Exactly, road infrastructure in Austin is really bad. There is no good way to get downtown at all and every mobility project idea these days either gets cancelled for being too expensive to implement or not realistic at all.
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Have the option to move to either Austin or Houston TX. Need advice.
- Thread starter Anacaona
- Start date
I grew up in Iowa and I actually don't find Austin to be all that much hotter. It's just that it lasts longer - Iowas hottest month goes on for 3 or 4 months in Austin.
No lies detected.
It's 100% true.
Don't you live up north in the Montgomery County area? Don't know if that's really Houston at that point. I say this as someone who lives in the same area
San Antonio probably has better traffic but it is getting worse faster.
San Antonio is muuuuuuch smaller in area than Houston so the sprawl is not near as bad.
San Antonio has less night life and fewer centralized places. Austin has 6th street and 4th street and rainy street.
San Antonio downtown is far more tourist oriented than Austin. Austin downtown is better for locals.
San Antonio has an NBA team.
Houston has all sports.
Austin has college football and low attendance college basketball.
Like 95% of San Antonio restaurants make their own tortillas. Austin restaurants use packaged tortillas and think nothing of it.
Amazing city with a ton of really interesting history (there's a whole trail of missions you can visit and they're in all sorts of states that are different from the Alamo). The culinary scene is amazing, I long for these tortas I had while living there and every small Mexican restaurant is great. Just avoid the crazy tourist trap stuff like the riverwalk and six flags and Ripelys believe it or not (unless you want to go lol). And while lacking in a lot of the trendiness of office or really Houston, there's a really cool area called the Pearl district with upscale dining.
Also best breakfast tacos are in San Antonio. Austin is high on its own farts and I'm originally from there.
Unlike Austin there's quite a bit of diversity, it's truly where the Tex meets the Mex. Housing is much cheaper compared to Austin and sprawl is much more tolerable compared to Houston. Lots of fun stuff to do, albeit a bit touristy. It's the most underrated big city of Texas and I really want to move there before all the rich dudes who buy houses with cash in hand head on over.
I should probably clarify that I have a very low budget for housing, which is why I'm not joining the chorus on the cost of living. I'm sure it's much better in Houston. I think my opinion is skewed by being broke.
I was gonna give a snarky comment about tacos but you know, I'm with you on this.
Sorry, what year is it?
Austin hasn't been a "college town" since the 90s.
I can accept any criticism about Houston but some of the responses saying the food is worse than Austin are dick-bendingly absurd. If you love kitsch, pallid gastropubs that will charge you $30 for a burger and shoestring fries run by a bearded, flannel wearing fuck youll love the food in Austin.
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i consider it between 4-6 in houston.
but i also advocate live near where you work, or work remotely.
you're just still mad you got your ass beat in houston one time. :D
seriously, if you have to go from either side of downtown austin to the other side, you're totally fucked.
lol at people saying you need to evacuate from houston. We've never evacuated for ike or harvey, which were like 10 years apart.
and lol at the "weather is nicer" in austin as if it doesnt get 100+ degrees there too.
and final lol at software dev having more jobs in austin. MS alone has 2 offices in houston, IBM has 3 or 4. and in general there's more companies to work for in houston. Not everyone gets to be a programmer for FAANG.
actually i dont know why im saying houston, under no circumstances should you come to houston, go to austin, we have too many out of staters moving to houston.
Also, the traffic in Austin isn't better/worse than any other major metropolitan area I've lived in. *shrugs*
Houston pluses: Major sports, big concerts, art galleries and museums, amazing food, nice nightlife.
Houston negatives: Traffic is nightmarish, in non covid times, disaster prone, fairly easygoing, but not as easygoing as Austin.
Austin pluses: Movie and music scene, a bit more quiet, lots to do in the surrounding areas, good food.
Austin negatives: More expensive, traffic is still bad, festivals are a blessing and a curse.
Houston negatives: Traffic is nightmarish, in non covid times, disaster prone, fairly easygoing, but not as easygoing as Austin.
Austin pluses: Movie and music scene, a bit more quiet, lots to do in the surrounding areas, good food.
Austin negatives: More expensive, traffic is still bad, festivals are a blessing and a curse.
I said it was great if you're in college, as in if you are young. I am not, and it's insufferable to me now. It's an entire city so of course it has something for everyone. But in general, it's great for younger people.
the fact that you're going to restaurants for your breakfast tacos is already a fail bruh. there's like a half a dozen taco trucks here in austin that make some killer breaky tacos. unless you've hit them up, that's a mighty bold statement to make
I'm 38 and Austin is fantastic. Outdoor activities are far better than any other Texas city and it has a ton of James Beard award-winning and nominated chefs. It's not just a town for people in their 20s.
Semantics :P
Anytime someone says they're moving to Houston, I automatically assume the surrounding suburbs
San Antonio has the same but also has restaurants that make amazing breakfast tacos. I'll take any Taqueria Jalisco in San Antonio over anything in Austin.
I think so too. There are plenty of reasons I don't like Austin but I don't find the traffic to be particularly bad.
I am including taco trucks. But I don't want to always eat at a taco truck.
Every big city except Dallas-Fort Worth (heavy emphasis on the Fort Worth) is pretty chill and normal by American standards.
Based on your career I'd say Austin.
It's way more valuable to be near the tech industry. Tech industry in Houston is dead or decades-old software in Oil & Gas.
I'm sure Austin ERA can help you find a neighborhood that fits your budget.
It's way more valuable to be near the tech industry. Tech industry in Houston is dead or decades-old software in Oil & Gas.
I'm sure Austin ERA can help you find a neighborhood that fits your budget.
Yeah as a Houstonian I gotta say go with Austin. Climate change is fucking us over real hard now and its only going to get worse. As much as I love this city its just becoming more and more prone to horrible storms every year. After Hurricane Season I always find myself thinking "Man, I need to get the fuck away from the coast."
Always hard to suggest me without knowing more about the OP (if you're not an outdoor person, Houston is fine) but probably Austin based on profession.
Traffic is atrocious in both, food is far better in Houston.
Whomever mentioned Galveston/the beach, ignore. That place sucks and offers no benefit in terms of living in Houston.
Traffic is atrocious in both, food is far better in Houston.
Whomever mentioned Galveston/the beach, ignore. That place sucks and offers no benefit in terms of living in Houston.
I think that's the thing. Austin isn't a major metro. It's mid-size at best. Which is fine. But their infrastructure is shameful in relation to their size.
The food in Houston is amazing, but after living there for a very long time I had to get out. I couldn't enjoy outside because it's a damn swamp (I give up on mosquitoes) and dealing with the seemingly regular natural disasters really started to wear on me. Austin is getting out of hand in terms of traffic, expenses, and gentrification, but it provides plenty to do. In my heart I'm still pro-Houston despite everything, but Austin might be up your alley if you can afford it. To be fair, living in the best parts of Houston (in the loop) kinda defeats the affordability arguments (it's a different ballgame) but last I checked the best parts of Austin are still worse.
But the damn food in Houston. That I will always miss.
But the damn food in Houston. That I will always miss.
Austin is more laid back but the infrastructure is terrible. It has fun places to visit and has a nice outdoors vibe.
Houston has better infrastructure but more traffic and sprawl. There's way more culture and places to eat. Adding in there's a lot more humidity and mosquitoes here so stay away from Houston if that's not your thing.
Guess it depends what you're looking for, how's your commute going to be, and how much you want to venture out. Either city is great in their own way but you can also make weekend trips to either one.
Houston has better infrastructure but more traffic and sprawl. There's way more culture and places to eat. Adding in there's a lot more humidity and mosquitoes here so stay away from Houston if that's not your thing.
Guess it depends what you're looking for, how's your commute going to be, and how much you want to venture out. Either city is great in their own way but you can also make weekend trips to either one.
This is exactly me as well. Living in Houston, attended UT for 5 years. And I agree, Austin is fun to visit but Houston is much better to live imo
San Marcos is awesome and near Austin. Lived north of Houston for 5 years and the sprawl is insane.
Got exxon Mobil world headquarters there too.
It's way nicer weather wise in Central Texas. But Austin is getting so built up and expensive. If you don't mind a commute go to Austin
Got exxon Mobil world headquarters there too.
It's way nicer weather wise in Central Texas. But Austin is getting so built up and expensive. If you don't mind a commute go to Austin
I think it depends on what you are looking for. Austin definitely has the better weather, but Houston is the much bigger, more metropolitan and international city.
Reading about how Austin has better food is kinda hilarious considering that they don't have much to offer. Houston tons of new restaurants popping up along with more food courts becoming more common. I mean, you have options here in Houston when it comes to food.
The downside is traffic, rush hour starts at 3 PM and can last as long as 7 PM, and if there's an accident, fucking forget it. I mean, it's not bad like LA traffic, but you can get stuck for an extra hour on your commute.
One thing to note is that Houston is prone to flooding and I think it's getting worse by the year. It's something that you're gonna have to research and ask your neighbors about because it's something you want to keep in mind when it rains hard.
Hurricanes are also a thing and you will need to evacuate if you're in certain zip codes. These are usually a lot closer to the coast or near bayous, if you're not in any of those, you'll most likely be fine, but then you might have to worry about flooding like I mentioned before.
I live in the Austin area while my brother lives in the Houston area, and I recommend Austin northern burbs.
There's a lot of reasons:
There's a lot of reasons:
- Austin is gradually becoming one of the leading cities for Software Engineering.
- Less severe weather (flooding, hurricanes, even tornadoes very rarely are beyond cat 1)
- No impact from rising sea levels
- Way less mosquitoes
- Far enough east that when fresh water becomes scarce we can build more reservoirs and pipelines from Miss. No surprise massive increase cost of living that So Cal and Az are going through gradually.
- Austin economy is nearly entirely forward looking, whereas Houston has large swaths of land that will be urban wastelands as the world slowly moves away from oil and plastics
- No city in Texas has everything, and Austin can easily reach all major ones except for El Paso. Touring performing arts? If it's not in Austin, San Antonio is < 90 minutes away on weekends.
- Better politics
- See segregation
- Culturally not a hint of the "old south". East Texas stinks of it.
- Don't get me wrong, plenty of MAGA people in rural areas, but still far less. There's a historical reason for this - the rural counties of central Texas were settled by liberal white people. Failed liberal German revolution of the mid 1800s led to mass exodus of liberal Germans. They didn't participate in the Civil War because they thought slavery was immoral, for example.
- Houston zoning doesn't exist. Not like Austin is great and it has growth issues with there only being north/south highways and lacking on east/west
- Mitigate this by getting housing within a minute of a toll road in the northern burbs. You can reach most of the city within 15 minutes on weekends.
- Less diverse than Houston, but less segregated. Suburbs like Pflugerville are fairly diverse, there's not really the white flight effect and highly segregated neighborhoods that Houston has.
- About the same distance from good beaches as Houston (South Padre through Corpus)
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San antonio is blue as fuck and super diverse. please don't ever try to lump us in as the rest of texas.
Fact that you think taco trucks makes a difference in this argument is laughable. San Antonio is literally full of hundreds of hole in the wall Mexican restaurants that s*** on everywhere else in the Texas when it comes to tacos and Mexican food. San Antonio is fucking boring but you ain't touching us when it comes to Mexican food. Why you think we all fat and shit?
As someone who lives in Houston most of the year, my advice is if you can afford Austin move there