Yeah property tax is really high in Texas because it makes up for all the tax cuts over the years and lower sales tax. I paid more in taxes for a small condo I had there that was about 1/5th of the value of a small townhouse I eventually bought here. I had kept it thinking I'd move back, but Seattle won me over and Austin became less welcoming, so the property taxes made it not worth it even as an investment with the prices starting to rise at the time. Back then the cost for small homes was about 3-4 times Austin, now it's around 1.5 to 2 times the cost from what friends have shown me. Looking at current average cost it looks like Seattle is about 875K, Austin is about 510K and Houston is about 260K. I don't know about rent now, but at the time it was about double Austin's in Seattle.

But other than property tax, which is just generally ridiculous in Texas compared to many other states, the cost of living here is significantly higher. Food (I miss HEB prices), gasoline, electricity, trash, car registration, rent/house prices, internet service (screw Comcast and their virtual monopoly, though it is getting better lately), almost everything was more here when I moved from Austin but that was over a decade ago. One thing that was cheaper is public transportation, though. I do appreciate that, living in the city.

You bought property in Seattle proper? Wow.