First, Austin and Houston are vastly different. Houston is much more metropolitan with more to do in terms of cultural activities, but it's a huge city. Lots of concrete, very spread out. Austin is much smaller and because there is such a movement here toward conservatism, there is a lot of preserved green space. Austin is rated one of the most fitness-minded cities in the US, and if you like to run or ride bikes, you're in the right place (Lance Armstrong lives here and has a huge influence on the fitness craze here). We have a wonderful, wonderful trail system around Town Lake and other places around the city.

Regardless of which city you choose, 3+ months out of the summer are brutal asphalt melters. We make up for it with mild, pleasant winters, but when the summers run long, you'll just want to DIE rather than deal with another day of it. (I grew up in Virginia, so I can relate a little more closely to where you live) The chief difference in those rotten months between the two cities is that Houston is much more humid, so Austin tends a be a little more comfortable at those time, relatively.

Houston is flat; Austin is hilly and has lots of terrain. Austin is known as the Gateway to the Hill Country, and the Hill Country is good for lots of stuff including driving, climbing, hiking, etc.

Austin is very nightlife and music-centric, known as the Live Music Capital of the World. It is home to South by Southwest, the music and film industry's weeklong equivalent of Cannes Film Festival or Sundance. Every bar or club with a stage becomes a live music venue for several days, and you'd have better luck finding a discount flight the day before Thanksgiving on the day before Tgiving than you will finding a hotel room here that week! We are also home to Austin City Limits, which is both a television show and a 3 day outdoor music festival every fall. Sixth Street is well known for being the entertainment district with lots of bars and on weekends, closed off streets so that people can walk freely in the street. It's pretty safe down there too, as there is a large poilce presence. It's one of the few downtowns that I've felt comfortable walking in alone at night.

Austin is a very cool place to live, but it comes with a cost: allergy season here is AWFUL, and there are more than one. *Something* is constantly dropping some kind of pollen here, and allergists say that this is the worst place in the US to live if you suffer from them. I do, and I still live here, though it tests my patience a lot and I've considered moving as my patience wears thin (and it tends to do that when it's 105 outside too).

Austin is a rare little island of liberal in a sea of red conservatism, if politics matter to you. The state capitol is here in Austin, and a lot of Austinites take a very active role in politics and government. There are also very active groups of activists for the environment, so it's not uncommon to hear of battles waged in court by environmentalists over some company trying to get exceptions to a law or ordinance to build in a forbidden place like on the aquifer that supplies the city's water. I personally don't mind that part because we've gotten to keep a lot of our green space that way, but I would imagine that it's annoying to some.

Here in Austin, we also have the dubious distinction of having the most expensive real estate sales prices per square foot in all of Texas, but I honestly believe that it's worth it, having spent some time in other cities. I'm a realtor, so I can help you find something reasonably priced that fits your needs when the time comes, if you like. The citizenry finally voted FOR a rail system, so we'll soon have a commuter rail system that will bring people in from the far NW suburbs into town. It's not a terribly functional rail system in terms of route, but combined with the bus system, which is pretty good, all things considered, you could probably get where you need to go. That said, I would not want to live in this town without a car...

The job market greatly depends on what you do. Generally speaking, it will be easier to land something in Houston because Austin has a huge influx of people from other places lately competing for jobs. Austin tends to pay a little less too, but most argue that they are willing to take less to work here because it's more worth it to live here.