Rubia66 is right about Austin. It is one of my favorite cities in the US! It is in the "hill country" in central Texas (forget any notions you may have of Texas being all flat with sand and cactus). It has a fantastic music scene (all types, and including stuff in Spanish, like by Tish Hinojosa) and one of the best selections of restaurants outside of the major cities known for good food (NY, SF, New Orleans). I have family there who tell me that it has grown alot in the last 10 years, which brings on more traffic problems and jacks up real estate values, but it is still a lower cost of living than places like NY and it has a thriving computer industry (sometimes called Silicon Gulch, a play on Silicon Valley).