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Comment by pm90 | Hacker News Reader

Austin will continue to grow. Texas is the second largest US state by size and economy, and Austin is where the left leaning tech folks generally tend to go when they are considering Texas based opportunities.

Personally it feels overhyped. My current favorite Texas city is Houston which is much larger, more affordable and more diverse.

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It's larger to a fault. Houston is so spread out it might as well be 5 different cities you're talking about. Driving in Houston is a nightmare.

And the only thing worse thank driving in Houston is walking! It’s easy to find yourself in amid a sea of highways with no real way of walking in or out.

Dallas, which isn’t quite as bad Houston in this regard, I could almost see the restaurant I wanted to eat at from my hotel, and I had to get in my car and drive there because there was no real way to walk. Mind you it’s not always great in more pedestrian friendly areas but some are worse than others.

Haven’t spent a lot of time there in years but seems a pretty unattractive place (for me) to live in general. Austin would be my choice in TX but would be pretty low overall.

Houston is practically a state, size and population wise.

If you’re in tech and “inside the loop” driving isn’t a problem. You can use a scooter. If Houston could fix its air quality and climate (100F w/ 90% humidity for 4 months:year) - it would be much more attractive. It’s brutally hot - it’s the tropics.

> My current favorite Texas city is Houston which is much larger, more affordable and more diverse.

I really feel Houston is one of the most underrated cities in the US. Even if you're left leaning, most of the cities in Texas are too. So if Austin is a consideration it seems reasonable to consider Houston too. I used to live in Dallas and enjoyed my time there. It's also never too far away from any city in the US in terms of flying time. Those three Texas cities are very livable/affordable and people are quite nice.

Aren’t cities in Texas more or less governed by Texas state law? I’m not sure if call that left-leaning, exactly.

Yeah that's a very fair point. My original point is that the municipal government tends to be run by left leaning people but your point about the state laws sort of invalidates my point.

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