What are the main differences, if any, between Dallas & Austin? In terms of weather, people, schools, things to do, etc. We are thinking of moving out of Ft Lauderdale to a better place to raise our family. Any insight appreciated!
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Austin is a fantastic place. We wanted ourselves to move there, but job brought us to Dallas. Not that Dallas is not a good place. But Austin is a real cosmopolitan and a beautiful city. Where Dallas is conservative, Austin is vibrant ... Lots of things to and interesting people to meet. University of Texas at Austin is one of the best universities. Austin has great parks and out door activities. (More parks per capita than other major cities). It also has some of the funky things such as hippies and liberals. Housing and cost of living is more expensive then Dallas. Austin is home to Dell, Sun ... Also, another thing Austin is very well known for is night life.
Dallas is growing and really big in jobs now. Many companies such as AT&T, Cisco are moving in. In fact as far as jobs go, Dallas is probably much better then anywhere else. Being conservative, this city is really ideal for bringing up kids. Due to over building and such, there are incredible values in real estate and the homes built by custom builders are some of the best in the country. However these may not lost too long. Dallas is much more attractive in terms of cost to live than Austin.
Schools are good in both cities. If it is mainly oriented towards raising family, Dallas would get my vote.
Austin is more liberal and and Dallas is more metropolitan conservative. Both are hot in the summer! Make sure that you do research on the neighborhoods and schools, because they can vary. One can live in a million dollar house in TerryTown in Austin, but the children will go to an inner city like public school. Many families go to private school if you live near downtown. The same in Dallas.
A lot of people live in Dripping Springs, West Lake, or Wimberly, so their children can go to a good a public school. There are other districts, but I cant remember West and northwest of Austin. I would look into living outside of Austin. There are great restaurants and live music. Keep Austin weird!
It is UT, so there is really bad traffic all of the time.
The cost of living is very high compared to San Antonio. You may look in San Antonio - Alamo Heights/Terrel Hills, or the Stone Oak Area. Also Boerne and Kerrville are smaller towns.
Austin - the saying goes if you live in Austin you must be one of 4 things - a politician, a student, a professor or a musician. Austin is the state capitol. Austin is home to the main campus of one of the largest state universities in the nation, the University of Texas with over 50,000 students. Austin is the live music capital of the US. Austin has a population of 758,000. Austin is green, hot and humid. Austin's motto is "Keep Austin Weird" and it's the only city in Texas with no ordinance against women going topless in public.
Dallas - is the 3rd largest city in Texas and the 9th largest in the nation with a population of 1,300,000. Dallas is the 3rd most popular destination for business travel. Dallas economy is based on banking, commerce, energy and telecommunications. The State Fair of Texas, which is the largest fair in the US, is held in Dallas. Dallas has more shopping centers per capita than any other city in the US. Dallas is much more cosmopolitan than Austin.
I've flown through both several times. I stopped flying through Houston because of hassles (delays for lightning, rain, storm cells, wind shear, etc.) practically every time I was there. I've driven through both several times. Houston looks poor. I know Houston actually has a higher per-capita income, but it looks poor. I can name three businesses I deal with on a regular basis that are based in the Dallas area. I can't name any I deal with that are in Houston. I've worked for three Dallas-based businesses. I've never even had a reason to apply to a Houston-based business. The only person I ever met who was heading to Houston on business was a Russian model who had to visit the consulate. Show me anyone in business who doesn't visit Dallas regularly. Honestly though, I've always heard Austin is the kickin' city of Texas.
Move to Austin...they were recently rated in the top 10 best cities to live in. I've lived in both areas and currently live in n. dallas and i would move back to austin in a heartbeat if it weren't for my job. the schools are a little better, the people are way, WAY nicer and easy to get along with. Austin is close to San Antonio and you could easily drive to Dallas if you wanted. There are a ton more lakes/water activities down there. The weather is a bit more humid because of the proximity to water, but the temperatures are about the same in both places. Austin is just a more easy going city with more to do.
Dallas is a bankers city - oil, real estate, insurance - with a few people wishing it were funkier. At the core, its politics are conservative nasty - "liberal" is a weapon to sling. It is a vast sprawl with very high number of good apartments and a high proportion of restaurants - one of the highest in the country. It has lots of houses. A rather low level of participation in the arts (as opposed to attendance) Given total freedom, I would prefer to live in Ft. Worth if being in this area was required.
Austin is funkier and has a much stronger arts and music scene built around the huge university. It is physically smaller and has a greater variety of landscapes within the city. The hill country comes right up to the south west adding to variety With the hospitals and bases, it has a stronger military presence.
I havent been to either but have heard the people in Dallas are more rude and def more materialistic and Austin people are friendlier and more down to earth, laid back-Id go to Austin first
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