Better city for us IYO: Austin.....or Denton? (Houston, Dallas: house, school)

[texasiscalling]

Hello Friends! I'm hoping you can share your insight and experience with me on this subject. My husband and I have decided that we would like to relocate to the great state of Texas along with his retired parents. There are a number of factors that have resulted in this decision with the main one being that we all agree that Texas is the most desirable to us of our options in The South - we have no desire to live in any other region of the US. They have all lived in other TX cities before whereas I have not. The full list originally included Plano, Austin, Sugarland, and now Denton in TX, & Baton Rouge in Louisiana. We have narrowed the list down to either Austin or Denton for our first attempt. If it helps at all, we are relocating from Atlanta.

We are a mixed bag - his parents are retired and we are in our mid thirties, so while our aim is to accommodate everyone in terms of "things to do", the ultimate decision rests with me and my husband since we will need to consider our livelihood as well (FYI no kids or plans for them at the moment). We have the unique opportunity to relocate to 1 or more of these locations for quite a few months to see if it would work out for us, but I would like to hear your opinions and then determine which we may want to put at the top of the list or eliminate altogether.

We narrowed the list to these two cities because we want to live somewhere:

- that we can make a living in the creative industry, specifically photography, music (teaching independently for all ages), and film/video (teaching independently and as a service).

- where the people are diverse, creative, cultured, laid-back and friendly

- that people are interested in collaborating on music and film projects

- dog friendly

- where there are neat places to eat, shop, and fun things to do both indoors and outdoors

- where there is an appreciation for classical and WORLD music in addition to the usual choices

- with nice scenery for photogs

- with decent weather, specifically a lot of days with sunshine


This list hits a lot of the high points. I have done a lot of searching on the internet, comparing this with that and when I stumbled on this site, I decided to ask you all for some up to date info. Thank you in advance for your help!!

[radiolibre99]

Denton is supposedly a music town too from what I've heard but I don't know for sure. It's close to dallas and Dallas is big enough to have everything you'd want. Austin though is smaller and more compact to have all that you want in less sprawled out areas.

[texasiscalling]

Thank you so much for your reply radiolibre99! Austin was our number one choice until Denton came into the picture and it was enticing due to the lower housing cost for a similar town feel (from what I gather). The reason we started questioning Austin was because I read on another thread that if you are going there to futher your own art, you'd be one in a million. I suppose that could be a good thing or a bad thing in our case - depending on whether the scene is more like a community or if it's more like cut throat competition. At the same time, total isolation is also not good because that means there is no interest.

[TheOverdog]

Denton is sort of a music town anchored by the University of North Texas School of Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univer...llege_of_Music

However, Denton is a much more middling college town than Austin, much fewer general educational accolades, and a much smaller and less significant town/city than Austin. Denton has a nice square, but it is nothing comparable to Austin overall. Austin would also beat out Denton for scenery since Austin has done a much better job of managing its natural resources than Denton has. IE Austin is on the edge of the Texas hill country, Denton is relatively flat, Austin has a lake/river running through the middle of town and close to downtown, Denton has Lake Lewisville on the far edge of town, but it's much more sparely populated and has less access. The weather between the two will be the same, slightly hotter and drier but really not that different from Atlanta.

All that being said, I have some photographer friends who attended the University of North Texas, and they have done well since graduating a decade ago basically in the same areas you are interested in and living in Dallas.

Austin has a big music scene, but I've heard it is somewhat more limited if you are interested in world music or rap than country, indie, mainstream rock, etc.

I'd assume that few people in the DFW area go to Denton to hear music or participate in art, most go to Dallas or Ft Worth first. Many more probably go to Austin for it's special events.

[radiolibre99]

World music, hip hop, house music, more eclectic stuff you have to go to Dallas or Houston. The indie rap scene in those two cities are hot. World music, if you mean stuff like Manu Chao, reggae, Indian, middle eastern, Rai music etc go for Dallas. Austin is all country, indie music, emo, punk, electronica, fist pump Vegas style house techno, blues, rock. Jazz music was really hot in Houston, I think Dallas might have a scene too.

Austin is prettier. Austin is in the hill country and you'd have access to the most georgeous scenery in all the state. Take a trip to marble falls and take it all in.

[texasiscalling]

Thanks TheOverdog! It sounds like you guys are saying that in terms of our wish list, the Dallas area would check off more items than either Austin or Denton - which I wasn't expecting at all; very surprising! World music as described by radiolibre99 (thank you!) is what we're after. Truthfully, I was a bit hesitant about Dallas because of tornadoes and, I assume it is flat as well, but possibly more textured than Denton simply because there is more of everything - or would you say the scenery in Dallas is more middle of the road? The scenery in Austin is extremely enticing!!....yet it seems like it has the potential to get old fast once you've explored everything.

[joqua]

Denton is a strong college oriented town with TWO renowned universities:

TWU = Texas Women's University
UNT = University of North Texas