Which one? Abilene, Brownwood, San Angelo, or San Marcos?? (Dallas: low crime, buying a home)

[MNDC101]

Can I get everyone's input as to which of the above cities to relocate to. Overall city feel, people, unemployment, weather/humidity, landscape (or lack of), business friendly, schools, raising a family, activities, hunting/fishing, etc...Anything you guys can think of feel free to express

[WillysB]

Your list of cities, in order, suits your preferences from worst to best.

[Ketabcha]

Abilene is a nice town but it's a few hours from a big city. You can get to Ft. Worth in under 3 hours and to Dallas in under 4. It's an Air Force town. It has 3 universities and a good school system. There are a lot of trees in Abilene. It's surprisingly green for being in west Texas. It is also a church town. The 3 universities are all affiliated with churches. You'll find fishing and hunting past the city limits. It is a family friendly town with a great zoo where one of the seals escapes on occasion and heads west on I-20 toward Midland. There is a vibrant community theater and some museums. The county fair is held in Abilene and it is always a lot of fun.

Abilene is not a metropolitan area but it is not rural Texas, either. People are friendly and helpful. The town loves the military and the military loves Abilene.

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by Ketabcha

Abilene is a nice town but it's a few hours from a big city. You can get to Ft. Worth in under 3 hours and to Dallas in under 4. It's an Air Force town. It has 3 universities and a good school system. There are a lot of trees in Abilene. It's surprisingly green for being in west Texas. It is also a church town. The 3 universities are all affiliated with churches. You'll find fishing and hunting past the city limits. It is a family friendly town with a great zoo where one of the seals escapes on occasion and heads west on I-20 toward Midland. There is a vibrant community theater and some museums. The county fair is held in Abilene and it is always a lot of fun.

Abilene is not a metropolitan area but it is not rural Texas, either. People are friendly and helpful. The town loves the military and the military loves Abilene.

San Angelo (90 miles south of Dyess) also has an Air Force Base (Goodfellow AFB), but much smaller. Generally, I would put San Angelo in the same category as Abilene...lived in and liked both while in the AF.

San Marcos is nice. Close to Austin but with Austin expanding south to San Marcos, one day it will be one big long urban area along I-35.

[ChristieP]

San Marcos is quickly becoming just another suburb of Austin, so there isn't as much hunting and fishing there.

DH and I lived in San Angelo for several years while we went to ASU. We really loved it there, and if we could have found better-paying jobs, we'd probably still be there!

Abilene is VERY church-oriented. The 3 universities there are all private, Christian schools. If you're not big into church (specifically Church of Christ) you will probably get bored pretty quickly.

I don't know much about Brownwood, sorry.

[TT Dave]

I'm a native Abilenian but I've also lived in San Angelo. Ketabcha gave a good general description of Abilene above so I won't repeat any of that info. I enjoy living in Abilene and San Angelo was also a nice city to live in. Abilene is slightly larger in population than San Angelo but other than that they are very similar cities. The public schools here in Abilene are very good. I don't know much about SA's public schools but I'm sure they are good too. Brownwood is a very lovely little town and has a great lake nearby but it is much smaller than Abilene or San Angelo so it just depends on what size of city might interest you. If you have the opportunity I'd visit all three and see what you think. They are all within about a 70 to 90 mnute drive of each other. I've visited San Marcos and it seems to be a very nice city but I don't much about it other than that.

[MNDC101]

Does anyone have any suggestions for things to do while visiting? I will be driving through the week of February 8th through all 3?

[kerrymac]

I was wondering....From my research of Abilene, it seems to have a good school system and low crime but is there any particular areas to aviod if buying a home in Abilene?