If you want to move to Austin, then why not Houston? (San Antonio: homes, neighborhoods)

[youngprodigy21]

Having visited both cities and have friends who live in both places, I just want to share my opinions on the differences. Austin gets the reputation of being the party city, where as Houston is known as the working city. This doesn't mean that there is nothing fun to do in Houston or there aren't any lucrative career opportunities in Austin, as it seems that people are primarily driven to move to Austin for its festive lifestyle, where people are more inclined to move to Houston for career opportunities.

For example, unless you are visiting family or going to a sporting event, nobody picks Houston off the map as a vacation destination like Austin. With that being said, I believe that on this forum, there is lot of resentment for the dreamers who haphazardly flock to Austin from other parts of the country, and scrounge to get by from Uber or waiting tables, just so they can have the opportunity of live in Austin. Am I correct?

For my wife and I, I am in education and she is in international business. We were thinking that if it is unrealistic to move to Austin, then maybe Houston as a fall back option. To me, where Houston is nowhere near as exciting as Austin. But, Houston may be the ideal place for someone to live if they just want a nice steady job and a nice suburban home to come back to.

[DMChicago]

Move to Houston, visit Austin often.

[CptnRn]

I have in-laws family living in Houston and seem to like it fine. They do however live in areas that were not badly flooded in Hurricane Harvey.

Many people in Houston were not so fortunate. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...ne-harvey.html

The terrain in Houston is largely low and flat, so many areas are prone to flooding. Also that area of Texas has some of the highest records of rainfall intensities in the entire USA. See the link to the graphic below.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/membe...-intensity.png

Below is a map of rescue requests made during hurricane Harvey. https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphic...ue-map-720.png




I spent a couple of months in Houston earlier this year and I can assure you that their traffic is far worse than Austin's.

Houston is #30 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest average humidity (population 50,000+)"

Austin is not on that list and is not quite as bad.

Houston .................................................. ...................................Austin
.....

None of this means that you can't live a decent life in Houston. But you had better pick where you live very carefully. Houston is still struggling to recover from the flooding, many people lost their homes and no doubt that has impacted both the availability and cost of housing there.

[Juventud Guerrero]

Originally Posted by youngprodigy21

Having visited both cities and have friends who live in both places, I just want to share my opinions on the differences. Austin gets the reputation of being the party city, where as Houston is known as the working city. This doesn't mean that there is nothing fun to do in Houston or there aren't any lucrative career opportunities in Austin, as it seems that people are primarily driven to move to Austin for its festive lifestyle, where people are more inclined to move to Houston for career opportunities.

For example, unless you are visiting family or going to a sporting event, nobody picks Houston off the map as a vacation destination like Austin. With that being said, I believe that on this forum, there is lot of resentment for the dreamers who haphazardly flock to Austin from other parts of the country, and scrounge to get by from Uber or waiting tables, just so they can have the opportunity of live in Austin. Am I correct?

For my wife and I, I am in education and she is in international business. We were thinking that if it is unrealistic to move to Austin, then maybe Houston as a fall back option. To me, where Houston is nowhere near as exciting as Austin. But, Houston may be the ideal place for someone to live if they just want a nice steady job and a nice suburban home to come back to.

Maybe you can also consider San Antonio, it has more or less the same working city vibe as Houston and you'll be closer to Austin and further away from hurricanes.

[Trainwreck20]

Houston is a pretty nice city, really. It has a 'hangover' reputation from the years of bad pollution, but much of that has been improved and it is localized anyway.

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by Juventud Guerrero

Maybe you can also consider San Antonio, it has more or less the same working city vibe as Houston and you'll be closer to Austin and further away from hurricanes.

Cheaper, with more history and better tacos.

[lndigo]

tropical storms & flooding aren't going to get any better over the years

[R1070]

I like Houston, but most people think of Austin and DFW first in Texas probably due to their presence in tv / media.

[centralaustinite]

I live in Austin and like it just fine but Houston is fantastic! The food scene is off the charts, the museums and opera are top-notch, plus pro sports. It is a city of neighborhoods and there are some great ones. We love to visit Houston!

[luksky]

When we first contemplated moving to Texas, Houston was where we were originally looking, then a friend who used to live in Austin told us how outdoorsy Austin is (we love hiking/biking and the parks) and upon further research learned it was also very homeschool friendly.

Not that we don’t like Austin, but now that we have lived here for over ten years and have visited Houston many times, I feel like we would have been just as happy there as we are here.