Quote Originally Posted by bchris02 View Post
There are two sides to the Austin story in my opinion.

It's booming with growth and is extremely desirable. Austin is right up there with Portland and Denver when it comes to cities beloved by Millennials. With that said, its infrastructure isn't able to handle the amount of people living there now and continuing to move there. The cost of living is skyrocketing, especially if you want to live in an urban part of the city. It's also more difficult to find employment than the numbers would indicate because there is so much job competition. Austin, like Portland and Seattle, is the kind of place where you will find people with degrees waiting tables and living with several roommates.

Texas is a huge state though and overall is much more diverse economically than Oklahoma. Parts of Texas are similar to Oklahoma such as rural north Texas. The Houston area is overall too dependent on O&G just like Oklahoma but they are also far more diverse than they were during the last oil bust. Dallas and Austin will be the least affected by the oil bust.
I'd definitely agree with the job competition issue. And urban housing isn't helped with TU being right downtown. It's a plus and minus for all sorts of things. It keeps downtown alive, but it also means places like 5th street are perpetually in a state of semi-crap because it's all run-down bars....and college kids are ok with that. You'll also find someone playing live music at most restaurants (whether you want them to or not) because there's a strong small group music scene too. Same thing though...plus and minus. If you like it, it's everywhere...if you hate it, it's still everywhere. In terms of tech jobs, yeah there is a large presence, there (mostly because of Dell's history and what it brought to town, but also because TU is a good Comp Sci school), but it means a lot of start-ups that fail or are gobbled up so there's also a lot of fluidity in the technology sector.

I have a friend that moved there from OKC just a few years ago. She's more on the hippie side than tech side (which Austin is still full of...hence "keep Austin weird". She loves it there but wasn't unhappy here either. She went there because of her job and was lucky to get somewhere like Austin. It's a town where, if you're in a good spot, you hold on to it. Otherwise it can be a ruthless town. All that job competition means that you don't necessarily get the best benefits either because 10 other people are also there to get the job and SOMEONE will take it for less than you just to GET a job.