PC2ED Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 Hello there fellow PAs I have a few questions for those of you who work/live in Austin, Tx. my significant other and I have been looking for a great city to move to, from NYC, within the next 2-3 years. Austin, TX happens to be in our top 3 cities. However, we do not know any PAs there. I have been to Austin once and stayed by the convention center, it was a good and memorable experience. Everything looks good on paper and that's where you come in... my questions are: - Is Austin, TX PA friendly? - Is it an Interracial couple friendly city? - What's the Cost of Living like? - What's the commute like? (ease of access: public transport VS private) - What's the salary like for PAs? - What's the market like for PA jobs? (I do EM and she does Derm.) - What are the best neighborhoods? - What's the real estate like? - ARE the PEOPLE FRIENDLY? thanks ~ PC2ED Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWR Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 I too am from NYC. IMHO Texas is not PA friendly! This not a knock at TAPA but rather my personal experience in Houston for the past 12 years. The medical community is the issue I believe. Had lots more respect in NY the first 18 years of practice. I hope you get more feedback from other Texas PAs. Once again my personal opinion. Just put the question on this web site as to where are the best states to pracitice as a PA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katera Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Austin is the San Diego of Texas in that everyone wants to live there. Hence, few jobs, lower salary then rest of the state and the cost of housing is INSANE down there compared to the rest of Texas. You would do much better in DFW or Houston/San Antonio. Just know, the weather here is complete and utter crap. We literally have 2-4 nice weeks a year.....yes I said a year. Freaking Hot+Humidity = terrible. Unless you love it hot and sticky. I lived in Houston for 15 years, and it has been accurately described as living inside of a mouth. Warm, moist and smells bad. DFW is not much better. It has hardly stopped raining here in two years. In fact, 2015 was the wettest year on record since the history of record keeping for Texas began. That's impressive. So far we have had our house struck by lightning (doing 10k in electronics damage), my car destroyed by hail, and a tornado missed my clinic by 6 miles. All this in the last 2 years. Welcome to Texas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator True Anomaly Posted October 5, 2016 Moderator Share Posted October 5, 2016 As an alternative viewpoint, I believe Texas to be a great place to practice as a PA- it has a great scope of practice, good salaries compared to nationwide, widely available specialties, no state income tax coupled with lower cost of living. Before anyone wants to jump up and refute this, your practice experience as a PA is based on, well....your practice setting. I have a great job and enjoy good pay with good scope of practice. If you're moving from NYC to anywhere in Texas, even Austin, expect a lower cost of living and a better salary- particularly for ER. Although I am a native Texan, I moved from Philadelphia 2 years ago where I practiced ER- my salary jumped up approx $10-15K simply by moving back to Texas, and my takehome was more because of less income tax And the weather? I also live in D/FW and the rain is not as bad as the prior post points out- last year was a freak year with 2 months of solid rain, which is highly unusual and while storms occur every so often- yes, we get tornadoes and hail, but it doesn't affect everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PC2ED Posted October 9, 2016 Author Share Posted October 9, 2016 thanks for your feedback! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWR Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 what are the other 2 cities. PS that hail cAN DESTROY A ROOF AND MAKE A CAR LOOK LIKE ORANGE PEEL. If you like heat and humidity bring it on!!! Don't expect respect as a clinician. You are only a means to provide as much revenue as you can. Sorry True Anomoly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgriffiths Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 I do not live or practice in Texas (actually still a student about to graduate), but I have 6 friends who are PAs who practice in TX and love it. I asked them recently about respect/salary/etc. and they all gave positive responses. Of course some are going to have different experiences, but that is true everywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator True Anomaly Posted October 13, 2016 Moderator Share Posted October 13, 2016 what are the other 2 cities. PS that hail cAN DESTROY A ROOF AND MAKE A CAR LOOK LIKE ORANGE PEEL. If you like heat and humidity bring it on!!! Don't expect respect as a clinician. You are only a means to provide as much revenue as you can. Sorry True Anomoly! I'm sorry your experience does not match mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyM2 Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 Regarding the issue of inter-racial couples, Austin is a super liberal city ( more so than San Francisco), so I doubt that would be a problem unless one of you is from Saturn and the other from Andromeda. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aty001 Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 I am about to go to PA school but live and work in Austin currently, so let me give you my experience - Is Austin, TX PA friendly?- I think this depends on where you work. The cardiology PA that I shadowed was not treated very well and switched to internal medicine and is now treated much better and absolutely loves it (she works on the same floor, just as a hospitalist). She said that you need to make sure the docs you're working with know how to utilize a PA. At Dell Children's ER, the PAs are treated just like the docs. We have residents that the docs are training, so they rely on the PAs and NPs to keep the ball rolling while they're teaching. The mid levels can pick up any patient, but usually do the 3s and 4s. - Is it an Interracial couple friendly city? Austin is very liberal, (and not PC liberal like Portland where people are all up in your face about it) people generally are cool with whatever, you won't have a problem with that at all - What's the Cost of Living like? high... you probably won't be able to find a reasonably sized and reasonably priced house within the city; most people live 20-30 mins outside of the city and commute; however if you're moving from NYC it is pretty comparable. - What's the commute like? (ease of access: public transport VS private) traffic all the time everyday forever and ever. It's the worst thing about Austin and it gets worse every year. And the drivers are TERRIBLE. Like half of the population does this thing where they don't look at on coming traffic before they turn right so you have to slam on your brakes... frequent accidents. - What's the salary like for PAs? not sure - What's the market like for PA jobs? (I do EM and she does Derm.) not sure - What are the best neighborhoods? within the city there are good and bad neighborhoods next to each other... hyde park has some nice areas, but like I said most people live right outside the city to find the nicer suburban areas - What's the real estate like? expensive as SH*T. So expensive. I live in a tiny old crappy gross 2 bedroom apt in the city and with utilities it's about $1600/mo total... and I looked at even smaller apartments for the same price, so just know real estate is expensive here. And I'm an ER tech (making $13/hr) so I can barely afford it... The big hospital systems here (St Davids and Seton) do not pay well... they're all about cost cutting, decreasing resources and staff and increasing productivity and scores; of course that's mostly on the nursing staff end (not sure if the providers get the same on their end) - ARE the PEOPLE FRIENDLY? This is probably one of the most friendly cities I've lived in and I love it! As for the weather, I grew up in AZ so I'm all about the heat. However, it is pretty much november and it is STILL too hot to run during the day... which is really screwing up my marathon training... and it is humid, but not as humid as houston! The summers are ridiculously hot and humid; you will be sweating all day everyday. The winters aren't too bad I guess (I'm a baby when it comes to the cold though). There aren't really seasons... it's like one reeeeealllllyyy long summer, a couple months of icy winterness and then rain rain, then back to summer. It will be a big change from NY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katera Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 As for the weather, I grew up in AZ so I'm all about the heat. However, it is pretty much november and it is STILL too hot to run during the day... which is really screwing up my marathon training... and it is humid, but not as humid as houston! The summers are ridiculously hot and humid; you will be sweating all day everyday. The winters aren't too bad I guess (I'm a baby when it comes to the cold though). There aren't really seasons... it's like one reeeeealllllyyy long summer, a couple months of icy winterness and then rain rain, then back to summer. It will be a big change from NY ^^^ THIS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrock17 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 As an alternative viewpoint, I believe Texas to be a great place to practice as a PA- it has a great scope of practice, good salaries compared to nationwide, widely available specialties, no state income tax coupled with lower cost of living. Before anyone wants to jump up and refute this, your practice experience as a PA is based on, well....your practice setting. I have a great job and enjoy good pay with good scope of practice. If you're moving from NYC to anywhere in Texas, even Austin, expect a lower cost of living and a better salary- particularly for ER. Although I am a native Texan, I moved from Philadelphia 2 years ago where I practiced ER- my salary jumped up approx $10-15K simply by moving back to Texas, and my takehome was more because of less income tax And the weather? I also live in D/FW and the rain is not as bad as the prior post points out- last year was a freak year with 2 months of solid rain, which is highly unusual and while storms occur every so often- yes, we get tornadoes and hail, but it doesn't affect everyone. Thanks for the post! I live in the DFW area and I love it here. However, I believe you can find negatives anywhere you live... No income tax is great too. I am wondering, because you lived in the DFW area, what are some negative aspects of being a PA here? Thanks!! Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GetMeOuttaThisMess Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 #1-MY being in the area, #2-Major health networks require PA MS regardless of experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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