Sac Vs. Dallas/Austin (San Antonio, Spring: real estate, crime, new house)

[sacbuyertobe]

Hi All,
I was wondering if anybody can comment on which area is better for young family: Sac or Dallas/Austin based on these criteria (Not in particular order).

1. Cost of Living
2. IT Job Market
3. Diversity
4. Food Quality, Diversity, Authenticity (Not chain restraurant).
5. Entertainment
6. Safety
7. Weather

So far, we are tilted towards Dallas/Austin area as cost of living sounds like cheaper than here (I have not done thorough research, but have few friends who made the move or heard/read about it). Anybody kindly comment on this? I will appreciate it. Thanx

[austifornian]

If you like Sacramento, you will feel right at home in Austin. The cities are strikingly similar. State Capitols located in the center of the state, a couple of hours from major cities, 3.5 hours to the beach, with a similar mix of people that you will be used to.

[jsquared]

I just moved to Austin from Sacramento area. Lived in Sacramento for 9 years and thought it was the MOST boring unfriendly place I have ever lived (if you exclude surrounding areas such as Lake Tahoe). Love Austin and would NEVER consider moving back to Sac. Both of our grown children relocated to Austin and greatly prefer it to Sacramento.

[tashina]

1-5 are going to be better in North Dallas where I live. (I'm from San Diego) Sacramento is okay but a bit boring as was Austin IMO. I don't expect much agreement on the Austin board.

I think #6 is about the same in Austin and North Dallas (central Dallas would be lower). Weather is supposed to be somewhat worse here, but there are hail storms in both places. Tornado chances are that you'll be hit directly about once every 16,000 years in Austin, and once in 9,000 years in Dallas so I don't worry about it too much.

My recommendation is to visit Austin and North Dallas both before you make a decision. We had to come to Austin first for job reasons, but if I could have visited both first, I would have picked North Dallas hands down. Love it here.

[mikejj2004]

I lived in Sacramento growing up, regretably. But what can you do, it was my parents poor decision to live there and I left to Dallas at age 20. Sacramento is a total wasteland, it rides the coatails of a truly great state but has nothing that makes that state great. No beach, no technology companies, no entertainment companies, no scenery and no smart world class educated people. Sacramento is the inland-empire of the bay area. If I could do it over, I would move out at age 16. I now live in Austin where my parents bought a large house. Both Austin and Dallas waste Sacramento however which choice is better for you depends largely on who you are. Dallas is a big sprawling business center with corporate hqs all over and tons of office buildings, industrial areas and shopping centers. It has a major crime problem and is the most dangerous large city in America and is also very conservative while Austin is a smaller more ilberal and safe university/state capital with a large technology industry.

[sacbuyertobe]

Originally Posted by mikejj2004

I lived in Sacramento growing up, regretably. But what can you do, it was my parents poor decision to live there and I left to Dallas at age 20. Sacramento is a total wasteland, it rides the coatails of a truly great state but has nothing that makes that state great. No beach, no technology companies, no entertainment companies, no scenery and no smart world class educated people. Sacramento is the inland-empire of the bay area. If I could do it over, I would move out at age 16. I now live in Austin where my parents bought a large house. Both Austin and Dallas waste Sacramento however which choice is better for you depends largely on who you are. Dallas is a big sprawling business center with corporate hqs all over and tons of office buildings, industrial areas and shopping centers. It has a major crime problem and is the most dangerous large city in America and is also very conservative while Austin is a smaller more ilberal and safe university/state capital with a large technology industry.

That is exactly how we feel living in Sacramento. We always the problem of "what do we do this weekend?" or "where do we eat"? I can understand that sacramento is not like LA or SF, but with living expenses this high, I cannot justify such a high cost of living here. I initially feel I am always going to be californian, but after doing a (preliminary) research, I am now a converted. I feel living in Sac is like living in a country side of really good state (i.e. CA), not much going on. I would rather live in the good side of an "OK" state like TX where more jobs and amenities with LOWER cost of living.


Can you tell me which areas of Austin that equivalent of Placer county (i.e. roseville, rocklin, granite bay, lincoln): upscale with new houses, safe?


Thank you!

[mikejj2004]

I woulden't be very good at that advice since I just live in my parents house, its in south austin which is nice but by no means upscale. We actually live in a large new house that is in an older area. Southwest Austin is more upscale and new, the really nice houses are in the hills west of downtown going towards the lake. I hear Sac real estate has crashed but you should still be able to get a very nice large upscale house here for less than the price of a starter house in Sacramento.

[bitchen]

Sacramento and Austin look similar, but Austin is fun.

[austifornian]

If you want SF/LA then you are going to have to go to DFW/HOU for that level of amenity, you won't find it here. There is a lot going on but not a lot more than what you will find in SAC (music would be the big difference). The areas that you talk about would be roughly equal to, Roseville=Roundrock Rocklin=Georgetown, Granite Bay=Lakeway, El Dorado Hills=Dripping Springs. These are all to the North and West of Austin.

I think if you figure out all of your costs you might not find as big of a difference in the cost of living between SAC and AUS. Austin is one of the higher priced markets in TX and Sacramento is a medium priced CA market. If reducing your costs is your ultimate goal you might want to check out DFW and San Antonio also.