Single Young Professional: please tell me about the Metroplex! (Dallas: apartments, neighborhoods)

[zoonik]

Is Dallas a good place for a single college educated 23 year old male? If I was to move down there my salary would be about 40K to start. Is that enough to live comfortably? Also, how is the singles scene? Are there neighborhoods with local bars, clubs, cofee shops, shops and a sense of community? (I am open to urban or suburban location). Are their a lot of professionals/students moving to the metroplex in the 20 to 30 year old range? Are people friendly? Is the scene centralized or spread out all over the place? Keep in mind that I have lived in Denver and currently live in Atlanta and have enjoyed the vibe in both these cities, can anybody familiar with these areas comment on DFW in terms of similarities/differences? Can anyone name some neighborhoods to look into? Also, is Dallas too conservative? I'm politically moderate myself, but prefer to live in areas with progressive open minded viewoints and ideas (I know this is north Texas but am I barking up the wrong tree?). Im really looking for a cultural, progressive, vibrant city. Is Dallas the place, or would I be better off moving to Austin?

[FarNorthDallas]

Uptown and West Village, just north of downtown Dallas. Lots of apartments, bars and pubs with outside seating, restaurants, people walking around, a free trolly you can ride, lots of young singles.

[unexpected]

if you're going to be making 40k, in uptown you'll make ends meet (but barely), you're priced out of West Village, but you can live comfortably in the Village apartments. loads of singles there. Addison is also another option (more suburban, but loads of bars and restaurants).

Still, nothing will compare to Austin. If you have two equal job offers career-wise, go to Austin (esp. if you consider yourself fairly liberal)

[aceplace]

As far as cultural opportunities, Dallas, with 6 million people in the metro, obliterates Austin, with a little over a million. Sports, pretty much the same, with several major league sports represented. Austin is not a major league town.

Ideologically, Austin has the moderate left wing politics of a university city and state capital. Dallas is somewhat less ideological, and more in tune to the politics of those who have receded from a youthful rebellion and now have practical realities to attend to.

In demographics, Dallas has several times as many people in the 25-35 age range as Austin, simply because it is 4 times as populous. Ethnically, Dallas is more diverse. It's the sort of metro with a 24 hour FM station in Hindi and other South Asian languages. It has a couple of clusters of South Asian residential and commercial, a Koreatown, A Chinatown or two, and virtually every Latin American community.

Walkable urban neighborhoods and mass transit? Dallas has it all, although Austin is starting a suburban train service soon. Dallas, on the other hand, already has 45 miles of light rail, and has another 45 miles under construction. The light rail stations have several urban villages already, and more are being constructed. In addition, Dallas has several other urban pedestrian neighborhoods, places such as West Village, State-Thomas, LoMac, Knox-Henderson, Victory, Preston Center, and of course downtown, along main street. Dallas also has urban enclaves in the suburbs, such as Addison Circle, Legacy, and some others. Austin's pedestrian areas are mainly a short strip between its downtown and the Town Lake, and the area around the university.

Career opportunities? Obviously, Dallas has a larger economy. If your career focus is state government, then Austin is probably a better career fit. Certain kinds of high tech semiconductor... Austin specializes in that. Otherwise, Dallas is the place.

Scenery and terrain? Austin has a nice town lake in the center, and is on the edge of the scenic Hill Country. Dallas scenery is less dramatic, but does have an occasional range of hills in the southwest county. West of the DFW area, the terrain is very scenic and hilly due to a northward extension of the Central Texas hills. Both Dallas and Austin have large, scenic lakes and several state parks nearby, typically in scenic locations.

[sk8drummy]

Look into the Camden Farmers Market apartments. They're across the street from farmers market in downtown. This is probably one of the cheaper places to live in the area. On 40k you could definitely afford to live there in one of the smaller apartments. As far as being 23 in Dallas...I'm 23. I have lots of friends and there is plenty of night life. I like art and Indie rock. If your into those things message me and I can help you out with that.