Austin or Phoenix?

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dev_null

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Looking to move to the SW this year, and get away from the DC area. Requirements:

- Cost of living should be less than Northern VA, especially house prices;
- Needs to have openings in IT work (she's a business analyst and tech writer, I'm a project manager;
- Needs to have a good college, because I want to go back to school and complete my education;
- Must be gun-friendly;
- Climate needs to be bearable.

I narrowed it down to Austin, Tempe, and Tucson. From what I hear, Tucson has a good school but no work; Austin has a nicer climate than Tempe but fewer jobs; Phoenix has the worst climate but more IT work. Not real sure about how they compare in terms of gun rights.

Is that accurate? Anyone care to rate the two (Phoenix & Austin) against each other?

Any help most gratefully received...

- 0 -
 
Hmmmmm...UT and others in Austin, ASU in Phoenix...Phoenix is too hot (not that Austin is chilly)...Phoenix has more jobs, but Austin has Dell...
1. I'd read up on the climate in Phoenix and see if I could stand it
2. I'd interview for a job there this summer to experience the climate at its worst
3. I'd also look at Atlanta and Raleigh-Durham, two big IT places that are often over-looked and have low costs of living.
 
Austin is a pretty liberal city, but is constrained by Texas Laws on guns, so you should be ok as to gun rights.

Tech work is usually pretty heavy there, but may still be sluggish from the Tech fallout.

Housing is fairly expensive by Dallas Standards, but reasonable by the rest of the universe. :)

Bearable Climate? Heck, I live in Ft Worth and find that pretty bearable, but I've lived here all my life... Do you like it warm or cold? You won't get many snowstorms, but the summers can be fairly hot. Do NOT own a car without A/C. Same as regards a house, although you won't find one unequipped in the state, unless it doesn't have electricity :)

That being said, Austin is a fun town that has some really nice areas to raise a family. Espescially if you get to Round Rock or Georgetown or some of the other outsirts. UTA being there makes it a college town with all the highs and lows that it brings... But there's always a good education avalable if you need night classes or anything...

And there's always something to do in Austin. It's a busy place with a lot going on. Nice lake nearby (Travis), good food, good camping not too far (Pendernales Falls) and even a nudist colony at Hippy Hollow :D And of course, the Alamo Drafthouse is a theatre to visit often... They play all sorts of neat movies you won't see anywhere else. Heck, on the 20th anniversary of JAWS, they had a showing... In the middle of the night... In the middle of lake Travis.... in innertubes in the lake! And then they once had a showing of Freddy vs Jasdon at an old campground with Robert Englund and the guy who played Jason present... Neat stuff :)

Anyway, Austin is a decent town from what I've seen. Never lived there but have a few friends who enjoyed living there immensly.
 
Austin is a great city with lots of resources from guns, music, books, intellectual, food, etc.

Traffic is bad, suburbs are nice. Jobs are tight with the fall of the IT bubble.

BTW, San Antonio is more laid back and extremely liveable.

I think the main issue will be jobs.
 
I would say Austin has decent market for tech jobs. Weather probably isn't as scorching as AZ, but still hot. If you were to choose to go there I'd say maybe work in Austin but live in Round Rock or something.
 
My brother lives in Austin and my wife's sister and husband live in Phoenix. There are plenty of jobs to be had in both places. According to my sister (who used to be a real estate agent in Phoenix) you are going to have a helluva hard time finding housing there. The demand is far exceeding the supply right now and they cannot build fast enough. Houses are selling before construction even begins and because of all this demand it's driving the costs way up.

There are plenty of jobs to be had in Austin. My brother is a systems admin there and he just changed jobs only 2 to 3 months ago. He interviewed for many jobs before he found the right fit. There are lots of jobs to be had in Austin but then again there are a lot of people wanting them. If you have the experience though I'd expect that you wouldn't have a problem getting one. Cost of living is high for Texas but possibly not for other states. Personally I wouldn't want to live in Austin simply because of the atrocious traffic. The place has grown way faster than it's roads and highways can keep up with. I guess that's better than not being able to find a hosue though. Aside from that it's probably a fun place to live. They have tons of incredible restaurants and one of the best music scenes in the world and lots of other cultural things to take part in.

If you don't mind the traffic and commuting I'd try to live somewhere southwest of Austin...maybe 30 minutes out or so towards the hill country...beautiful country there.

I don't have any college ratings handy to back this up but I believe that UT is a superior school to ASU. Someone with one of those major college ranking publications can correct me if that's wrong. This is coming from a Texas Aggie too...we're bitter rivals but UT is a great school to be honest.

brad cook
 
I can't speak to the Phoenix situation (i've only been there on a layover and it was 112 in May).

Austin is pretty liberal (you see a lot of "keep austin weird" bumber stickers and the transvestite homeless man running for mayor got more press than Willy's antics). I hear the Austin PD chief won't issue/sign class three paperwork--but the county sheriff will in half a sec.

As for the job situation, my company (don't want to say which for various reasons) has tripled in size in the last three years. Austin did take a beating after the dot com bust, but that's because Austin has made a dedicated effort to become a high tech center over the last 15 years or so--so the concentration was much higher. We also had an unusually large number of venture capitalist (half-baked) companies that were established without a plan to make a profit.

Colleges include University of Texas, St Edwards, Austin Community College, SouthWest Texas down in San Marcos, an ITT campus--and many other smaller vocational/technical schools.

Traffic...hmm. Get a nice car stereo, you'll likely be spending some quality time in the car.

The worst thing (in my opinion) is the cedar allergies that almost EVERYONE seems to develop. I didn't understand what allergies truly were til moving to Austin in my late 20's.

Rarely (like every 5-10 years) ever snows. It's usually hot from mid may til late september--with about a 3 week stretch in August of triple digits. (The last 3-4 years have been unusually mild weather here),

A nice home in the suburbs can be had for 110k, nice 2 bedroom appts closer in are about 900-1100 a month. No state income tax, 8.25 sales tax. Property taxes have been rising steadily. A movie cost about $8-9. Car tags are about $65 a year. My utility bill (water, electric, gas) runs about $130 a year.

There's a couple of indoor ranges, and a couple of outdoor ranges if you don't mind a bit of a drive. Skeet range just outside of town. Plenty of hunting leases within a few hours drive time in the 1k a year range. Gulf Coast is 3-4 hours away for some nice fishing and vacationing.
 
After living in 4 years of unadulterated hell in Yuma, I swore I would never live in AZ again, (With exceptions for Flagstaff or Parker.)

But if heat is not an issue, AZ ain't a bad place to live. Cash and carry, no waiting period, you can walk around full-heeled in many places, and decent hunting, if you aren't going for big game. (I bet Austin has better hunting though.) But the desert = methheads bigtime. Not sure if that is the case in Texas, but in Eastern Cali and AZ, speed use is rampant.

I can't speak from experience about Austin, but I hear it is the Berkely of Texas. But it is still Texas. I'd probably live there. Oh and Texas has much better divorce laws, for what its worth.

Tuscon can be gorgeous, but Flagstaff is prettier, IMO. If I had to choose between Flagstaff and Austin, It would be a hard choice. (If I ever give up on Cali, I will probably move to Oregon, though.)
 
I live in the Phoenix valley and love it.
It is very, very gun friendly.
There are lots of IT jobs (Intel, Motorola, Boeing, IBM and a million other companies) that hired a lot of my IT friends and are always looking.
We have a top ranked school (ASU) that has great business and IT programs.
The cost of living isn't too bad but the housing market is rising quickly. This can be considered good or bad, depending how you look at it. The prices are going up fast but when you get into your house, you get equity very quickly (right now about 20% growth rate). This area is one of the best real estate markets in the country. I'm in the mortgage business so I'm enjoying this in a big way! And the great thing is that the infrastructure and economy here is very strong and stable so it is able to handle it with no problems (unlike some of the problems that Las Vegas recently had).
The weather is kinda love/hate. It is great except for July/August when your skin begins to bubble up and melt away and you want to die. Other than that... the winters can't get better.
If you decide to move here, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
(On a side note, I'd forget about Tucson.... just my opinion.)
 
I recommend Tucson over the Phoenix metro area after living in both places for long periods of time. Tucson is alot more bearable, temperature wise and it still has kind of a small town feel to it compared to Phoenix. Also the Sonoran desert is beautiful.
 
I'm from Texas and have lived in Austin for 11 years. I wouldn't live anywhere else in the USA, and I've seen most of it. This city is very, very enjoyable to live in and unfortunately it's not a secret any longer.

That said, please don't move here. It is growing out of control with folks flooding in from the rest of the country. :evil: :evil: ;) :) I meet people every day that just moved here. Traffic is INSANELY bad. Live close to where you will work. I wouldn't recommend living outside of Austin if you work in the city because you may spend more than 2 hours a day in your car. I live downtown and I drive 15 minutes to Westlake to work. I go the opposite direction of rush hour traffic and it works fine. Austin is now the most expensive city in Texas in which to live, because it's so damn popular. But that is still cheaper though than the East or West Coast. I'm going to buy a house in South Austin for $90K-100K in a few months. The average price is about $165K.

I handle much of the programming and IT work for a medium sized, quickly growing Financial Services corporation (current market capitalization ~$1.3 Billion). I do MS web applicaitons development, SQL Server database development, data mining, and some unix shell and database development. I would say the market is picking up noticeably in Austin for the IT industry. We absolutely cannot find qualified .NET programmers right now. If you know any, please send them to me. If you are good, you won't have a problem finding a job here. We just had to hire a replacement project manager from Microsoft in Seattle to supervise us programmers.

I think it goes without saying we are gun friendly here. You can get a CHL for handguns, and long guns can be carried in your car at any time except around schools, etc. Follow the laws and you'll be fine. The University of Texas is one of the best Uni's in the country. It IS the largest, so a university of that size will have some issues that keep it from scoring the highest marks across the board. However, if you apply yourself then you will get an education that is as good as any in this country. The available facilities here simply do not have a rival. We have our own nuclear reactor inside city limits for research, an observatory on campus, a museum that houses a Gutenberg bible, etc. You can do ANYTHING at this university.

As long as you can stand 30 consecutive days of 100 degree weather in August, you'll be fine. AZ is worse in that regard. Spring is blissful though and it is absolutely gorgeous right now.

Of course, if you move here, don't tell us how to do things like it was done back home. We're doing just fine. Unsolicited advice from some hippie refugee from some other state that is now living in mine makes me want to puke more than anything. I'm not saying you will do that at all, but it happens. There is a woman running for city council right now who is from California and got her degree at Princeton. I'm voting against her just for those two reasons. If I want this place to be run like California, I'll move there. Give me a native Texan for elected office who knows our culture and won't ruin this place.

If you do move here, I'm sure that you're the kind of person that we need living here. It is very, very enjoyable for more reasons than I can list in this post. There's just too many.
 
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I'll recommend Austin over Phoenix, having spent time in both (and still in Austin), but I will say that jobs can be a bit difficult to come by, depending on the field you are looking in. I am in an IT field, and am currently looking for a job here, but not having much luck.
 
I live in North Austin, next to Round Rock. I currently work for Dell. If you decide to come to Austin, now is the time. Dell is going through a massive restrucitng, probably the biggest in history. We need project managers. If you come to austin let me know. I could run your application/resume across some peoples desk here at Dell.
 
I live in the Phoenix area. You wouldn't like it. It is hot and dusty. Move somewhere else.

(I am so sick of Arizona being overrun by people moving here from California and other liberal places! :cuss: Arizona is a great state but the good folk are being diluted by all the trash that has been moving in lately and trying to turn Arizona into California Jr... I'm not kidding, outsiders are trying to ruin Arizona...)
 
By the way, have you considered the DFW Metroplex? Good jobs in Tech, (recovering nicely from the Dotcom bust thank you), Ft Worth has extremely nice prices on housing (1800 Sq ft can be had around $110K), good people, good attitude toward guns, and overall a good place to raise kids. 2-3 hours North of Austin, and a tad cooler, although rougher on allergies.
 
Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I'm compiling the info and sharing it with the gf.

Much obliged!
 
Constantly

on top ten lists for health, money, living magazines and polls.
Sandra Bullock, Dennis Quaid, Matthew McConaughy & Joey Lauren Adams are among a few of the celebs that live here with many others constantly visiting. HUGE movie industry here now, Sin City was shot here among many others over the last couple of years.
For diverse music it can't be beat with the SXSW industry showcase and Austin City Limits festival every year. In the last year you could have seen many country acts, David Bowie and next month Nine Inch Nails along with comedians like Louis Black or Carlin.
Great live and let live city & I have lived in many great cities and areas and I think this is the best place to live also.
CT
 
Hellbore, Phoenix has plenty of it's own indigenous trash. The outsiders coming in can only help clean up the place.

My folks have been in Phoenix for about 12 years and I am out there 3~5 times a year. Sometimes for extended stays.

I'd have to give Austin the edge at the moment in terms of housing. The Phoenix market is booming, but to get decent housing under $300,000 you have to get pretty far out and traffic is becoming a problem. On the plus side, Pheonix is a great town with lots to do and lots to do just short car rides away. The summers are brutal, but short and then the weather is great the remainder of the year.

In terms of jobs, I don't how the Austin market is doing, but Phoenix is strong. Lots of companies relocating headquarters there.

It's a tough call. Going there without work can throw a wrench into things.

Also depends on how much money you're bring to put down on something.
 
Hellbore, Phoenix has plenty of it's own indigenous trash. The outsiders coming in can only help clean up the place.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I was talking about earlier. It's this kind of newcomer-knowitall-complex that we hate to see and makes me want to run those folks out of town. Californians have a state that is generally a disaster and yet most that I meet have a superior attitude and think they will set other lesser states straight somehow. Obviously not by example, maybe by learning from their own mistakes.

We need to erect a fence east of California to keep them in their state. I like most of the folks who are moving to Austin, with the general exception of people from Massachusettes and California. Many (not all) of their attitudes blows. Even the New Yorkers are great immigrants.
 
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Sandra Bullock, Dennis Quaid, Matthew McConaughy & Joey Lauren Adams are among a few of the celebs that live here with many others constantly visiting.
Click to expand...

You're going to drive people away with that kind of talk!! :neener:

brad cook
 
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