Is Austin, TX a Healthy, Environmentally and Family-friendly Town to Live In?

Austin is a great place to live. I lived there about 10 years ago and I still live pretty close. I would move back in a heartbeat if it was possible(my husband works for the county, so he has to live inside this county). My kids loved living there and they love going back to visit. There are so many cool things to do there and there really is something for everybody. The only down side would be the heat in the summer. The public schools there are good, but there are many other options in private and charter schools as well.

ETA: true, TX does not have state income tax BUT property taxes are high. My property taxes for my house and daughters condo run upwards of $15,000 a year which I pay in Dec because I do get a tax benefit on my tax return.

Be more open minded and go visit.

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I am in the Dallas area about 3 hours North of Austin.

Austin is beautiful, college town, lots of things to do. They have good schools, you do have to research which areas has the best schools.

It sounds like you worry too much about the weather. It does get hot here but I'll take that anyday over cold weather. You just have to be smart when the weather is acting up by paying attention to the warnings, learn to follow the weather forecasters and warnings. If there is flooding you don't try to drive through it! I would not say the weather is any worse than other places. You probably do not get 4 seasons and a lot less snow and ice. Traffic is a nightmare but that is everywhere. So what about fracking? It is done everywhere.

Do you just not want to move? It sounds like you have a lot of excuses to not move.

Think about your family, how would this move be for you financially? Think about the future goals your husband has, how this job might affect your retirement, children's college educations and more.

If he is seriously considering moving, you need to go visit for a few days and check it out. You will find that it is a beautiful city and I would agree with your hubby, one of the best in the country.. although I am partial to my area Plano/Allen!!

Austin is the "San Fran" of Texas. It is quirky, progressive and a pretty darn nice area to live in. For me, its a little liberal but its the capital and has the main campus for THE University of Texas. It is part of "Hill Country" so the terrain is more hilly. Austin is very pretty and has lots of activities.

Tornadoes? Not very many. Its not Oklahoma. Flooding? Sure when you get a lot of rain. Fracking? Not allowed in your backyard. Sorry. Heat? Yep it gets darn hot. Its Texas! However its not the heat that kills ya its the humidity. Austin isn't that bad. Houston? Yes, Austin? No. Culture? Yep, we might be in the South but we are civilized. Schools? Top rated schools in the Austin area.

I think your list is a little silly. Every area has its pros and cons. Before you totally nix this, visit Austin over a weekend. Look at the areas and see what you think. Lake Travis is a nice area. Love it!!

It's a fantastic place to raise a family! I have all kinds of negative things to say about education overall, but with that being said Austin has good schools. It's an amazing city culturally - museums, arts, music! The only negatives that come to mind are the traffic (absolutely atrocious, but living there you will learn to manage it), and the heat (I've lived in Texas my entire life and don't mind it, but coming from a cooler state you will likely have a difficult time adjusting). It is extremely affordable compared to other areas of the country, and it's a pretty city.

We moved from Austin in January. My son, who lives and works in Austin as an audio engineer, is visiting us for a week (we currently live in Hawaii due to my husband's job), and he's sitting on the couch here. I asked him your question. Here are his answers and my input.

1. There are no tornadoes. There can be flooding, but it's mostly limited to places that are quite obvious, like vacation homes on the rivers or lakes. We lived in an apartment that was not directly on a lake or river, and we certainly had some downpours, but no flooding. The flooding damage in the past two years has been limited to where you might expect it. A house was swept away, but it was completely overlooking the river - they had built the deck so it pretty much was above the river. So the flooding thing is pretty common sense. There can be icing sometimes in the winter. As a northerner, I found it hilarious. Several times they closed the city offices, government, schools and roads, for what I considered a minor event. I posted a pic on Facebook of the dire warnings and closings on the tv screen, and then a pic of me picking one small leaf off my car, with a couple of cold rain drops on the windshield. Everyone panics. If there is ice, just avoid the bridges and overpasses - not because you'll slide off, but because some clueless guy will be skidding all over the place, having an anxiety attack because the temps dropped to 37 degrees for a few minutes.

2. There's no fracking.

3. Culture is food friendly and music friendly. The food trucks are AMAZING and they're everywhere. Torchy's Tacos for breakfast will change your life. For the better. Every street corner has musicians. If you live downtown or in a music venue area with lots of bars, plan on hearing music from every store front. We found it to be very friendly. It's lots of young people. My SIL and my niece visited me (SIL and I are um. middle aged, niece and my daughter are early 20s). SIL noticed that she and I seemed to be the oldest people out and about. Lots of college kids (UT, St. Edwards, Texas Institute for the Deaf, etc).

4. Football football football. They're obsessed. Tailgating is a career for some people.

5. Traffic is awful. My son's advice: live near your husband's job. Mopac Expressway and other highways are among the worst I've seen, and we've lived everywhere.

6. Heat. Yup. But not anywhere as bad as Phoenix AZ. My son graduated from college in Phoenix and he said by comparison Austin wasn't so bad.

7. There are lots of nice things to do, lots of free events, lots of family friendly things.
Feel free to pm with other questions.

I am from MN and my oldest daughter lives in Austin, TX, so I have visited a number of times. She loves it and I love to visit! If our circumstances were different, we would move there in a heartbeat. There are a TON of MN and WI transplants in Austin. Like any other place, there are more and less desirable places to live. Also, Austin is REALLY spread out (unlike where we have St. Paul and then a bunch of suburbs surrounding, but St. Paul itself isn't really THAT big) so make sure you look on a map where you are looking for housing vs. where you might be looking for employment and plan for traffic - it is pretty bad unless you are doing a reverse commute.

The heat is, well, hot. Really hot. However, you do get "used" to it. As far as the bad weather, you have to take that with a grain of salt. They are NOT used to weather events - we are. You will find that if it gets down to 40 degrees and it is raining that people will walk around in complete winter gear, right down to winter boots and be terrified to drive. The first year my daughter lived there, they have some interesting weather like this. She would show up to work and her office would be closed for "weather". She was like "what weather?" I would say WE have way more "weather" than they do.

I do think that Austin is also an "affordable" city. I would say comparable or slightly less than Mpls/St. Paul costs - especially if you are willing to be on the outskirts a bit more. My daughter lived in the SoCo area when she first lived there. Very affordable yet "neighborhoody" at the same time. Now she lives in a little more "affluent" area - also beautiful with neighborhood shops and parks.

You should take a trip down there and check it out!

Oh, you are lucky...I LOVE Austin. It's such a cool progressive city. I lived there 20 years ago in college and I hear it has gotten a LOT bigger since then. Austin has a ton of personality and character...it's a really neat place to live. If you move there look for a house in one of the older, original neighborhoods. You will be able to drive to the Hill Country, beautiful lakes and trails, music festivals...there is a lot to do there. It is the BEST part of Texas. I missed it so much when I left...it's a unique and wonderful place to live.

I would be there in a heartbeat if the opportunity arose. Awesome place to live.

Texas has no state income taxes. MN has very high income taxes. I love Austin! What about a job for you? Do you work? I have no idea why you are concerned with fracking...most of that is in the Dakotas - TX has oil wells with drilling for the most part. Good luck.

The only downside for me, besides traffic, is housing costs. I was born there & have roots in the area. I'd go back in a heartbeat!

One of my dearest friends lives in the Austin area. She grows food and sells it at the Farmer's Market. Their YMCA has healthy goals and spends time focusing on the community and helping people to meet their goals.

The town has had some issues with flooding and had a few storms in the past few years. BUT they haven't been devastated by a lot of storms or anything else.

I think you should go visit with him when he goes on an interview. Then you can experience it yourself.

The WORST think I can think of for Austin is the heat. It does get hot in the middle of summer and there aren't many season's in that part of Texas but it's a lovely place to live and has nice weather most of the year.

Austin is a great city. It has a laid back small town quality but also all the excitement of a big city. Austin has a ton of culture and charm. I grew up in Texas and always loved visiting Austin. It is really hot in the summer and the rest of the year is mild. You might miss having the seasons you get in MN. I would go visit for yourself and get a feel of the place.