AboutJKC Expertise I am not a native Austinite, but lived in Austin since 1989. I certainly can not answer everything there is to know about Austin, but can give you a candid answer/opinion based on first-hand experience. I decided to volunteer (or pretend to be an expert) since there is no Austin "expert" in this site.
The wife and I currently live in southern California, wich has become extremely exspensive and extremely crowded, We have been searching different areas and Austin is our first choice, We are in our late thirtys and are lookin for a place to live the rest of our lives, we are plannin a trip out there in june to look at some property, Niether one of us has ever even been to Austin, any advice or warnings about Living in Austin or surrounding areas, any info good or bad would be a huge help. anything from the job market to crime levels, cost of living etc.
Thank you in advance for your help,
Tommy
Answer Tommy,
Sorry for a late reply.
I was out of town, and just returned.
Austin is a nice mid-size city that is lively, young, and liberal. It's an oasis of liberalism in a conservative state. (George Bush had about 35% vote in Travis County in 2004.)
If you are to enjoy living in Austin, you must:
- be able to stand the heat. Compared to southern CA, it is very humid. Not as bad as Houston, but much worse than Dallas. Far worse than LA or SD. Between late April and late September, you can expect temperature in upper 80's at 10:00PM. Day time high would be in the high 90's. Above 100 is common but not everyday.
- enjoy diversity. We have many hi-tech companies that attract many young professionals of all antionalities. Coming from southern CA, I expect you are used to it. It makes the city young and vibrant.
- put up with occasional encounters with rednecks. Not dangerous, but annoying. :-)
For overly simplistic advice on location of your home is that east of IH-35 is considered the "wrong side of the town." It is economically depressed and has above average (some will say high) crime rate. While there are pockets of exceptions, you should avoid east of IH-35.
West of town is more upscale. Central west is the Westlake where Michael Dell lives. The very best Austin has to offer. It has the best school district (Eanes ISD). If you have school age child(ren), I can provide some more detail, if you ask, but a simple ranking of school districts around Austin would be as follows.
1. Eanes ISD (Westlake)
2. Round Rock ISD (where I live)
3. Pflugerville ISD ('P' is silent)
4. Austin ISD
Northwest and southwest have nice neighborhoods - both new and old. West of Austin is the beginning of the "Texas Hill Country." So you will begin to see nice rolling hills and beautiful homes.
In Westlake a 3BR condo goes for around $500,000. Houses starting at $750,000 to multi-millions. Southwest and northwest offers homes from $150,000, but homes in nicer neighborhoods starts from $350,000 or so. In these areas, homes go for anywhere from $100 to $130 per sqft. Counties just sent out 2006 appraisal value, and many homes have gone up the new maximum of 16%. My house value has gone up by $71,000 this year.
Austin is getting crowed as well. It may not be as bad as CA, but traffic is bad for a city of its size. The old city fahters did not want Austin to grow. So expanding roads is always a challenge. Even with many recent road expansion efforts, Austin still remains as a city where traveling North-South is easier than going East-West.
City of Lakeway near Lake Travis offers upscale neighborhoods (not up to par with Westlake) while being only 30-40 minute or so from down town Austin. They are comparable to nice neighborhoods in northwest and southwest Austin.
Many choose to live in surrounding surburbs - Pflugerville, Round Rock, and Cedar park. Cedar Park has a major issues with traffice due to one main road (Hwy 183) in/out of it. Many find Round Rock to be the best option amongst those three, mainly due to its size (biggest) and schools. Ilive in Austin, but my school district is RRISD. I also lived in Austin where school district was Pflugerville ISD.
When you land in Austin, pick up a free copy of the Austin Chronicle at the airport, grocery/convenient stores. Many young folks read it to find events. Also check out http://www.austin360.com/ before you come.
Austin's main driving force for job is hi-tech which seems to be picking up slowly. Not knowing your field, I really can't comment on your specific job market. Crime is relatively low. The biggest factor in the cost of living is housing which is nothing compared to CA.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask.
Hope this helps.
