Austinite here, responding to the votes for Austin -- Austin's pretty great, but the news of the greatness has spread and now growth is crazy and real estate is tight. A central Austin home is a great investment ... if you can afford it. (Central Austin bungalows under 1000 ft2 are upwards of $350K.) Property taxes are another issue -- quite high since there is no state income tax or local tax.
Tons of arts & culture & food & DIY culture. Not sure I'd recommend it for outdoorsy stuff, though ... water is a problem, the lakes are low (if that's your thing, and it sounds like it is). No mountains. Certainly plenty of fitnessy stuff going out -- both indoors and outdoors. Culture of fitness, lots of running & cycling going on. Feasible to be a transportation cyclist here (I've done it for 7 years), but it's no Portland in terms of cycling/transit infrastructure.
What else? Access to places outside of Texas is tough -- takes a day to drive out of Texas (and then where have you gone?).
All that said, my partner and I are living here as homeowners and managing a 70% savings rate, despite being at the beginning of a 30-year mortgage and therefore having to count a lot of interest on the expenses side of the balance sheet. We'll sit tight until FIRE, then reassess. Many great things about Austin and we have a great community here, as well as a great investment in our Central Austin home, but we are far from family and also concerned about climate future here.
