moving to texas from seattle/georgia (Houston, Austin: apartments, renting, house)

[ambe8910]

Hi, so I am originally from Georgia. Lived there my whole life then when I graduated from high school moved to Seattle with my boyfriend to Seattle for school. We are considering moving to either Austin or Houston. We prefer the "south" alot more. Really dont like Seattle/eastside. At first we'll just be renting so any advice on a good but decently priced area for apartments would be nice. But eventually we want to buy a house and raise a family. If you can give me any advice about the two cities that would be awesome. We are really laid back family oriented people. I am a pharmacy tech and my boyfriend is an animator. (so looking for area close to game companies if you know anything about that)

Thanks!

[texasdiver]

Texas is and odd mix of southern and western.

Houston and East Texas trends more southern. It's hot, humid, and green.
Austin and the Hill Country to the west trends more western. It's much more dry and has a more western feel.

Houston is a giant sprawling city. I lived in Seattle for a decade so I can give you Seattle reference points.

In Houston

Montrose would be the equivalent of Seattle's Capital Hill
West U/Rice Village would be the equivalent of Seattle's Wallingford/U-District/Ravenna area
Midtown Houston would be the equivalent of Seattle's Belltown/Lake Union area
River Oaks would be the equivalent to Seattle's Hunt's Point or Mercer Island
Katy, Sugar Land, and the Woodlands are the equivalent to Bellevue and Kirkland except much further out

Greater Houston occupies an area that would be the equivalent of everything between Olympia and Everett in the Seattle area with at least 2x the population of the greater Puget Sound area. So it is massive and sprawling. Best Houston advice is to figure out where you'll be working first and then chose your neighborhood based on that. Our you could be faced with some insane commutes.