Fort Worth Travel Forum

My wife and I are moving to north TX in the next couple of months.

We're trying to decide whether to live in Austin or Fort Worth.

Here's why

AUSTIN

Pros:

1) Super cool vibe
2) Great live music

Cons:

1) Crowded.
2) Maybe has outgrown it's infastructure
3) Housing costs

FORT WORTH

Pros:

1) Great housing costs
2) Seems to be a "real" sort of town.
3) We lived in Kansas City and Ft. Worth seems similar but better.

Cons:

1) Is it too much of a "Cow Town"?
2) ????


So what do we have right and where are we wrong?

Suggestions?

Thanks a ton!

RJ

Ft. Worth is "Cow Town", but is considerably more sophisticated than that moniker implies.

The Museum complex in Ft. Worth is better than anything in Dallas and Austin, and it's still growing. The zoo, which is not far to the south, is better than the Dallas zoo (does Austin even have one?).

Ft. Worth is not overcrowded (unlike Dallas and Austin), and people who commute 30 miles to work do it deliberately so that they can live out in the country, not so that they can be farther out in the suburban sprawl like Dallas and Austin (both of whose sprawl, by the way, goes to the north, not the south).

Ft. Worth is also near DFW Airport, one of the largest in the world, which makes traveling internationally easier. Most flights from Austin have to go through DFW or Houston to go international.

Austin was a very cool place to live - 30 years ago, before it was "discovered" by generations of UT graduates who go there and never leave. Maybe it's just me, but it's not the same place anymore.

My brother works for IBM in Austin...except he's on the northern edge of the urban sprawl and actually lives in Round Rock (22 miles to the north). 22 miles from downtown Ft. Worth is pretty much country in three directions (except in the direction of Dallas).

As you can tell, I like Ft. Worth...even though I live in the Dallas area (Richardson)...

Bill

Hello-
I also currently live in Milwaukee and have also lived in Austin (still go back every year), and have visited Ft. Worth many times. I would suggest looking at your impressions of Milwaukee. If Milwaukee is too crowded, and sprawling for your taste, or does not have that "real" city feel that you are looking for, I would suggest Ft. Worth.

Andie