Houston

I am currently living with a friend in Austin while I look for work, but not having a ton of luck here given my field, which is finance. When I utilize my network it keeps drawing me toward moving to Houston. I am originally from NOLA and the job market there for my line of work is almost non-existent. While things in Texas seems to be holding up very well. Better levels of employment, higher pay and reasonable cost of living sans property taxes. I, like most people my age, perhaps have an overly positive bias toward Austin. It is a young, vibrant, relatively diverse town. It is also not massive so it is easy to get around. That is what brought me here. I figured I would go somewhere "cool" and then just find work. However most people in my network and field tell me that Houston (or Dallas) are better options for jobs. Admittedly I did not want to hear this as I have developed a negative bias toward Houston. I have never lived there but been plenty of times. I would echo what most haters say in that it is massive urban sprawl with bad traffic and terrible public transit. Hot, humid, no culture, no identity, etc. However, in living here I am discovering that my positive bias toward Austin is not totally accurate, so maybe I should be more open-minded toward Houston as my negative bias is probably not totally accurate either. (Don't get me wrong, Austin is a great town, but I have traveled the world and it is not the center of the universe as its residents would have you believe, especially with all the Californians moving in jacking up prices).

So I guess the point of this thread is to get feedback about Houston from those familiar with it. I want to hear the good, the bad and the ugly.