Moving from Boston to TX, which city? (Houston, Dallas, Austin, SA)

[Shock]

You seem to care the most about what city has the most young people your type and that would be Austin. As mentioned you really should focus on job first, see where that takes you. You will enjoy any major Texas city but one of the things that's good about living in Austin or San Antonio is that you get to enjoy 2 different cities within an hour of each other.

[RMFW]

I would also check out Fort Worth. Easily Texas's most overlooked large city and one that has a lot to offer especially if you are young and have an appreciation for culture (some of the best fine art, opera, symphony, etc. to be found in Texas). Plus it's got a great small town, livable feel for a big city with big city amenities.

[swsatx]

Not too many comments about San Antonio. The article below written from a new San Antonio Citizen describes why she chose to move.
San Antonio: Be Proud to be a ‘Big City, Small Town’ | The Rivard Report

[R1070]

Originally Posted by RMFW

I would also check out Fort Worth. Easily Texas's most overlooked large city and one that has a lot to offer especially if you are young and have an appreciation for culture (some of the best fine art, opera, symphony, etc. to be found in Texas). Plus it's got a great small town, livable feel for a big city with big city amenities.

I was thinking that Ft Worth would be a great fit as it's the most conservative of all mentioned and has a decent social scene. Plano is another great option as it's considered conservative and has young professional areas like Austin Ranch, Legacy, Downtown Plano. If you're socially conservative, Central Dallas is the last place in the Metroplex you will want to be, you'd be miserable.

As for Dallas, I think there's a lot more young professionals than you realize. It's not limited to a 3.5 mile radius. While I agree that the tight radius around the core does create a nice vibrant environment, somewhere like Addison, away from downtown has a vibrant young professionals scene and is a great alternative.

[RMFW]

Originally Posted by R1070

I was thinking that Ft Worth would be a great fit as it's the most conservative of all mentioned and has a decent social scene. Plano is another great option as it's considered conservative and has young professional areas like Austin Ranch, Legacy, Downtown Plano. If you're socially conservative, Central Dallas is the last place in the Metroplex you will want to be, you'd be miserable.

As for Dallas, I think there's a lot more young professionals than you realize. It's not limited to a 3.5 mile radius. While I agree that the tight radius around the core does create a nice vibrant environment, somewhere like Addison, away from downtown has a vibrant young professionals scene and is a great alternative.

Fort Worth in general is pretty conservative (I would argue center-right), but there are definitely several pockets of Progressive and even liberal neighborhoods. One thing though that I think a lot of people who comment on Fort Worth's conservatism is that Fort Worth doesn't tend to wear its politics on its sleeve to the same extent as a lot of other Texas cities. Maybe that's because everyone may just take it for granted that, hey it's Cowtown, it's conservative, but it just doesn't really seem to be a common topic of conversation, whereas in Dallas/North Dallas (Plano) and especially in Austin, the lines are drawn very clearly and politics seems to be right there in front of everything.

[inquisitive24]

So the initial post describes me almost completely! I have been living in Boston for 7 yrs and am thinking of moving to Texas, for the following reasons:

lower taxes
MUCH lower general cost of living? I'm guessing restaurants, groceries, and so on
seemingly year round better weather? Boston gets extremely cold in the winter and very hot in the summer, I think that temperatures in TX are more moderate and doesn't get the quantity of snow that Boston does.
air conditioning (many places in Boston do not have central A/C because they were built before A/C was invented and ductwork cannot be added)
ample parking? (having to continually search/fight for parking spaces wears on one over time. I have to pay for parking for where I live! Having visitors is very difficult due to parking rules)
my job seems to make about the same amount of money in TX as in Boston, despite difference in cost of living
lower cost for housing ((a friend recently visited me from TX and was shocked at how much the housing and utilities are here)

Am also looking for a place with young professionals and I really like a big city feel - I don't think I could live in a very rural area, also I like diversity. Another thing I would like is access to high-quality live music. Boston has a plethora of free performances, including classical and jazz, partly due to all the music schools, but also there is the Boston Symphony Orchestra and regular other performances of all types.

Ideally I'd like a place with good public transit (anything there comparable to the T?). I like being able to not take my car everywhere, have a drink or two and not have to plan beforehand how I will get back. And do not want to spend hours in traffic jams. While Boston is bad that way, using public transit can mitigate it and I have also been able to work off-hours to avoid that, do not know if that will be possible in TX as well.

Would the same choices above still apply to me - Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and Fort Worth seem to keep coming up. How would I decide among these areas, I suppose I could plan a Texas trip and go to all of them, but seems like it would be difficult to get a real idea of a place only visiting it. I don't know if there would be particularly big pay differences in each city, I could try to reach out to ppl in my field to get a sense of it.

Also, I keep hearing about conservative and liberal areas and how palpable it is. I don't really understand this, can someone give an example of how it would affect me on a day-to-day basis? I am very politically interested and follow politics, vote in all elections including local, but it's not something I discuss with anyone on a regular basis, it just doesn't come up and I wouldn't really know if someone I ran into in Boston is a liberal or conservative, also I wouldn't particularly care. But it seems that ppl in Texas really choose areas to live based on this and can feel it?

How much would it cost for me to live in a safe area in a cool area of the city, in a nice 1 bedroom or studio with granite countertops and parking, including utilities? In Boston such a place would go for around $2300 including parking, maybe more. I have always lived outside the city but I know someone in a studio, probably not more than 700 sq feet, who is paying around $2500/month. I would like to stop living in suburbs if possible.

Apologies for the really long post but hopefully it gives a sense of what I am looking for.