When I lost my job a couple years ago, my wife wanted to move back to Texas. Austin had the most openings of any of the areas I looked at, from Dallas to Kansas City etc. And they were interesting jobs.
Somehow I ended up in Midland, TX instead, a far crappier town but with wonderful people to make up for it. It still has everything you could really need aside from the excitement and traffic jams of Austin.
And you’re a lot closer to the mountains and that great NM food.
Austin is becoming a nightmare for traffic. We live 20 miles north of town and want to move further out.