Columbia, MO and Austin, TX
 

How would you compare these two in terms of weather, politics, types of people, size, community feel, housing cost, day trips... anything. Thanks!

Columbia is a college town, home to the University of Missouri. Hot and humid in the summer, cold and snow/ice in the winter.

For demographics like diversity, populaton, housing, etc., check out the US Census. Good luck.

Asutin is much bigger and much "cooler" but it is the middle of Texas. Columbia is smaller and less "cool" but probably cheaper. It is also close to two appealing cities, Kansas City and St. Louis.

Columbia is a good place for people interested in the outdoors. Austin is a good place for people interested in live music.

Keith

I don't know anything about Columbia but Austin has really good weather except the summers are hot and humid. Politics leans toward liberal although you find everything here. The people are awesome - everyone is extremely friendly and very, very tolerant. Austin is known as a big city with a small town feel. Housing is probably the most expensive in Texas and I would assume more expensive than Missouri. Property taxes and sales taxes are high, very high. Austin is all about live music, good food and the outdoors. People are very physically fit and love to be outside. There are parks and green spaces set aside all over the city. Overall Austin is a great place to live. Maybe someone from Columbia can tell you something to make a comparison.

We had friends that lived in Columbia & loved it. The snow was beautiful but a bit much for me. It seemed to be a conservative town.

Austin is said to be the Body Modification Capital according to what some friends have said. I enjoyed my brief visit there. It has a good music scene & is a hot technology area. UT is there but doesn't seem to be the main focus of the town like Univ of Missouri is in Columbia.

Columbia has three colleges: University of Missouri, Columbia College (used to be Christian College when I attended), and Stevens College. I was kind of insulated within the college structure but it was a nice city. Very cold in the winter but I didn't mind because at least it wasn't humid. It really was humid the first part of school in Sept. and in June. Hot and sticky. Coming from the west coast it really bothered me. Obviously, during the regular school year the town is loaded with kids. There usually is a lot going on in a college town. I live in Reno now and University of Nevada is here and there is a lot of things going on there if one wishes to avail oneself: lectures, theater, dance, music etc. Austin is also a college town so there should be a lot happening there also.