Cities I love: Austin
Of major US cities, Austin, TX seems like one of the best. If it weren’t for the tax benefits of Puerto Rico, I’d probably be deciding among Las Vegas (already covered), somewhere in Florida (either Palm Beach/Ft Launderdale/Miami or Tampa/Sarasota/Ft Myers), and Austin. Disclaimer: I’ve never actually lived in Austin or anywhere in Texas, but I’ve visited several times, know a bunch of people who are from there and who have relocated to there, and have investigated it as a place to live. For basics, you’re welcome to check out Wikipedia on Austin, TX.
Austin is a “blue city in a red state”, although that’s a bit of an oversimplification. Texas doesn’t cleanly align on the (generally outdated) Red/Blue Right/Left borders. Austin is basically libertarian — very tolerant on social issues, but with limited and constrained regulation on other things. As a state, Texas is actually fairly restrictive on a lot of things (their gun laws were substantially more restrictive than many other states, and they’re pushing for social issue regulation), but is economically relatively free. There’s a lot of very “Texan” stuff like running its own power grid separate from the rest of the country, the lingering tradition of being Texan first, etc., but a lot of that is posturing and doesn’t affect real life.
One of the best things about Austin (and Texas) is that you can self-select for different kinds of communities. There are some really leftist/crunchy/hippie/anarchist areas in town, there’s a big bar/party scene, there are Manhattan style condos, all in relative proximity. There are suburban neighborhoods, ranging from amazing estates out on the lake to some more modest high-volume suburban developments, and then as you leave Austin and immediate surroundings, Texas begins to reassert itself and you can live somewhere more rural and independent.
Austin is in the “Texas Triangle” described by Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston, and at some point you bump up against those other cities (or other cities within the region. There’s even more Texas outside the Triangle, although most Texans live inside.
Austin is the state capital but is only the fourth most populous city in the state. It has a great university (University of Texas at Austin), is well known as a live music city, and has a bunch of other great things. Downtown on Sixth Street is full of bars and restaurants, but I far prefer the breweries with outdoor seating throughout the city, the great BBQ restaurants, and other more sedate and laid back stuff.
There are a bunch of really good hotels downtown (LINE, Proper, W, JW Marriott, Four Seasons, Fairmont, etc.), and a large and well serviced convention center. Coin Desk Consensus happens in late April in Austin now, and it’s a great reason to visit the city. The airport (AUS) is a little on the small side, especially during major events, but it isn’t that long a drive to DFW or IAH (2-3 hours).
As far as tech, Austin has recently had a lot of new businesses move in or start up. Dell is a big one actually based in Austin, but there are lots of the large multinational tech companies with large offices in Austin (even if technically HQ’d elsewhere). Tesla is now headquartered in Austin after fleeing California, and SpaceX has a substantial presence in Texas. Historically Austin’s probably more a place for enterprise or b2b or hardware, vs. California being more consumer and media companies, but post-2020 with increasingly remote teams and the implosion of San Francisco, Austin is pretty strong in everything.
Taxes in Texas overall are great (although nowhere near as good a deal as Puerto Rico, due to still being subject to federal taxes, despite the “independence” desires of some Texans). Per Tax Foundation, Texas is 6th in the country for personal taxes — 0% income tax, and some moderate sales and high property taxes. It’s 14th for business tax. Other costs are pretty reasonable — unlike Alaska which has very low taxes but very high costs of everything else, or California which has high taxes and high costs.
Weather is not really what I’d optimally want, but isn’t worse than Las Vegas or Florida. Historically it’s hot (but not unbearable) and often humid in the summer, and gets cool in the winter, but over the past several years it has been oppressively hot in the summer, and there was a pretty bad ice storm in 2021 as well.
As a visitor, it doesn’t affect me much, but real estate prices seem to be going up rapidly. Still better value than California, especially once income taxes are factored in, but property taxes are high.
There are a variety of attractive organizations and events in Austin. FUTO, a digital liberty organization, is based there. SXSW, the huge conference, happens every year (I’d consider it a negative, but some people like this kind of thing.) CoinDesk Consensus is probably the biggest event in cryptocurrency and now happens in Austin every year.
Overall, the “vibe” of the city is pretty much ideal. Maybe it has just been the people I’ve been around, but the people in Austin are a bunch of generally positive, successful, and happy people, working on great stuff, and with active social lives. It would probably win out substantially over Las Vegas or Florida as a place to raise a family, and aside from the “party scene”, wins out over Miami for dating and finding relationships, too. It seems realistic to have a decent job (or two, as a couple) in tech, buy a nice house, and raise children in Austin, unlike San Francisco, and it also seems like a place where people would comfortably move in and stay for the rest of their lives, unlike Las Vegas, without being closed to outsiders in the first place.
No place is perfect, but for US citizens who don’t want to live in Puerto Rico, Austin is well worth a look, and it’s a great place to set up offices and hire people, visit as a tourist, or attend conventions.