Counter-perspective as someone who moved from LA to Austin earlier this year and also worked in Austin back in the late 2000s. Good things: - To me, the city

Counter-perspective as someone who moved from LA to Austin earlier this year and also worked in Austin back in the late 2000s. Good things: - To me, the city is about right-sized. It feels like an actual city, but isn't a sprawling mess like LA, Miami, NYC, etc. - Despite what other people in this thread are saying, the city is very walkable/bikeable if you actually live in the city and not in Pflugerville or something. - As a growing city attracting companies and new residents from all over, there are tons of opportunities and new people to meet. - Austin has a good amount of attractions and just general things to do / things happening. Bad things: - The weather sucks. I think we got about 3 weeks of spring this year before a record-hot May and now it's in the hundreds for the rest of summer. - The food is really not great (aside from BBQ). I've made a point of trying a bunch of different restaurants and food trucks with different food types and they've mostly been very unremarkable for very not-cheap food. - As someone who enjoys hiking, central Texas is pretty awful for outdoor activities. Sure there are various lakes, but "hill country" is kind of a joke and most of the nearby land is privately owned. - The city has been making an effort (which I appreciate and think they are doing a hell of a lot better than west coast cities) to fix its homeless problem, but it's still fairly bad. - The music scene is nowhere near what it was like ~15 years ago. You're now far more likely to see a cool band in a random bar in Nashville than you are here in Austin, where it seems I have to kind of go out of my way to find live music. - It's probably a result of having moved to a yuppie area dominated by transplants from other cities, but the people in my neighborhood are just not friendly. At least half don't even say "hi" back to me if I greet them in passing. Point is, Austin is a mixed bag just like every American city these days. Be wary of people who gush about it (or anywhere else) without recognizing the downsides.