I recently heard someone say, "Nashville is the cool Austin." Which made me think once again about that question: did I make a mistake moving to Austin?
It is far too late for me to participate in the covid-era real estate boom. Everyone has already moved, and that chapter of super-new history is done.
The comparison between Austin and Nashville has been made by many people in the past. Both are college towns, both have a big music scene. Both are income-tax-free. Regarding this debate, I would just like to focus on one metric, one statistic.
According to worldpopulationreview.com, Austin is a bigger, more dense city. (It is also more expensive, but I will not focus on that.) Bigger population and more density means more stuff to do, more fun. Although I certainly don't feel that, having come from Chicago and limilar, to me Austin feels sparse and empty. But if Nashville is even sparser and emptier, then that's something to consider.
So while I cannot say overall which city is cooler since I've never been to Nashville, I can say for sure that Austin remains a bigger city, which is important.
And perhaps more importantly, how much fun you have in a particular city depends on how many friends you have. The better your social net, the healthier and happier you are. So here it to having friends!