% of its 2020 population).
Can Austin grow by 750K this decade?
It would have to accelerate decentralization or else the infrastructure is going to be pushed to the limits share desirability drops and suddenly is not the fastest growing anymore.
Is Austin's growth sustainable though?
If it were to pull off another 33% growth this decade that would be 750K (33% of its 2020 population).
Can Austin grow by 750K this decade?
It would have to accelerate decentralization or else the infrastructure is going to be pushed to the limits share desirability drops and suddenly is not the fastest growing anymore.
Is Orlando's growth sustainable too? Tech vs. tourism? Tesla plant is under construction in SE Austin. Apple is building its SECOND campus in eight years in Austin. Samsung is likely building second Chip plant in Austin, at a cost of 17 billion dollars. Google has 37 story office tower nearing completion in downtown. Oracle in 2018 opened a brand new campus too.
That's not what I'm talking.
Did you read the post?
I am talking about sustainability of desirability.
Orlando isn't as congested as Austin. Economics peak and slump, who knows what lay ahead for Orlando.
We do however know what's ahead for Austin if it doesn't ramp up infrastructure. Austin with another 33% growth is 750K more people. Just imagine how pleasant the city will be with 750k additional people when it already clogged as it is.
Best case scenario, Austin develops monster suburbs and becomes just another sprawly Texas city
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