I wonder how many bonus points the compilers of the list gave for days with a heat index of 95 or higher.

Don’t even think about moving to Austin.  Property taxes will eat you alive, although we don’t have a state income tax. Summer heat is unrelenting.  Today’s temp at 5 o’clock 109…heh,heh. We have had no appreciable rain for months and all our reservoirs are critically below normal.  Water is THE issue for this area.  Too many people, too little water.  The loss in ag and livestock due to our drought is in excess of 5 billion.  Look it up if you don’t believe me. Ranchers are selling their herds while the selling is good.  Hay is in short supply and only available if irrigated which means depleting the water table even further, not to mention round bales at 75. per.  Traffic is an abomination, toll roads abound, grid lock at rush hour will test your patience.  Its a lib town..all the way around, with the local motto, “Keep Austin Weird”.  Back in the day, it WAS a delightful place to live.  You have to wonder whose interests are served by articles like this.

Grand Rapids is #2? Don’t they know it gets really cold and snowy there? Greenville is #6!  centex—We have had a bit of a drought ourselves, but we’d be happy for a few Austinites to move here.  I will say when I was growing up in Texas in the 60’s, Austin was still pretty small and a neat place to visit. The railroad tracks used to run across Interstate 35, making for an interesting drive—going 70 mph and having to stop for a train.

Go Dallas!!  I’m not a rancher and I am deeply sorry for and about the drought condition and it’s not making farmers’ lives easier at all.  I love the sunshine, don’t mind the heat, but would prefer some rain for others as needed. 

I didn’t know about Austin’s property taxes but ours are pretty good a little north of there.  At a recent convention, a speaker said he liked it better when it was not “the Socialist Republic of Austin”...thus, they can “Keep Austin Weird” if they like, but personally I could do without the politics there.  When you look at the red/blue map of the state, the blue is Austin and some of the areas of Corpus Christi, where the constituents might be on the bandwagon for welfare handouts.  But, on the whole, having lived in New England, Mid-Atlantic, the South, Florida, and now the Southwest I think TX is a pretty nice state to live in.