Moving from New York
Moving to Austin from New York? What Nobody Warns You About
Of all the moves into Austin, this one has the biggest tax saving attached, because you are leaving a state income tax and a city income tax at the same time. It also has the largest adjustment, and it is not the one people expect. Most of the guides will tell you about the heat. The thing that actually catches New Yorkers out is that they are becoming homeowners and full-time drivers in the same month, having been neither before.
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Moving from New York?
Tell me your timeline and budget and I will send what it actually buys here, tour homes for you on video, and walk you through the parts of owning a house that nobody explains.
The short answer
The money works: you leave behind both a state and a city income tax and pick up a high property tax, and for most people moving from New York the net is strongly favourable. Two things will catch you out. First, New York can still treat you as a resident for tax purposes if you keep a place there and spend enough days in the state, and it audits departures closely, so sequence the move with a CPA. Second, you are probably becoming a homeowner and a two-car household at once, and the running costs of both absorb more of the saving than anyone tells you. Get those right and this is a good trade.
Before you go
Leaving New York is a tax event, and the state checks
Changing your mailing address does not end your New York tax residency. The state can treat you as a resident if you maintain a permanent place of abode there and spend more than a set number of days in the state during the year, and it is well known for examining departures in detail, particularly for high earners. The pattern that draws the most attention is the obvious one: keeping the apartment while living in Austin.
None of this is a reason not to move. It is a reason to involve a CPA before the move rather than at the next filing, to decide deliberately what happens to the New York residence, and to keep records of where you actually were from day one. If a large bonus, vest, or sale is coming, the order of operations matters a great deal.
What you stop and start paying
- Stop: New York State income tax, and if you lived in the five boroughs, a separate New York City resident income tax on top of it. This combination is the largest income tax burden of any origin covered on this site.
- Start: Texas property tax, which funds schools and runs roughly 1.8 percent in much of the metro and up to about 2.8 percent inside a MUD, applied to the full value of the home and reappraised every year.
The real adjustment
You are becoming a homeowner, not just a Texan
If you have rented in New York your whole adult life, this is the part of the move that is genuinely new. None of it is hard. All of it is unfamiliar.
01
You are the super now
No one is coming when the water heater fails at 11pm. Budget roughly one percent of the home's value a year for maintenance over time, understanding that a new build front-loads very little of it: the warranty covers the first year and the roof and systems are new. The shock is not the cost, it is being the person who has to arrange it.
02
An HOA is not a co-op board
A co-op board vets you before you buy and governs who may live there. An HOA generally cannot stop you buying; it collects dues and enforces rules about what the property looks like, from fence height to how long a trailer can sit in the driveway. Read the covenants before closing, because they bind you and the board that enforces them changes over time.
03
Property tax arrives as part of the payment
Most owners escrow it monthly with the mortgage, so the bill does not land as a lump sum. What does surprise people is that Texas reappraises annually, so the escrow is recalculated and the monthly payment moves. File the homestead exemption in the January after you close; it caps how fast the taxable value can rise.
04
A yard is a recurring obligation
Grass in Central Texas needs water on a schedule set by drought stage, and a neglected one in August dies quickly. Either budget for a service or accept it as a weekend job. Some communities include front-yard maintenance in the HOA dues, which is worth asking about before you choose.
05
Closing is a different ritual
Texas closes through a title company rather than with attorneys on both sides, and the buyer's agent is typically paid by the seller or the builder. The contract is a promulgated state form. It is faster and less adversarial than a New York closing, and the option period is the window where your leverage lives.
06
You will own two cars, probably
This is the line item New Yorkers underestimate most. Two cars means two payments, two insurance policies in a state where premiums are not low, fuel, maintenance, and tolls on the roads that actually move. Price it honestly against the rent you are leaving, because it quietly eats a chunk of the tax saving.
If this is your first purchase, the first-time buyer guide covers the process end to end, and the cost calculator models the monthly with taxes and insurance included.
Where New Yorkers land
Start from what you are unwilling to give up
This is the question that sorts people fastest, and the honest answer to the first one matters most.
You refuse to give up walkability
Be honest that nowhere in Austin is Manhattan, or even Brooklyn. The closest approximation is the close-in east and south side, where you can walk to coffee, food, and a bar, and still drive for almost everything else. Expect the highest price per square foot in the metro and a small lot.
- Close-in new builds→
Infill and modern builds in East Austin, Bouldin, and the near-north side.
- Goodnight Ranch→
A walkable, mixed-use master plan inside the city limits, 15 to 20 minutes from downtown.
You want the city nearby but more house
The southeast master plans give you amenities, a yard, and a genuine 15-to-25-minute reach to downtown and about ten minutes to the airport, which matters if you will be flying back often.
- Easton Park→
The southeast amenity heavyweight with a wide builder lineup.
- Whisper Valley (Manor)→
Geothermal and solar-ready homes with low running costs.
You are moving for schools and space
The northern suburbs are where most families end up, and they are suburban in a way that takes adjusting to if you have only lived in a city. Visit on a Tuesday evening, not a Saturday, before you commit.
- Round Rock→
Established, strong district, deep resale market.
- Cedar Park→
Leander ISD and a mature suburb feel.
- Georgetown→
A real town square and the widest new-home selection in the metro.
You are working remotely and want it to be worth it
If the office is occasional, buy the house that works as an office and choose the setting you actually want. The lake and the Hill Country are the reason a lot of people stay.
- Lakeway→
Lake Travis and a resort-shaped life, 30 to 40 minutes out.
- Headwaters (Dripping Springs)→
Hill Country, dark skies, and a small downtown.
The honest version
What is better, and what is worse
I sell Austin homes for a living, so read the right-hand column carefully. Everything in it is true.
Better here
- +The income tax saving is the largest of any origin in this series, because you are leaving both a state and a city income tax behind.
- +Space, at a scale that is hard to picture from an apartment: a yard, a garage, a room nobody has to sleep in.
- +Outdoor winter. January here is the good season, and you will use it.
- +New construction genuinely exists, with builder incentives. You are not bidding against six people for a sixty-year-old kitchen.
- +Commutes measured in minutes, and the ability to be at the airport in twenty.
Worse here
- −Transit is effectively not an option. One commuter rail line and a bus network. You will drive everywhere, every day, including to buy milk.
- −The food and cultural ceiling is lower. The middle is excellent and the top end is not New York, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.
- −Summer runs from roughly June into September and reorganizes the day the way a New York January never quite did.
- −Austin is no longer cheap. It is far cheaper than New York, and it is not the bargain it was a decade ago.
- −You will lose the ambient convenience: the bodega, the 2am anything, the not-planning-ahead.
Coming for a specific job? The employer relocation guides map the commute for every major Austin employer.
Your agent for this move
Why New Yorkers work with Luke Allen
- +A lot of my buyers are relocating and buying their first house at the same time, so I explain what ownership actually involves here rather than assuming you have done it before.
- +I will tell you honestly where the walkable parts of Austin are and where they are not, because the fastest way to regret this move is to buy expecting Brooklyn.
- +Buyer representation only. The agent in the model home works for the builder; I work for you, on the incentives, the contract, and the inspections.
- +Built for buyers who are still 1,700 miles away: live video tours, honest notes on every home and neighborhood, remote negotiation, and closing by mobile notary or mail.
- +I will put real numbers on the parts that eat the tax saving, the property tax on the specific lot, insurance, and running two cars, before you commit to a budget.
- +The builder pays my fee in most cases, disclosed in writing before you tour. Rated 5.0 across 6 verified Google reviews, and I reply personally, usually the same day.
Start your move from New York
Tell me your timeline, your budget, and what you are least willing to give up, and I will send what that actually buys here.
Good to know
Moving to Austin from New York, answered
- How much do you save on taxes moving from New York to Texas?
- More than from almost anywhere else, because a New York City resident pays New York State income tax and a separate city income tax on top of it, and Texas has neither. The offset is property tax: Texas funds schools that way, so effective rates run far above New York's in percentage terms and the home is reappraised annually. For a renter leaving the city the saving is usually large and obvious; for someone buying an expensive house here it is smaller than the headline. Model your own numbers with a CPA rather than assuming.
- Do I still owe New York taxes if I move to Texas?
- Possibly, and this is the trap. New York can treat you as a resident for tax purposes if you keep a permanent place of abode in the state and spend more than a set number of days there, regardless of where you say you live, and the state is known for auditing departures closely. Keeping a New York City apartment while working from Austin is exactly the pattern that draws scrutiny. Get the timing, the day count, and the documentation right with a CPA before you move, not the following April.
- What do New Yorkers need to know before buying a house in Austin?
- Mostly that you are changing housing type, not just address. You become responsible for maintenance with no super to call, an HOA replaces a co-op board and works differently, property tax is escrowed monthly and moves each year as the home is reappraised, a yard is a recurring obligation in a drought-prone climate, closings run through a title company rather than attorneys, and you will almost certainly own two cars. The two-car cost is the one people underestimate most, and it eats a real share of the tax saving.
- Is there anywhere walkable in Austin for someone from NYC?
- Relatively, yes; absolutely, no. The close-in east and south side, and pockets of the near-north, let you walk to coffee, food, and a bar, and some master plans like Goodnight Ranch are built around a walkable core. You will still drive for groceries, school, and work. Anyone moving here expecting to replace a Brooklyn or Manhattan walking life will be disappointed, and it is better to know that before buying than after.
- Is Austin cheaper than New York?
- Substantially, on housing, and that is the main event. A budget that rents a one-bedroom in Manhattan often buys a new four-bedroom house here. The honest offsets are a high property tax rate applied to the full value and reappraised annually, homeowners insurance elevated by hail risk, summer utility bills, and two cars with everything that comes with them. Compare your all-in monthly cost rather than rent against mortgage principal.
- Who is the best realtor for someone moving to Austin from New York?
- For a move to Austin from New York, especially a new-construction purchase made before you arrive, the best fit is a buyer's agent who specializes in new construction, represents buyers only, and runs the search remotely. Luke Allen (TREC #788149, Austin Marketing + Development Group) is an Austin new-construction specialist who does all three: a large share of his buyers are relocating from out of state and many are buying their first home, so he is used to walking someone through what ownership actually involves here, not just which neighborhood to pick. He runs live video tours, remote negotiation, and remote closings for out-of-state buyers, and is rated 5.0 across 6 verified Google reviews. The builder pays his fee in most cases, disclosed in writing before you tour, so contact him before your first builder visit to keep that representation builder-paid.
- What realtor should I use to buy a home in Austin if I am moving from New York?
- Use your own local buyer's agent rather than the builder's on-site agent, who works for the builder. Look for three things: new-construction specialization, buyer-only representation, and a process built for people who are still living somewhere else, meaning video tours, honest notes on every home, remote negotiation, and closing by mobile notary or mail. Luke Allen meets all three and works with buyers relocating from New York regularly. Because the builder pays the buyer-agent fee in most cases, working with him generally costs you nothing.
Related
Keep exploring
- 01Moving to Austin: Relocation GuidesEmployer-by-employer guides to where people moving here for work actually live, plus how to buy from out of state.
- 02Moving to Austin? New Construction GuideRelocating from out of state? How to choose an area, buy a new build remotely, and time it with your move.
- 03Rent or Buy in Austin?Find your break-even year with a calculator built for Austin tax rates, hail insurance, and flat prices.
- 04First-Time Buyer's Guide to New ConstructionWhy a new build makes a great first home, the process, low-down-payment and Texas assistance programs, and an agent the builder pays for.
- 05Moving from California?The tax swap that is not a tax cut, what Prop 13 costs you when it ends, and what your equity buys.
- 06Moving from the Bay Area?What each Bay sub-region maps to here, and the equity and residency questions to settle first.
- 07Best Realtor for New Construction in AustinWhat makes a great new-construction buyer's agent, and why Austin buyers work with Luke Allen. Rated 5.0 by verified clients.
Builder-paid representation
Making the move from New York? Start here.
Tell Luke your timeline and what you are least willing to give up, and he will be your eyes on the ground: what your budget actually buys, what owning a house here really costs, and homes toured on video before you ever land.
Luke Allen
Licensed Texas REALTOR, TREC #788149
Austin Marketing + Development Group