What are the Pros and Cons of Living in New Braunfels? (San Antonio: fit in, low crime)

[Jarrett7]

We're seriously considering moving there soon. Would anyone mind listing some pros and cons to NB living? Thanks in advance.

[Remington Steel]

Con: Even though it’s considered a small town, it gets VERY busy during the summer months with traffic from tubers and Schliterbaun. Very touristy.

[TXStrat]

If you will be working or commuting to San Antonio, the traffic can be pretty terrible, depending on time of departure.

[StealthRabbit]

ethnic centric pride, Either you will fit in (if your ancestors were from NB since 1800's)... otherwise you may always be a 'stranger'.

Certain ethic centric places are like that. (All over the world) But Texas natives / friends advised us against NB for that specific reason and our specific situation.

There are plenty of 'new-comers' to become friends with. (growing area +/-)

other...
Central Texas climate (plenty hot 6 months / yr)
Traffic IS a problem in NB and San Marcos.
Pretty fast paced community +/-

FWIW; Knowing your commute needs / age(s) of family(?), interests, hobbies (preferred use of free time) & rural vs. urban living choice would provide 1000% more guidance for our relevant response.

[supfromthesite]

Pros: easy access to San Antonio and Austin, easy access to the hill country and not too far from the beach, there are two rivers running through it and another in San Marcos, good restaurants, Grune Hall, hell all of Gruene is cool with the shops and restaurants, it is friendly, there are a good amount of jobs (without having to commute to SA) it is conservative (may be a con for you), low crime, nice looking, it is very close to some small towns and rural country areas but it has everything you could need, good private schools, stores, HEB, target, it is not insanely busy like a big city, there is little chance it will ever become a bad city to live in, and compared to the rest of America the cost of living isn't very high.

cons: it is growing rapidly which causes traffic and a slow decaying of the old way of life, compared to the rest of Texas the housing prices are kind of high, you can't easily commute to San Antonio, you can't drink in the rivers unless you are outside the city limits, there are probably more elderly than families and sub-30s (may be a pro for you), the temp is hot (compared to other parts of the country) and that's about it really. I am not the biggest fan of the whole German thing either, so I guess for me that's a con.

It is a pretty nice town.

The main thing that would be keeping me from living there is the growth of San Antonio and Austin. But I just prefer quiet and smaller cities and towns in general. I would rather live in Victoria, which is technically only 20,000 people smaller, but it feels way smaller than New Braunfels in my opinion.

[fritos56]

Cons, a lot of traffic on IH35 whether you go north or south.
Gets very hot in the summer, and as mentioned a lot of tourists.
As far as ethnic pride goes, the people are mainly white and hispanic with blacks and a few other groups thrown into the mix.
Look my sister moved to New York to work in Television as a technican years ago. When she first moved there, WHITE PEOPLE would ask her, what are you, meaning are you Irish or Italian. She used to get mad at this, would tell them she was german or sometimes hungarian. Well that's what my family is,hungarian(mom) german (dad).Dad was USAF and was stationed on and off from the 1950s in the San Antonio area.He retired here out at Randolph AFB, because to them San Antonio was home, and neither my mom or dad wanted to go back to their home states of New York(her) or Wisconsin(him).
We never had any problems with people in New Braunfels in regards to our white ethnicity.
We never went to WurstFest as my parents didn't like crowds. My dad considered the germans around here to be a bunch of platzdeutch speaking Rhinelanders. He was from Milwaukee. His father 's side are Bavarian, the real deal, came to America in 1882, and his mother's are Baltic Germans from Riga who came in 1883.Now why the attitude on his part, don't know, except as far as his father's family goes, they were military men(two generals in family) burgermeisters, petty court officials, landholders,etc.So I guess it was that whole Junker mentality.

[hhwdavid]

The original Braunfels




Photo: Oliver Stiehler
https://www.tourenplaner-rheinland-p...412302/#dmlb=1

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by fritos56

Cons, a lot of traffic on IH35 whether you go north or south.
Gets very hot in the summer, and as mentioned a lot of tourists.
As far as ethnic pride goes, the people are mainly white and hispanic with blacks and a few other groups thrown into the mix.
Look my sister moved to New York to work in Television as a technican years ago. When she first moved there, WHITE PEOPLE would ask her, what are you, meaning are you Irish or Italian. She used to get mad at this, would tell them she was german or sometimes hungarian. Well that's what my family is,hungarian(mom) german (dad).Dad was USAF and was stationed on and off from the 1950s in the San Antonio area.He retired here out at Randolph AFB, because to them San Antonio was home, and neither my mom or dad wanted to go back to their home states of New York(her) or Wisconsin(him).
We never had any problems with people in New Braunfels in regards to our white ethnicity.
We never went to WurstFest as my parents didn't like crowds. My dad considered the germans around here to be a bunch of platzdeutch speaking Rhinelanders. He was from Milwaukee. His father 's side are Bavarian, the real deal, came to America in 1882, and his mother's are Baltic Germans from Riga who came in 1883.Now why the attitude on his part, don't know, except as far as his father's family goes, they were military men(two generals in family) burgermeisters, petty court officials, landholders,etc.So I guess it was that whole Junker mentality.

I forgot to mention Wurstfest! It is a great time to be had, although you could live in San Antonio and still go.

One more thing, The Texans Germans were usually Bavarian as well, and they mostly came in the 1850s and 1840s. I don't really see how they are any different from your father's family... Except for arriving 25 years earlier.

[RadiantBaby]

NB does feel like a timewarp in some ways, stuck in a German/US idyll. It's not bad, but that outsider vs insider thing that another poster spoke about above is a very real thing.

I always remember writing a piece years ago about WWII for a University project and interviewing older German families in NB. The thing that sticks out is hearing a couple of the people outright deny that there was ever a holocaust. I wasn't there to grill them, so I politely kept the interview simple and quickly finished. It left me with a mistrust of NB to this very day. Take that as you will.

It's a lovely not-so-small town, surrounded by other lovely actual small towns.

[supfromthesite]

Big if true!