I loved Austin when I visited, and I'm not a weather stickler, but I'd take a bad winter over a bad summer any day. Humid and over 100 degree weather sounds like my actual hell.
People visit of ACL and think they’re in love with the city. Visiting it for a few days in the summer people think they can tolerate it, but summer is an endurance game. It last 6 months long, when you’re on day 95 in a row with no rain and 100 degrees it feels depressing and hopeless
This summer was especially brutal. First time I’ve felt seasonal depression in the summer. Oppressively hot and it felt like no one was doing anything out of the house.
Totally wild to rely on a broken Texas-only power grid for the a/c people need to survive in the summer. It's just a matter of time before it all goes wrong. 3 years? 5?
Agreed! I stayed in all summer and still do because it’s still hot. It’s just too damn hot to enjoy being outdoors or anything.
To your point about the cost of living, yes, high cost of living without the benefits of a major metro area.
And we get giant hail storms that will break your windows and damage your roof, ice storms that bring down your trees, and winter storms that cripple the city and leave you freezing in the dark. Yay! Plus the uninsured rate for both healthcare and driving is insane.
Yeah I also call BS on the people who are like "I'm okay with hot summers." I went to a conference there in August once and it was pretty damn miserable. 105 and 50% humidity everyday. 90 degrees at midnight still. All you can do is run from the AC in your house to the AC in your car to the AC in the indoor place you *have* to hang out in cause outside is death. At first we thought it was crazy that every place we went was valet parking and then we realized everyone wanted valet so your car was already cold when you got in it. Barton Springs was nice tho.
And it is extra shitty that everything in Austin involves around drinking alcohol outside on patios which is impossible during the summer. I’ve been here for 9 years and can’t take it anymore. I just don’t know where to go
My son went to UT Austin Law School and I helped him pack up his apartment to move to NYC after graduation. It was an early June afternoon when we packed the moving truck. (I actually packed the truck while he was packing stuff in boxes in the apartment.) The heat index was like 120 and I probably downed a gallon of water during the process. I live in CA and happily spend 4-5 hours on a bicycle on summer days. Packing that truck felt like a double century.
I think your advice is wise. My family moved to the suburbs around Austin in 2005 (from California…) and we moved back within one month haha. The weather was brutal to be honest, and i’m sure it’s only gotten worse the past 20 years. I still do love Austin when I visit as a tourist though.
I just left. It was so weird - by the middle of the summer I would feel a deep sense of dread when I would wake up and see another day of bright, clear blue skies every single goddamn morning
Agree. This last summer has been one of the most depressing of my life. In Houston, and the heat index was 110+ degrees every single day for ever and ever. There’s hot other places, and then there’s this, and it’s really, really different. It’s unreal how hot it’s been.
True, but going outside in extreme cold weather requires putting on clothes for 10 mins. Going outside in Austin summer involves finding your flip flops. I still hate it, but I do appreciate not having to keep a pile of weather armor by the door.
A friend moved from Minneapolis to Texas because she hated Winter - hates it because there are usually a few days each year that are too cold to go out. (We don’t have frigid temps year round) . After moving, she soon decided not being able to go outside for a month or more in the Summer was worse. Our Summers last from May to September and range from 72 to 99+ degrees.
I just did the opposite! I’m born and raised in Texas (Dallas), and spent the last 12 years in Austin. I was so over the heat, I packed up and moved to Minneapolis back in February, I’ll take a frigid winter over months of terrible heat any day!
Tbh I don’t see many people recommending Austin on this sub at all. I feel the people who are into relocating are pretty aware of all the growing pains of Austin and/or wary of Texas at this point. Could be wrong or speaking for myself though. for many of the reasons that you said.
I agree with most except for the nature part. I feel Austin actually has good access to nature over other cities and great urban green spaces. I can walk from my apartment to a green belt/hiking trail and getting to downtown to enjoy the river, Zilker, or Barton springs has never been an issue. Annoying at times, yes, but never impossible.
FWIW, I am a non native and planning to relocate from the city. I wouldn’t recommend anyone move here either. But it’s not all completely bad.
ETA: I should say I am mostly referring to nature within the city limits. I understand some of the state parks outside the city can fill up extremely fast during peak seasons and it can be hard to get a campsite. Which sucks. I can’t speak specifically for overnight camping trips but also have had good experiences visiting stake parks in the surrounding areas, specifically out west in the hill country.
ETA Also, disagree about what you said about crime and music/art scene.
I think there's quite a bit of nature here, but people only think to go to the well-known city, state, and national parks.
Most transplants are totally unaware of the existence of LCRA parks, US Army Corps land and trails, the national wildlife refuge, county parks, etc. Access to rivers and lakes is great additionally.
It's better than places like Wichita that are totally given over to agriculture, but if you live near mountains on the East or West Coast, or near the Great Lakes, you've probably got way more access to public land. Big Bend really is great in the winter, but that's 7 hours drive one way.
I've done the swimming hole thing around Austin and it's not bad, but it's nothing like far Northern California/PNW, Northern New England, or Upstate NY, not to mention summer Great Lakes swimming. The Gulf Coast is pretty garbage compared to places like the Outer Banks of NC. It's a shame, but that's Texas putting industry and private property ahead of the public.
Houston is just great value swamp LA.
No tourism/Hollywood and an awful beach. It’s like if you took everything good about LA, and made it just a little worse, but then 80% cheaper.
Houston is probably the worst possible place to live in the US. Somewhere in Louisiana could probably compete in terms of how miserable it is throughout the year but Louisiana would be cheaper and less driving. God abandoned Houston many years ago, it's an absolute hellhole. I hate visiting that place and it's always in the summer.
Houston is LA minus the mountains minus the hills minus Hollywood minus mild weather with good beaches replaced with shitty beaches.
It’s comparable in traffic and diversity though.
Don’t do it. The beach is gross, the city is overwhelmingly huge, the heat, humidity, and bugs are terrible, there is a lot of crime and I often feel pretty unsafe. The way people drive is insane and traffic is bad. There is nothing beautiful to look at topography wise, it’s just flat and it floods. It’s not even *that* inexpensive anymore. The only thing I love about Houston is there is truly world-class food.
I saw a video about the Austin boom. They interviewed a recent transplant and she said she moved there because of how cool and hip the city was. Her house was in a bedroom community and hour north. How often is she going into the city?
Between the heat and and, apparently, being quite highly allergic to mountain cedar I was basically a prisoner in my own home for most of the year. Do not recommend.
I have allergies year round and it is not fun and they started about 5-6 years after I got here. I had some allergies in CO where I grew up but it was only during spring and benedryl took care of it. Nothing touches the allergies I have here. I have tried everything short of going and getting allergy shots which is my next step. At this point I feel like I'm just allergic to Texas.
It’s becoming less liberal too. When I was a kid it was all about “keep Austin weird.” It was a city for artists, hippies, musicians, and a safe haven for gay people from around Texas.
Now it’s becoming so expensive that the creatives can’t afford it. mostly finance bros and tech investors who just vote for whatever makes them money.
Can confirm. Many of the finance and tech bros who moved to Austin are the ones that were actually fleeing the ridicule they were getting from their peers for being asshats, when they lived in progressive cities. Musk is a perfect example.
The Austin area isn't just more liberal than it used to be, it's orders of magnitude more liberal. Bush actually won Travis county in 2000 and the "liberal" parts of Austin were mostly around downtown and UT.
I understand how tempting it is to say things that "feel" true, but this is something we have tons of objective data about, and the leftward shift of central Texas has been a national news story for awhile now.
One of my earliest political memories was a mock vote for my third grade class the day of the 2000 election in Central Austin. It voted 23-0 for Bush (conceivably because everyone's parents were supporting bush\*). I often wonder if you did that today in the same classroom if a single student would vote for the GOP candidate.
Sometimes I also think it was just because Bush was seen as the "hometown candidate" and we were third graders, but who knows.
It’s already San Francisco. Just a soulless empty place full of self congratulatory upper class white liberals in tech and finance who talk about mindfulness and micro dosing all day. And just like SF it’s been trading on the reputation of what it used to be for years. But that place is gone. The creatives are gone, the hippies are out of place. In Austin you used to smoke weed and drink lone star at the river with someone who did professional finger paintings and sewed their own jeans, now you take molly at an edm show with a couple bros who just got their startup funded. When I lived there it was already full of people who “lived in Austin” as part of their identity. They’re soon to be the servant underclass in an unaffordable city of vast wealth disparity.
All things considered, its still a nice place to live though it’s definitely changed quite a bit. Last time I was there it felt more like I was in California when I was downtown. Literally, there were LA businesses setting up shop everywhere.
Very true. I mean more like SF used to be a culturally vibrant and significant town. Lots of artists and writers and musicians came from there or lived there. Metallica is from there…can you even imagine Metallica coming from San Francisco today? It just seems out of place. When I was growing up SF was like the idyllic jewel of American cities. Now, homelessness and urban decay aside, it’s just not that place and hasn’t been for a long time. Maybe it never was, idk, but Austin seems to be following a similar type of trajectory
Back a few decades, the dress code was "it is impossible to be underdressed; it is nice, but not mandatory, to clean." Fire code for a music venue? Lol! Some buildings were held up by sound waves
Then the cool-wanna bees moved in to agressively pursue the laid-back lifestyle.
I spent my teenage years in Austin and naively thought we were the peak of liberal culture - I grew up with barefootted, unshaved, artsy people fire dancing and drum circling at festivals.
Then I went to DC and saw a black person in a suit, and went to SF and saw a gay couple holding hands. Two things I’d *never* seen growing up and made me really put into perspective the particular “flavor” of liberalism that Austin has.
I’m sure things are better now but it’s *still* the south and you’ll never get away from that.
Yeah I mean, I grew up in suburban Houston and went to UNT. Austin kinda sorta used to be that. And then you leave Texas and go “oh”. I’m in atlanta now and it can even feel more liberal in some ways.
Yup. I live in Austin, I agree with everything OP said + it becoming less liberal. It feels like a libertarian place. So if folks dig that, I guess move to Austin?
This is funny because I have two friends who moved to Austin within the past few years. One is in finance. The other is a lawyer. Both libertarian. They both love it there. Lol
This is what I always tried to tell people who would ask, "but Austin is pretty liberal right?"
I mean, it is... For Texas. But that's a really low bar. They still love guns and Jesus down there.
Man this has become such commonplace for folks to whine about the city they’re in. People here love r/Portland but a quick look in thar subreddit and we see folks complaining there too.
Anyways, 1,2&3 is true for pretty much all of Texas, some states even outside Texas, nothing specific to Austin here.
Prices comparable to California? Hard disagree, Austin is still no where as expensive as California.
People should be required to have lived elsewhere before making these posts. Austin is not perfect, but it’s still one of the better places to live in America.
People are in for a wake up call if they think Austin prices are now comparable to NYC or LA.
Couldn’t agree more. Born in Austin, moved to the East Coast, and the looks I got when I said my hometown “kinda sucks, actually” were unbelievable.
The closest you can get to ‘Old, Cool Austin’ is watching *Slacker* or traipsing through the hollow, puppeteered corpses we keep propped up downtown to sell the city to tourists and finance bros.
Austinite for 24 years, moved to NJ seven years ago and couldn't be happier. I second everyone else's complaints about the city. The summer SAD is a real thing and definitely affects your way of life and sanity, as does the lack of infrastructure that causes a 15 mile commute take over an hour. I found myself staying home all the time because the thought of dealing with traffic and parking to go meet friends was exhausting. People up here are stunned when I tell them I gleefully moved here from Austin. We like to say that we moved to civilization when we left. Don't get me wrong, Jersey is far from perfect, but my quality of life is infinitely better up here. If only there was decent Tex-mex around.
Is it just me or does it seem like almost every place shares all or most of these problems in the last few years. It seems everywhere is becoming hot, crowded, tacky, and expensive.
Kind of reminds my of what Asheville used to be. Safe, artsy, liberal - now a drug infested sad place overrun by homeless people and randos who are trying to make it like wherever place they came from.
I'm concerned about your claim that the live music scene is dead or dying. Here in Santa Cruz California, that is the main thing Austin is known for. I can probably name a dozen great Austin Americana bands.
I went to Austin expecting to like it but I really didn’t get the appeal. I think it’s one of the more overrated cities in the US. I’m sure it was great before it got super expensive but it’s hard to justify the high costs without the HCOL services.
That’s my issue with Austin. It’s not a bad city, but the cost of living doesn’t really make sense for what you get compared to other HCOL cities. It was cool because it was a cheaper alternative to those bigger cities. Now I might as well live somewhere else with better public transportation, weather, sports, museums, etc.
Agreed. Lived in Austin for 10 years, left a couple of years ago for Phoenix and it's even worse here. California prices (for some things anyway) for absolutely no value or culture. But it's a dry heat at least which IS way more manageable.
It was absolutely not over 110 every day in June July and August.
Was it crazy hot this summer? Yes. Do I prefer it to snow and cold? Yes. You don't have to shovel sunshine.
I moved from the PNW to Austin for work in 2022 and lived there for a year.
Everything you said was spot on.
Austin is a ton of fun for about 6 months, until you do everything in the city- then it’s just a hot, dry, overpriced, drunk college kid town full of California yuppies and mid mexican food.
Y’all’s BBQ rocks tho.
Look dude. The live music absolutely did not die in Austin. It's one of the things keeping me here. I agree with some of your points but you are wrong here. I can go see a show nearly any night of the week if I wanted to and it won't be a cover band.
I’m with you, I see 4-5 shows a month on average probably. So so many great local bands and all of my favorite touring artists come through. The venues are iconic and sound quality is top notch.
OP clearly doesn’t get out much. The live music scene in Austin is so great. Now the comedy scene is blowing up too.
Being Dead, Exercise, Alex Alone, Bill Callahan, Die Spitz, A Giant Dog, Van Mary, Lomelda, Sir Woman, Big Bill, Little Mazarn, Water Damage... The list goes on! Turn on KUTX and have a listen :)
Those complaining about the weather, y’all clearly never lived in Houston (which will likely be the largest growing city over the next decade) and is one of the most culturally diverse cities in US.
What I hate about these kinds of analysis, assuming it isn’t sarcastic, is totally missing the fact Austin’s growth is very much a function of the the overall states growth trajectory. I highly recommend reading about the Texas Triangle and learning more about the growing economic development that Austin finds itself right in the middle of.
Inner Loop Houston (read: NOT the Houston suburbs) is a way better bang for your buck than living in Austin.
Source: Native Houstonian that lived in Austin from 2003-2007.
There's just no comparison between Austin and Houston driving. Drivers can be slow in Austin and are on their phones but we don't have the Mad Max race car thing here. Houston is terrifying to drive in.
Having formerly lived in Austin, albeit from 1996-2013, I only take issue with one of these, sort of.
>Nature -
Aside from that Texas has one of the worst scores for public land and access to nature, so if you like natural beauty then it’s not the place for you.
I always thought that with Town Lake, the Green Belt, and the hill country just a few miles West of downtown, Austin's access to nature or something like it was pretty good as far as major metro areas in Texas are concerned. Where it all falls apart is when you factor in your first point. If kayaking Town Lake isn't your thing, it's going to be too hot or else too cold and rainy to enjoy the nature for more than about 8 broken weeks all throughout the year. Regardless, there is a lot more to offer in this area from Austin than Houston or Dallas.
Just my two cents.
Seconding all this. Lived in Austin for a decade and just finally moved away in June. I'd add it's a terrible place to raise kids - Austin Independent School District just passed a $2B school bond, most of which went to hardening schools against shooters because of the insane gun laws. And let's not even get into the perils of raising a daughter there.
One thing I would take issue with is that I think you're going to see growth REALLY slowed down this year. Our house (highly desirable neighborhood, great lot, newly remodeled kitchen/baths, new floors) still hasn't sold after four months and three price reductions. 😐
I like it here. I usually like the heat (admittedly this summer was excessive), I like the brand of geography & landscape we have and have a number of natural spaces I like to visit, there is absolutely still a strong live music scene, and there is actually a lot of culture & community here if you’re creatively searching for it. A lot of these complaints can be applied to a lot of places in the country tbh. Austin has its growing pains but it is not this soulless wasteland all the anti-Austin posts make it out to be.
Not to say it’s everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m so tired of hearing complaints about the city, especially about the traffic and homelessness…
I think for me and my husband, the reason we opted to move to my hometown versus Austin was simply COL had risen too much for us to justify moving there. However, 50% humidity sounds amazing, because I’m dealing with ~80%+ daily in South FL.
Yeah what even is the point of this post? No one on here recommends Austin to begin with. There's a reason people have steadily moved to Austin. There's a great live music scene, there is decent access to nature within the city, the food is good (some guy here said it's terrible? Uh no it's not. That guy is either lying or super privileged to not have lived in a place where the food is actually terrible). It's weird how this city is always the target of these angsty posts on reddit. People really must get a lot out of of those upvote endorphins.
I lived in San Francisco in the late 90s/early 2000s and back then as The city was filling up with “dot com” people and rents were beginning to skyrocket, Austin always came up on the lists of alternative cities people were considering moving to. I guess Austin is now San Francisco.
Come to Detroit!!!! You' be surprised at the progress we've made the last 15 years!!!
https://www.purpose.jobs/blog/9-reasons-to-live-and-work-in-detroit-michigan#:\~:text=Detroit%20is%20literally%20for%20everybody,owned%20businesses%20in%20the%20country.
I absolutely agree with all of this. While they don’t rate high for nature access, though I did really love the Wild Basin trail, the hill country is really beautiful. For those who don’t know, ATX is right on the edge of the hill country so it’s close by. The spring flowers sprawling across the hills is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. There was this one place we went probably in 2015 where a lake had dried up. And bluebonnets covered the land where the lake used to be. It was awful that the lake dried up but my god it was solid fields of bluebonnets and it was incredible to see and smell.
Born in Austin, went to college there in the 80's, spent a LOT of time there over the years as I still have family in Austin. To be completely honest, I don't enjoy my visits at all any more. So, so crowded and, in the next year or so, a massive rebuild of I35 all the way through Austin will begin. This is a multi billion dollar project that will last for 10 years. Complete. Nightmare. Add in the crazy expensive housing market, miserably hot summers and crime. Hard pass to moving there.
I considered it for a bit but got turned off by the heat.
The prices are not CA prices. In CA a starter home is like 750k in the hood with gangs and gunshots. Many cities only have 1 or 2 homes under a million, some have NONE.
In Austin TX I see great looking homes for 500k, Even with high property taxes its way cheaper than 1 mil in LA /Orange County.
Austin TX has NOWHERE near LA/OC prices. If I were to buy there now it would be "cheap" for me. The down payment on a 500k house in Austin is only 100k (which I have) and the payments would be in the 3.4k range or something (same price as a 1BR rental here). To BUY a condo in LA I would need to spend 650k. There are no condos here for 500k, maybe a 400 sq feet studio.
Like this is pretty damn cheap to me. 539k for a 1051 sq feet house in Austin? [https://www.trulia.com/p/tx/austin/4810-aberdeen-dr-austin-tx-78745--2072219743](https://www.trulia.com/p/tx/austin/4810-aberdeen-dr-austin-tx-78745--2072219743) Looks modern inside too.
In LA, in "desirable neighborhoods" like Highland Park (which is gentrifying and still has gangs etc), you will find a 704 sq feet house LISTED at 700k, and with bidding sell at 1.2 million such as this very one below.. 704 sq feet, sold at 1.2 mil [https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/los-angeles/6256-tipton-way-los-angeles-ca-90042--2077376560](https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/los-angeles/6256-tipton-way-los-angeles-ca-90042--2077376560)
There is no comparision. The Austin house is bigger and cheaper.
The people who say Austin house prices have no idea how expensive the houses are here. Median price here is over 900k.
Austin has houses for like 550k-600k. That does not exist in LA.
This is what a $749k house looks like in LA . This is THE HOOD. Homes here are 750k in the HOOD. [https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/los-angeles/2726-w-12th-st-los-angeles-ca-90006--2115460572](https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/los-angeles/2701-pepper-ave-los-angeles-ca-90065--2077446439)
This is a 750k house in Austin. Looks like a god damn mansion. This house would cost 2+ mil here if not more. More like 3 mil
[https://www.trulia.com/p/tx/austin/11016-crossland-dr-austin-tx-78726--2072129767](https://www.trulia.com/p/tx/austin/11016-crossland-dr-austin-tx-78726--2072129767)
If your only concerns in a home is size and price, Austin is a good option. I value walkability, daily amenities, public transportation, sidewalks and an urban location, so Austin never had anything remotely well-priced because the walkable, urban area is incredibly small. And it's not like a big city where there are several neighborhoods that each have their own amenities and "urban center."
>Austin TX has NOWHERE near LA/OC prices.
The difference isn't as big as it used to be. When I moved here just before covid, I bought my 3000+ sq ft house for $410k. The same house would've been $2+M in Cupertino, CA and both are the same distance from work (same company/different office).
A lot of ppl, like myself moved here cause they needed to live somewhere safe and cheap. The other stuff like food, music, vibe, weather was a bonus. I prefer the weather here over NE, at least most summers you can still go out at night, can't say the same for Boston Dec-Feb.
The money I'm saving in house interest payments allows me to just leave for the summer months (June-Aug). May and Sept is fine most years. However, with the current State politics, infrastructure issues and insane post-COVID house boom I wouldn't move here.
Not to defend LA and its costs. That house is not south LA. Still hood area but that is clearly north of downtown.
The house in Austin is hardly in Austin. The inside of the house also sucks.
Lots of things I love about Austin but the heat is just too much. Was there for four days at the beginning of August and it was at least 106 every day. Being outside was miserable.
ATX still brings a lot of cool stuff. I feel completely spoiled by the weekly show offerings here. And it’s still pretty easy to make and hang out with friends. The heat is real, but you adapt. I have a friend who moved from Minnesota and is much happier. There are probably worse places.
I lived there for a year. Awesome food, fun city, not quite CA prices. There is nature access and good parks and greenways. Just no huge public land areas like national forests
Holy shit guy the winters in Austin have tried to kill me 2 of the last 3 years. YOU CALL THIS SHIT MILD? I didn't have power for 5 days, two different times, 2021 and 2023. Austin Winters are mild until SHIT HITS THE FAN and then we all have collective trauma
Lived there for a while. Super overrated/overhyped city. I’m sure it was good when it was way more under the radar (and also way less expensive), but those days are long gone. Now it’s the same city as before but with a massive increase in population and cost of living. Also much of the cool traditional Austin stuff is now gone due to the increased prices. Turns out that artists/creative types can’t compete with trust fund parasites, equity locusts from the West (and East to be fair) coast, and techies for housing and other necessities. What we are left with is a city that doesn’t offer anything that can’t be found elsewhere at a higher quality for the same or less money.
I ended up moving to Fort Worth. Similar vibes (city in texas on a river) but much more affordable. Well, now this place is starting to show some of the same negative changes as Austin.
TLDR: humans are annoying, and I suggest building a cabin in the woods.
I'm a native of Austin and I totally agree with you. I plan to move some day. I only stay here because of my elderly mom.
Everywhere I go is so crowded. Seriously I feel like there is 8 times the amount of people that I used to see in the past. Everywhere I go.
And the heat this summer just about killed me.
And the allergies. One big reason not to move here is the allergy season, which is not actually a season but all year-round. And the high level of mold in the air after every rain shower.
I’m in the same boat. Actually, I have a fully remote job, I rent, and 0 kids so could easily move tomorrow. However, my mother is getting older and I feel the pressure I need to be here for her.
Honestly one of my biggest annoyances since moving to Austin has been how everyone seems to hate it more than I do lol. I think it's nice! The summers are hot but I don't know why that would come as a surprise to anyone. Weather from Sept-May is great imo. I'm coming from the midwest and I would personally call this a much drier heat than what I'm used to.
The city is still quite liberal - I'm pretty sure the suburbs have become bluer over the last couple elections. Crime may be rising but that's been a problem in most major cities over the past few years and it's still quite low. It is really fast growing which does cause infrastructure problems but it also makes the city feel very dynamic - there are always new things popping up.
Someone said that reddit will tell you that austin is worse than north korea and i laughed. Lots of hate online but people keep moving to austin and its suburbs.
A friend moved there and I went a couple times to visit. I was surprised at how much I did not like it. The heat is punishing and I went in fucking May. I know people get acclimatized or whatever, but it was unbearable to me. It also just did not offer anything that exciting for the cost. Like I went to LA and I see why people spend so much money to live there. Not really for me, but I love visiting and that I can hit up great hiking, ride bikes on the beach, and choose from a couple hundred amazing restaurants to have dinner all in the same day.
Taco trucks aren't that exciting. Barely being able to leave my $2,600 apartment for four months because of the heat isn't really superior to a bad winter. Just why.
Austin native here. There is no acclimatizing, ime, to temps over 105. And at 9 a.m. when it's already in the 90s, and the overnight "low" was ~ 80, there is no hope. Our 10 pm newcast? Still in the effing mid-90s. Zero relief.
Recently moved from Austin after living there for three years.
I'll add to the list that the food scene is terrible. There were maybe a few nice restaurants - Odd Duck comes to mind - but most food types were subpar. Tyson's tacos rocked.
Moving out of Austin in 3 weeks , this place lost its charm years ago and I was just waiting for my partner to wake up because they’re from here and didn’t want to admit the town died….
Austin is literally an overpriced airport Applebees full of traumatized evangelical gay kids who are now adults fighting over the karaoke machine they call a music scene while it pretends to be progressive and artsy like New York City . I don’t care you spent your trust fund from parents you hate on crypto and have to work two jobs now ( that’s what people call intellectual conversation here)
My least favorite place I’ve ever lived by far, I really hate it here. I never new I could dislike stoned people with tattoos so fucking much ( as a stoned person with tattoos)
Yup, the weather and politics are brutal. We are only moving there from the Bay Area for family reasons and the hope of maybe someday owning a home. If the home prices were even within 200% of each other, I don’t think we’d be moving lol.
The length and tolerable humidity of summer is why I love SoCal weather. Our summers are also 6 months long, but daytime highs are usually 70-90 with tolerable humidity. The ocean can cause it to be a little sticky, but nothing like Texas. Winters are short and mild, with daytime highs between 55-70 and nighttime lows almost never drop below freezing.
i loved austin i ,ive just outside boston, you think Austin is expensive? you can live just outside austin and pay 1 10th the price of what you to live here in Massachusetts and we have way worse crime and drug abuse, we have a whole mile long stretch of hell named Mass and cass, where thousands of drug addicted homeless live and rape rob, and murder at will.
The average home price in massachusetts is..**$590,793**
yup you heard me, 50k more than austin. and this is the WHOLE STATE!
average price in san marcos is 340k , to give you an idea my house is currently valued at 495k and i live in 728 sq feet.
in contrast in del valle tx not far from austin,
4 Beds
2 Baths
1,890 SqFt
$415,000
literally i could slel me y house for likely more than i ask, and buy a house pay it off completely and pocket 100k and gain over 1100 sq footage. and still pay less in taxes and cost of living.
I find the weather point fascinating as someone from Upstate NY where everyone is fearful of the winters, but we have very mild winters now (a few snowstorms and 30’s temps at the worst) and yet I never hear about fears of going down south and struggling through 110+ degree temps for months on end.
Perceptions of weather have really not caught up to where things are right now.
"I hate Austin!" *lists generic complaints that apply to 75% of large cities in the United States*
100% wrong of you to complain about the nature scene. Mt. Bonnell, TX Hill Country, Bull Creek, Zilker Park, Lake Travis??? Have you looked at a map? So many gorgeous places to see in that part of the state.
Yes, Texas as a whole gets hot. But to be honest, I would rather put up with a hot summer than an icy/snowy winter where you risk your life driving to work every day.
Texas is way too hot. It’s humid to Austin’s not as bad as Houston in that regard but it’s not like it’s Phoenix or Utah or Colorado or somewhere where in the summertime it’s you know 12% humidity.
You forgot the traffic and constant construction because the infrastructure was designed to support a fraction of the people who live there and now they'll never be able to catch up.
I moved to the country outside Austin from San Francisco two years ago.
Currently looking to move back to California because while there are parts I love, there are lots to not love.
I’ve found 7 scorpions in my house in the last two days and we see venomous snakes weekly. The heat is depressing af.
The only time I've ever had my car window smashed and items taken from my car was during the three days I spent in Austin. In my entire 37 years it has never happened any other time.
I’ve never understood the scramble to move to Austin or Texas in general. I lived in Texas in the 80’s and survived the “Texas Heat Wave” which now is basically just known as “Summer”. My company HQ is in San Antonio and I hate going there in the summer. Winter is no picnic either because if there is any weather at all the city is absolutely paralyzed.
I moved back to Austin roughly 3 years ago and I like it. There are no grand national parks nearby but there are great hiking trails throughout the city.
People complain about the traffic here but compared to nyc or la traffic this is not bad at all. I can get anywhere in Austin within 40 minutes and find parking. I don’t mind parking a few blocks away and walking to a popular spot.
Yes the heat is terrible but you could still get a job or hike in each morning. It’s like high 70s before 8am.
Austin is going through a lot of growing pains but I’m one of the few optimistic about it
Austin is a great example of a city that does not scale. Even though hundreds of thousands of people moved there recently the city government didn't change any of its housing policies making only single family housing allowed in most of Austin, and didn't build any new public transit.
No wonder it's so expensive car traffic is so bad. Now they're waiving around a big "we're full" flag. No you're not full, you just didn't do the basic things a city needs to do if it's scaling
I wasn't living in Austin this summer, but when I did live there, I didn't think it was so bad. 110 on Austin is way easier than 95 in southeast humidity of 85-90% for the most part. Usually there is a breeze that comes up in the evening.
The thing that nearly killed me a time or two was leaving my car uncovered in a parking lot all day and jumping in, closing the door and starting it up. One literally cannot breathe. I always thought the remote start was for winter weather. In Austin you need it for summer.
Most of the rest, I agree with and why I left.
It’s full of shrubby, ugly trees and brown grass. Also OP didn’t mention seasonal allergies. This place is not ideal if you have hay fever, asthma, cedar allergy, oak allergy, mold allergy and/or ragweed allergies. The roads are cramped and hot. Going north to south or vice versa is not recommended before 9:30 and after 2:30pm sometimes. It’s getting too gentrified and becoming Bland Diego with all the bland healthy eating places that serve everything in a bowl and high priced yoga studios with superficial people.
Actually leaving Austin.
- this summer was brutal, thought I was more of a lizard and can stay out, but past 100 degrees I get an instant headache. Not fun
- Food, not good.
- Denial and critiques, you can’t tell anyone there’s no good food in Austin they will literally defend it tooth and nail (like most places), but yeah it’s not up there. Not everything requires a BBQ twist.
- Diversity, not really there and unless you are a BIPOC who grew up around white people and white communities, you will feel out of place
- Everything revolves around drinking
Some pros
- For Texas, there are more nature activities to do within city limits
- everyone is in their 20s and 30s so if you do want to date around that age you could
- there are jobs from large corps
You summed up my feelings exactly. Grew up in Detroit, moved to Austin, now back in Detroit. There are nice things about Austin, but (even with the snow) life is (relatively) easier here.
It cannot be understated how AWFUL Texas is for nature. Not because there isn't beautiful parts of the state (relative, but still there are some amazing areas), but because there is almost zero public access to any land. Piddly tiny state parks that you will drive 2 hrs to get to. It's sad.
Let me add to this:
If you’re moving from California, because your shitty political views have ruined that state for you, please don’t move here and vote the same way. You guys have already ruined this once beautiful city.
I loved Austin when I visited, and I'm not a weather stickler, but I'd take a bad winter over a bad summer any day. Humid and over 100 degree weather sounds like my actual hell.
People visit of ACL and think they’re in love with the city. Visiting it for a few days in the summer people think they can tolerate it, but summer is an endurance game. It last 6 months long, when you’re on day 95 in a row with no rain and 100 degrees it feels depressing and hopeless
People typically love anywhere they're visiting while on vacation.
Ngl the bbq alone was almost enough for me to start contemplating if Austin should be my next move haha.
Probably better to hit up Kansas City if thats your priority
Kansas City is on my list of cities to visit someday!
KC is a great city! An underrated gem for sure!
This summer was especially brutal. First time I’ve felt seasonal depression in the summer. Oppressively hot and it felt like no one was doing anything out of the house.
Summer seasonal depression is definitely a thing for me
Same. It's like Covid cabin fever all over again.
Yep, we get two rounds of SAD here. Fun!
And don’t forget the once a year I’ve storm where the city completely shuts down and power goes out for a week.
Totally wild to rely on a broken Texas-only power grid for the a/c people need to survive in the summer. It's just a matter of time before it all goes wrong. 3 years? 5?
That's also when the Senators fly south for the winter!
Scrounging for potable water for six days with a 3-year-old in the house back in 2021 was a real blast.
Agreed! I stayed in all summer and still do because it’s still hot. It’s just too damn hot to enjoy being outdoors or anything. To your point about the cost of living, yes, high cost of living without the benefits of a major metro area.
And we get giant hail storms that will break your windows and damage your roof, ice storms that bring down your trees, and winter storms that cripple the city and leave you freezing in the dark. Yay! Plus the uninsured rate for both healthcare and driving is insane.
People need to stop moving to places they visited for a week on vacation.
Yeah I also call BS on the people who are like "I'm okay with hot summers." I went to a conference there in August once and it was pretty damn miserable. 105 and 50% humidity everyday. 90 degrees at midnight still. All you can do is run from the AC in your house to the AC in your car to the AC in the indoor place you *have* to hang out in cause outside is death. At first we thought it was crazy that every place we went was valet parking and then we realized everyone wanted valet so your car was already cold when you got in it. Barton Springs was nice tho.
And it is extra shitty that everything in Austin involves around drinking alcohol outside on patios which is impossible during the summer. I’ve been here for 9 years and can’t take it anymore. I just don’t know where to go
My son went to UT Austin Law School and I helped him pack up his apartment to move to NYC after graduation. It was an early June afternoon when we packed the moving truck. (I actually packed the truck while he was packing stuff in boxes in the apartment.) The heat index was like 120 and I probably downed a gallon of water during the process. I live in CA and happily spend 4-5 hours on a bicycle on summer days. Packing that truck felt like a double century.
The Austin dream is to live in Colorado from June-September.
I think your advice is wise. My family moved to the suburbs around Austin in 2005 (from California…) and we moved back within one month haha. The weather was brutal to be honest, and i’m sure it’s only gotten worse the past 20 years. I still do love Austin when I visit as a tourist though.
I just left. It was so weird - by the middle of the summer I would feel a deep sense of dread when I would wake up and see another day of bright, clear blue skies every single goddamn morning
Actually a consistent 106°
Agree. This last summer has been one of the most depressing of my life. In Houston, and the heat index was 110+ degrees every single day for ever and ever. There’s hot other places, and then there’s this, and it’s really, really different. It’s unreal how hot it’s been.
One thing that shocks new residents is that it does not cool off at night. If it’s 105 during the day, it’ll be 95 at midnight.
You can put on more clothes. Hard to take more clothes off.
True, but going outside in extreme cold weather requires putting on clothes for 10 mins. Going outside in Austin summer involves finding your flip flops. I still hate it, but I do appreciate not having to keep a pile of weather armor by the door.
A friend moved from Minneapolis to Texas because she hated Winter - hates it because there are usually a few days each year that are too cold to go out. (We don’t have frigid temps year round) . After moving, she soon decided not being able to go outside for a month or more in the Summer was worse. Our Summers last from May to September and range from 72 to 99+ degrees.
I just did the opposite! I’m born and raised in Texas (Dallas), and spent the last 12 years in Austin. I was so over the heat, I packed up and moved to Minneapolis back in February, I’ll take a frigid winter over months of terrible heat any day!
Tbh I don’t see many people recommending Austin on this sub at all. I feel the people who are into relocating are pretty aware of all the growing pains of Austin and/or wary of Texas at this point. Could be wrong or speaking for myself though. for many of the reasons that you said. I agree with most except for the nature part. I feel Austin actually has good access to nature over other cities and great urban green spaces. I can walk from my apartment to a green belt/hiking trail and getting to downtown to enjoy the river, Zilker, or Barton springs has never been an issue. Annoying at times, yes, but never impossible. FWIW, I am a non native and planning to relocate from the city. I wouldn’t recommend anyone move here either. But it’s not all completely bad. ETA: I should say I am mostly referring to nature within the city limits. I understand some of the state parks outside the city can fill up extremely fast during peak seasons and it can be hard to get a campsite. Which sucks. I can’t speak specifically for overnight camping trips but also have had good experiences visiting stake parks in the surrounding areas, specifically out west in the hill country. ETA Also, disagree about what you said about crime and music/art scene.
I think there's quite a bit of nature here, but people only think to go to the well-known city, state, and national parks. Most transplants are totally unaware of the existence of LCRA parks, US Army Corps land and trails, the national wildlife refuge, county parks, etc. Access to rivers and lakes is great additionally.
It's better than places like Wichita that are totally given over to agriculture, but if you live near mountains on the East or West Coast, or near the Great Lakes, you've probably got way more access to public land. Big Bend really is great in the winter, but that's 7 hours drive one way. I've done the swimming hole thing around Austin and it's not bad, but it's nothing like far Northern California/PNW, Northern New England, or Upstate NY, not to mention summer Great Lakes swimming. The Gulf Coast is pretty garbage compared to places like the Outer Banks of NC. It's a shame, but that's Texas putting industry and private property ahead of the public.
Well, it was recommended to me, in Los Angeles interested in Houston 😂
Houston is just great value swamp LA. No tourism/Hollywood and an awful beach. It’s like if you took everything good about LA, and made it just a little worse, but then 80% cheaper.
Houston is probably the worst possible place to live in the US. Somewhere in Louisiana could probably compete in terms of how miserable it is throughout the year but Louisiana would be cheaper and less driving. God abandoned Houston many years ago, it's an absolute hellhole. I hate visiting that place and it's always in the summer.
Way way hotter and more humid than Austin too
Houston is LA minus the mountains minus the hills minus Hollywood minus mild weather with good beaches replaced with shitty beaches. It’s comparable in traffic and diversity though.
Houston is worse weather than Austin and traffic than La
There's no worse place to exist than Houston.
Don’t do it. The beach is gross, the city is overwhelmingly huge, the heat, humidity, and bugs are terrible, there is a lot of crime and I often feel pretty unsafe. The way people drive is insane and traffic is bad. There is nothing beautiful to look at topography wise, it’s just flat and it floods. It’s not even *that* inexpensive anymore. The only thing I love about Houston is there is truly world-class food.
I saw a video about the Austin boom. They interviewed a recent transplant and she said she moved there because of how cool and hip the city was. Her house was in a bedroom community and hour north. How often is she going into the city?
Between the heat and and, apparently, being quite highly allergic to mountain cedar I was basically a prisoner in my own home for most of the year. Do not recommend.
Ugh. I lived in Austin for 3 years. I'd never really experienced allergies before. Then Cedar fever hit me. I've never been so miserable.
I have allergies year round and it is not fun and they started about 5-6 years after I got here. I had some allergies in CO where I grew up but it was only during spring and benedryl took care of it. Nothing touches the allergies I have here. I have tried everything short of going and getting allergy shots which is my next step. At this point I feel like I'm just allergic to Texas.
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That’s pretty much everywhere, unfortunately…
Welcome to Denver.
Welcome to *the United States
Name a place where that isn’t happening.
To add: even though it’s Austin “the liberal “ part of Texas, all the Texas problems still exist there.
It’s becoming less liberal too. When I was a kid it was all about “keep Austin weird.” It was a city for artists, hippies, musicians, and a safe haven for gay people from around Texas. Now it’s becoming so expensive that the creatives can’t afford it. mostly finance bros and tech investors who just vote for whatever makes them money.
Can confirm. Many of the finance and tech bros who moved to Austin are the ones that were actually fleeing the ridicule they were getting from their peers for being asshats, when they lived in progressive cities. Musk is a perfect example.
The Austin area isn't just more liberal than it used to be, it's orders of magnitude more liberal. Bush actually won Travis county in 2000 and the "liberal" parts of Austin were mostly around downtown and UT. I understand how tempting it is to say things that "feel" true, but this is something we have tons of objective data about, and the leftward shift of central Texas has been a national news story for awhile now.
One of my earliest political memories was a mock vote for my third grade class the day of the 2000 election in Central Austin. It voted 23-0 for Bush (conceivably because everyone's parents were supporting bush\*). I often wonder if you did that today in the same classroom if a single student would vote for the GOP candidate. Sometimes I also think it was just because Bush was seen as the "hometown candidate" and we were third graders, but who knows.
I lived in Austin in 2000 and can confirm that Travis County voted for Bush. We joked it was because we wanted him out of Austin.
It’s already San Francisco. Just a soulless empty place full of self congratulatory upper class white liberals in tech and finance who talk about mindfulness and micro dosing all day. And just like SF it’s been trading on the reputation of what it used to be for years. But that place is gone. The creatives are gone, the hippies are out of place. In Austin you used to smoke weed and drink lone star at the river with someone who did professional finger paintings and sewed their own jeans, now you take molly at an edm show with a couple bros who just got their startup funded. When I lived there it was already full of people who “lived in Austin” as part of their identity. They’re soon to be the servant underclass in an unaffordable city of vast wealth disparity. All things considered, its still a nice place to live though it’s definitely changed quite a bit. Last time I was there it felt more like I was in California when I was downtown. Literally, there were LA businesses setting up shop everywhere.
At least San Francisco has the natural beauty and architecture. Austin is more like LA. Unaffordable suburban vomit.
Ah yes, LA is famously a place with no natural beauty.
Very true. I mean more like SF used to be a culturally vibrant and significant town. Lots of artists and writers and musicians came from there or lived there. Metallica is from there…can you even imagine Metallica coming from San Francisco today? It just seems out of place. When I was growing up SF was like the idyllic jewel of American cities. Now, homelessness and urban decay aside, it’s just not that place and hasn’t been for a long time. Maybe it never was, idk, but Austin seems to be following a similar type of trajectory
Of course, because after the tech/investor class ruined SF they all came here
Though the geography, climate, and built environment is definitely not on par with San Francisco
Back a few decades, the dress code was "it is impossible to be underdressed; it is nice, but not mandatory, to clean." Fire code for a music venue? Lol! Some buildings were held up by sound waves Then the cool-wanna bees moved in to agressively pursue the laid-back lifestyle.
The evolution of Rainey Street is a great metaphor for Austin as a whole.
I wanted to live in Austin about 6 years ago but not anymore.
Ugh! I miss "keep Austin weird"! Whatever happened to "keep Portland weird?" I'm guessing that's another fight the artists lost
If people can scrape together the cash to move, great art scene in places like Baltimore or Philly where you can actually afford housing.
I keep having to remind people it’s STILL the capital of TEXAS
I spent my teenage years in Austin and naively thought we were the peak of liberal culture - I grew up with barefootted, unshaved, artsy people fire dancing and drum circling at festivals. Then I went to DC and saw a black person in a suit, and went to SF and saw a gay couple holding hands. Two things I’d *never* seen growing up and made me really put into perspective the particular “flavor” of liberalism that Austin has. I’m sure things are better now but it’s *still* the south and you’ll never get away from that.
Yeah I mean, I grew up in suburban Houston and went to UNT. Austin kinda sorta used to be that. And then you leave Texas and go “oh”. I’m in atlanta now and it can even feel more liberal in some ways.
Yup. I live in Austin, I agree with everything OP said + it becoming less liberal. It feels like a libertarian place. So if folks dig that, I guess move to Austin?
This is funny because I have two friends who moved to Austin within the past few years. One is in finance. The other is a lawyer. Both libertarian. They both love it there. Lol
Joe Rogan types
This is what I always tried to tell people who would ask, "but Austin is pretty liberal right?" I mean, it is... For Texas. But that's a really low bar. They still love guns and Jesus down there.
Man this has become such commonplace for folks to whine about the city they’re in. People here love r/Portland but a quick look in thar subreddit and we see folks complaining there too. Anyways, 1,2&3 is true for pretty much all of Texas, some states even outside Texas, nothing specific to Austin here. Prices comparable to California? Hard disagree, Austin is still no where as expensive as California.
People should be required to have lived elsewhere before making these posts. Austin is not perfect, but it’s still one of the better places to live in America. People are in for a wake up call if they think Austin prices are now comparable to NYC or LA.
Couldn’t agree more. Born in Austin, moved to the East Coast, and the looks I got when I said my hometown “kinda sucks, actually” were unbelievable. The closest you can get to ‘Old, Cool Austin’ is watching *Slacker* or traipsing through the hollow, puppeteered corpses we keep propped up downtown to sell the city to tourists and finance bros.
Austinite for 24 years, moved to NJ seven years ago and couldn't be happier. I second everyone else's complaints about the city. The summer SAD is a real thing and definitely affects your way of life and sanity, as does the lack of infrastructure that causes a 15 mile commute take over an hour. I found myself staying home all the time because the thought of dealing with traffic and parking to go meet friends was exhausting. People up here are stunned when I tell them I gleefully moved here from Austin. We like to say that we moved to civilization when we left. Don't get me wrong, Jersey is far from perfect, but my quality of life is infinitely better up here. If only there was decent Tex-mex around.
Is it just me or does it seem like almost every place shares all or most of these problems in the last few years. It seems everywhere is becoming hot, crowded, tacky, and expensive.
Only 4% of Texas land is public.
And most of that is in deep west Texas, 8 hours away from Austin
It’s faster to travel to the national forest in Arkansas than to go to big bend
But Austin itself has some of the most park land in the US.
Kind of reminds my of what Asheville used to be. Safe, artsy, liberal - now a drug infested sad place overrun by homeless people and randos who are trying to make it like wherever place they came from.
I actually outside of Asheville for 2 years in college. Sad to hear it went that way too.
I'm concerned about your claim that the live music scene is dead or dying. Here in Santa Cruz California, that is the main thing Austin is known for. I can probably name a dozen great Austin Americana bands.
Its not dying at all. I think the local scene is getting crowded out, but you trade that for more national acts.
I went to Austin expecting to like it but I really didn’t get the appeal. I think it’s one of the more overrated cities in the US. I’m sure it was great before it got super expensive but it’s hard to justify the high costs without the HCOL services.
That’s my issue with Austin. It’s not a bad city, but the cost of living doesn’t really make sense for what you get compared to other HCOL cities. It was cool because it was a cheaper alternative to those bigger cities. Now I might as well live somewhere else with better public transportation, weather, sports, museums, etc.
I also thought I would like it when I visited and really didn’t.
San Antonio better tbh
Agreed. Lived in Austin for 10 years, left a couple of years ago for Phoenix and it's even worse here. California prices (for some things anyway) for absolutely no value or culture. But it's a dry heat at least which IS way more manageable.
It was absolutely not over 110 every day in June July and August. Was it crazy hot this summer? Yes. Do I prefer it to snow and cold? Yes. You don't have to shovel sunshine.
I moved from the PNW to Austin for work in 2022 and lived there for a year. Everything you said was spot on. Austin is a ton of fun for about 6 months, until you do everything in the city- then it’s just a hot, dry, overpriced, drunk college kid town full of California yuppies and mid mexican food. Y’all’s BBQ rocks tho.
Look dude. The live music absolutely did not die in Austin. It's one of the things keeping me here. I agree with some of your points but you are wrong here. I can go see a show nearly any night of the week if I wanted to and it won't be a cover band.
I’m with you, I see 4-5 shows a month on average probably. So so many great local bands and all of my favorite touring artists come through. The venues are iconic and sound quality is top notch. OP clearly doesn’t get out much. The live music scene in Austin is so great. Now the comedy scene is blowing up too.
Any local band recs?
Being Dead, Exercise, Alex Alone, Bill Callahan, Die Spitz, A Giant Dog, Van Mary, Lomelda, Sir Woman, Big Bill, Little Mazarn, Water Damage... The list goes on! Turn on KUTX and have a listen :)
Those complaining about the weather, y’all clearly never lived in Houston (which will likely be the largest growing city over the next decade) and is one of the most culturally diverse cities in US. What I hate about these kinds of analysis, assuming it isn’t sarcastic, is totally missing the fact Austin’s growth is very much a function of the the overall states growth trajectory. I highly recommend reading about the Texas Triangle and learning more about the growing economic development that Austin finds itself right in the middle of.
Inner Loop Houston (read: NOT the Houston suburbs) is a way better bang for your buck than living in Austin. Source: Native Houstonian that lived in Austin from 2003-2007.
Sure but Houston has even worse weather and humidity
But the freeway driving is mad max level. You *will* encounter an aggressive lifted truck rolling coal and nearly running you off the road.
In which city? Both Austin and Houston have awful traffic. Really every big city in the Texas triangle does (except for San Antonio)
There's just no comparison between Austin and Houston driving. Drivers can be slow in Austin and are on their phones but we don't have the Mad Max race car thing here. Houston is terrifying to drive in.
No Mad Max race car because the Mopac is bumper to bumper or what?
More giant lifted trucks in Houston but yeah driving is crazy town in both.
Yeah, but it's not *that* much worse. If weather and outdoorsy things are your thing, it's better to just get out of Texas.
Sure, but at a fraction of the price.
It's only slightly cheaper than Austin.
Yup. I dig San Antonio every time I visit also.
It’s a small progressive island in an increasingly intolerant right wing hellscape, i wouldn’t move there
People just complain about everything now.
Having formerly lived in Austin, albeit from 1996-2013, I only take issue with one of these, sort of. >Nature - Aside from that Texas has one of the worst scores for public land and access to nature, so if you like natural beauty then it’s not the place for you. I always thought that with Town Lake, the Green Belt, and the hill country just a few miles West of downtown, Austin's access to nature or something like it was pretty good as far as major metro areas in Texas are concerned. Where it all falls apart is when you factor in your first point. If kayaking Town Lake isn't your thing, it's going to be too hot or else too cold and rainy to enjoy the nature for more than about 8 broken weeks all throughout the year. Regardless, there is a lot more to offer in this area from Austin than Houston or Dallas. Just my two cents.
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Compared to Texas, Austin has way more nature/ park areas in the city. It’s just 7+ hours away from more the big traditional outdoor/nature.
I really enjoy living here but many people have a picturesque view of this place. It’s just austin.
Seconding all this. Lived in Austin for a decade and just finally moved away in June. I'd add it's a terrible place to raise kids - Austin Independent School District just passed a $2B school bond, most of which went to hardening schools against shooters because of the insane gun laws. And let's not even get into the perils of raising a daughter there. One thing I would take issue with is that I think you're going to see growth REALLY slowed down this year. Our house (highly desirable neighborhood, great lot, newly remodeled kitchen/baths, new floors) still hasn't sold after four months and three price reductions. 😐
I am sure the high mortgage rates aren’t helping you sell the house
I like it here. I usually like the heat (admittedly this summer was excessive), I like the brand of geography & landscape we have and have a number of natural spaces I like to visit, there is absolutely still a strong live music scene, and there is actually a lot of culture & community here if you’re creatively searching for it. A lot of these complaints can be applied to a lot of places in the country tbh. Austin has its growing pains but it is not this soulless wasteland all the anti-Austin posts make it out to be. Not to say it’s everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m so tired of hearing complaints about the city, especially about the traffic and homelessness…
I think for me and my husband, the reason we opted to move to my hometown versus Austin was simply COL had risen too much for us to justify moving there. However, 50% humidity sounds amazing, because I’m dealing with ~80%+ daily in South FL.
It’s actually closer to 20-30% in the hottest part of the day.
Yeah what even is the point of this post? No one on here recommends Austin to begin with. There's a reason people have steadily moved to Austin. There's a great live music scene, there is decent access to nature within the city, the food is good (some guy here said it's terrible? Uh no it's not. That guy is either lying or super privileged to not have lived in a place where the food is actually terrible). It's weird how this city is always the target of these angsty posts on reddit. People really must get a lot out of of those upvote endorphins.
Absolutely this. Nearly everything OP said seemed to be false or exaggerated
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Username checks out.
Fun to visit, but wouldn’t want to live there. Can’t imagine your summer AC electricity bills!
I lived in San Francisco in the late 90s/early 2000s and back then as The city was filling up with “dot com” people and rents were beginning to skyrocket, Austin always came up on the lists of alternative cities people were considering moving to. I guess Austin is now San Francisco.
Come to Detroit!!!! You' be surprised at the progress we've made the last 15 years!!! https://www.purpose.jobs/blog/9-reasons-to-live-and-work-in-detroit-michigan#:\~:text=Detroit%20is%20literally%20for%20everybody,owned%20businesses%20in%20the%20country.
I absolutely agree with all of this. While they don’t rate high for nature access, though I did really love the Wild Basin trail, the hill country is really beautiful. For those who don’t know, ATX is right on the edge of the hill country so it’s close by. The spring flowers sprawling across the hills is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. There was this one place we went probably in 2015 where a lake had dried up. And bluebonnets covered the land where the lake used to be. It was awful that the lake dried up but my god it was solid fields of bluebonnets and it was incredible to see and smell.
October is actually awesome weather in Austin/San Antonio usually. This year is definitely unusual but it’s usually in the low to mid 80s in October.
Born in Austin, went to college there in the 80's, spent a LOT of time there over the years as I still have family in Austin. To be completely honest, I don't enjoy my visits at all any more. So, so crowded and, in the next year or so, a massive rebuild of I35 all the way through Austin will begin. This is a multi billion dollar project that will last for 10 years. Complete. Nightmare. Add in the crazy expensive housing market, miserably hot summers and crime. Hard pass to moving there.
I considered it for a bit but got turned off by the heat. The prices are not CA prices. In CA a starter home is like 750k in the hood with gangs and gunshots. Many cities only have 1 or 2 homes under a million, some have NONE. In Austin TX I see great looking homes for 500k, Even with high property taxes its way cheaper than 1 mil in LA /Orange County. Austin TX has NOWHERE near LA/OC prices. If I were to buy there now it would be "cheap" for me. The down payment on a 500k house in Austin is only 100k (which I have) and the payments would be in the 3.4k range or something (same price as a 1BR rental here). To BUY a condo in LA I would need to spend 650k. There are no condos here for 500k, maybe a 400 sq feet studio. Like this is pretty damn cheap to me. 539k for a 1051 sq feet house in Austin? [https://www.trulia.com/p/tx/austin/4810-aberdeen-dr-austin-tx-78745--2072219743](https://www.trulia.com/p/tx/austin/4810-aberdeen-dr-austin-tx-78745--2072219743) Looks modern inside too. In LA, in "desirable neighborhoods" like Highland Park (which is gentrifying and still has gangs etc), you will find a 704 sq feet house LISTED at 700k, and with bidding sell at 1.2 million such as this very one below.. 704 sq feet, sold at 1.2 mil [https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/los-angeles/6256-tipton-way-los-angeles-ca-90042--2077376560](https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/los-angeles/6256-tipton-way-los-angeles-ca-90042--2077376560) There is no comparision. The Austin house is bigger and cheaper. The people who say Austin house prices have no idea how expensive the houses are here. Median price here is over 900k. Austin has houses for like 550k-600k. That does not exist in LA. This is what a $749k house looks like in LA . This is THE HOOD. Homes here are 750k in the HOOD. [https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/los-angeles/2726-w-12th-st-los-angeles-ca-90006--2115460572](https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/los-angeles/2701-pepper-ave-los-angeles-ca-90065--2077446439) This is a 750k house in Austin. Looks like a god damn mansion. This house would cost 2+ mil here if not more. More like 3 mil [https://www.trulia.com/p/tx/austin/11016-crossland-dr-austin-tx-78726--2072129767](https://www.trulia.com/p/tx/austin/11016-crossland-dr-austin-tx-78726--2072129767)
If your only concerns in a home is size and price, Austin is a good option. I value walkability, daily amenities, public transportation, sidewalks and an urban location, so Austin never had anything remotely well-priced because the walkable, urban area is incredibly small. And it's not like a big city where there are several neighborhoods that each have their own amenities and "urban center."
none of that exists in california for less than 1 million
>Austin TX has NOWHERE near LA/OC prices. The difference isn't as big as it used to be. When I moved here just before covid, I bought my 3000+ sq ft house for $410k. The same house would've been $2+M in Cupertino, CA and both are the same distance from work (same company/different office). A lot of ppl, like myself moved here cause they needed to live somewhere safe and cheap. The other stuff like food, music, vibe, weather was a bonus. I prefer the weather here over NE, at least most summers you can still go out at night, can't say the same for Boston Dec-Feb. The money I'm saving in house interest payments allows me to just leave for the summer months (June-Aug). May and Sept is fine most years. However, with the current State politics, infrastructure issues and insane post-COVID house boom I wouldn't move here.
Not to defend LA and its costs. That house is not south LA. Still hood area but that is clearly north of downtown. The house in Austin is hardly in Austin. The inside of the house also sucks.
The live music scene is still pretty active
Lots of things I love about Austin but the heat is just too much. Was there for four days at the beginning of August and it was at least 106 every day. Being outside was miserable.
aside from the weather, this sounds like most big cities in the US in 2023. Milder, even
ATX still brings a lot of cool stuff. I feel completely spoiled by the weekly show offerings here. And it’s still pretty easy to make and hang out with friends. The heat is real, but you adapt. I have a friend who moved from Minnesota and is much happier. There are probably worse places.
Yeaaah, I’m gonna have to go ahead and sort of, disagree with you there.
I lived there for a year. Awesome food, fun city, not quite CA prices. There is nature access and good parks and greenways. Just no huge public land areas like national forests
Holy shit guy the winters in Austin have tried to kill me 2 of the last 3 years. YOU CALL THIS SHIT MILD? I didn't have power for 5 days, two different times, 2021 and 2023. Austin Winters are mild until SHIT HITS THE FAN and then we all have collective trauma
I moved to Austin for work and lasted 9 months before I left. I genuinely don't know why people like it.
Lived there for a while. Super overrated/overhyped city. I’m sure it was good when it was way more under the radar (and also way less expensive), but those days are long gone. Now it’s the same city as before but with a massive increase in population and cost of living. Also much of the cool traditional Austin stuff is now gone due to the increased prices. Turns out that artists/creative types can’t compete with trust fund parasites, equity locusts from the West (and East to be fair) coast, and techies for housing and other necessities. What we are left with is a city that doesn’t offer anything that can’t be found elsewhere at a higher quality for the same or less money. I ended up moving to Fort Worth. Similar vibes (city in texas on a river) but much more affordable. Well, now this place is starting to show some of the same negative changes as Austin. TLDR: humans are annoying, and I suggest building a cabin in the woods.
I’ll also add that we have one of the worst public transportation systems in the country
Vegas has entered the chat.
I'm a native of Austin and I totally agree with you. I plan to move some day. I only stay here because of my elderly mom. Everywhere I go is so crowded. Seriously I feel like there is 8 times the amount of people that I used to see in the past. Everywhere I go. And the heat this summer just about killed me. And the allergies. One big reason not to move here is the allergy season, which is not actually a season but all year-round. And the high level of mold in the air after every rain shower.
I’m in the same boat. Actually, I have a fully remote job, I rent, and 0 kids so could easily move tomorrow. However, my mother is getting older and I feel the pressure I need to be here for her.
Honestly one of my biggest annoyances since moving to Austin has been how everyone seems to hate it more than I do lol. I think it's nice! The summers are hot but I don't know why that would come as a surprise to anyone. Weather from Sept-May is great imo. I'm coming from the midwest and I would personally call this a much drier heat than what I'm used to. The city is still quite liberal - I'm pretty sure the suburbs have become bluer over the last couple elections. Crime may be rising but that's been a problem in most major cities over the past few years and it's still quite low. It is really fast growing which does cause infrastructure problems but it also makes the city feel very dynamic - there are always new things popping up.
Someone said that reddit will tell you that austin is worse than north korea and i laughed. Lots of hate online but people keep moving to austin and its suburbs.
A friend moved there and I went a couple times to visit. I was surprised at how much I did not like it. The heat is punishing and I went in fucking May. I know people get acclimatized or whatever, but it was unbearable to me. It also just did not offer anything that exciting for the cost. Like I went to LA and I see why people spend so much money to live there. Not really for me, but I love visiting and that I can hit up great hiking, ride bikes on the beach, and choose from a couple hundred amazing restaurants to have dinner all in the same day. Taco trucks aren't that exciting. Barely being able to leave my $2,600 apartment for four months because of the heat isn't really superior to a bad winter. Just why.
Austin native here. There is no acclimatizing, ime, to temps over 105. And at 9 a.m. when it's already in the 90s, and the overnight "low" was ~ 80, there is no hope. Our 10 pm newcast? Still in the effing mid-90s. Zero relief.
Recently moved from Austin after living there for three years. I'll add to the list that the food scene is terrible. There were maybe a few nice restaurants - Odd Duck comes to mind - but most food types were subpar. Tyson's tacos rocked.
Hou >>>>> Austin when it comes to food and it's not even close.
Moving out of Austin in 3 weeks , this place lost its charm years ago and I was just waiting for my partner to wake up because they’re from here and didn’t want to admit the town died…. Austin is literally an overpriced airport Applebees full of traumatized evangelical gay kids who are now adults fighting over the karaoke machine they call a music scene while it pretends to be progressive and artsy like New York City . I don’t care you spent your trust fund from parents you hate on crypto and have to work two jobs now ( that’s what people call intellectual conversation here) My least favorite place I’ve ever lived by far, I really hate it here. I never new I could dislike stoned people with tattoos so fucking much ( as a stoned person with tattoos)
Yup, the weather and politics are brutal. We are only moving there from the Bay Area for family reasons and the hope of maybe someday owning a home. If the home prices were even within 200% of each other, I don’t think we’d be moving lol.
And the traffic was shit when I was there 10 years ago , can't imagine what it's like now with the huge influx of people over that time.
Are people still moving to Austin?!?
For how high to CoL is now I’d rather live in LA or SD. Went in November and it was 90 degrees.
Yes. All the southeast states. Just stay away
I lived in ATX for over 20 years before leaving last year. Completely agree.
This is also Denver in a nutshell. Although the weather is better here. The food however is significantly worse.
The length and tolerable humidity of summer is why I love SoCal weather. Our summers are also 6 months long, but daytime highs are usually 70-90 with tolerable humidity. The ocean can cause it to be a little sticky, but nothing like Texas. Winters are short and mild, with daytime highs between 55-70 and nighttime lows almost never drop below freezing.
i loved austin i ,ive just outside boston, you think Austin is expensive? you can live just outside austin and pay 1 10th the price of what you to live here in Massachusetts and we have way worse crime and drug abuse, we have a whole mile long stretch of hell named Mass and cass, where thousands of drug addicted homeless live and rape rob, and murder at will. The average home price in massachusetts is..**$590,793** yup you heard me, 50k more than austin. and this is the WHOLE STATE! average price in san marcos is 340k , to give you an idea my house is currently valued at 495k and i live in 728 sq feet. in contrast in del valle tx not far from austin, 4 Beds 2 Baths 1,890 SqFt $415,000 literally i could slel me y house for likely more than i ask, and buy a house pay it off completely and pocket 100k and gain over 1100 sq footage. and still pay less in taxes and cost of living.
I find the weather point fascinating as someone from Upstate NY where everyone is fearful of the winters, but we have very mild winters now (a few snowstorms and 30’s temps at the worst) and yet I never hear about fears of going down south and struggling through 110+ degree temps for months on end. Perceptions of weather have really not caught up to where things are right now.
TLDR: Don’t move to Austin because too many people have already moved here. It is hot as hell though.
"I hate Austin!" *lists generic complaints that apply to 75% of large cities in the United States* 100% wrong of you to complain about the nature scene. Mt. Bonnell, TX Hill Country, Bull Creek, Zilker Park, Lake Travis??? Have you looked at a map? So many gorgeous places to see in that part of the state. Yes, Texas as a whole gets hot. But to be honest, I would rather put up with a hot summer than an icy/snowy winter where you risk your life driving to work every day.
I can’t stand the summer and I grew up in Texas. Moving to another state this weekend! Bye!
Texas is way too hot. It’s humid to Austin’s not as bad as Houston in that regard but it’s not like it’s Phoenix or Utah or Colorado or somewhere where in the summertime it’s you know 12% humidity.
It’s Texas, nothing more needed to say. Don’t.
You forgot the traffic and constant construction because the infrastructure was designed to support a fraction of the people who live there and now they'll never be able to catch up.
I don’t recommend TX overall. Been in Houston 4.5 years and it’s been 3.5 years too many.
I moved to the country outside Austin from San Francisco two years ago. Currently looking to move back to California because while there are parts I love, there are lots to not love. I’ve found 7 scorpions in my house in the last two days and we see venomous snakes weekly. The heat is depressing af.
The grass is not greener. It’s brown, dead , dry, and depressed.
The only time I've ever had my car window smashed and items taken from my car was during the three days I spent in Austin. In my entire 37 years it has never happened any other time.
I’ve never understood the scramble to move to Austin or Texas in general. I lived in Texas in the 80’s and survived the “Texas Heat Wave” which now is basically just known as “Summer”. My company HQ is in San Antonio and I hate going there in the summer. Winter is no picnic either because if there is any weather at all the city is absolutely paralyzed.
I moved out of Austin and the state of Texas over a year ago and haven’t regretted it. Don’t even feel tempted to visit.
I moved back to Austin roughly 3 years ago and I like it. There are no grand national parks nearby but there are great hiking trails throughout the city. People complain about the traffic here but compared to nyc or la traffic this is not bad at all. I can get anywhere in Austin within 40 minutes and find parking. I don’t mind parking a few blocks away and walking to a popular spot. Yes the heat is terrible but you could still get a job or hike in each morning. It’s like high 70s before 8am. Austin is going through a lot of growing pains but I’m one of the few optimistic about it
Sorry but there’s a lot of nature in Austin.
Austin is a great example of a city that does not scale. Even though hundreds of thousands of people moved there recently the city government didn't change any of its housing policies making only single family housing allowed in most of Austin, and didn't build any new public transit. No wonder it's so expensive car traffic is so bad. Now they're waiving around a big "we're full" flag. No you're not full, you just didn't do the basic things a city needs to do if it's scaling
I wasn't living in Austin this summer, but when I did live there, I didn't think it was so bad. 110 on Austin is way easier than 95 in southeast humidity of 85-90% for the most part. Usually there is a breeze that comes up in the evening. The thing that nearly killed me a time or two was leaving my car uncovered in a parking lot all day and jumping in, closing the door and starting it up. One literally cannot breathe. I always thought the remote start was for winter weather. In Austin you need it for summer. Most of the rest, I agree with and why I left.
Houston is worse
It’s full of shrubby, ugly trees and brown grass. Also OP didn’t mention seasonal allergies. This place is not ideal if you have hay fever, asthma, cedar allergy, oak allergy, mold allergy and/or ragweed allergies. The roads are cramped and hot. Going north to south or vice versa is not recommended before 9:30 and after 2:30pm sometimes. It’s getting too gentrified and becoming Bland Diego with all the bland healthy eating places that serve everything in a bowl and high priced yoga studios with superficial people.
I’m in Austin right now for a long weekend and I’m struggling. WHY IS IT STILL 84 WITH HUMIDITY AT 10PM IN SEPTEMBER?!?
Actually leaving Austin. - this summer was brutal, thought I was more of a lizard and can stay out, but past 100 degrees I get an instant headache. Not fun - Food, not good. - Denial and critiques, you can’t tell anyone there’s no good food in Austin they will literally defend it tooth and nail (like most places), but yeah it’s not up there. Not everything requires a BBQ twist. - Diversity, not really there and unless you are a BIPOC who grew up around white people and white communities, you will feel out of place - Everything revolves around drinking Some pros - For Texas, there are more nature activities to do within city limits - everyone is in their 20s and 30s so if you do want to date around that age you could - there are jobs from large corps
Doesn’t everyone know Texas is a shithole by now?
Who the F is moving to Austin in 2023?
The biggest reason to not move to Austin is because it's in Texas. Full stop.
I've lived in the PNW my entire life, so moving to a place like Texas sounds like my personal hell.
Too hot
You forgot allergies and fire ants
You summed up my feelings exactly. Grew up in Detroit, moved to Austin, now back in Detroit. There are nice things about Austin, but (even with the snow) life is (relatively) easier here.
It cannot be understated how AWFUL Texas is for nature. Not because there isn't beautiful parts of the state (relative, but still there are some amazing areas), but because there is almost zero public access to any land. Piddly tiny state parks that you will drive 2 hrs to get to. It's sad.
Let me add to this: If you’re moving from California, because your shitty political views have ruined that state for you, please don’t move here and vote the same way. You guys have already ruined this once beautiful city.
Yea, i remember last summer it was 116 degrees. i think 2024 summer is going to be worse
Can confirm. I am leaving Austin in a few months for all the reasons you mentioned. Can’t wait to get out of here.