This has been a great Texas city thread, thanks galen and iammyownrushmore. Neither of you are wrong, I think it all boils down to individual taste of what you're looking for in a city.

I'm in Houston now, but I spent most of my life in San Antonio, now the seventh largest city in the nation, with almost no representation in national media. It's just too poor. San Antonio is certainly on the rise though, and I much prefer the laid back mentality as opposed to the "EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE" feeling I get from Houston. People come to Houston to sell their lives for large salaries, which is a bummer for suckers like me, living on a modest research stipend. Yeah, there's a serious homeless problem, I see some real shit on the metro rail at least once a week. But I'm also witness to the most diverse demographics in the United States, and it's a beautiful thing.

There's no way I could choose a favorite Texas city, but I can definitely advise everyone to stay the fuck away from College Station and Texas A&M. Worst three years of my life. Austin doesn't seem as bad as iammyownrushmore claims (I've only spent a bit of time there), but it's definitely a "thing" now, and I generally don't cope well with "things".