A decade ago, I owned a 200k house in Austin while making a 6-figure salary in California-- I paid more in property taxes on the house in Austin than I did on income taxes on my income in California.

This is really only the case if you had substantial deductions of some sort.

Assuming you made exactly 100k as a nice lowball you'd have owed $6947.92 in 2011 California income taxes. Harder to quickly find 2011 Austin property taxes but using todays rates without the homestead exemption you would have paid $4653 presuming you lived in Austin proper with Austin ISD taxes.

This is obvious a simplified calculation assuming basic W2 income and may very well not have applied to you, but for others reading it's nice to see some actual numbers.

No homestead exemption. Roughly 3.1% tax rate. Northwest corner of Austin, in the 78717 zip code. Leander ISD if I recall correctly.

California taxes were affected by CA deduction, CA personal exemption, and 401k (which I didn't max out, and even without it I think the original claim still stands although just barely)

This is a good thing

I agree! Also the fact that TX has much more lax zoning laws (Houston has none whatsoever) than CA, and a general lack of NIMBYism compared to the Bay Area in even the cities, you get a much more affordable metro area.

Unaffordable housing prices are as much a policy choice as a function of the market.