San Antonio vs. Austin – Where Is the Best Place to Live?

We are doing a little battle of the titans by comparing San Antonio vs. Austin. Let’s be honest, we know who people in the South would choose but that doesn’t mean they aren’t both great places to live!

This is a debate that will last forever and it will have many more posts in the future, but for now let’s just explore a few of the factors that make each city special in their own way.

Best Places to Live

According to the 2012 Gallup-Healthways Wellbeing Index, Austin is the best city to live in America. The survey focuses on five areas of wellbeing: purpose, social, financial, community and physical.

The survey found that Austin was ranked number one in all categories except physical which was ranked 15.

The survey also stated that Austin had the lowest percentage of residents who reported feeling stressed (23%) and had the highest percentage of residents who report feeling well rested (82%).

San Antonio is the 5th best city to live in and the survey’s rankings separate businesses, homeowners and renters.

Based on the survey’s findings, San Antonio has the highest percentage of residents who feel well rested (80%), lowest percentage of residents who report feeling stressed (18%) and highest percentage of residents who report that they are thriving.

San Antonio vs. Austin

Senior Austinites are enjoying more prosperity than seniors in San Antonio and are less likely to fall below the poverty line.

According to a study conducted by 24/7 Wall St. Austin had a poverty rate of 15.6%. Nearly 28% of San Antonio’s senior citizens live below the poverty line.

Austin has been ranked in the Top 10 best places to retire by Forbes and includes Barton Springs Pool, Zilker Park and Lady Bird Lake among it’s amenities.

San Antonio is home to senior facilities including the Primrose Retirement Community and Saint Luke’s Hospice which offer independent living and skilled care for seniors.

Austin is also home to many high tech employers, researchers and innovators.

The University of Texas at Austin is a major research institution and the city supports a number of high-tech companies such as Dell, Apple, Google and others with many more jobs in their Research and Development departments.

San Antonio is home to many businesses including H-E-B Grocery Company. The supermarket chain employs over 19,000 people throughout the state of Texas.

Another major employer in San Antonio is USAA which has 22,000 employees and CIGNA which has 6,400 employees.

What are the Pros and Cons of San Antonio vs. Austin?

Pros and Cons of San Antonio vs. Austin

Many people who are debating moving to Texas want to know which city or town they should choose. What cities or towns have the best weather, the most affordable housing, the most booming job economy, etc?

Sometimes it can be hard for people to decide on where they want and need to live. San Antonio, Texas is a city that people all over the nation are moving to. Here is a comparison of San Antonio, San Diego, and Austin.

San Antonio

San Antonio has been ranked as one of the best cities in the U.S. Its weather is usually sunny, sometimes rainy. The average temperature in July is 83 degrees Fahrenheit and about 60 degrees Fahrenheit in January.

Not everyone enjoys hot summers and cold winters year after yearo but San Antonians seem to be able to handle it. San Antonio is also a great location to live in for employment.

There are about two million people employed in San Antonio. Usually some of the top companies and job opportunities are there.

The unemployment rate is about 3% for the San Antonio area (Texas Bureau of Labor Statistics).

This is double the rate for Austin, Texas and double the state rate of 4% (Texas Department of Labor), so employment is definitely one of the best things about living in San Antonio.

The cost of living for San Antonio is below the national average as well. The cost of living index is about 97, which means that living in San Antonio is cheaper than the national average (Cost of Living).

San Antonians enjoy being able to walk or drive places without heavy traffic and barely any traffic jams.

That is why it could be difficult for people who are used to driving everywhere to live in Austin, where there are no freeways and lots of traffic.

San Antonio also offers beautiful scenery. The River Walk is an area in downtown San Antonio where there are many restaurants and merchants along the river.

Many people choose to live near the River Walk so they can enjoy the beautiful views everyday. The nightlife and entertainment scene in San Antonio is also pretty good for a big city.

There are plenty of restaurants and shopping within San Antonio that keep people entertained on a daily basis.

Austin

Austin, Texas is a city with many good things about it that people should consider before moving there.

Austin is a great place to live, but sometimes the weather can be too cold and too hot. There are also plenty of traffic jams in Austin.

The cost of living in Austin is much higher than San Antonios. It is also becoming more expensive, which causes a lot of people to move out of the city due to its high cost of living.

Austin is a city that many people move to because of employment opportunities. There are numerous companies and job opportunities in Austin, which makes it easy for some people to find a job there.

The unemployment rate is also lower than the national average. The unemployment rate in Austin, Texas is about 4% (Texas Bureau of Labor Statistics).

People who decide to move to San Antonio can avoid the traffic jams and high costs by living in Austin.

To conclude, San Antonio remains the best city to live in Texas because of its many positive aspects. It is a great job location and offers affordable housing, excellent weather conditions, and a thriving entertainment and nightlife scene.

Some people who are debating on where they want to live should consider San Antonio.

Is Austin Safer Than San Antonio?

Is Austin Safer Than San Antonio?

This article will attempt to compare San Antonio to Austin on crime rates, lifestyle factors, and general risk assessment.

Austin is ranked as the safest city on the entire map at 35.9% of its population or 85,271 people make it a safe place to call home (compare to San Antonio’s 19.8% or 289,947 people).

Austin is also ranked as the 15th safest city in Texas and 6th safest city in South Texas.

With a 2.8% population of 2,600,000 people, San Antonio ranks as the 41st most dangerous city in Texas and 19th most dangerous city in South Texas.

The difference between Austin and San Antonio is that San Antonio is full of crime.

San Antonio has a lower rate of everyday crime (based upon reported crimes) than Austin and is ranked as the 21st safest city on the map, 14th safest in South Texas.

San Antonio also has a higher violent crime rate compared to Austin by 2.4 times (2.8% violent crime rate vs 1.0% violent crime rate.)

The biggest difference between the two cities is that San Antonio has a higher murder rate of 2.7 murders per 100,000 people in the city compared to Austin’s 1.0 murders per 100,000 residents.

San Antonio also has a higher robbery rate than Austin by 5.1 times (4.4% robbery rate vs 1.9% robbery rate).

Is Austin or San Antonio More Expensive?

Let’s face it, when you live in a city with a higher cost of living you have to adjust your lifestyle to accommodate for those high costs.

But just because the cost of living is higher doesn’t mean that the quality of life has to be. We all want a quality of life where we can afford things and at the same time enjoy our surroundings.

Here in San Antonio, Texas we really enjoy our surroundings. The Balcones Canyonland Preserve is the crown jewel of our city and provides a sanctuary for many of the native species that reside in our area.

We are also no stranger to hills, as we have plenty of them and lots of green space. A lot of people say San Antonio is just perfect for biking because it has so many bike trails and paths which wind through various parts of the city.

Almost all of us have a bad habit of becoming complacent and then we lose our minds when our big purchase(s) come along, we think everything will be fine.

But always remember, the Big One (or Three and Four) might be just around the corner. You can’t expect to outsmart Mother Nature or the forces of economics, unfortunately there is no free lunch.

If you have been living in San Antonio, Texas on a fixed income, it’s time to start trying to save some money because one day you might find yourself without that salary.

As an example I am about to give, my wife and I were planning for the future and we decided that we wanted to buy a home in the near future. We both were working at the time, and he had been buying houses pretty frequently while I had not.

We were discussing houses in San Antonio, Texas when we both realized that all of our income was being split between two places (me in San Antonio, her in New York).

We were still living in separate places and having a difficult time paying all of our bills, so we decided to do something about it.

Living in San Antonio vs. Austin: Comparison Table

Is San Antonio or Austin More Significant in Size?

Is San Antonio or Austin More Significant in Size?

One of the most common questions people ask is whether Austin or San Antonio is more significant in size. Austin has a population that’s nearly 400,000 less than San Antonio, but San Antonio holds more land and water.

If you compare both cities as if they were one city, then Austin would take over as the bigger city.

However, when you look at the individual land area for each city and then their populations it appears that San Antonio is significantly larger in terms of size. But if you look at the land and water masses separately, then Austin is larger.

In terms of geographical location, Austin is the capital city of Texas, the largest state in the United States. San Antonio is located in central Texas on the border of Mexico and between two rivers.

Both cities were built during a time when America was growing westward. This can be seen with their similar growth patterns as well as how they became cities.

They were both founded on Spanish land grants by Stephen F. Austin. These land grants were for the same size, about 30,000 acres.

This shows that Austin and San Antonio were founded at the same time with similar intentions: to grow quickly and become major cities in the United States.

The difference in population comes from how each city grew during their development stages. San Antonio was founded in 1718 while Austin was established in 1821.

Since Austin was established later, it had time to grow a large population before San Antonio did. San Antonio grew more slowly than Austin because during the Spanish Colonial Period, San Antonio was controlled by Mexico.

When Texas was established as an independent country, one of its first acts was to take back control of this city.

When Texas became an independent country in 1836 from Mexico at the end of the Mexican-American War, then things changed drastically for San Antonio.

The population and land area grew rapidly because Texas used its resources to develop its cities and towns as quickly as possible.

Austin took a different approach. Austin was founded on a piece of land in Travis County, which was unorganized territory. This is an area that was first organized in 1824.

This allowed Austin to grow relatively slowly because they had time to establish the borders of their city and then develop it after they became a U.S. city rather than a Mexican one.

Austin would not incorporate as a city until 1839, the same year that Houston was chartered.

There’s another way to look at the population of each city: by land area of the cities. If you look at the size of each city, then Austin is larger than San Antonio.

The areas are as follows: San Antonio has an area of 465.4 square miles which is 1,205.4 km2 and Austin has an area of 430 square miles which is 495.912309 km2. Thus, Austin takes over as the city with the larger land area.

If you look at the populations of each city then it appears that San Antonio is much larger. San Antonio has a population of 1,567,118 compared to Austin’s 995,484.

However, Austin is arranged into the urban core and suburban ring that surrounds it. The ring does not have a population of nearly as many people as the urban core itself and so it doesn’t add to Austin’s overall population figures.

Is San Antonio Hotter Than Austin?

In the summer, I’m always looking for ways to keep cool — and most of my friends agree with me on this one. The problem is, San Antonio isn’t exactly a coastal city.

So when it comes time to find some relief from the heat and humidity, what do we typically do?

Austin! That’s why the question has arisen of whether or not our smaller, less-populated neighbor is actually hotter than us in certain situations. Let’s take a look at the evidence.

Austin is hotter than San Antonio. The summer high of Austin in July is 85 degrees compared to San Antonio’s 94.2 degrees. Austin has 228 sunny days, while San Antonio acquires almost 220 sunny days per year.

In addition, the average relative humidity of Austin is 80%, while San Antonio’s is 76%.

Austin also hosts a higher average of days above 100 degrees than San Antonio. Austin sees 6 days with these temperatures, while San Antonio only sees 5 (some years have had as few as three).

It’s true that the difference between temperatures for the two cities is much smaller — but it’s probably still enough to make some people feel a bit uncomfortable.

I’m not sure why the heat is a bigger issue in San Antonio than Austin, but it is. And millions of people from the large cities believe that way. For me, though, I would rather be at home — doing my own thing and keeping cool!