Austin was great when it was the only liberal and cultural oasis in TX, back when that meant something. When it was a Texas-sized college town. SXSW created a reality distortion field for tourists looking for the Good Life and since then they’ve been trying to graft a tech hub on top of a place that was never suited.

One under discussed downside to Austin is how isolated it is. 

In LA you're a 5 hour drive from Vegas, 6 hours to SF, 3 to San Diego, 5 to Yosemite, skiing is a few hours away, Joshua Tree is in your back yard. You can sail, surf, hop down to Baja etc. Austin? Day trips to Houston or Dallas...  even Marfa is 7 hrs.

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ATX to NY or SF is 4 hrs but I see your point. With traffic and getting through security you're looking at 6 hrs. When I lived there I felt a great sense of geographic isolation. Achieving escape velocity was tough. Getting to Europe for example turns into an ordeal. 18 hrs as opposed to 10 all things considered

But <3 hours flights to NYC and SF/LA makes up for that 

Not really any other millennial catering city that can compete with that, except maybe Chicago

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I get cheap flights to Vegas all the time from Austin. When I lived in Vegas I drove to LA once, would never do it again. Horrifying traffic the entire way. Most people just stay in their town without money to go do cool shit. At least we got the greenbelt/hippy hollow/barton springs, and an easy af airport to the row.

Ya but when you’re in LA you have to actually make it to those places to enjoy. Most likely you’ll be robbed otw or your car robbed while you enjoying. California has gone to shit.