Fun place to visit but terrible to live in
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1/31/2019
I lived in Austin for about 2 years and have various thoughts about the place, which some are good and bad.
The Good
-Fun culture. People like to go out and party alot. Alot of cool bars. 6th street is famous for a reason.
-Alot of high quality apartments. I had a pretty nice apartment and even the ones up north in Round Rock (town north of Austin) are pretty good.
-Fairly established tech industry thanks to Michael Dell who's invested alot into Austin.
-Lots of sunshine, never cold here too often and no winter (if you dont like winter that is).
-Growing city that isnt slow paced. Things keep getting built and more people keep coming (which may or may not be a good thing)
-Lots of very good parks. That was probably my favorite part about Austin is how well designed the parks are and the whole Springs in the middle of them was neat.
-Lots of cool festivals like SWSX and a bunch of others. Way too many to list but you get the idea.
Now for the bad, which sadly is alot longer than the good
The Bad
-Austin sadly is not a city that can grow very well due to lack of infrastructure. Austin will become like Phoenix or Dallas in that it will be very overcrowded due to not having good public transit or enough urbanization. It would normally take me up to an hour to drive home from work and I only worked 11 miles away. People keep moving there and the city doesnt seem to really care on how to handle it.
-No cultural diversity at all. Its mostly White people and Spanish people here. I barely saw any Blacks, Asians, Italians, Jews, Irish, Muslims or anyone whos not baptist. Austin's "Chinatown" was more like a shopping center in the hood, which I found to be quite sad. Only the White native Texas are really thriving in Austin and I say that as a white person since I dont see minority groups here doing too well due to the cultural atmosphere.
-Work culture is pretty terrible since its trying to be too much like Silicon Valley when the infrastructure and culture isnt there in Texas. Texas is right to work state and a state known for poor wages. I was making 30-40k a year, which is pretty hard to thrive off. Most people I knew were making the same, maybe a little more. Even working for a place for 2+ years the wages dont scale very goo.
-Cost of living makes zero sense. It costs as much to live in some parts of New York City as it does in downtown Austin, yet Austin doesnt have as much culture or as much of a stable economy to offer. Its cheaper than Cali but everywhere in the country is cheaper than Cali.
-Austin still has the title of being a city for "slackers", which is very true since everyone here wants to just party and never work. Nobody here seems to really care about what they do for living and is more interested in living like they did back in college. Professionalism is a lost art here.
-Food is the most overrated thing here. The places I ate at here that were good here were chains that were in other parts of Texas. Torchys for example is amazing but you can find a Torchys anywhere in Texas. The Taco Hype is not real. Most of the tacos here taste like crap. Tacos are done more justice in any other Texas Metro than they are in Austin.
-Politically Austin is liberal for Texas standards but not as liberal as the west coast or the north east, which shows in that the city doesnt wanna commit alot of money to infrastructure or trying to diversify culturally. It doesnt surprise me since Texas is one of the most conservative states in the country and even being liberal in a red state like this doesnt mean much.
-The obvious 100+ degree temperatures. Some people may like extreme heat. Im originally from Florida and I couldnt handle it but this is different from person to person.
Overall, Id say Austin is a cool place to visit but its an extremely difficult place to live. Its still light years behind the rest of the country and with the influx of people, I dont see how quality life is possible here. Its even harder if your not a native due to the way the culture is in that outsiders are not embraced here. Id say if you want to check out the festivals or want to come party here then just visit for a week. Dont try living here since its not sustainable.
mike | Greensboro, NC