Most of Texas is very, very safe. There are parts of Houston that are as bad as parts of Oakland or Chicago, but that is it.
There is very little criminal-on-non-criminal crime unless you are involved with those who make or sell drugs. Many Texans are armed, either via CHL or in-car-carry and for this reason criminals avoid messing with your average person.
The Austin PD is very, very good and is a young PD with a lot of dedicated officers who have to deal with a very diverse group of citizens.
Personally, I'd find someone who lives in Austin and spend a couple of days looking around. I'd do this on a work week so you can get a feel for traffic as Austin has the worst traffic I've ever seen - especially from downtown North to Round Rock.
