Live in Hill Country, work in city?
 

Anyone work in Austin, Dallas area, or San Antonio and live in the Hill Country? I'm just wondering what kind of commute it would be. If I worked in the city, would I still be able to live in a quiet, small-town, scenic setting in the hills? How far from the city would still be a reasonable drive (which towns would be best to live). Any input would be a great help!

Hill Country is beautiful! There are quite a few subdivisions in Austin that are in the hills. Not sure how close to Hill Country Dallas/Ft. Worth would be.

San Antonio and Asutin are in the Hill Country area, Dallas Fort Worth are not. Austin is popular, expensive and has horrid traffic, with little chance (aside from economic bust reducing the population!) for the traffic to improve. Salaries in Austin tend to not keep up with the cost of living unless you are in a ranking hi tech position (as opposed to a service tech in a call center) <BR>San Antonio is less expensive and larger than Austin, traffic is more difficult than ten years ago but still nothing close to Dallas, Houston or even Austin. Main artery from the Hill Country to SA would be Hwy 281 or maybe IH35. 281 clogs up at ruch hour but usually keeps moving except at major intersections (e.g., Loop 1604) and 35 is a mess with construction right now but should improve.<BR>If you don't mind spending 30 (San Antonio) to 60or more (Austin) minutes on a commute, living in the Hill Country and working in SA or Austin is very doable.

It depends on what you consider a long commute. If you've lived in Houston or in large eastern cities and are used to commuting an hour each way, then yes, you can live in the hill country and work in Austin (Dallas is NOT anywhere near the hill country). Small towns such as Fredericksburg and Wimberley are considered hill country towns, but realistically are too far to drive (Wimberley is lots closer to Austin). The hills are west of Austin and are certainly within commuting distance (out towards Lake Travis). Hope that helps. The smaller hill country towns such as Uvalde and Kerrville are really too far to commute to Austin or San Antonio (I think).

I have fond memnories of Wimberly, TX. I lived in Austin from '89-'95 and would often drive to Wimberly to spend a weekend afternoon just soaking up the atmosphere. I remember it to be about a 30-45 min. drive. Very pleasant, shady little town. Lots of trees with trailing moss... (I remember a great spring-fed river site for swimming but the name escapes me) Many of the residents are artists and craftspeople. Quaint shops and restaurants, laid- back, pleasant environment. I loved Austin too, but have heard that the growth there has been overwhelming, with the traffic problems previously mentioned being unbearable.

The hill country is nice, and you can live in the hills of Austin, but the people talking about hellacious traffic are absolutely right. Austin has grown explosively and in typical lazy Austin fashion, has done little to nothing about it. It takes Austin 10 years to build a highway it would take Houston or Dallas 2 years to complete. <BR><BR>I used to love Austin, but unless you're coming in for big dollars or are well established, it's more trouble than its worth.<BR><BR>As for San Antonio, well you could, but while San Antonio isn't bad, it isn't really much fun either.<BR><BR>And as others have pointed out, Dallas lies in a completely different geographic area.<BR><BR>Oh, and the good close in hill country spots are getting plenty price and water short as well.

I live west of the city of Austin...very near The Oasis Restaurant, at Lake Travis. It only takes me 30 minutes to/from work at 6th and Lamar. But, I think this is because I leave my house no later than 7:00am in the morning, and leave work between 3:30 and 4:00pm, before most of the other drivers hit the roads. It's great!