Houston vs. Austin... which is the better city to live in?

[DevilsAdvocate]

Originally posted by: MrPickins
I vote Austin. But I'm a bit biased beacuse I grew up here.
The only issues are:
Cost of living, housing especially. It's higher on average than the rest of the state, but still not too bad compared to the rest of the US.
And, As Elfenix mentioned, Austin is notorious for being bad on people with allergies. I'd say mostly because of all the trees, the junipers really get some people. Not me, though.

The mentality is different here. You'll see a lot of "Keep Austin Wierd" bumperstickers.

Houston is closer to the beach, but it's not any beach I'd like to go to. We make a short (for TX) trip down to Port Aransas when we wanna go.
Now that they closed Astroworld, I can't think of anything I would do In houston besides Astros' & Texans' games.

You forgot that Houston has more tittie bars per capita than any other city in the US.

/thread.

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: DevilsAdvocate

Originally posted by: MrPickins
I vote Austin. But I'm a bit biased beacuse I grew up here.
The only issues are:
Cost of living, housing especially. It's higher on average than the rest of the state, but still not too bad compared to the rest of the US.
And, As Elfenix mentioned, Austin is notorious for being bad on people with allergies. I'd say mostly because of all the trees, the junipers really get some people. Not me, though.

The mentality is different here. You'll see a lot of "Keep Austin Wierd" bumperstickers.

Houston is closer to the beach, but it's not any beach I'd like to go to. We make a short (for TX) trip down to Port Aransas when we wanna go.
Now that they closed Astroworld, I can't think of anything I would do In houston besides Astros' & Texans' games.

You forgot that Houston has more tittie bars per capita than any other city in the US.

/thread.

You can believe that we have plenty of those here. Plenty.

And, if thats your sort of thing, Austin also has Sixth Street.

 

[Otaking]

No contest. I grew up in Sugar Land until I came to UT-Austin for college, and Austin is a much better and much cooler (both temp and atmosphere) place to live.

I've lived in Austin for 10 years now, and I honestly wouldn't want to call any other place home now. We've got great people, great college sports, cheap year-round golf, and did I mention we don't have assholes here?

Even if you wear your USC and Ohio State shirts, we'll still welcome you because Austin rocks! :beer:

 

[jamesave]

Originally posted by: Otaking
No contest. I grew up in Sugar Land until I came to UT-Austin for college, and Austin is a much better and much cooler (both temp and atmosphere) place to live.

I've lived in Austin for 10 years now, and I honestly wouldn't want to call any other place home now. We've got great people, great college sports, cheap year-round golf, and did I mention we don't have assholes here?

Even if you wear your USC and Ohio State shirts, we'll still welcome you because Austin rocks! :beer:

While I agree mostly with your comment, I am dumbfounded by the following opinion.. Read this:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/08/29/29kelso.html

 

[Nebor]

Houston is one of the worst cities in the world. No kidding. Houston is roughly equivalent to Detroit. But they have petrochemicals instead of cars.

Austin is the clear choice.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: mitaiwan82
Austin HANDS DOWN...wouldn't live anywhere else in Texas

Originally posted by: geckojohn
I'd choose Houston. It's closer to the beach and the weather is nicer.

if only you've been to Galveston beach...it ain't no San Diego! Houston's got the same heat as Austin, with much more humidity.

actually houston only hit 100 degrees for a couple hours this year. thats about 5 or 6 degrees cooler than austin. also, the winters are a bit more mild.



but galveston beach does suck. brown water. it's mississippi mud mostly.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: DevilsAdvocate
Austin is a great place to live. Your quality of life there would be better than it would be in Houston, provided you can afford to live there.

The cost of housing in Austin is atrocious compared to Houston. Houston has more employment opportunities, cheaper housing, and some of the best Mexican food in the universe.

For you folsk out there that don't like Mexican food, you have not eaten it here.

we don't have mexican food (except for pico's mex-mex and 100% taquito). we have tex mex. it was invented right here. that's right, all you yankees with your 'chi-chis' and your 'don pablos' and with your 'fajitas' you're eating knock off texan food. we ain't just chili and barbque.

Originally posted by: Otaking
No contest. I grew up in Sugar Land until I came to UT-Austin for college, and Austin is a much better and much cooler (both temp and atmosphere) place to live.

no, you're not from houston. you're not qualified to talk about houston. you grew up in an anonymous boring suburb surrounded by wasps and cheap tract housing. after doing the same and moving to austin, i thought moving back here to houston would blow. but it isn't anywhere near as bad as i thought it could be. in fact, i think it's pretty nice here, now. maybe i've grown up, maybe it's that i can't really go back to college, or maybe midtown has just grown on me.

plus houston has cooler summers. austin's humidity is pretty murderous as well, i don't know why people think it isn't sweaty armpits there.

 

[Paddington]

Houston has a nice skyline. I'll give it that.

 

[Otaking]

Apparently we're smart too. :beer:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/29/real_estate/brainiest_cities/index.htm?cnn=yes

 

[Otaking]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Otaking
No contest. I grew up in Sugar Land until I came to UT-Austin for college, and Austin is a much better and much cooler (both temp and atmosphere) place to live.

no, you're not from houston. you're not qualified to talk about houston. you grew up in an anonymous boring suburb surrounded by wasps and cheap tract housing. after doing the same and moving to austin, i thought moving back here to houston would blow. but it isn't anywhere near as bad as i thought it could be. in fact, i think it's pretty nice here, now. maybe i've grown up, maybe it's that i can't really go back to college, or maybe midtown has just grown on me.

plus houston has cooler summers. austin's humidity is pretty murderous as well, i don't know why people think it isn't sweaty armpits there.

Woops, I forgot to mention I lived in Katy for 13 years before moving to Sugar Land. Does that count?

 

[imported_Lucifer]

Austin. Houston is a ****** hole. However, San Antonio is a bigger shithole than Houston, so I have no room to talk crap about Houston.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Otaking

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Otaking
No contest. I grew up in Sugar Land until I came to UT-Austin for college, and Austin is a much better and much cooler (both temp and atmosphere) place to live.

no, you're not from houston. you're not qualified to talk about houston. you grew up in an anonymous boring suburb surrounded by wasps and cheap tract housing. after doing the same and moving to austin, i thought moving back here to houston would blow. but it isn't anywhere near as bad as i thought it could be. in fact, i think it's pretty nice here, now. maybe i've grown up, maybe it's that i can't really go back to college, or maybe midtown has just grown on me.

plus houston has cooler summers. austin's humidity is pretty murderous as well, i don't know why people think it isn't sweaty armpits there.

Woops, I forgot to mention I lived in Katy for 13 years before moving to Sugar Land. Does that count?

katy is the exact faceless suburbia that i grew up in. i would hardly call growing up in katy the same experience as being a young adult inside the loop.

 

[Staples]

Austin. It is so damn over rated though so it is hard to recommend.

My city of San Antonio is cheaper to live in than either of those two but the crime rate and poverty is probably higher.

 

[Otaking]

Originally posted by: Staples
Austin. It is so damn over rated though so it is hard to recommend.

My city of San Antonio is cheaper to live in than either of those two but the crime rate and poverty is probably higher.

I hear New Braunfels is :thumbsup: as well.

And regarding allergies, contrary to what ElFenix said earlier, my allergies cleared up almost immediately (it seemed like) after I moved to Austin.

 

[imported_Lucifer]

Originally posted by: Staples
Austin. It is so damn over rated though so it is hard to recommend.

My city of San Antonio is cheaper to live in than either of those two but the crime rate and poverty is probably higher.

Everyone is coming here to San Antonio because it is really cheap to live in. I wouldn't say the crime rate is higher than the other two. My main grudge about San Antonio is construction every where you go. It's almost never ending, considering it seems like they don't bother finishing what they started.

 

[Babbles]

Austin is a way beyond awesome place to live. Seems pretty tough to score a good job there - just cut throat competition. I am not a huge fan of Houston, but I don't think it's quite as bad as many people seem to think.

Until I moved a year ago, I grew up in DFW and I really liked that area. If you want to move to Texas don't rule out DFW, but for the love of all things good don't actually live in Dallas.

 

[Syringer]

People are [l=skinny]http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/top25s/skinniest.
tml[/i] in Houston apparently

 

[Staples]

Originally posted by: Lucifer

Originally posted by: Staples
Austin. It is so damn over rated though so it is hard to recommend.

My city of San Antonio is cheaper to live in than either of those two but the crime rate and poverty is probably higher.

Everyone is coming here to San Antonio because it is really cheap to live in. I wouldn't say the crime rate is higher than the other two. My main grudge about San Antonio is construction every where you go. It's almost never ending, considering it seems like they don't bother finishing what they started.

That is certainly true. The same stretches of Loop 410 have been under construction since I was a kid (like 20 years ago). Seems like once they get finished with a stretch 5 years later, the city tells them to tear it up and make it even wider). My best advice is to avoid rush hour. As long as you can avoid the highways between 4-6:30 and in the morning, you can usually get by pretty quickly.

 

[imported_Lucifer]

Originally posted by: Staples

Originally posted by: Lucifer

Originally posted by: Staples
Austin. It is so damn over rated though so it is hard to recommend.

My city of San Antonio is cheaper to live in than either of those two but the crime rate and poverty is probably higher.

Everyone is coming here to San Antonio because it is really cheap to live in. I wouldn't say the crime rate is higher than the other two. My main grudge about San Antonio is construction every where you go. It's almost never ending, considering it seems like they don't bother finishing what they started.

That is certainly true. The same stretches of Loop 410 have been under construction since I was a kid (like 20 years ago). Seems like once they get finished with a stretch 5 years later, the city tells them to tear it up and make it even wider). My best advice is to avoid rush hour. As long as you can avoid the highways between 4-6:30 and in the morning, you can usually get by pretty quickly.

Yup. Even going towards North star Mall still seems like the same for years already.

And yeah, rush hour is terrible. Took me an hour to get to my destination going towards perrin beitel, rather than the 15 minutes it usually takes me.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

austin by a million freakin miles

lived in hou for 9 years, aus for 4

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Originally posted by: DevilsAdvocate

Originally posted by: MrPickins
I vote Austin. But I'm a bit biased beacuse I grew up here.
The only issues are:
Cost of living, housing especially. It's higher on average than the rest of the state, but still not too bad compared to the rest of the US.
And, As Elfenix mentioned, Austin is notorious for being bad on people with allergies. I'd say mostly because of all the trees, the junipers really get some people. Not me, though.

The mentality is different here. You'll see a lot of "Keep Austin Wierd" bumperstickers.

Houston is closer to the beach, but it's not any beach I'd like to go to. We make a short (for TX) trip down to Port Aransas when we wanna go.
Now that they closed Astroworld, I can't think of anything I would do In houston besides Astros' & Texans' games.

You forgot that Houston has more tittie bars per capita than any other city in the US.

/thread.

You can believe that we have plenty of those here. Plenty.

And, if thats your sort of thing, Austin also has Sixth Street.

Finally.. someone mentioned Sixth Street.. God, I loved that place. I puked in so many hotels down there.. Used to drive down there from Fort Hood on alot of weekends and stay over a few nights..

 

[ElFenix]

6th street is only good if you're looking for underage college tail, or dirt cheap (and nasty) shots.

 

[SZLiao214]

Im from houston now attending school in arlington. I can tell you that houston is not really a nice place to live. The safest city idea mentioned above went out the window when all the NO people moved in.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
6th street is only good if you're looking for underage college tail, or dirt cheap (and nasty) shots.

Underage college students?

 

[Estrella]

Originally posted by: jjsole
Austin - liberal
Houston - conservative

Correction:
Austin & westheimer -liberal
rest of houston -conservative