Whats living in austin tx like pros and cons or is it over hyped (Atlanta: landscaping, construction)

[Fitz5000]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

Honestly, east of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Appalachian Mountains, I haven't seen any city that looks nicer than Austin, from one end of town to the other. The city is clean and well-kept for the most part with plenty lush vegetation throughout the city, nice outdoor weather, mild winters, lots of long distance views to enjoy, shiney new buildings, a sparkling skyline, lots of good music, festivals and events, streets are relatively smooth and lots of nice wide boulevards, good food and different kinds of food, populated with mostly nice friendly, easy going laid back people with a live and let live type mentality, a relatively very safe city and metro for as big as it is. Other than the traffic, the high cost of housing and rent, and high property taxes, there's really not too much about Austin not to like or to complain about. Austin is far from perfect, but I really don't think it's over-hyped. For all it has going for it, most large cities would love to have Austin's problems. It really is among the best cities in the entire country.

Austin, Texas, where the future's so bright, you gotta wear shades.

I love the positive nature of this post. So many posts on Austin are about "don't come here, we're already overcrowded, we can't handle anymore people". I am sure there is a lot of truth to the overcrowding, but that happens to any popular city. So many folks acting like Stephen F. Austin was their great-grandfather's 2nd Cousin (even Stephen was raised in Missouri). Everyone came from somewhere. Unemployment is at a historic 50 year low, we live in a great country full of tons of opportunities where you can move anywhere you want. Cities change, evolve, it's so sad to spend your time lamenting an idealized city when there's several less expensive, less crowded college towns that you can relocate to. I know, not everyone can move, but this country is continually defined by migration, seems like a strange way to lead your life just being negative.

[cBach]

The good: The weather IMHO beats any place east of the Rockies (that's not saying much though). Sunny and hot but mostly low humidity. Winter is a crap shoot but nice sunny days can be had now and then. There are enough things to do and the economy is strong. The lakes are very nice, clear and comfortable most of the year. There are enough people of different political persuasions that almost anyone can fit in, and people tend to not be apathetic (for good or worse). There are great schools here too.

The bad: wildfires, poor planning, homelessness

The ugly: traffic, little public transportation, tribal views (North vs. South, RR vs Austin, etc...) instead of cohesive regional strategy.

Now, a philosophical summary from someone who has been here a long time:
It's a good place for a college kid, someone in their 20's, and a family starting out but as you get older the underbelly of this city rears its ugly head. It's parochial, anachronistic, paradoxical, and elusive. It's a great place to escape to but not a great place to thrive. It's a great place to have fun but not a great place to develop yourself. It's a great place to reinvent yourself but not to invent anything. It's a different place, nice if you didn't fit in somewhere else but the norms here are weird anywhere else. The longer you live here, the harder it is to move and the less you'll integrate into other regions. But the longer you stay, the longer you stay in the same bubble that is hard to get out of. Yet you will still never be a local. But you probably won't care because you'll fill yourself with BBQ and TexMex and craft brews and delay thinking about the paths in life you did not take. This is a city of doers but not self reflectors. They get lost in the moment and enjoy the moment but that's all it is. Self reflection is mostly absent, advocacy is mainly focused on political causes not personal growth, and if you're seeking deeper meaning in life this is probably not the place to find it. YMMV.

Don't do it.

[TMSRetired]

Originally Posted by cBach

The good: The weather IMHO beats any place east of the Rockies (that's not saying much though). Sunny and hot but mostly low humidity. Winter is a crap shoot but nice sunny days can be had now and then. There are enough things to do and the economy is strong. The lakes are very nice, clear and comfortable most of the year. There are enough people of different political persuasions that almost anyone can fit in, and people tend to not be apathetic (for good or worse). There are great schools here too.

The bad: wildfires, poor planning, homelessness

The ugly: traffic, little public transportation, tribal views (North vs. South, RR vs Austin, etc...) instead of cohesive regional strategy.

Now, a philosophical summary from someone that's been here a long time:
It's a good place for a college kid, someone in their 20's, and a family starting out but as you get older the underbelly of this city rears its ugly head. It's parochial, anachronistic, paradoxical, and elusive. It's a great place to escape to but not a great place to thrive. It's a great place to have fun but not a great place to develop yourself. It's a great place to reinvent yourself but not to invent anything. It's a different place, nice if you didn't fit in somewhere else but the norms here are weird anywhere else. The longer you live here, the harder it is to move and the less you'll integrate into other regions. But the longer you stay, the longer you stay in the same bubble that is hard to get out of. Yet you will still never be a local. But you probably won't care because you'll fill yourself with BBQ and TexMex and craft brews and delay thinking about the paths in life you did not take.

Don't do it.

I disagree. Lived in the area from 1996-2018. The people (too many), the traffic, the taxes eventually push you to the limit. When I first moved to Pflugerville the pop was a bit over 7K and I loved living there and watched it change over the years and just become another bedroom community to Austin.

I'm now living where there's less traffic, less people and a lot less taxes. The people are just as friendly, the BBQ just as good (different though) and I got the beach to boot !

I relocated to the South Carolina coast once I retired.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by TMSRetired

I disagree. Lived in the area from 1996-2018. The people (too many), the traffic, the taxes eventually push you to the limit. When I first moved to Pflugerville the pop was a bit over 7K and I loved living there and watched it change over the years and just become another bedroom community to Austin.

I'm now living where there's less traffic, less people and a lot less taxes. The people are just as friendly, the BBQ just as good (different though) and I got the beach to boot !

I relocated to the South Carolina coast once I retired.

Maybe I haven't gotten there yet.

[Need4Camaro]

Like I've stated in other posts, my biggest worry about Austin is how or even if it will address its infrastructure as it continues to grow.

Admittedly as much as I like Austin, DFW and Houston are just lightyears more functional it seems. Austin in some ways reminds me of Atlanta in terms of its issues (but not its vibe or atmosphere). Decent mix between nature and urban, Great schools, explosive developments with poor planning, weak infrastructure, poor transit. Guess I had it coming.

Originally Posted by TMSRetired

I disagree. Lived in the area from 1996-2018. The people (too many), the traffic, the taxes eventually push you to the limit. When I first moved to Pflugerville the pop was a bit over 7K and I loved living there and watched it change over the years and just become another bedroom community to Austin.

I'm now living where there's less traffic, less people and a lot less taxes. The people are just as friendly, the BBQ just as good (different though) and I got the beach to boot !

I relocated to the South Carolina coast once I retired.

Hilton Head Island by any chance?

[cBach]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Like I've stated in other posts, my biggest worry about Austin is how or even if it will address its infrastructure as it continues to grow.

Admittedly as much as I like Austin, DFW and Houston are just lightyears more functional it seems. Austin in some ways reminds me alot of Atlanta in terms of its issues (but not its vibe). Great schools, poor planning, no infrastructure or decent transit. Guess I had it coming.



Hilton Head Island by any chance?

It won't do anything, if history repeats itself.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by cBach

It won't do anything, if history repeats itself.

From what I've always understood, the city purposefully neglected infrastructure in hopes more people wouldnt come here but they came anyway then projects broke out in efforts to relieve extremely congested arteries, such as the conversion of U.S. 183 to freeway standards, the construction of tollroads, and the toll lane on MoPac and are basically trying to play 'catchup' so to speak with infrastructural demands.

I guess what I'm hoping is that they have gotten over the 'if we dont build it they wont come' fad and start planning out for more development as it arrives.

Something that does kind of confuse me though is if they didn't want people to move here, why did they invite all the high end companies seen here?

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by Newguy981

Whats living in austin tx like pros and cons or is it over hyped

Depends on what you're hoping to get out of it. What are you looking for in a city like Austin?

[m1a1mg]

Originally Posted by TMSRetired

I'm now living where there's less traffic, less people and a lot less taxes. The people are just as friendly, the BBQ just as good (different though) and I got the beach to boot !

I relocated to the South Carolina coast once I retired.

Heading home to the SC coast myself in 12-18 months. YEAH!!!

[TMSRetired]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Like I've stated in other posts, my biggest worry about Austin is how or even if it will address its infrastructure as it continues to grow.

Admittedly as much as I like Austin, DFW and Houston are just lightyears more functional it seems. Austin in some ways reminds me of Atlanta in terms of its issues (but not its vibe or atmosphere). Decent mix between nature and urban, Great schools, explosive developments with poor planning, weak infrastructure, poor transit. Guess I had it coming.



Hilton Head Island by any chance?

North Myrtle Beach