The Diesel Garage banner

Thinkin about moving to Texas

3K views 25 replies 10 participants last post by  sexytrkr 
#1 ·
Hey guys. My girlfriend and I are thinking about moving from St. Louis, Missouri to Texas, probably Austin. Ive been to Texas and fell in love with the state but I have never been to Austin. I graduate college in about a month and were think about moving sometime next year, like January. I could google this stuff but I would much rather ask you guys to get more of a real world information.

Here are my questions:
1) What is Austin like? Is it more of a "city" or does it still have those Texas country roots?
2) What is the job market in Texas/Austin? I am graduating with a degree in Finance and have been working at a bank for about a year and would need a job if I moved. The St. Louis market is in the crapper and its hard to find a job. How is Austin and the rest of Texas doin?
3) What is the cost of living?
4) Where in Texas, your opinion, is the best place to live?
5) Whats the night life in Texas? Are there more night clubs or are there a lot of country bars. Its pretty damn hard to find a decent country bar here in STL

Thanks in advance for all your help guys. Im sure I will have more questions as this thread goes on

Andy
 
See less See more
#3 · (Edited)
if you want to spend the weekend and come down to austin i can show ya'll around when i come off the road for the winter. you can get a hotel and i'll pick ya'll up and make a day or two show all out of it...ive lived there pretty much my whole life and still live there. well, about 20 minutes north of austin itself, but its all the same town pretty much.

im not sure about the job market, its pretty stable from what i hear though.
LOTS of banks if thats where you want to return to. cost of living is comperable to everywhere else...not like CA where everything is more expensive just because your in CA.

if you like live country music, there seems to allways be something going on within a reasonable distance. theres 6th street area, lots of bars and clubs etc etc. fun time there.

the city itself is pretty relaxed if you ask me. go east/north/south of town and theres open fields and if you go west theres hill country. A few lakes. not sure what else your interested in.

I hope i answered your questions. if you have anymore feel free to ask. I love austin and havnt found another city id rather live in, and with my job i see my fair share of citys.:thumbsup
 
#4 ·
I don't know about Missouri but Texas doesn't collect state income tax. So, you have a little more of your money come payday, which is what I always liked. Property taxes are where the state makes up the difference. I loved (and still do) the state of Texas when I lived there. Austin is a nice city. You can always find stuff to do.
 
#5 ·
Austin is a fun town, but has started to become a liberal city..... nothing wrong with it, but it isn't my cup of tea to live there. I have a friend that lives there and he says it's got it's good and bad. Cost of living is a little more in Austin than Houston, which is where i live. My friends house is right at the same sq ft, but his lot is A LOT smaller than mine and he paid more than $40,000 more for his house than i did. Not too sure about the job market there. Houston is pretty good though. Night life is good as well in Austin. There is always something to do, as it is here in Houston. Lots of country bars all over Texas. Got about 8 of em withing 30 min of my place. Just depends on who's playing at which one as for where i go.

All in all, Austin is a pretty good town from what i hear. I don't wanna live there, but it's fun to go visit.
 
#6 ·
Thanks for all the info guys. I appreciate it. Sexytrkr, I appreciate the help. I am thinking about coming down there sometime next year. I will let you know if I do or not. The main reason I want to move to Austin is one, I love Texas and two, I want to get my masters from the University of Texas- Austin. Sprman, I have also heard that Austin is kind of a liberal city. Im am far from a liberal, but st. louis has turned into a liberal city and I can handle it. I just know texas is Badazz and I have always wanted to live there.
 
#7 ·
:happymugs Come on down. Austin is a good town. It has it's ups and downs like all of em. We'll be more than glad to have you in The Great State of Texas!!
 
#8 ·
after the first of the year would be perfect...preferably in jan or feb because after that I will be back at work and wont ever be here. just let us know. i can show you austin and maybe sprmn can show you around houston...:happymugs
 
#10 ·
Austin is a fun place to vistit and has nice scenery but unless your a lib its no fun to live there. There are much nicer places to live and still have all the natural beauty of Austin and at a fraction of Austins living price.
 
#11 ·
if youve never been to austin dont even THINK about moving there til youve spent
some serious time visiting the place.

Austin, nice as it is, is a MAGNET for liberals...it is The State Capitol, UT Austin
has more than 50k undergrads, and there's a TON of relocated california hi-tech
companies in austin...all of those are TYPICALLY LIBERAL in their very demographic
make up.

if youre into that kinda think <including expensive real estate>...save the cost of
your visit/vacation investigating austin & move now ;)

you could EASILY avoid some of this liberalism by living a ways out of town too.

personally i think san antonio is a good INEXPENSIVE place to live, lots to do &
a nice conservative "town"...houston is a bit "too big" for most....but it would be
my next pick & my 3rd choice would be el paso or alaska ;)
 
#12 ·
I have heard that before. The main reason for the move would be the school, UT Austin, which has a top rated MBA program. Also, I would plan on living outside austin and just driving into town for work and school. So if I get into the school, there is not much I can do about the town. I think I can handle it for the BA education I will have. Thanks for the info
 
#15 ·
Yeah traffic on 183 is pretty bad and 35 is pretty bad too.
 
#16 ·
mopac and 360 arent any better !

god help you if you have to come in from 290 <either side> !
 
#17 ·
Very true, you might want to move to the north east side of austin, there are some older homes that are decent in price and you wont be to far from campus.
 
#19 ·
what are you looking to do???
 
#21 · (Edited)
if you want to live north of austin look in round rock(where I live)...georgetown...leander...cedar park...pflugerville...(P is silent)....hutto...

south of austin theres buda, san marcos and new branfuls.

btw, the cheapest diesel ive bought so far is in round rock 5 minutes from the house on 79...its been 2.55. I just drove to Victoria via halletsville and back and didnt see any fuel cheaper anywhere and i looked.

F the liberals...i drive my dually everywhere and they dont ever say anything. When I hauled heavy equipment for a demolition contractor i used to show up and unload an excavator to tear down a house in the historical area and the neighbors would come out all mad trying to stop me...id tell them we have a permit and the house was coming down regardless of what they said...put them in their place and they'll shut up.
 
#23 ·
Have your tried jobs.com or monster.com? Also look at the Austin news paper classifieds online or even craigslist.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bushpilot
#26 ·
statesman.com is the austin newspaper...

im kinda thinkin about doing the same thing once i get outta college. i wanna move into the country though, im gonna have an associates in auto and diesel tech so a diesel oriented town would be prime for me lol
I lived in Kzoo and plainwell michigan last year...HATED it...im soo glad im back in tx. gheto fabulous people get on my nerves.
 
#24 ·
im kinda thinkin about doing the same thing once i get outta college. i wanna move into the country though, im gonna have an associates in auto and diesel tech so a diesel oriented town would be prime for me lol
 
#25 ·
Houston has a large variety of diesel job fields.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top