Your First 30 Days in Austin: The Post-Move Checklist for New Residents

Do this first, ideally a few days before move-in so the power is on when you walk in. Because Austin Energy is municipal, there's no provider comparison to agonize over and nothing to negotiate. You're simply opening one City of Austin Utilities account that bundles electricity (Austin Energy), water and wastewater (Austin Water), and trash, recycling, and compost (Austin Resource Recovery) into a single monthly bill.

Set it up online at coautilities.com or call 512-494-9400. You'll need your new service address and your move-in date. Budget for a residential deposit of roughly $200, which the city will waive if you pass a credit check or provide a letter of good standing from your last utility. Keep your lease or closing paperwork handy in case they ask you to verify the address.

Internet isn't part of the city utility bill, so it's a separate errand. Availability in Austin is maddeningly address-specific: fiber blankets a lot of the city, but coverage can stop at a property line, so a plan your new neighbor raves about might not reach your unit. Check exactly what's serviceable at your address before you commit to a provider or a speed tier, and try to schedule installation early, because appointment windows fill up around the busy moving seasons.

If your home has gas appliances, that's usually Texas Gas Service, and it's a separate account from your city utilities. Plenty of newer Austin apartments and homes are all-electric and won't need gas at all, so check what your range, water heater, and furnace actually run on before you open an account you may not need.

Forward your mail through the official USPS change-of-address service. It costs about a dollar to verify your identity online, and that small charge is the tell that you're on the real USPS site: if a page wants $20 or $40 to "process" your forwarding, close the tab, because it's a copycat. Do this in week one so nothing important gets lost in the gap while you update every other account.

Forwarding covers most mail for several months, which buys you time, but it isn't selective and it doesn't last forever. Use the breathing room it gives you to update the senders that matter directly, rather than leaning on forwarding as the permanent solution. A renewal notice, a tax form, or a check that lands at your old address after forwarding lapses is exactly the kind of thing you don't want to learn about the hard way.

Mail forwarding is a safety net, not a permanent fix, and it expires. Update your address directly with your bank and credit cards, your employer's HR or payroll, your insurance companies, and any subscription you actually use. Don't forget the IRS and any brokerage or retirement accounts, since those tend to mail time-sensitive documents you won't want chasing your old mailbox.

One genuinely pleasant surprise: Texas has no state income tax, so there's no new state tax registration to file and no state return waiting for you next spring. It's one of the real financial perks of the move, and our Texas income tax guide explains what it does and doesn't change about your overall tax picture.

Texas ended the annual safety inspection for non-commercial vehicles on January 1, 2025 (HB 3297). You now pay a $7.50 inspection program replacement fee at registration instead. An emissions test is still required before you register in the metro emissions counties.

Travis and Williamson are emissions counties, so if you're living in or around Austin you'll need to pass an emissions test before you can register your vehicle. Any certified station can run it, and it's quick. Bring the vehicle and your proof of insurance, and hold onto the result, because you'll hand it over at the tax office when you register.

This trips up a lot of new arrivals, because the old annual safety sticker is gone and people assume that means no testing at all. Not so in the metro counties: the emissions check survived the change, and it's the one inspection step still standing between you and your plates. Do it before your tax-office visit, not after, so you're not making a second trip. If your vehicle is brand new or otherwise exempt, the station or the tax office will tell you, but assume you need the test until someone official says you don't.

You have 30 days from establishing residency to register, and in Austin you do that at the Travis County Tax Office, not at DPS. People mix these up constantly: DPS handles your license, the county tax office handles your plates and registration. Bring your out-of-state title or current registration, proof of Texas insurance that meets the 30/60/25 liability minimum, your passing emissions result, and the vehicle itself.

The state's New to Texas page lays out the full document checklist, and our Texas vehicle registration guide walks through the fees so the total at the counter doesn't catch you by surprise.

Registering and titling aren't the same step, and which one you need depends on your situation. If you're transferring the title of a vehicle you brought in from another state, Texas also requires a VIN/identity inspection documented on Form VTR-68-A, which confirms the vehicle in your driveway matches the paperwork, plus a completed Form 130-U application for Texas title.

The good news is you can usually handle the title and the registration together in one visit to the county tax office, so you don't make two trips. When you call ahead or check in, say you're titling and registering an out-of-state vehicle so they can tell you exactly which forms and proofs to bring.

If you financed the car and the lender holds the title, the process looks a little different, because the lienholder is on the paperwork. Have your loan account details with you, and don't be surprised if the title transfer takes longer than the registration to fully clear. The registration is what keeps you legal on the road in the meantime, so prioritize getting that done inside your 30-day window even if the title piece trails behind.

This is where most online guides get it flat wrong, so read it carefully: the deadline to convert your out-of-state license is 90 days for new residents, not 30. The 30-day figure people keep repeating online is the vehicle registration deadline, which is a completely separate clock. Two deadlines, two agencies, two timeframes.

The Texas DPS handles driver licenses by appointment, and slots in a city the size of Austin book out, so reserve yours as soon as you land rather than walking in and hoping. Bring proof of identity, your Social Security number, two documents proving Texas residency, and proof of insurance. Our Texas driver license guide spells out exactly which documents count for each requirement so you don't get turned away over a missing utility bill.

The two-proofs-of-residency rule is where new arrivals stumble most, because in your first weeks you may not have much mail at your Austin address yet. This is one more reason to set up your City of Austin Utilities account early: that bill is a clean, accepted proof of residency. A signed lease, a bank statement mailed to the new address, or an insurance document can round out the set. Get the appointment on the calendar first, then work backward to make sure you'll have the paperwork in hand by the date.

Texas requires at least 30/60/25 in liability coverage. In plain numbers, that's $30,000 of bodily injury per person, $60,000 of bodily injury per crash, and $25,000 for property damage. Call your insurer to convert your policy to a Texas one tied to your new address; both your premium and the proof-of-insurance card in your glovebox need to reflect Texas before you finish registration.

Keep in mind the state minimum is exactly that, a legal floor and not a recommendation. It covers the other party's costs if you're at fault, not your own car or your own medical bills, so most drivers carry more than 30/60/25 once they understand what bare-minimum liability does and doesn't do. If you're bundling a new renters or homeowners policy at the same time, ask about a multi-policy discount, since moving is a natural moment to re-shop all of it at once.

If you purchased a home and it's your primary residence, file a homestead exemption. It removes $140,000 of your home's value from school-district taxes, which is the largest single line on most Texas property tax bills, and homeowners 65 or older get an additional $60,000 exemption on top of that. File with the Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) by April 30.

Missed the deadline, or bought mid-year? Don't panic. Texas lets you file late, generally up to about two years after the taxes became delinquent, so a homestead exemption is rarely a lost cause. The Texas Comptroller — Property Tax Exemptions page covers the qualifications, and our Texas property tax guide puts the exemption in the context of your whole bill.

One detail worth getting right: the exemption ties to your primary residence, and TCAD will generally want the address on your Texas driver license to match the property. That's a quiet argument for handling your license before you file, so the paperwork lines up on the first try. If you're renting for now and plan to buy later, just file in the year you close, and don't leave this money on the table, because for a typical Austin home the school-tax exemption is real savings every single year you own.

Texas closes voter registration 30 days before any election, so this is one to handle now rather than when the campaign signs sprout in the yards. Register through VoteTexas.gov — Register to Vote. Once your Texas driver license is sorted, this is a fast last step, and getting it done early means you won't be locked out of a local race you didn't see coming.

With no state income tax, Texas leans hard on property taxes, and the bill can be a jolt if you're coming from a state that splits the load differently. Build the annual amount into your monthly budget from the start so the escrow shortfall or the tax statement doesn't blindside you. If you own and your appraised value looks too high, you can protest it. The deadline is May 15, or 30 days after your appraisal notice arrives, whichever is later.

Protesting is more routine here than newcomers expect, and plenty of owners do it every year. The Texas Comptroller — Appraisal Protests & Appeals page explains how the process works step by step, and our Austin calculators can help you sanity-check what your numbers should look like.

If you'll use transit at all, grab the Umo app so you can ride CapMetro's MetroRail Red Line and MetroRapid buses without hunting for change. Even if you mostly drive, it's handy for downtown events and game days when parking turns into its own ordeal.

And if your commute touches 183A, the MoPac Express Lanes, or any other Central Texas toll road, order a TxTag now. You'll be billed at the lower tag rate instead of the pay-by-mail rate, and you avoid surprise statements weeks after the fact. It's a five-minute task that quietly saves money for as long as you live here.

Set up the TxTag account with auto-reload and the right license plate so it actually charges the tag instead of kicking you to a mailed bill, and add any second vehicle while you're in there. If you're new to express lanes, the MoPac toll changes with traffic, rising when the road is busy and falling when it's clear, so it's less a fixed fee and more a pay-for-speed option you can take or skip on any given day.

Find your trash, recycling, and compost pickup days through Austin Resource Recovery, which is all attached to the same City of Austin Utilities account you opened in week one, so there's nothing extra to sign up for. While you're at it, confirm your current watering day at austintexas.gov/water, since the city's drought stage and your assigned day can change with conditions.

This is also the week to actually walk your area. Find the closest grocery store, the nearest park, the coffee place you'll end up at on Saturdays, and the route to work that doesn't fight I-35 construction. If you're renting and already thinking about where you'll land for the long haul, browsing Austin neighborhoods is a low-pressure way to start mapping the city against what you actually want, and the Austin relocation hub ties together the rest of the local guides as you settle in.