> Suburbs of Texas

I live in (very) central Austin with my wife and kids on one income. I escaped the suburbs of my childhood, too, (and wouldn't recommend them to anyone) but I don't understand how a software engineer income doesn't support a family in an urban area between the coasts.

As one who grew up in the suburbs of Houston, TX (Well a small commuter town NEAR Houston), I couldn't get out fast enough, though.

I think its a grass-is-always-greener thing. You want what you didn't have growing up.

It's funny; I'm thinking of moving back to TX. I'be been living cheap in the SF Bay Area, saving a bunch, planning on starting a tech business of my own someday. But it's so expensive out here. My savings would go so much farther back in Austin.

I spent so much time and effort getting out of TX, and now I'm going right back. Ironic.

As you know, Texas is huge. Talking about Texas in general is about as useful as talking about the USA in general.

Urban Austin and a Houston suburb are barely comparable.

True that, as a person who grew up outside of Houston, I have only been to Austin a handful of times, and hated every time I went. Its too "weird" for me. I love the Texas History Museum, and Barton Springs, though, and made a point to visit both every time (if I could find parking).

> Its too "weird" for me.

Yikes. That marketing campaign is so overblown. If you really found Austin weird I'm curious what your day to day is like.

> if I could find parking

Urban vs suburban. I'm willing to walk and want my kids to feel the same way. I remember suburban life well, and don't miss the superficial need for parking within 30 seconds (or 2 minutes) of your destination.

None of these were in protest, just typical Austoninan's from around 2003-2011

A procession of people crossing the upper level I-35 in wheelchairs... is weird.

Non-homeless and non-drunk people just sitting/laying down in the middle of the sidewalk on 6th Street, S Congress... is weird. I get it, it is too hot to walk in the summer, go inside, or to the springs.

Semi-Jokingly: Republicans in Austin... is weird.

But more than these specific things, its a lot of little oddities that didn't occur in more traditional places like Houston.

That said, I moved to NYC in 2015, so I can't claim Austin was THAT weird compared to what I saw every day for a couple of years before moving upstate.

There is a pretty stark difference these days between urban inner cities in Texas and the outer suburbs.

Exactly ... I would never go back. For some, it's paradise.