Hi Jason,
Thanks for your response. Austin is a great town and we have seen significant growth in recent years. This growth has expressed itself in different ways.
Homes
I bought a home 10 years ago in downtown Austin (Zilker Neighborhood) for $202 per square foot. In the last 10 years has grown to well over $430 per square foot. There are opportunities to purchase homes that are less expensive, however you face commute times of about 45 minutes each way for the 10 miles you will need to drive. The low cost of living has not diminished, it has just moved out of town to the south.
Couple that with high in-city property taxes. A$1MM house in Austin will run you ~$32,000 per year in taxes.
Salaries
The challenge has always been Austin salaries paid in Austin versus CA/NYC/Boston salaries paid in Austin. People are simply paid a bit less here unless they work for companies outside of Austin. When you move your company here from CA (which I did back in the mid-90’s) each employee gets a 14% salary increase due to no state income tax. That is a nice perk.
Business-friendly environment
Texas has a pretty good business-friendly environment. Austin City Council is trying to undo a bit of that and it is a shame.
On-Demand Companies
Consider Colorado. :-)
