For those that have lived, or currently live in the area between San Antonio and Killeen, what is your opinion on living here?
Moving form North Central AZ, low humidity to high humidity will take some getting used to.
Aside from climate, what's the general consensus?
I can't personally recommend moving to any location from Georgetown to the north and San Marcos to the south, or from Bastrop to the east and Liberty Hill to the west.
I have lived in/around Austin since 1981. Living in Austin for the first 20 years here were great, not any more. If I could afford to move somewhere else that had good healthcare options, I would.
The traffic situation here is
unbelievably bad, easily the worst in Texas, and getting worse by the day. Every major thoroughfare is either torn-up now or about to be torn-up. Furthermore, the traffic lights are not timed properly, if you have to go through 8 traffic lights you will get stopped at 7 of them. We chose to live in a North Austin location that is about 3 miles from my wife's former work and 4 miles from my former work. For many years this was only a 10 minute commute, maybe 15 minutes during the rush hours, MAX. When my wife retired last year her rush hour commutes were typically taking 45 minutes or longer,
FOR 3 MILES!!! Living in Austin it may seem like you are close to the airport, but in terms of the time it actually takes to get there (depending on the time of day and where in/around Austin you actually live) you are frequently not going to be significantly closer than the 2 hours it takes for you to get to PHX, then when you get to the airport our TSA screening has gotten so bad that it frequently takes another hour or more (AUS is also all torn-up). The last time I was there 4 weeks ago it took 55 minutes to get through the TSA screening at 5am Wed, it only took 5 minutes to get through TSA screening at PHX coming home.
The Austin the crime situation has also gotten very bad. There has been virtually NO law (or traffic) enforcement here since 2020. You will NEVER see a Police car patrolling. You will NEVER see a vehicle pulled-over. If you get in a wreck the police will NOT come unless there are injuries. If your home (or business or car) is burglarized they will NOT come. If your mail gets stolen (has been happening to me personally about once a month) they will NOT come. If you are assaulted or robbed they will NOT come (unless you are badly injured or there was a gun involved). Austin claims that the crime statistics are showing improvement, but this is because a large percentage of the property crimes are not being reported. Also, the homeless situation has gotten extremely bad and is getting worse by the day, you can't go anywhere without getting accosted by them, and you don't dare leave a home empty for very long or you will find squatters living in it in short order.
On top of everything else housing prices, property taxes, insurance, water, home services, repair and maintenance services, and the general cost of living have gotten way out of hand.
Anyone else that lives in (or in close proximity to) Austin will confirm much of what I am saying.
If you are still thinking about Texas, IMO the best larger cities in Texas to consider right now are parts of San Antonio, El Paso, and Waco.
