Not a bad place to live
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5/2/2007
Austin is not a bad place to live, especially if you enjoy outdoor/fitness activities. The cycling/running communities are strong and prominent here. Austin has many good to excellent restaurants, many of which are local, mom and pop type places, with a few local chains mixed in. The city is a bit short on higher end cuisine, but as the population grows, so do the choices in that segment of the restaurant market. Austin is a great place to live if you are young and single. The nightlife is vibrant, and the live music options cover the entire spectrum of genres; being a town with a large university helps in that regard. Locals complain about the traffic, but compared to larger cities, the problems are minor. The biggest complaint is that drivers are a little too laid back, and make no serious effort to get their destinations in a timely manner. Cost of living is low, relative to other parts of the country, but high by Texas standards.
The largest downside to Austin is lack of art museums, professional sports, and decent shopping. The University of Texas has a nice new building for its Blanton Museum, but other art museums in town are unimpressive. As for professional sports, the Austin area has an Arena Football League team, and the AAA affiliate of the Houston Astros. The UT sports teams become the defacto professional sports, and coverage of those teams saturates local news. Shopping is not great, but is improving. A new higher end shopping center, sort of like Fashion Island in Newport Beach, opened recently, and immediately improved the available options.
Travis | Austin, TX