>>508608679 (OP)I lived there for 2 decades and I just moved because I couldn't fucking stand it any more. It's nothing like it was when I moved there. It used to be fun and had all kinds of cool quirky shops and great places to eat. It WAS like Portland in Texas. Not any more.
Now it's an overpopulated, expensive, filled with shit-libs who will vandalize your shit if you're not one of them. Your car will be stolen or at least trashed, if not by one of them then by a thug because car breakins and theft are a popular past time. It's very very very diverse. You will seldom hear English. The cops won't help you so start a defense pact with your neighbors. On the bright side, taking justice in your own hands won't get you in trouble probably.
Housing is outrageous because property taxes are some of the highest in the nation. Your tax payments may be the same or higher than your mortgage. This means you will likely have to live in Round Rock or Pflugerville or Cedar Park and then commute in. BUT...
the traffic is intolerably bad. Even if you live just outside of town it will take longer than an hour to get anywhere. Two hours if you're going downtown. And it's not that far, you will just be sitting there in traffic not moving the whole time. I lived in LA for years and thought traffic was bad. It's not compared to this. Work from home if you can (but why live in Austin if you do???)
Weed was semi-legal before but they are working on making it all illegal again. If you used to live in Austin and haven't experienced it within the last five years, it's NOT at all what you remember. Shit got bad fast post summer of love, Floydapaloosa and Covid. As someone else said, all the good shit went out of business and got bulldozed to make jeet-box apartments.