Sorry for the delayed reponse. I don't know how I missed this thread until now!
Here's my short list of "Top 5 Places I would live in Texas":
1. Port Aransas
2. Rockport
3. Fredericksburg
4. New Braunfels
5. Austin
Here's our story: We, too, lived in Iowa, and simply couldn't stand another winter there -- so we decided to start looking for a sunbelt location to build another aviation themed hotel. In the meantime, however, we flew into Austin (for the South by Southwest Music festival), and had a GREAT time...
...except for our kids. If there's one truism about Austin's night life, it's that it's heaven for adults, and torture for teenagers. They were literally not allowed in over half of the music venues, and after three days of being left outside (or in the hotel room) they were ****ED. They announced that they wanted to go to "a beach", since we were so close to the Gulf.
Fine. I couldn't stand the high-pitched whining any longer, so I decided we could spare a day or two at the beach. But where? Being from "Up North" I had NO idea where to go, so, of course...
...I jumped on the internet aviation forums (perhaps this one?) and asked Texas pilots where THEY went when they wanted to fly to a beach. Almost without exception, they ALL said "Port Aransas" -- to which we responded..."Huh?" NO ONE outside of Texas had ever heard of Port Aransas.
So, I dug out my sectional chart (we still had them, back in '09), found KRAS (Mustang Beach Airport), noted its relative position between Galveston and South Padre (two places we had at least heard of) and drew a flight plan from KAUS to KRAS.
I remember telling Mary and the kids "If this place sucks we will spend one night, and move on". We still laugh about that today.
Well, one night became two nights, became four nights, became "let's buy a hotel and move here". We absolutely fell in love with the island, the people, the slow(er) pace, the weather, and (of course) the 15-mile-long white sand beach.
So that's how we ended up here. In the ensuing five years, we have seen more of Texas than most native Texans, thanks to General Aviation. In our RV-8A, we are literally "One hour from Everything", including Galveston, Houston, New Braunfels, San Marcos, Austin, Victoria, Brenham, McAllen, and all points in between.
We are 90 minutes from all sorts of other cool places (Fredericksburg), and two hours from Dallas. Texas is MADE for GA, and we are blessed with something like 350 VFR days per year, down here on the island.
Downsides of living on the island are few, but stiff. There is NO hangar space on the island, and little hope of any new municipal hangars being built. Real estate here is booming, with prices literally tripling since we moved here in 2010. And, of course, there is always the chance of the island being wiped clean by the hand of God. It's not a matter of if, but when, so you just have to ask yourself: Do you feel lucky? Insure yourself well!
The weather here is incredibly wonderful, and benign. The weather in Iowa is ten times more violent, with all sorts of horrendously destructive tendencies. In our 14 years in Iowa, we saw them all, from straight line winds that knocked down a brick fire station, to ice storms, to biblical floods, tornadoes, and blizzards. Here, I can count on one hand the rain we've seen in five years, and we NEVER see lightning. The rain may be torrential, briefly, but it's just water, and lots of it. And then it's done -- for months.
As for other places to live, beware: Much of Texas is (by our standards) uninhabitable. If you get a few miles inland, the temperatures in the summer are unbearably hot, and there are many, many towns that are two steps above squalor. The fracking oil boom has helped a LOT, but we have flown into lots of little Texas airports, drove into town, looked around, shuddered, and never returned.
That said, there are many wonderful places here, too. If I wasn't interested in a beach, Rockport (just 15 miles away, on the mainland) would be my #1 choice. They have a GREAT airport (KRKP), and the town is trying to set itself up as the "artsy" alternative to Port Aransas. Good food, lots of bars, good people there. I could be very happy there.
Another great airport, not far from Rockport, is T.P. McCampbell (KTFP). It's where we were based for a year, right after moving here (and it's where we are now, temporarily, while our island airport is closed), and it is every pilot's DREAM airport. It is run well, and competently, by people who actually know and understand general aviation, and (as a result) they are building hangars as fast as they can. I'm not a big fan of the city it's located in (Ingleside), but if you could find a nice place out in the country, near that airport, you would be golden. Best of all: Home prices are HALF what they are on the island.
Another great thing about that area: LOTS of employment opportunities. They build floating oil platforms in the channel in Ingleside, and business is booming.
Fredericksburg, located in the Hill Country, would be #3. There is SO much to see and do there, and the land is closer to what you're used to in Iowa. We like to fly in and stay at the B&B above the brewery in downtown, and then walk the old city streets. This group's own Spike Cutler can chime in about it.
New Braunfels is another German settlement that is absolutely gorgeous, with so many terrific things to see and do. They have a great airport, with ample hangar space available. We like to stay at the Faust Hotel (with an excellent brew pub on the first floor), and every November we attend WurstFest -- one of the largest German Octoberfest-type festivals in the country.
Austin is, of course, the music capital of Texas. I love the blues, and there is a Stevie Ray Vaughan clone playing in every bar, usually for free. Walk down Sixth Street on any night, and you will hear more great music than you've heard in a lifetime in Iowa. We stay at the Driscoll Hotel (in the off-season, when it's cheap) or at the La Quinta (when prices skyrocket during special events), and walk everywhere.
The downsides of Austin are many, though. It is a big city, and growing at a tremendous rate. Driving and traffic are simply awful, and the airport there is absurdly overpriced for virtually everything.
The politics in Austin must be seen to be appreciated. Like most government towns, it's referred to as "100 square miles surrounded by reality" -- but what sets Austin apart is the blatant opulence of the political class there. The good news is that all this government money flowing in has allowed private businesses to thrive, and they have built what amounts to a Disneyland for adults, with terrific bars, restaurants, and live music venues EVERYWHERE.
Some people mentioned the Houston area as a possibility. There are many cool things to see and do there, for sure, but you couldn't pay me enough to live in a metropolitan area that large. The traffic alone would drive me insane. This is true of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, too.
One other major thing to keep in mind is that anything North of Rockport and inland is going to have REAL winter. Fredericksburg, Austin, and New Braunfels all get occasional bouts of cold and snow, so if your goal is to avoid winter, you would want to stay from Port Aransas and South.
We have friends who winter in McAllen each year, and love it. It's about 6 degrees warmer than here (which makes it awful in the summer), which feels pretty good in January. (We've been below freezing three times since moving here, all in the first winter of 2010.) The only downside to McAllen is that it is very close to Mexico. We have visited the big shopping mall there (Macy's is LITERALLY at the end of McAllen's North/South runway!) and been the only English-speaker there. That's a strange feeling.
Any questions? Fling them my way!