Texas showdown: Austin vs Dallas vs Houston

Which is the best place to live?
Which is the best place to make money?
Which is the most fun?

Dallas: diversified businesses
Austin: tech concentration in Texas
Houston: energy industry concentration

Best place to live in Texas? Dallas Vs. Austin Vs Houston

Our users shared many detailed responses to this question below. One particularly insightful quote comes from user @BobTheBaker, an equity research associate.

BobtheBaker - Equity Research Associate:
Houston: If you are or want to be in oil you need to be here. Houston also has the best arts and food scene in (low end to mid end, you could argue Dallas has a better high end food scene) Texas. The most diverse city in Texas and I think the country. Worst part about Houston is the weather, the humidity is crippling. If you like organization (aka zoning laws), you will dislike Houston.

Dallas: Real Estate (Tramelle Crow and a bunch of other prestigious RE firms are headquartered here, Hines is in Houston though) and most finance outside of oil is here. There are more asset management firms, hedge funds, PE firms, and family offices in Dallas than any other city in Texas and it isn't even close. Dallas has better weather than Houston and is more organized.

Austin: The best city in the state to live in if you're a young professional imo. Just more "cool" and you can really feel the up and coming status of the city. If you don't like hipsters then stay away. Better low-mid end food than Dallas. Lakes and Texas hill country are in the area so the outdoors lifestyle is more attainable here. Worst city to make money in the state unless you are in tech. Best night-life in the state, although if you're over the age of 25 and don't want to be around drunk college kids (sixth street), Dallas/ Houston might be better.

Read more about these cities from our users below!

Learn more about living in Texas below.

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This is all far too dependent on goals and industry.

Houston: If you are or want to be in oil you need to be here. Houston also has the best arts and food scene in (low end to mid end, you could argue Dallas has a better high end food scene) Texas. The most diverse city in Texas and I think the country. Worst part about Houston is the weather, the humidity is crippling. If you like organization (aka zoning laws), you will dislike Houston.

Dallas: Real Estate (Tramelle Crow and a bunch of other prestigious RE firms are headquartered here, Hines is in Houston though) and most finance outside of oil is here. There are more asset management firms, hedge funds, PE firms, and family offices in Dallas than any other city in Texas and it isn't even close. Dallas has better weather than Houston and is more organized.

Austin: The best city in the state to live in if you're a young professional imo. Just more "cool" and you can really feel the up and coming status of the city. If you don't like hipsters then stay away. Better low-mid end food than Dallas. Lakes and Texas hill country are in the area so the outdoors lifestyle is more attainable here. Worst city to make money in the state unless you are in tech. Best night-life in the state, although if you're over the age of 25 and don't want to be around drunk college kids (sixth street), Dallas/ Houston might be better.

Array
 

Houston's food scene is worse than Austin's mid-low end and a bit below Dallas's high end. TBH, I think Houston's food scene is actually below Dallas and Austin overall but it's still really good. Just my opinion though.

There's also plenty of places to go out for any age in Austin. Dirty 6th for college kids, West 6th for anyone between 25-35, Rainey for anyone, East 6th for really anyone and now Rock Rose is for any age too. Houston's bar scene is absolutely terrible and Dallas's is ok since you have Uptown, Deep Ellum, Bishop Arts, and Addison. None of those are really great but all are pretty solid.

 

Regarding Houston's food scene, this is just wrong. Authentic Mexican, Tex-Mex, seafood, and cajun food are all superior to Austin. Indian, middle eastern, and east Asian food, it isn't even close. Houston has the best Vietnamese food outside of Vietnam, their Thai/ Filipino food is not far behind. If your definition of best food is Torchy's then sure, Austin beats it. I am talking authentic mom-and-pop shops here bro.

Array
 
BobTheBaker:

Austin: The best city in the state to live in if you're a young professional imo. Just more "cool" and you can really feel the up and coming status of the city. If you don't like hipsters then stay away. Better low-mid end food than Dallas. Lakes and Texas hill country are in the area so the outdoors lifestyle is more attainable here. Worst city to make money in the state unless you are in tech. Best night-life in the state, although if you're over the age of 25 and don't want to be around drunk college kids (sixth street), Dallas/ Houston might be better.

If the city is growing rapidly, then it's a good place to make money in RE as well, if you have equity either in development or ownership.

 
Best Response

I do love a good old Texas throwdown.

I've lived in every city long enough, and recently enough, to have an educated opinion.

Work (outside of O&G): Dallas - RE, hedge funds, AM, big corporate, you name it and it's there Austin - good amount of RE, large amount of tech, growing VC scene Houston - plenty of RE, but not a whole lot outside of O&G

Work (O&G) Houston - best in the world by miles

Dallas - NGP, Exxon HQ (though not their main offices), some other guys in Fort Worth (Oxy for one) Austin - Trilantic has offices, Parsley is downtown, Statoil has offices off 360 but that's about it

Food: Austin Dallas/Houston

all really good, but I think the variety and quality in the Austin area wins out

Most fun: Austin - so much to do outside, UT football, great bar scene Dallas - a decent amount of outdoor activity, decent bars, Dallas sports, (lots of) good golf courses Houston - there's stuff to do outside but it's just too hot, not a big fan of the bar scene though it's better than a lot of cities, everything being so spread out kinda sucks

Best Overall (if not O&G): Austin - I'm biased since I went to school there but outside of crazy residential RE trends, it's just a great place to be. You can stay away from the hipsters if you want (though you can't completely but if you go to the Heights or Bishops Arts then you can't either) and if you're cool with doing something outside of high finance, you're fine.

If O&G: Houston

If high finance (partially O&G at most): Dallas

Truth be told, you can't go wrong with any of them.

 

Not to pick nits, but Oxy is definitely headquartered in Houston. The Bass family holds a shit load of sway in the Ft Worth O&G scene (in addition to all the other extending branches of the Bass Empire that reside there). Lots of smaller independents out there, though.

 

What's so awesome about Dallas is too vague to tackle, but I'll address your single men who are not from Texas question:

There are a lot of very good looking women down here, maybe only rivaled by Southern California or Scottsdale in terms of looks. Since we're in the south, women don't go outside without full makeup and outfit. To generalize, they're looking for their husband starting in college with serious social pressure to lock something down quickly and promptly. They are not as "interested" or "ambitious" as girls would be from the Northeast, but they're sport fans (especially college football) and they can cook! I've also noticed that they're willing to date down for a guy who matches values, makes a solid salary and falls in-line with their plan of Puppy (Golden Doodle is the Dallas dog) -> Move-in Together -> Engagement -> Kids. Transplant women don't necessarily abide to this, but it's the general culture that permeates.

For guys, you'll be fine if you play the game. Dallas' social scene is a bit vain and materialistic but as long as you're willing to maintain a good groom and wear a collar when you go out, you'll be just fine. If you're short and / or ugly, you score out of your league if you've got money or your family has money. Personal opinion but if you're a Caucasian male, you're at an advantage. If you're a tall, Caucasian male in Dallas, you'll have women tripping over themselves to breed with you. We've got a large African-American population that goes off on the weekends but after that, our diversity kinda falls off a cliff.

One final note I will say is that making friends is a bit difficult coming out here as it's very much a "no new friends" type of place. Find a group of friends, do shit with your group of friends and intermingle between groups.

 
realjackryan:
Dallas if you are a douchebag

Austin if you are a liberal hipster

Houston if you are a mature adult interested in living a peaceful, successful life filled with joy, faith, and community.

Just avoid Sisu, Sunday School, and the stretch of bars from Concrete Cowboy to Kung Fu and it isn't as douchey. The Knox-Henderson / M-Streets / Lakewood area is pretty awesome.

 

Dallas if you're a fuccboi

Austin if you're a hipster

Houston, if you're a redneck Christian who loves Joel Osteen

There, corrected it for you

GoldenCinderblock: "I keep spending all my money on exotic fish so my armor sucks. Is it possible to romance multiple females? I got with the blue chick so far but I am also interested in the electronic chick and the face mask chick."
 

There are more cowboy types in Dallas/ Austin than Houston (as a % of the population). Dallas would definitely qualify as the most "bible belt" of all the cities (ie. alot of conservative cowboy-type protestants). It's the only major city that went Republican in the last election.

Array
 

Bias: I live and work in Houston, 12-14 weekends a year in Austin/hill country usually

Love Houston, fantastic city to live in. We're about to pass up Chicago metro to take number 3 spot behind NYC and LA. Everything is growing ridiculously fast and you can visibly see the city diversifying away from oil and healthcare base.

Dining is great, everything from food truck food all the way to niche high end like coastal Spanish. Nightlife isn't anything like Miami, Vegas, NYC or LA BUT, efforts are being made. With high end nightclub and day clubs, rooftops, some new gastro pub / lounge hybrids popping up, it's progressing. Standard of living is awesome, but you'll arguably find that in other two cities. Wide variety of cultures and backgrounds here, which is a plus assuming you aren't an ethnocentric close-minded moron.

Downsides? As has been mentioned, no zoning. You will need a car to get to many places, even when situated in the "best" spots. Hot and humid 8/12 months.

 

All of the major cities in Texas are great other than El Paso (for those who say its not a major city its top 20 in population), there is even a case to made for San Antonio depending on what you're looking for. Austin is a great emerging city, but doesn't have the job market of Houston or Dallas and is a much smaller feel. IMO Houston is the best of them all with Dallas finishing a close 2nd, followed up by Austin, Ft Worth, then San Antonio.

 

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