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by scoofy 5 days ago
Well off tech folks in this forum will like California more. I’m well off and left Texas, so I obviously agree with that.

My point is that it’s easy to clutch pearls in a zero-sum economy like CA’s when you’re on top. The reason I still have a fondness for Texas is that despite some of the political change that I find frightening, it’s still a better place for most folks to go to build a life.

It’s not perfect, but when every single blue city in a blue state has an affordability crisis, I have to commend Austin for actually building the housing people need to actually own something, instead of just talking about it and doing mostly nothing like SF, LA, Seattle, Portland, NYC, and Boston have all done.

Good on Texas for not letting cities try to preserve themselves in amber. That just enriches incumbents by allowing them to engage in rent-seeking.
1 comments
fzeroracer 5 days ago
Austin's affordability is still incredibly bad, especially when you consider how stratified the incomes tend to be. When I was working there my apartment cost around $1300 a month and the year I left my rent rose by 30% to around 1700 a month. This was in an area far away from the core of Austin, next to absolutely nothing. It's recovered a bit recently but because all of the people (you included) are encouraging folks (see: tech) to move to Austin the rents spike based on how much perceived demand there is. The minimum wage has not (and by state law cannot change) kept up with modern standards and while many companies offer starting pay above minimum wage it's still well below other cities. If you honestly think Austin is a place where people can go to own something then I think you've been so long away from the city as to be out of touch.

In comparison I'm paying around $2000/month for an apartment in Seattle but this is in an area that's right next to the light rail and well taken care of. With the light rail expanding I could easily find apartments even cheaper that still keep me within walking distance and without needing a car.

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scoofy 5 days ago
It’s not even comparable: https://www.redfin.com/cost-of-living-calculator/austin-tx/v...

Austin is much cheaper than Seattle.

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