Review of Austin, Texas


Get some perspective, people
Star Rating - 3/15/2017
Wow. Like lots of other rating sites, it seems on this one there are some commenters who really relish complaining and whining for paragraph after paragraph. So....like every major city Austin has pros and cons. It is a liberal hole in a conservative donut politically speaking. It is creative and lively, with a lot of young people, fantastic restaurant choices and great music of many genres. It has museums, symphony, ballet, and some great cultural events in SXSW and ACL. There are nearby wineries, microbreweries and distilleries. If you live close in enough, you will enjoy all these things without dealing with the horrible traffic congestion. Yep, Texans love their cars and the mass transit is nil. If you want to save money and live out in the burbs, you will be in monotonous big box land. Austin is expensive, real estate wise. A some others note, the laid back weird Austin of yesteryear is rapidly disappearing so you will look hard to find it. There is definitely a California influence here now in the dress, architecture, and so on. However, contrary to some other comments people here are friendly, gregarious, and outgoing. If someone is rude, it's highly likely they're not from here. The weather is fantastic October-April, and hotter n hell in the summer. The lakes are beautiful, the beer is cold, and there are scorpions and snakes. I have lived in Austin for 45 years -nope, it's not Nirvana, but it's pretty damn good.
Jane | Austin, TX
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3 Replies


Austin went from sleepy Texas town full of friendly OG Texans to full of snobs moved from CA etc. Its crowded and the sparse public spaces are dirty. Yea theres lots more to spend your money on than ever before, but if you're an OG Texan moving here you're going to feel like an outsider.. people will look at you funny when they hear your thick drawl. Its cool for a live band but no better than dallas or houston.
Brenda | Orange, TX | Report Abuse

Thanks for narrowing the place and post down
Kimberly | Santa Ysabel, CA | Report Abuse

Good post especially about living close in. I live 2 miles from central DT and 8 blocks from Zilker Park. I love it. My drive everyday anywhere in Austin is beautiful. I was fortunate in that my daughter was top of her class and chose UT. With all this said my neighborhood has gotten crazy expensive. When I bought my home I paid about $280 a sq ft with a tiny yard now 5 years later it is almost $600 a sq ft. A tiny empty lot is $600,000. So many people move here thinking they can live in these neighborhoods and when they realize they can't they do not want to give up their dream and so settle for cheaper housing much further out which is basically a cookie cutter suburb with a lousy commute to everything cool.
Teri | Austin, TX | Report Abuse
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