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I would try Austin, Texas. The weather is not extremely cold or hot. The cost of living is reasonable. It's not super crowded. And if I lost my job, there's a g

I would try Austin, Texas. The weather is not extremely cold or hot. The cost of living is reasonable. It's not super crowded. And if I lost my job, there's a growing demand for tech workers. Are there any Austinites that can comment on this?

itronitron 7y ago
Former Austinite here, I would not recommend it. It has very little to offer and has terrible traffic.
iamcoding 7y ago
It is getting super crowded and cost of living is skyrocketing. It's been near 100 degrees for a month with no end in sight. Nobody knows how to drive, but they drive aggressively. Also, there's definitely not enough water for everyone who wants to move to Texas. (Can you tell that I'm ready to leave?)
- iamcoding 7y ago
  Also, someone said that there are seasons, which is a lie. Fall is basically: One day it rains pretty hard and all the leaves fall off the trees. Winter is: Leaves are off their trees for six months and it's kinda chilly. Then it rains a lot in "Spring", then it's 100 degrees until you think you can't take it anymore.
AgDev 7y ago
I absolutely love it. Got a home in the 400s with a 10 min drive to downtown (I actually bike instead, there's some very bike-friendly roads. Just under Bay area pay for much lower cost of living. You never run out of things to do. The only downside is the traffic going north to south - if you find a place to live close to work you're fine. If you get a house, then later work at the other side of town, you might have to put up with a 1hr commute.
baddox 7y ago
The average high is 90 or above for the entirety of the summer, and above 95 for an entire month. That is pretty hot in my book.
jazzyjackson 7y ago
Seemed like the kind of place you have to drive around a lot, which you may or may not care about. Not super crowded == everything is spread out. The vegetation was lush and the public bike infrastructure was pretty legit downtown at least, so its got that going for it.
OMGTehAwsome 7y ago
I would disagree about the weather, we definitely skew on the hot side (some would argue humid too, like my coworkers who came from the desert, but as an ex-Floridian I usually find it pretty dry.) The cost of living is okay, though we're one of the fastest growing cities so rents are going up. Right now 2/1 homes built in the 40s and on flood plains will run you over 300k. It's about 200k for a small condo or 500k minimum for a small family home. While it doesn't feel crowded due to everything being so spread out, the traffic is an absolute bear. My old commute was 3.9 miles and usually took between 45 minutes to an hour by car. I've since moved and started using public transportation (it's fine, but nothing to write home about, though our commuter train is a joke) and it takes as long but at least I can get plenty of reading in. The city is really not friendly to bikers either outside of a few very select areas. I should also note that North and South Austin do not mix. We're South Dallas to them and they're North Mexico to us. Because of the aforementioned traffic and sprawl you tend to stick to your side of the river. Oh, and because of all the events and conventions that happen here there are just random weeks where everything is confusingly crowded. That said I do love this city. Tons of culture and awesome food. My partner is always surprised at the variety of things we can do, whether it's queer-friendly indie wrestling matches, or one-off rap musicals, or interactive pop-up art exhibits or boozy morning goat yoga.
Fins 7y ago
I've been working remotely from Austin (well, Northern suburbs for a bit under a year now, and after San Jose absolutely love it. If you have to commute it might be tough (number of people here is growing faster than number of roads), but for remote work it's perfectly fine. And when I want to get to downtown, it takes me about the same time it would've taken me in San Jose (and I lived in SJ itself), but unlike SJ there's actually something to do in Austin. It certainly does get hot here in the summer, but I like that there are seasons here. Cost of living is significantly better than the Bay Area (and I would argue the quality of life isn't any worse either). And salaries, unless you're aiming for top position at a FANG aren't that much worse. Also, people are much nicer around here.

itronitron 7y ago

Former Austinite here, I would not recommend it. It has very little to offer and has terrible traffic.

iamcoding 7y ago

It is getting super crowded and cost of living is skyrocketing. It's been near 100 degrees for a month with no end in sight. Nobody knows how to drive, but they drive aggressively. Also, there's definitely not enough water for everyone who wants to move to Texas. (Can you tell that I'm ready to leave?)

iamcoding 7y ago
Also, someone said that there are seasons, which is a lie. Fall is basically: One day it rains pretty hard and all the leaves fall off the trees. Winter is: Leaves are off their trees for six months and it's kinda chilly. Then it rains a lot in "Spring", then it's 100 degrees until you think you can't take it anymore.

AgDev 7y ago

I absolutely love it. Got a home in the 400s with a 10 min drive to downtown (I actually bike instead, there's some very bike-friendly roads. Just under Bay area pay for much lower cost of living. You never run out of things to do. The only downside is the traffic going north to south - if you find a place to live close to work you're fine. If you get a house, then later work at the other side of town, you might have to put up with a 1hr commute.

baddox 7y ago

The average high is 90 or above for the entirety of the summer, and above 95 for an entire month. That is pretty hot in my book.

jazzyjackson 7y ago

Seemed like the kind of place you have to drive around a lot, which you may or may not care about. Not super crowded == everything is spread out. The vegetation was lush and the public bike infrastructure was pretty legit downtown at least, so its got that going for it.

OMGTehAwsome 7y ago

I would disagree about the weather, we definitely skew on the hot side (some would argue humid too, like my coworkers who came from the desert, but as an ex-Floridian I usually find it pretty dry.) The cost of living is okay, though we're one of the fastest growing cities so rents are going up. Right now 2/1 homes built in the 40s and on flood plains will run you over 300k. It's about 200k for a small condo or 500k minimum for a small family home. While it doesn't feel crowded due to everything being so spread out, the traffic is an absolute bear. My old commute was 3.9 miles and usually took between 45 minutes to an hour by car. I've since moved and started using public transportation (it's fine, but nothing to write home about, though our commuter train is a joke) and it takes as long but at least I can get plenty of reading in. The city is really not friendly to bikers either outside of a few very select areas. I should also note that North and South Austin do not mix. We're South Dallas to them and they're North Mexico to us. Because of the aforementioned traffic and sprawl you tend to stick to your side of the river. Oh, and because of all the events and conventions that happen here there are just random weeks where everything is confusingly crowded. That said I do love this city. Tons of culture and awesome food. My partner is always surprised at the variety of things we can do, whether it's queer-friendly indie wrestling matches, or one-off rap musicals, or interactive pop-up art exhibits or boozy morning goat yoga.

Fins 7y ago

I've been working remotely from Austin (well, Northern suburbs for a bit under a year now, and after San Jose absolutely love it. If you have to commute it might be tough (number of people here is growing faster than number of roads), but for remote work it's perfectly fine. And when I want to get to downtown, it takes me about the same time it would've taken me in San Jose (and I lived in SJ itself), but unlike SJ there's actually something to do in Austin. It certainly does get hot here in the summer, but I like that there are seasons here. Cost of living is significantly better than the Bay Area (and I would argue the quality of life isn't any worse either). And salaries, unless you're aiming for top position at a FANG aren't that much worse. Also, people are much nicer around here.