Raising a family and Austin don’t belong in the same sentence.

"Keep Austin Weird".

That's good to know thanks. I've never been there, I've heard it is a cool city but getting overrun with homeless people. Is that about right?

The Destin Florida base sounds nice though if a bit stinking hot.

If Allegiant is where you think you want to settle, it could be a great airline after this contract mess. But if you’re looking to jump ship to a legacy, stay and upgrade at your regional. The legacy hiring depts are now being told to prioritize TPIC again.

Homeless, illegals, crime, you name it.

I agree about Austin going downhill over the last decade but there are still some really nice suburbs within 20-35 minutes from the airport.

Destin is a very small base and outside summer the flying is low. Being junior in Destin is not fun unless you live there and making min is fine. The flying really peaks up over the summer but the company usually covers that by TDY people from other bases. Usually bases that are very senior so, peak flying ends up going to more senior pilots that come in from the other bases.

You have 100 hour of 121 SIC, so you just consolidated at your first 121 job and you’re complaining about being heavily metered? Did you think you were gonna flow to a legacy before you finished IOE?

You also want to move to one of the highest cost of living cities in Texas, without visiting, at allegiant first year pay?

I know I’m coming off as a d-bag, but not sure what you were expecting out of skywest, and going to somewhere in hopes of a new contract being around the corner is silly.

Moving to Austin to live in any suburb not on Lake Travis is like moving to Southern California to live in the Inland Empire. It defeats the purpose.

Afraid of homeless people? Want to live in a nice big tract home with a two car garage? Move to any number of cheaper Allegiant bases.

Want to live in Austin? Move to Austin. Proper.

That's a very valid point. Look, if for political reasons you want to avoid the more "liberal" politics of a city, then Austin wont be the right for you. Hell it was never right for ya bc Austin has been more liberal than most Texas metropolitan cities for years. Come back to today, lets face it. Austin is the homebase for "expat" Californians. It's expensive, getting overcrowded, homelessness, and idiotic policies.
But like Bob said, if your main concern is the cost of living, there are other bases that can offer better chances for that. Of course, with todays inflated prices all over the country and high interest rates it can be quite a pickle. If you want remain in Texas, then Austin is your best bet at this time, you will most likely tho have to move far from the city to find something more reasonable that's for sure. That's just a fact for sure. Good luck partner.