Hot and dry right now. LOL Seriously, the state is desert in the west, prairie in the middle, coastal down south, hilly in the middle and has piney woods to the east. It's really varied. When they say Texas is like a whole other country, they're not far from the truth. Austin is in the hill country and Houston is on the coast so the climate is different in both area.
Oh my goodness, I was just going to post this! You can pretty much tell when a person has only lived in one part of the state for any amount of time by how they describe it. Frankly, it's like driving through five different small states. Don't like one, pick another. I've lived here my entire life -- not remotely a "no place but Texas" stance, but just where jobs/school took us. I grew up in North Dallas, lived in Austin in the 90's (husband is from the Hill Country), moved back to Dallas/Plano for a few years, then moved to Houston for about three years, then back to Austin in 2003. We now live about 25 miles south of Austin.
Here's my take: I love parts of Texas...I loathe parts of Texas. I wouldn't move back to Dallas if you paid me, even though my family is there. After living in Houston and Austin, I'm very concious that Dallas seems to consist of mostly dining out and shopping. That is, of course, an exaggeration, but compared to the Hill Country options for entertainment and living...not so much. I think of Dallas and Houston as suburbia/big box store paradise, with Austin having a lot more soul. HOWEVER...Austin has changed a lot. It used to be more artsy, individual, fun. But a huge influx from around the country, California, etc, for people loving the cheap housing (in comparison to west/east coast, not to inside Texas), nature and quirkiness just ended up killing much of that (sort of what happened to Seattle once it got on the map for "best places to live"). In fact, there's a little area of downtown that's been hyper-developed in such a pseudo-hip manner that I often hear it referred to as "Little Dallas". But..but...but -- it's still the best place to live in Texas, to me.
Schools are in districts, sometimes different ones in the same city. Like Austin has AISD, but then there's Westlake. Your AISD school quality depends on the neighborhood (obviously, richer areas have better schools), and Westlake..well, cha-ching! So again, anyone who says a sweeping "schools are great/schools suck" really aren't being accurate. Just look up the state rating for whatever area you're considering.
I've lived in neighborhoods in cities, where if I'd stayed there I would have told everyone I hated living in Houston or Dallas. But when I moved to a different neighborhood in the same city, suddenly I enjoyed where I lived. Like now...when we lived inside Austin, I LOVED our location...close to everything, gorgeous, interesting people. To afford a house that had what we wanted, we had to move south of Austin. The area...okay. It's pretty in parts, but we do not have much of anything in common with our neighbors..errr.. AT ALL. Really really miss being nearby to interesting restaurants/shops, festivals, the river, live music. The school district is okay. If I'd lived here first, and never lived inside Austin, I might have negatively generalized what the entire area was like. So again...take opinions with a grain of salt, or at least try to find a commonality between them.
Is it hot? @#$#@ YES! I may be born and bred here, as well as DH, but we spend June-Sept indoors enjoying a lot of A/C. This year we broke all the records -- over 100 days of over 100 degree weather, and are in the middle of a devastating drought. But give it a few years and we could have the coolest/wettest summer on record. Dallas had a nasty winter last year, with tons of freezes (hello, remember the super bowl nightmare?). But generally it might snow or ice once or twice for a day or two. Things change. That's Texas weather.
Texas...conservative and religious? Well, maybe. Again, depends on where you live. Austin is more liberal, but it's easy to seem that way when compared to how conservative other areas are. Williamson County that bumps against Austin? Swings conservative. Hays, just south of Austin? In between.
It's VERY affordable compared to some states. I have a number of friends who moved from other pricier states practically giddy over the size house they could afford for about half of what they were paying in California. We do have property tax, but not state tax. I think our property tax runs about 3% of the value of our home. Please note that THIS CHANGES DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU LIVE. In Houston, for instance, by going down the road about a mile, our taxes dropped by .5%. Sales tax...generally around 8.25%. Utilities? Again, depends on where you live. This year...again, the hottest year, our most expensive electric bill...in August, with A/C running 24/7 on 73, was $200. But we live in a newer home that's well insulated. In the Spring it's normally around $120, with gas being $25. My most expensive gas/heating bill in the winter was about $70. Water/Trash...also depends on where you live. Our combined bill is about $70. Price of gasoline in Austin area today, about $3.25/gallon. Groceries are NOT crazy expensive. Whenever I travel I always visit local grocery stores to pick up supplies, and am usually surprised at how pricey it can be. I mean, yes, if you shop at Whole Foods or Randalls/Tom Thumb...ouch! Oh yes, that being said, we have the flagship Whole Foods downtown which is just...oohhhhh, heaaaveennnn. And unlike any other you'll visit.
Whew...that was a lot of info, huh? But wait, there's more!
Friendly? Well, this is kind of a silly statement. It's like anywhere else -- maybe the people in your neighborhood will be very social and friendly, maybe they won't. Maybe you'll move into a bad or snotty part of town where everyone at the store is rude. Maybe you'll move to a down to earth area or small town where everyone says "ma'am" or "sir", looks you in the eye and smiles as they pass. It's a silly concept to generalize. Overall, no friendlier or ruder than anyplace I've ever been.
Traffic -- again, subjective. I always thought anyone who complained about traffic in Austin never had to go from Downtown to NW Houston at 5 pm. Now THAT'S a nightmare. People in Austin just complain b/c there are less major roadways and it is WAY worse than it used to be. And in Houston, it's a nightmare practically all the time on certain roadways...290...shudder.
Best of luck to you! DH works in the tech sector in Austin, and they just told everyone that the Austin tech sector only has like 2-3% unemployment. Not bad, huh?
Really? I could see the complaint for Houston (maybe), but Austin?!?! There might be congestion around the University, but the city as a whole has never seemed that bad.
