Llano is in an interesting transitional period. Historically it's been a place sort of trapped in time as hardly anyone moves here because there's no industry to speak of & therefore no jobs. The economy largely revolves around agriculture which is highly subsidized by deer hunting. If you said the economy actually revolves around deer hunting nobody could argue.
Both of those things seem to be changing though. The last 10 years of so people have started to move here in a few basic groups: Those who can work anywhere so long as they have an internet connection. Those looking to retire and/or downsize. Entrepreneurs looking to start a business. Artists & musicians that got priced out of Austin. And folks like me who grew up here, moved away, & returned to raise children. What all these groups have in common is they're looking for that slower paced small-town lifestyle you eluded to & there's definitely plenty of that.
The other thing is that we're transitioning in to a tourism economy. Growing up the old germans here didn't want the problems their neighbors down in Fredericksburg had so that sort of thing was discouraged. Those folks are either dying off or changing their tune. Now days all the old buildings around the square are turning in to gift and antique shops. Restaurants, bars & even music venues are starting to appear. There's no rent-houses because they're now all B&Bs. On a pretty day you can see lots of Austin hipsters out here on day trips. I'm pretty sure they think they're slumming but their money is green. Also the Llano River is becoming an economy of its own; the fly fishermen come from all over.
By "is it safe" I'm assuming you mean crime. I can tell you I don't bother locking the door when I leave the house but I don't live in town. I do lock my truck but that's mostly out of habit. There must be some sort of crime but it's not something I worry about. The newspaper comes out every Thursday and includes a police sheet of everything that happened that week so I guess you could check that out. I too hear stories of meth heads but only in the general sense; nothing specific.
As for good/bad, instead of railroad tracks, Llano has the river. Historically the "good part" is south of the river & the "bad part" is north although the north seems to be gentrifying. Still most of the industrial and/or ugly buildings can be found there.
As far as meeting people goes, 10 or 15 years ago I would discourage a twenty-something without kids from moving here but like I've said, things are changing. We do have an active Llano County A&M Club & there are a good number of Aggies here despite being in the shadow of the orange menace. You will find, however, that all the t-shirts are orange. What do you do for a living? It sounded like you'll be working in Llano?
The school's are good but I would have to agree with HumpitPuryer's assessment. Except for that I find the cross-section of socio-economic groups a good thing. All of Llano County goes to the same school so you do indeed get some hard knock kids from Kingsland but you also get some rich kids from Horseshoe Bay along with ranch kids from the country. It's a pretty diverse group, everybody knows everybody so you learn to get along.
In a nutshell, Llano is a small German hill country town. Has hovered just below or above 3,000 as long as I can remember. There's not much action & we kind of like it that way. If you're in to hunting & fishing it's fantastic if you're in to nightlife, not so much.
I've already said I moved back here to raise my children & that probably says more than anything I wrote above...
