We grew up just outside of Chicago and moved to Austin for grad school. Austin is a great medium-sized city. In my opinion, summers there are significantly *less* humid than Chicago, although the actual temps are definitely higher. We thought we were going to melt right into the pavement during our first summer there, but by the second summer it didn't feel nearly as hot--in fact, when we went home to Chicago for a summer visit we were cold. You definitely acclimate to the heat. Of course, Pheonix is even hotter in the summer than Austin. Once you get above 100 degrees I don't think the humidity makes much difference anymore. It's just hot!

The biggest things I missed while living in Texas were the fall colors and (believe it or not) cloudy days. During the summer it was so crystal clear every day, I started longing for a few clouds. I guess it's all what your used to. Winters were *so* much better than in Chicago though. Snow is pretty, but--as I'm sure you know--all that shoveling and windsheild scraping gets old after a while. Temps in January in Austin average in the 50s. There is, maybe one cold snap a winter where the temp drops to around freezing for a day or so. People get freaked out about their pipes freezing when the temp hits anything less than 35 if that tells you anything.

The politics in Austin are very different from Pheonix and from the rest of Texas. Austin is a very liberal city and also highly educated. Austin also has tons of great restaurants. The Tex-Mex in that area is to die for. Can't complain about the BBQ either. People are very friendly compared to other areas of the country.

On the downside, Austin has been growing rapidly in recent years, and traffic has gotten much worse than it used to be. Still, I find it difficult to imagine that Pheonix traffic is much better, given that it's a larger city. Not sure what the job market is like these days with the downswing in tech industry. We moved back up north after graduation several years ago, but we still talk about moving back someday. I've only visited Pheonix so perhaps I'm biased, but I'd choose Austin in a heartbeat!

Never been to Austin, but I grew up in Phoenix. Hate it big time. Nothing but strip malls, over development of cookie cutter houses, pollution, traffic (no mass transit to speak of), unfriendly people, and the heat continues from April to sometime in November. There is incredible beauty in the desert, but you wont find it in the city-it has all been razed. I agree with the above, there is no sense of community here. If you want to be in Az, Tucson is much better.