South Austin vs North Austin (Round Rock, Spring: house prices, neighborhoods, public schools)

[jobert]

Originally Posted by lina2401

how about safety?

https://www.city-data.com/forum/18219735-post1.html

[CptnRn]

It is a shame that the North Austin versus South Austin across-the-river tug of war has not continued to be an annual event.

South Austin Secede! - Features - The Austin Chronicle

The Jerk Off
The apex of the North-South Austin jousting surfaced in 1987 with the city's first Tug of Honor, a tug of war between the two sides over Town Lake that some remember as the "City-Wide Jerk Off." The concept was the brainchild of Charlie Gandy, a former state representative who recently made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic U.S. Senate race.
Gandy's idea for a tug of war took off with incredible success and fanfare for three years, then was dropped after it fulfilled its purpose of raising funds for the Austin Youth Hostel. Hundreds of participants lined the Town Lake banks, where barbecue and beer was served on the south and quiche and wine coolers on the north. Of course, the burly Bennett was there and outfitted his family with T-shirts that said, "I'm Bubba," "I'm Bubba's wife," "I'm Bubba's kid," and "I'm Bubba's other kid."

[hlk]

Originally Posted by lina2401

how about safety?

There are lots of perfectly safe neighborhoods both north and south. East is known for having more crime than west.

[musikguy]

There may be some that disagree, but for the most part I don't find any part of Austin 'unsafe'. Sure there are areas that have more questionable things going on (12th and Chicon for example) but I live a mile from that area and I feel completely safe.
Plus, north austin and south austin cover so much area that you can find (relatively) safe and unsafe areas in both.

I've been here 16 years and have lived all over the city. To simplify it to a base level: north austin is a little more business and family oriented and south austin is more hippy/cool. That being said, I can find areas of both that remind me of the other.

Hope that helps. If you want to be 'where the kids hang out' start in south austin and figure it out from there!

Tony

[pjoseph2]

Love the fact that people look you in the eye and smile. Mostly in South and Central Austin.

[sinking]

Originally Posted by pjoseph2

Love the fact that people look you in the eye and smile. Mostly in South and Central Austin.

That would creep me out.

[infoseeker2010]

As others have said it totally depends on where you work. If you take river as the dividing line, you don't wanna cross the line for daily commute. Traffic congestion in Austin is one of the worst and downtown congestion tops all Austin congestions. Commute considerations out weigh all other pros and cons(not many) of North vs South.

I have lived in both, following are some differences I can point out
1) North has higher concentration of high paying hi-tech companies.
2) North has more number of rich and affluent neighborhoods.
3) Number of excellent/good schools are more in North. RRISD and LISD are somewhat close/comparable to EISD. AISD (South) varies a lot from school to school.
4) North has 2 Alamo Drafthouse (I am not counting ones on E 6th Street and S Lamar) whereas till now there were none in south. One is being built near Slaughter and Mopac. North has one each Main Event & Dave n Busters, South has none. North has Arboretum. F1 is scheduled to open in south.
5) Having living in both North and South, North apparently looks more conservative and less diverse than South. Again that is my observation. Not based on any facts/numbers/reports.
6) In North, if you want a new construction house in a good school district you will be quite far from downtown. And you can never trust traffic on Mopac/I-35 even on weekends.
7) Living in North you will be further far from ABIA, San Antonio but closer to Dallas.

I work south of river hence live in southwest. But if my company were located in North or right in middle of Austin, I would prefer North.

[jobert]

Yes.. the size comparison is most important. North Austin is about twice the size of South Austin. The north Austin metro is about 3-4X as large as the south Austin metro. I find this a plus, as I can live half the distance to downtown for the same price as opposed to up north.

[migol84]

when I think of North vs South.... I think of Rutland, Rundberg, Braker (north) vs William Cannon, Stassney, Slaughter (south). Both areas are not my neck of the woods. I'd prefer it be more central.... the closer you get, the better it gets.

[jobert]

Originally Posted by migol84

when I think of North vs South.... I think of Rutland, Rundberg, Braker (north) vs William Cannon, Stassney, Slaughter (south). Both areas are not my neck of the woods. I'd prefer it be more central.... the closer you get, the better it gets.

Very true. What the both sides have in common is the similar "belt" of rundown neighborhoods. On the southside - once you get south of Ben White, the area gets sketchy, and the houses become rundown. Once you get south of Slaughter, the crime drops off dramatically, and the houses are newer, nicer and more expensive. The same thing happens on the northside - once you go north of Koenig, the area becomes more run down with more crime until you reach Parmer lane.

There are 3 distinct layers to both north and south Austin in this regard: the uber-expensive central neighborhoods with historic homes, tear downs, and new modern construction, then the run-down middle belt built in the 60-70's, then the cookie cutter suburbia on the outer layer. Not to knock anyone living in these middle burbs, some areas within them are nice, like Allandale, Brentwood, Cherry Creek, and Sunset Valley..but the majority is rather rundown and waiting for gentrification. Some of these areas on the fringe of central Austin will gentrify more quickly IMO.