Austin ( ) is the
capital city
A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...
of the U.S. state of
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
. It is the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
and most populous city of
Travis County, with portions extending into
Hays and
Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the
26th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, the
13th-most populous city in the United States,
the
fifth-most populous city in the state after
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
,
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
,
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, and
Fort Worth
Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
, and the second-most populous state capital city after
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...
.
It has been one of the fastest growing large cities in the United States since 2010.
Downtown Austin
Downtown Austin is the central business district of Austin, Texas, United States. The area of the district is bound by Lamar Boulevard to the west, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (Austin), Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the north, Inte ...
and
Downtown San Antonio are approximately apart, and both fall along the
I-35
Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexico–Uni ...
corridor. This combined metropolitan region of
San Antonio–Austin has approximately 5 million people.
Austin is the southernmost state capital in the
contiguous United States
The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The te ...
and is considered a
Gamma + level global city
A global city (also known as a power city, world city, alpha city, or world center) is a city that serves as a primary node in the global economic network. The concept originates from geography and urban studies, based on the thesis that glo ...
as categorized by the
Globalization and World Cities Research Network
The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a British think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leic ...
.
Austin had a population of 961,855 at the
2020 census. The city is the cultural and economic center of the metropolitan statistical area, which had an estimated population of 2.55 million in 2024. Located in within the greater
Texas Hill Country
The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ame ...
, it is home to numerous lakes, rivers, and waterways, including
Lady Bird Lake
Lady Bird Lake (formerly, and still colloquially referred to as Town Lake) is a river-like reservoir on the Colorado River (Texas), Colorado River in Austin, Texas, United States. The City of Austin created the reservoir in 1960 as a cooling pon ...
and
Lake Travis
Lake Travis is a reservoir on the Colorado River in central Texas in the United States. It is named in honor of William B. Travis.
Serving principally as a flood-control reservoir, Lake Travis' historical minimum to maximum water height cha ...
on the
Colorado River
The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
,
Barton Springs,
McKinney Falls, and
Lake Walter E. Long. Austin’s history dates back to at least 9200 BC, with early habitation by
Clovis peoples and later by
Indigenous groups such as the
Tonkawa
The Tonkawa are a Native American tribe from Oklahoma and Texas. Their Tonkawa language, now extinct language, extinct, is a linguistic isolate. Today, Tonkawa people are enrolled in the Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Tonkawa ...
.
Residents of Austin are known as Austinites.
They include a diverse mix of government employees, college students, musicians, high-tech workers, and
blue-collar worker
A blue-collar worker is a person who performs manual labour, manual labor or Tradesman, skilled trades. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involve manufacturing, retail, Warehouse, warehousing, mining, ...
s. The city's official slogan promotes Austin as "The Live Music Capital of the World", a reference to the city's many musicians and live music venues, as well as the long-running
PBS TV concert series ''
Austin City Limits
''Austin City Limits'' is an American Concert, live music Television show, television program recorded and produced by KLRU, Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", an ...
''.
Austin is the site of
South by Southwest
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
(SXSW), an annual conglomeration of parallel
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
,
interactive media
Interactive media refers to digital experiences that dynamically respond to user input, delivering content such as Text (literary theory), text, images, animations, video, Sound, audio, and even Artificial intelligence, AI-driven interactions. O ...
, and
music festival
A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...
s. The city also adopted "
Silicon Hills" as a nickname in the 1990s due to a rapid influx of technology and development companies. In recent years, some Austinites have adopted the unofficial slogan "
Keep Austin Weird", which refers to the desire to protect small, unique, and local businesses from being overrun by large corporations.
Ongoing rapid development and
gentrification
Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...
challenge its
bohemian roots and fuel nostalgia for “Old Austin.” Austin has a history of
activism
Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...
and
progressive politics focused on environmental and civic reform, and is ranked among the safest large cities in the United States. Since the late 19th century, Austin has also been known as the "
City of the Violet Crown", because of the colorful glow of light across the hills just after sunset.
Emerging from a strong economic focus on government and education, since the 1990s, Austin has become a center for technology and business.
The technology roots in Austin can be traced back to the 1960s, when defense electronics contractor
Tracor (now
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...
) began operations in the city in 1962. IBM followed in 1967, opening a facility to produce its Selectric typewriters. Texas Instruments was set up in Austin two years later, and Motorola (now NXP Semiconductors) started semiconductor chip manufacturing in 1974. A number of
Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
companies have headquarters or regional offices in Austin, including
3M,
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD),
Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies, Inc. is an American global company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, that provides instruments, software, services, and consumables for laboratories. Agilent was established in 1999 as a spin-off from Hewlett-Packar ...
,
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
,
Apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
,
Dell
Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...
,
Expedia
Expedia Inc. is an online travel agency owned by Expedia Group, based in Seattle. The website and mobile app can be used to book airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruise ships, and vacation packages. Expedia.com was launched on ...
,
Facebook (Meta),
General Motors
General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
,
Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
,
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
,
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...
,
NXP Semiconductors
NXP Semiconductors N.V. is a Dutch semiconductor manufacturing and design company with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is the third largest European semiconductor company by market capitalization as of 2024. The company employs approx ...
,
Oracle
An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination.
Descript ...
,
Tesla, and
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...
. With regard to education, Austin is the home of the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
, one of the largest universities in the U.S., with over 50,000 students. In 2021, Austin became home to
Austin FC
Austin FC is an American professional soccer club based in Austin, Texas. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 2018, the club began play in the 2021 season. Their home stadium is Q ...
, the first (and currently only)
major professional sports team in the city.
History
Austin, Travis County and Williamson County have been the site of human habitation since at least 9200 BC. The area's earliest known inhabitants lived during the late
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
(Ice Age) and are linked to the
Clovis culture
The Clovis culture is an archaeological culture from the Paleoindian period of North America, spanning around 13,050 to 12,750 years Before Present (BP). The type site is Blackwater Draw locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, where stone too ...
around 9200 BC (over 11,200 years ago), based on evidence found throughout the area and documented at the much-studied
Gault Site, midway between
Georgetown and
Fort Cavazos
Fort Cavazos is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. The post is currently named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. The post is located halfway between Austi ...
.
When settlers arrived from Europe, the
Tonkawa
The Tonkawa are a Native American tribe from Oklahoma and Texas. Their Tonkawa language, now extinct language, extinct, is a linguistic isolate. Today, Tonkawa people are enrolled in the Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Tonkawa ...
tribe inhabited the area. The
Comanche
The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...
s and
Lipan Apaches were also known to travel through the area. Spanish colonists, including the
Espinosa-
Olivares-
Aguirre expedition, traveled through the area, though few permanent settlements were created for some time.
In 1730, three
Catholic missions
Missionary work of the Catholic Church has often been undertaken outside the geographically defined parishes and dioceses by religious orders who have people and material resources to spare, and some of which specialized in missions. Eventually, p ...
from
East Texas
East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...
were combined and reestablished as one mission on the south side of the Colorado River, in what is now
Zilker Park, in Austin. The mission was in this area for only about seven months, then was moved to
San Antonio de Béxar and split into three missions.
During the 1830s, pioneers began to settle the area in central Austin along the
Colorado River
The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
. Spanish forts were established in what are now
Bastrop and
San Marcos.
Following
Mexico's independence, new settlements were established in
Central Texas
Central Texas is a region in the U.S. state of Texas roughly bordered on the west by San Saba, to the southeast by Bryan- College Station, the south by San Marcos and to the north by Hillsboro. Central Texas overlaps with and includes part ...
.

In 1835–1836, Texans fought and won
independence from Mexico. Texas thus became an independent country with its own president, congress, and monetary system. In 1839, the Texas Congress formed a commission to seek a site for the new capital of the
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas (), or simply Texas, was a country in North America that existed for close to 10 years, from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. Texas shared borders with Centralist Republic of Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande, an ...
to replace
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
.
When he was Vice President of Texas,
Mirabeau B. Lamar had visited the area during a
buffalo-hunting expedition between 1837 and 1838. He advised the commissioners to consider the area on the north bank of the
Colorado River
The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
(near the present-day
Congress Avenue Bridge), noting the area's hills, waterways, and pleasant surroundings.
It was seen as a convenient crossroads for trade routes between
Santa Fe and
Galveston Bay, as well as routes between Northern Mexico and the
Red River.
In 1839, the site was chosen, and briefly incorporated under the name "Waterloo". Shortly afterward, the name was changed to Austin in honor of
Stephen F. Austin, the "Father of Texas" and the republic's first secretary of state.
The city grew throughout the 19th century and became a center for government and education with the construction of the
Texas State Capitol and the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
.
Edwin Waller
Edwin Leonard Waller (November 4, 1800 – January 3, 1881) was an American businessman, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, the first mayor of Austin, Texas, and the designer of its downtown grid plan.
Texas independence
He ...
was picked by Lamar to survey the village and draft a plan laying out the new capital.
The original site was narrowed to that fronted the Colorado River between two creeks,
Shoal Creek and
Waller Creek, which was later named in his honor. Waller and a team of surveyors developed Austin's first
city plan, commonly known as the
Waller Plan, dividing the site into a 14-block grid plan bisected by a broad north–south thoroughfare, Congress Avenue, running up from the river to Capital Square, where the new Texas State Capitol was to be constructed. A temporary one-story capitol was erected on the corner of Colorado and 8th Streets. On August 1, 1839, the first auction of 217 out of 306 lots total was held.
The Waller Plan designed and surveyed now forms the basis of downtown Austin.
In 1840, a series of conflicts between the
Texas Rangers and the
Comanche
The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...
s, known as the
Council House Fight and the
Battle of Plum Creek, pushed the Comanches westward, mostly ending conflicts in Central Texas. Settlement in the area began to expand quickly. Travis County was established in 1840, and the surrounding counties were mostly established within the next two decades.
Initially, the new capital thrived but Lamar's political enemy,
Sam Houston
Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two indi ...
, used two Mexican army incursions to
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
as an excuse to move the government. Sam Houston fought bitterly against Lamar's decision to establish the capital in such a remote wilderness. The men and women who traveled mainly from Houston to conduct government business were intensely disappointed as well. By 1840, the population had risen to 856, nearly half of whom fled Austin when Congress recessed. The resident
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
population listed in January of this same year was 176. The fear of Austin's proximity to the Indians and Mexico, which still considered Texas a part of their land, created an immense motive for Sam Houston, the first and third President of the Republic of Texas, to relocate the capital once again in 1841. Upon threats of Mexican troops in Texas, Houston raided the Land Office to transfer all official documents to Houston for safe keeping in what was later known as the
Archive War, but the people of Austin would not allow this unaccompanied decision to be executed. The documents stayed, but the capital would temporarily move from Austin to Houston to
Washington-on-the-Brazos. Without the governmental body, Austin's population declined to a low of only a few hundred people throughout the early 1840s. The voting by the fourth President of the Republic,
Anson Jones
Anson Jones (January 20, 1798 – January 9, 1858) was an American medical doctor, businessman, member of Congress, and the fourth and last president of the Republic of Texas.
Early life
Jones was born on January 20, 1798, in Great Barri ...
, and Congress, who reconvened in Austin in 1845, settled the issue to keep Austin the seat of government, as well as annex the Republic of Texas into the United States.
In 1860, 38% of Travis County residents were
slaves
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
. In 1861, with the outbreak of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, voters in Austin and other Central Texas communities voted against secession.
However, as the war progressed and fears of attack by
Union forces increased, Austin contributed hundreds of men to the
Confederate forces. The African American population of Austin swelled dramatically after the enforcement of the
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the eff ...
in Texas by
Union General
Gordon Granger
Gordon Granger (November 6, 1821 – January 10, 1876) was a career U.S. Army officer, and a Union (American Civil War), Union general during the American Civil War, where he distinguished himself at the Battle of Chickamauga.
Granger is best re ...
at
Galveston
Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...
, in an event commemorated as
Juneteenth
Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States, federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the End of slavery in the United States, ending of slavery in the United States. The holiday's n ...
. Black communities such as
Wheatville, Pleasant Hill, and Clarksville were established, with Clarksville being the oldest surviving freedomtown ‒ the original post-Civil War settlements founded by former African-American slaves ‒ west of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
.
In 1870, blacks made up 36.5% of Austin's population.

The postwar period saw dramatic population and economic growth. The opening of the
Houston and Texas Central Railway (H&TC) in 1871 turned Austin into the major trading center for the region, with the ability to transport both cotton and cattle. The
Missouri, Kansas & Texas (MKT) line followed close behind. Austin was also the terminus of the southernmost leg of the
Chisholm Trail, and "drovers" pushed cattle north to the railroad. Cotton was one of the few crops produced locally for export, and a
cotton gin
A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...
engine was located downtown near the trains for "ginning" cotton of its seeds and turning the product into bales for shipment. However, as other new railroads were built through the region in the 1870s, Austin began to lose its primacy in trade to the surrounding communities.
In addition, the areas east of Austin took over cattle and cotton production from Austin, especially in towns like
Hutto and
Taylor that sit over the
blackland prairie, with its deep, rich soils for producing cotton and hay.
In September 1881, Austin public schools held their first classes. The same year, Tillotson Collegiate and Normal Institute (now part of
Huston–Tillotson University
Huston–Tillotson University (HT) is a private historically black university in Austin, Texas, United States. Established in 1875, it was the first institution of higher learning in Austin. The university is affiliated with the United Methodis ...
) opened its doors. The
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...
held its first classes in 1883, although classes had been held in the original wooden state capitol for four years before.
During the 1880s, Austin gained new prominence as the
state capitol building was completed in 1888 and claimed as the seventh largest building in the world.
In the late 19th century, Austin expanded its city limits to more than three times its former area, and the first granite dam was built on the Colorado River to power a new street car line and the new "
moon towers".
The first dam washed away in a flood on April 7, 1900.
In the late 1920s and 1930s, Austin implemented the
1928 Austin city plan through a series of civic development and beautification projects that created much of the city's infrastructure and many of its parks. In addition, the state legislature established the
Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) that, along with the city of Austin, created the system of dams along the Colorado River to form the
Highland Lakes. These projects were enabled in large part because the
Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by United States Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was ...
provided Austin with greater funding for municipal construction projects than other Texas cities.
During the early 20th century, a three-way system of social segregation emerged in Austin, with Anglos, African Americans and Mexicans being separated by custom or law in most aspects of life, including housing, health care, and education. Deed restrictions also played an important role in
residential segregation. After 1935 most housing deeds prohibited African Americans (and sometimes other nonwhite groups) from using land. Combined with the system of segregated public services, racial segregation increased in Austin during the first half of the twentieth century, with African Americans and Mexicans experiencing high levels of discrimination and social marginalization.
In 1940, the destroyed granite dam on the Colorado River was finally replaced by a hollow concrete dam that formed Lake McDonald (now called
Lake Austin) and which has withstood all floods since. In addition, the much larger Mansfield Dam was built by the LCRA upstream of Austin to form Lake Travis, a flood-control reservoir.
In the early 20th century, the
Texas Oil Boom took hold, creating tremendous economic opportunities in Southeast Texas and North Texas. The growth generated by this boom largely passed by Austin at first, with the city slipping from fourth largest to tenth largest in Texas between 1880 and 1920.
After a severe lull in economic growth from the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, Austin resumed its steady development. Following the mid-20th century, Austin became established as one of Texas' major metropolitan centers. In 1970, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Austin's population as 14.5% Hispanic, 11.9% black, and 73.4% non-Hispanic white.
In the late 20th century, Austin emerged as an important high tech center for
semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...
s and software. The
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
emerged as a major university.
The 1970s saw Austin's emergence in the national music scene, with local artists such as
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...
,
Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel is an American country music, Western swing music group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, in 1970, and is based in Austin, Texas. The band has won nine Grammy Awards, released over 20 albums, and has charted more t ...
, and
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (band), Double Trouble. Although his ma ...
and iconic music venues such as the
Armadillo World Headquarters. Over time, the long-running television program ''Austin City Limits'', its namesake Austin City Limits Festival, and the
South by Southwest
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
music festival solidified the city's place in the music industry.
Geography
Austin, the southernmost state capital of the contiguous 48 states, is located in
Central Texas
Central Texas is a region in the U.S. state of Texas roughly bordered on the west by San Saba, to the southeast by Bryan- College Station, the south by San Marcos and to the north by Hillsboro. Central Texas overlaps with and includes part ...
on the
Colorado River
The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
. Austin is northwest of
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, south of
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
and northeast of
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
.
Austin occupies a total area of . Approximately of this area is water.
Austin is situated at the foot of the
Balcones Escarpment, on the
Colorado River
The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
, with three artificial lakes within the city limits:
Lady Bird Lake
Lady Bird Lake (formerly, and still colloquially referred to as Town Lake) is a river-like reservoir on the Colorado River (Texas), Colorado River in Austin, Texas, United States. The City of Austin created the reservoir in 1960 as a cooling pon ...
(formerly known as Town Lake), Lake Austin (both created by dams along the Colorado River), and Lake Walter E. Long that is partly used for cooling water for the Decker Power Plant.
Mansfield Dam and the foot of
Lake Travis
Lake Travis is a reservoir on the Colorado River in central Texas in the United States. It is named in honor of William B. Travis.
Serving principally as a flood-control reservoir, Lake Travis' historical minimum to maximum water height cha ...
are located within the city's limits.
Lady Bird Lake, Lake Austin, and Lake Travis are each on the Colorado River.
The elevation of Austin varies from to approximately above sea level.
Due to the fact it straddles the
Balcones Fault, much of the eastern part of the city is flat, with heavy clay and loam soils, whereas the western part and western suburbs consist of rolling hills on the edge of the
Texas Hill Country
The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ame ...
.
Because the hills to the west are primarily
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
rock with a thin covering of topsoil, portions of the city are frequently subjected to
flash flood
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...
s from the runoff caused by thunderstorms. To help control this runoff and to generate hydroelectric power, the
Lower Colorado River Authority operates a series of dams that form the
Texas Highland Lakes. The lakes also provide venues for boating, swimming, and other forms of recreation within several parks on the lake shores.
Austin is located at the intersection of four major ecological regions, and is consequently a temperate-to-hot green oasis with a highly variable climate having some characteristics of the desert, the tropics, and a wetter climate. The area is very diverse ecologically and biologically, and is home to a variety of animals and plants.
Notably, the area is home to many types of wildflowers that blossom throughout the year but especially in the spring. This includes the popular
bluebonnets, some planted by
"Lady Bird" Johnson, wife of former President
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...
.
The soils of Austin range from shallow, gravelly clay loams over limestone in the western outskirts to deep, fine sandy loams, silty clay loams, silty clays or clays in the city's eastern part. Some of the clays have pronounced shrink-swell properties and are difficult to work under most moisture conditions. Many of Austin's soils, especially the clay-rich types, are slightly to moderately alkaline and have free
calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a common substance found in Rock (geology), rocks as the minerals calcite and aragonite, most notably in chalk and limestone, eggshells, gastropod shells, shellfish skel ...
.
Cityscape
Austin's skyline historically was modest, dominated by the Texas State Capitol and the University of Texas
Main Building. However, since the 2000s, many new high-rise towers have been constructed. Austin is currently undergoing a skyscraper boom, which includes recent construction on new office, hotel and residential buildings. Downtown's buildings are somewhat spread out, partly due to a set of
zoning
In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...
restrictions that preserve the view of the
Texas State Capitol from various locations around Austin, known as the
Capitol View Corridors.

At night, parts of Austin are lit by "artificial moonlight" from
moonlight towers built to illuminate the central part of the city. The moonlight towers were built in the late 19th century and are now recognized as historic landmarks. Only 15 of the 31 original innovative towers remain standing in Austin, but none remain in any of the other cities where they were installed. The towers are featured in the 1993 film ''
Dazed and Confused''.
In December 2023, amid rising home prices, the Austin City Council loosened the city's zoning rules to permit by-right development of triplexes on each lot and loosened restrictions on tiny homes.
Downtown
The central business district of Austin is home to the tallest condo towers in the state, with
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
(58 stories and tall) and
The Austonian (topping out at 56 floors and tall). The Independent became the tallest all-residential building in the U.S. west of
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
when topped out in 2018. In 2005, then-Mayor Will Wynn set out a goal of having 25,000 people living downtown by 2015. Although downtown's growth did not meet this goal, downtown's residential population did surge from an estimated 5,000 in 2005 to 12,000 in 2015. The skyline has drastically changed in recent years, and the residential real estate market has remained relatively strong. , there were 31 high rise projects either under construction, approved or planned to be completed in Austin's downtown core between 2017 and 2020. Sixteen of those were set to rise above tall, including four above 600', and eight above 500'. An additional 15 towers were slated to stand between 300' and 399' tall.
Climate
Austin is located within the middle of a unique, narrow transitional zone between the dry deserts of the American Southwest and the lush, green, more humid regions of the American Southeast. Its climate, topography, and vegetation share characteristics of both. Officially, Austin has a
humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...
(''Cfa'' under the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
, ''Cfhl'' under the
Trewartha climate classification
The Trewartha climate classification (TCC), or the Köppen–Trewartha climate classification (KTC), is a climate classification system first published by American geographer Glenn Thomas Trewartha in 1966. It is a modified version of the Köp ...
). This climate is typified by long, very hot summers, short, mild winters, and warm to hot spring and fall seasons in-between. Austin averages of annual rainfall distributed mostly evenly throughout the year, though spring and fall are the wettest seasons. Sunshine is common during all seasons, with 2,650 hours, or 60.3% of the possible total, of bright sunshine per year.
Summers in Austin are very hot, with average July and August highs frequently reaching the high-90s (34–36 °C) or above. Highs reach on 123 days per year, of which 29 days reach ; all years in the 1991-2020 period recorded at least 1 day of the latter.
The average daytime high is or warmer between March 1 and November 21, rising to or warmer between April 14 and October 24, and reaching or warmer between May 30 and September 18.
The highest ever recorded temperature was occurring on September 5, 2000, and August 28, 2011. An uncommon characteristic of Austin's climate is its highly variable humidity, which fluctuates frequently depending on the shifting patterns of air flow and wind direction. It is common for a lengthy series of warm, dry, low-humidity days to be occasionally interrupted by very warm and humid days, and vice versa. Humidity rises with winds from the east or southeast, when the air drifts inland from the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...
, but decreases significantly with winds from the west or southwest, bringing air flowing from
Chihuahuan Desert areas of
West Texas
West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the desert climate, arid and semiarid climate, semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Texa ...
or Northern Mexico.
Winters in Austin are mild, although occasional short-lived bursts of cold weather known as "
Blue Northers" can occur. January is the coolest month with an average daytime high of . The overnight low drops to or below freezing 12 times per year,
and sinks below during 76 evenings per year, mostly between mid-December and mid-February. The average first and last dates for a freeze are December 1 and February 15, giving Austin an average growing season of 288 days, and the coldest temperature of the year is normally about under the 1991-2020 climate normals, putting Austin in USDA zone 9a.
Conversely, winter months also produce warm days on a regular basis. On average, 10 days in January reach or exceed and 1 day reaches ; during the 1991-2020 period, all Januarys had at least 1 day with a high of or more, and most (60%) had at least 1 day with a high of or more.
The lowest ever recorded temperature in the city was on January 31, 1949. Roughly every two years Austin experiences an
ice storm
An ice storm, also known as a glaze event or a silver storm, is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain. The National Weather Service, U.S. National Weather Service defines an ice storm as a storm which results in the accumulatio ...
that freezes roads over and cripples travel in the city for 24 to 48 hours. When Austin received of ice on January 24, 2014, there were 278 vehicular collisions. Similarly, snowfall is rare in Austin. A snow event of on February 4, 2011, caused more than 300 car crashes. The most recent major snow event occurred February 14–15, 2021, when of snow fell at Austin's
Camp Mabry, the largest two-day snowfall since records began being kept in 1948.
Typical of
Central Texas
Central Texas is a region in the U.S. state of Texas roughly bordered on the west by San Saba, to the southeast by Bryan- College Station, the south by San Marcos and to the north by Hillsboro. Central Texas overlaps with and includes part ...
, severe weather in Austin is a threat that can strike during any season. However, it is most common during the spring. According to most classifications, Austin lies within the extreme southern periphery of
Tornado Alley
Tornado Alley, also known as Tornado Valley, is a loosely defined location of the central United States and, in the 21st century, Canada where tornadoes are most frequent. The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to st ...
, although many sources place Austin outside of Tornado Alley altogether.
Consequently, tornadoes strike Austin less frequently than areas farther to the north.
However, severe weather and/or
supercell thunderstorms can occur multiple times per year, bringing damaging winds, lightning, heavy rain, and occasional flash flooding to the city. The deadliest storm to ever strike city limits was the
twin tornadoes storm of May 4, 1922, while the deadliest
tornado outbreak
A tornado outbreak is the occurrence of multiple tornadoes spawned by the same Synoptic scale meteorology, synoptic scale weather system. The number of tornadoes required to qualify as an outbreak typically are at least six to ten, with at least ...
to ever strike the metro area was the
Central Texas tornado outbreak of May 27, 1997.
Natural disasters
2011 drought

From October 2010 through September 2011, both major reporting stations in Austin, Camp Mabry and Bergstrom Int'l, had the least rainfall of a
water year on record, receiving less than a third of normal precipitation.
This was a result of
La Niña
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
*La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
*"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...
conditions in the eastern Pacific Ocean where water was significantly cooler than normal. David Brown, a regional official with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, explained that "these kinds of droughts will have effects that are even more extreme in the future, given a warming and drying regional climate." The drought, coupled with exceedingly high temperatures throughout the summer of 2011, caused many wildfires throughout Texas, including notably the
Bastrop County Complex Fire in neighboring Bastrop, Texas.
2018 flooding and water crisis
In the fall of 2018, Austin and surrounding areas received heavy rainfall and
flash flood
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...
ing following
Hurricane Sergio.
The
Lower Colorado River Authority opened four
floodgates of the
Mansfield Dam after Lake Travis was recorded at 146% full at . From October 22 to October 29, 2018, the City of Austin issued a mandatory citywide
boil-water advisory
A boil-water advisory (BWA), boil-water notice, boil-water warning, boil-water order, or boil order is a Public health, public-health advisory or directive issued by governmental or other health authorities to consumers when a community's drinkin ...
after the
Highland Lakes, home to the city's main water supply, became overwhelmed by unprecedented amounts of silt, dirt, and debris that had washed in from the
Llano River. Austin Water, the city's water utility, has the capacity to process up to 300 million gallons of water per day; however, the elevated level of
turbidity
Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of both water clarity and wa ...
reduced output to only 105 million gallons per day. Since Austin residents consumed an average of 120 million gallons of water per day, the infrastructure was not able to keep up with demand.
2021 winter storm
In February 2021,
Winter Storm Uri dropped prolific amounts of snow across Texas and Oklahoma, including Austin. The Austin area received a total of of snowfall between February 14 and 15, with snow cover persisting until February 20.
This marked the longest time the area had had more than of snow, with the previous longest time being three days in
January 1985.
Lack of
winterization in
natural gas power plants, which supply a large amount of power to the
Texas grid, and increased energy demand caused
ERCOT and
Austin Energy to enact
rolling blackouts
A rolling blackout, also referred to as rota or rotational load shedding, rota disconnection, feeder rotation, or a rotating outage, is an intentionally engineered Electric power system, electrical power shutdown in which electricity delivery i ...
in order to avoid total grid collapse between February 15 and February 18. Initial rolling blackouts were to last for a maximum of 40 minutes, however lack of energy production caused many blackouts to last for much longer, at the peak of the blackouts an estimated 40% of Austin Energy homes were without power.
Starting on February 15, Austin Water received reports of pipe breaks, hourly water demand increased from 150 million gallons per day on February 15 to a peak hourly demand of 260 million gallons per day on February 16. On the morning of February 17 demand increased to 330 million gallons per day, the resulting drop of water pressure caused the Austin area to enter into a
boil-water advisory
A boil-water advisory (BWA), boil-water notice, boil-water warning, boil-water order, or boil order is a Public health, public-health advisory or directive issued by governmental or other health authorities to consumers when a community's drinkin ...
which would last until water pressure was restored on February 23.
2023 winter storm
Beginning January 30, 2023 the City of Austin experienced a winter freeze which left 170,000 Austin Energy customers without electricity or heat for several days. The slow pace of repairs and lack of public information from City officials frustrated many residents. A week after the freeze and when Austin City Council members were proposing to evaluate his employment, City Manager Spencer Cronk finally apologized. On Thursday February 16, 2023, Cronk was fired by the Austin City Council for the city's response to the winter storm. Former City Manager Jesus Garcia was named Interim City Manager.
Parks
The Austin Parks and Recreation Department received the Excellence in Aquatics award in 1999 and the Gold Medal Awards in 2004 from the
National Recreation and Park Association.
To strengthen the region's parks system, which spans more than , The Austin Parks Foundation was established in 1992 to develop and improve parks in and around Austin. APF works to fill the city's park funding gap by leveraging volunteers, philanthropists, park advocates, and strategic collaborations to develop, maintain and enhance Austin's parks, trails and green spaces.
Lady Bird Lake
Lady Bird Lake
Lady Bird Lake (formerly, and still colloquially referred to as Town Lake) is a river-like reservoir on the Colorado River (Texas), Colorado River in Austin, Texas, United States. The City of Austin created the reservoir in 1960 as a cooling pon ...
(formerly Town Lake) is a river-like reservoir on the Colorado River. The lake is a popular recreational area for
paddleboards,
kayak
]
A kayak is a small, narrow human-powered watercraft typically propelled by means of a long, double-bladed paddle. The word ''kayak'' originates from the Inuktitut word '' qajaq'' (). In British English, the kayak is also considered to be ...
s,
canoe
A canoe is a lightweight, narrow watercraft, water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles.
In British English, the term ' ...
s,
dragon boat
A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of t ...
s, and
rowing shells. Austin's warm climate and the river's calm waters, nearly length and straight courses are especially popular with
crew
A crew is a body or a group of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchy, hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard. The word has nautical resonances: the ta ...
teams and clubs. Other recreational attractions along the shores of the lake include swimming in
Deep Eddy Pool, the oldest swimming pool in Texas, and Red Bud Isle, a small island formed by the 1900
collapse of the McDonald Dam that serves as a recreation area with a dog park and access to the lake for canoeing and fishing. The Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail forms a complete circuit around the lake. A local nonprofit, The Trail Foundation, is the Trail's private steward and has built amenities and infrastructure including trailheads, lakefront gathering areas, restrooms, exercise equipment, as well as doing Trailwide
ecological restoration
Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, destroyed or transformed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair ...
work on an ongoing basis. The Butler Trail loop was completed in 2014 with the public-private partnership 1-mile Boardwalk project.
Along the shores of Lady Bird Lake is the
Zilker Park, which contains large open lawns, sports fields, cross country courses, historical markers, concession stands, and picnic areas. Zilker Park is also home to numerous attractions, including the
Zilker Botanical Garden, the
Umlauf Sculpture Garden, Zilker Hillside Theater, the Austin Nature & Science Center, and the Zilker Zephyr, a gauge
miniature railway carries passengers on a tour around the park.
Auditorium Shores, an
urban park
An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...
along the lake, is home to the
Palmer Auditorium, the
Long Center for the Performing Arts, and an
off-leash dog park on the water. Both Zilker Park and Auditorium Shores have a direct view of the Downtown skyline.
Barton Creek Greenbelt
The
Barton Creek Greenbelt is a public
green belt
A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...
managed by the City of Austin's Park and Recreation Department. The Greenbelt, which begins at
Zilker Park and stretches South/Southwest to the Woods of Westlake
subdivision, is characterized by large
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
cliffs, dense foliage, and shallow bodies of water. Popular activities include
rock climbing
Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...
, mountain biking, and hiking. Some well known naturally forming swimming holes along Austin's greenbelt include Twin Falls, Sculpture Falls, Gus Fruh Pool, and Campbell's Hole. During years of heavy rainfall, the water level of the creek rises high enough to allow
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
,
cliff diving,
kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...
,
paddle boarding, and
tubing.
Swimming holes
Austin is home to more than 50 public pools and
swimming hole
A swimming hole is a place in a river, stream, stream, creek, spring (hydrosphere), spring, or similar natural body of water, which is large enough and deep enough for a person to human swimming, swim in. Common usage usually refers to freshwate ...
s. These include
Deep Eddy Pool, Texas' oldest human-made swimming pool, and
Barton Springs Pool, the nation's largest natural swimming pool in an urban area. Barton Springs Pool is spring-fed while Deep Eddy is well-fed. Both range in temperature from about during the winter to about during the summer.
Hippie Hollow Park, a county park situated along Lake Travis, is the only officially sanctioned
clothing-optional public park in Texas.
Hamilton Pool Preserve is a natural pool that was created when the dome of an underground river collapsed due to massive erosion thousands of years ago. The pool, located about west of Austin, is a popular summer swimming spot for visitors and residents. Hamilton Pool Preserve consists of of protected natural habitat featuring a jade green pool into which a waterfall flows.
Other parks
In May 2021, voters in the City of Austin reinstated a public camping ban. That includes downtown green spaces as well as trails and greenbelts such as along Barton Creek.
McKinney Falls State Park is a
state park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...
administered by the
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) is a Texas state agency that oversees and protects wildlife and their habitat (ecology), habitats. In addition, the agency is responsible for managing the state park, state's parks and historical ar ...
, located at the confluence of
Onion Creek and Williamson Creek. The park includes several designated hiking trails and
campsites with water and electric. The namesake features of the park are the scenic upper and lower falls along Onion Creek. The
Emma Long Metropolitan Park is a municipal park along the shores of
Lake Austin, originally constructed by the
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...
. The
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at University of Texas at Austin, The University of Texas at Austin is the state botanical garden and arboretum of Texas. The center features more than 900 species of native Texas plants in both garden ...
is a
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...
and
arboretum
An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...
that features more than 800 species of native Texas plants in both garden and natural settings; the Wildflower Center is located southwest of Downtown in
Circle C Ranch. Roy G. Guerrero Park is located along the Colorado River in
East Riverside and contains miles of wooded trails, a sandy beach along the river, and a
disc golf course.
Covert Park, located on the top of
Mount Bonnell, is a popular tourist destination overlooking Lake Austin and the Colorado River. The mount provides a vista for viewing the city of Austin, Lake Austin, and the surrounding hills. It was designated a
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1969, bearing Marker number 6473, and was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 2015.
The
Louis René Barrera Indiangrass Wildlife Sanctuary, located on the north shore of Lake Walter E. Long, is a park managed by the Austin Parks and Recreation Department with the goal of restoring the
Blackland Prairie. While not open to the public, it is accessible through guided tours.
Demographics
In 2020, there were 961,855 people, up from the
2000 United States census tabulation where there were people, households, and families residing in the city. In 2000, the population density was . There were dwelling units at an average density of . There were households, out of which 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.1% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.7% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.14.
In the city the population was spread out, with 22.5% of the population under the age of 18, 16.6% from 18 to 24, 37.1% from 25 to 44, 17.1% from 45 to 64, and 6.7% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.8 males.
In the 2000 Census, the median income for a household in the city was , and the median income for a family was $. Males had a median income of $ compared to $ for females. The per capita income for the city was $. About 9.1% of families and 14.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.5% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over. The median house price was $ in 2009, and it has increased every year since 2004. The median value of a house which the owner occupies was $318,400 in 2019—higher than the average American home value of $240,500.
Race and ethnicity
According to the
2010 United States census, the racial composition of Austin was 68.3%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
(48.7%
non-Hispanic whites
Non-Hispanic Whites, also referred to as White Anglo Americans or Non-Latino Whites, are White Americans who are classified by the United States census as "White" and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. According to annual estimates from the Unit ...
), 35.1%
Hispanic or Latino (29.1%
Mexican, 0.5%
Puerto Rican, 0.4%
Cuban, 5.1% Other), 8.1%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 6.3%
Asian (1.9%
Indian, 1.5%
Chinese, 1.0%
Vietnamese, 0.7%
Korean, 0.3%
Filipino, 0.2%
Japanese, 0.8% Other), 0.9%
American Indian, 0.1%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and 3.4%
two or more races.
According to the
2020 United States census, the racial composition of Austin was 72.6%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
(48.3%
non-Hispanic whites
Non-Hispanic Whites, also referred to as White Anglo Americans or Non-Latino Whites, are White Americans who are classified by the United States census as "White" and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. According to annual estimates from the Unit ...
), 33.9%
Hispanic or Latino, 7.8%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 7.6%
Asian, 0.7%
American Indian, 0.1%
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, and 3.4%
two or more races.
A 2014
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...
study stated that Austin was the only U.S. city with a fast growth rate between 2000 and 2010 with a net loss in African Americans. , Austin's African American and non-Hispanic white percentage shares of the total population was declining despite the actual numbers of both ethnic groups increasing, as the rapid growth of the Latino or Hispanic and Asian populations has outpaced all other ethnic groups in the city. Austin's non-Hispanic white population first dropped below 50% in 2005.
Sexual orientation and gender identity
According to a survey completed in 2014 by
Gallup, it is estimated that 5.3% of residents in the
Austin metropolitan area identify as
lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. The Austin metropolitan area had the third-highest rate in the nation.
Religion
According to
Sperling's BestPlaces
Bertrand T. Sperling was born in 1950 in Brooklyn, New York. He is an author and researcher. His books and studies on quality of life in America have made him "an internationally recognized expert in cities."
Work Studies
Sperling is commissi ...
, 52.4% of Austin's population are religious.
The majority of Austinites identified themselves as
Christians
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
, about 25.2% of whom claimed affiliation with the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
.
The city's Catholic population is served by the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Austin, headquartered at the
Cathedral of Saint Mary. Nationwide, 23% of Americans identified as Catholic in 2016. Other significant Christian groups in Austin include
Baptists
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
(8.7%), followed by
Methodists (4.3%),
Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
(1.5%),
Episcopalians or Anglicans (1.0%),
Lutherans
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...
(0.8%),
Presbyterians
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
(0.6%),
Pentecostals
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term ''Pentecostal'' is derived ...
(0.3%), and other Christians such as the
Disciples of Christ
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
and
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...
(7.1%).
The second largest religion Austinites identify with is
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
(1.7%); roughly 0.8% of Americans nationwide claimed affiliation with the Islamic faith.
The dominant branch of Islam is
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...
. Established in 1977, the largest
mosque
A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard.
Originally, mosques were si ...
in Austin is the
Islamic Center of Greater Austin. The community is affiliated with the
Islamic Society of North America.
Judaism
Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
forms less than 0.1% of the religious demographic in Austin.
Orthodox,
Reform
Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...
, and
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
congregations are present in the community.
The same study says that
eastern faiths including
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
and
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
made up 0.9% of the city's religious population.
Several Hindu temples exist in the Austin Metropolitan area with the most notable one being
Radha Madhav Dham. In addition to those religious groups, Austin is also home to an active secular humanist community, hosting nationwide television shows and charity work.
Homelessness
As of 2019, there were 2,255 individuals experiencing homelessness in Travis County. Of those, 1,169 were sheltered and 1,086 were unsheltered. In September 2019, the Austin City Council approved $62.7 million for programs aimed at homelessness, which includes housing displacement prevention, crisis mitigation, and
affordable housing
Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median, as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on ...
; the city council also earmarked $500,000 for crisis services and encampment cleanups.
In June 2019, following ''
Martin v. Boise'', a federal court ruling on homelessness sleeping in public, the Austin City Council lifted a 25-year-old ban on camping, sitting, or lying down in public unless doing so causes an obstruction. The resolution also included the approval of a new housing-focused shelter in South Austin. In early October 2019, Texas Governor
Greg Abbott
Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...
sent a letter to Mayor Steve Adler threatening to deploy state resources to combat the camping ban repeal.
On October 17, 2019, the City Council revised the camping ordinance, which imposed increased restrictions on sidewalk camping.
In November 2019, the State of Texas opened a temporary homeless encampment on a former vehicle storage yard owned by the
Texas Department of Transportation
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a Texas state government agency responsible for construction and maintenance of the state's immense Texas state highway system, state highway system and the support of the state's maritime trans ...
.
In May 2021, the camping ban was reinstated after a
ballot proposition was approved by 57% of voters. The ban introduces penalties for camping, sitting, or lying down on a public sidewalk or sleeping outdoors in or near Downtown Austin or the area around the
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...
campus. The ordinance also prohibits solicitation at certain locations.
Economy

The
Greater Austin metropolitan statistical area had a gross domestic product (GDP) of $222 billion in 2022. Austin is considered to be a major center for
high tech
High technology (high tech or high-tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the state of the art, cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the ...
.
Thousands of graduates each year from the engineering and computer science programs at the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
provide a steady source of employees that help to fuel Austin's technology and defense industry sectors. As a result of the high concentration of high-tech companies in the region, Austin was strongly affected by the
dot-com boom
The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Intern ...
in the late 1990s and subsequent bust.
Austin's largest employers include the
Austin Independent School District, the City of Austin,
Dell Technologies
Dell Technologies Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Round Rock, Texas. It was formed as a result of the September 2016 merger of Dell and EMC Corporation. Dell Technologies ranked 48th on the 2024 Fortune ...
, the
U.S. Federal Government,
NXP Semiconductors
NXP Semiconductors N.V. is a Dutch semiconductor manufacturing and design company with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is the third largest European semiconductor company by market capitalization as of 2024. The company employs approx ...
,
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
, St. David's Healthcare Partnership, Seton Family of Hospitals, the
State of Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, the
Texas State University
Texas State University (TXST) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in San Marcos, Texas, United States, and another campus in Round Rock, Texas, Round Rock. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has ...
, and the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
.
Other high-tech companies with operations in Austin include
3M,
Apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
(the largest campus outside of Cupertino),
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
,
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California and maintains significant operations in Austin, Texas. AMD is a hardware and fabless company that de ...
, Apartment Ratings,
Applied Materials
Applied Materials, Inc. is an American corporation that supplies equipment, services and software for the manufacture of semiconductor (integrated circuit) chips for electronics, flat panel displays for computers, smartphones, televisions, and ...
,
Arm,
Bigcommerce,
BioWare
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated Doctor of Medicine, medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip. Since 2007, the company has been owned by American ...
,
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the h ...
,
Buffalo Technology,
Cirrus Logic,
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...
,
Cloudflare
Cloudflare, Inc., is an American company that provides content delivery network services, cybersecurity, DDoS mitigation, wide area network services, reverse proxies, Domain Name Service, ICANN-accredited domain registration, and other se ...
,
Crowdstrike
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services.
The company has been involved in investigations of seve ...
,
Dropbox
Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and Client (computing), client software. Dropbox w ...
,
eBay
eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...
,
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
,
Flextronics,
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
,
Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
,
Hewlett-Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...
,
Hoover's,
HomeAway,
HostGator,
Indeed,
Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer components such as central processing ...
,
Meta,
National Instruments
The National Instruments Corporation, doing business as NI, is an America, American multinational corporation, multinational company with international operations. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Austin, Texas, it is a producer of automated tes ...
,
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles.
The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
,
Nvidia
Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...
,
Oracle
An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination.
Descript ...
,
PayPal
PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...
,
Polycom
Poly Inc., formerly Polycom, is an American multinational corporation that develops video, voice and content collaboration and communication technology. Poly is a subsidiary of HP Inc.
Polycom was co-founded in 1990 by Brian L Hinman and Jeff ...
,
Qualcomm
Qualcomm Incorporated () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless techn ...
,
Rackspace
Rackspace Technology, Inc. is an American cloud computing company based in San Antonio, Texas. It also has offices in Blacksburg, Virginia, Blacksburg, Virginia and Austin, Texas, as well as in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, India, Dubai, Sw ...
,
RetailMeNot,
Rooster Teeth
Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC was an American entertainment company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth was a subsidiary o ...
,
Samsung Group,
Silicon Labs,
Spansion,
TikTok
TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
,
United Devices,
VMware,
X (formerly Twitter),
Xerox
Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...
, and
Zoho Corporation
Zoho Corporation is an Indian multinational technology company that makes computer software and web-based business tools. It is best known for the online office suite offering Zoho Office Suite. The company was founded in 1996 by Sridhar V ...
. The proliferation of technology companies has led to the region's nickname, "Silicon Hills", and spurred development that greatly expanded the city.
Tesla, Inc.
Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it designs, manufactures and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices from h ...
, an
electric vehicle
An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...
and
clean energy
Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the environment, the economy, and s ...
company has its corporate headquarters in Austin inside
Gigafactory Texas, a large vehicle assembly plant which employs over 20,000 people. The company expects to eventually have a staff of 60,000 in the Austin area as production ramps up.
Austin is also emerging as a hub for
pharmaceutical
Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...
and
biotechnology
Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...
companies; the city is home to about 85 of them.
In 2004, the city was ranked by the Milken Institute as the No. 12 biotech and life science center in the United States and in 2018,
CBRE Group ranked Austin as #3 emerging life sciences cluster. Companies such as
Hospira,
Pharmaceutical Product Development, and
ArthroCare Corporation are located there.
Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market, Inc. (colloquially referred to as simply Whole Foods) is an American multinational supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from Hydrogenated fat, hydrogenated fats and artificia ...
, an international grocery store chain specializing in fresh and packaged food products, was founded and is headquartered in Austin.
Other companies based in Austin include
NXP Semiconductors
NXP Semiconductors N.V. is a Dutch semiconductor manufacturing and design company with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is the third largest European semiconductor company by market capitalization as of 2024. The company employs approx ...
,
GoodPop,
Temple-Inland,
Sweet Leaf Tea Company,
Keller Williams Realty,
National Western Life,
GSD&M
GSD&M is an American advertising agency headquartered in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1971 by graduates of The University of Texas, University of Texas at Austin – Roy Spence, Judy Trabulsi, Tim McClure and Steve Gurasich, and others, as Ad ...
,
Dimensional Fund Advisors
Dimensional Fund Advisors, L.P. (branded Dimensional abbreviated DFA) is a privately-owned investment firm headquartered in Austin, Texas. Dimensional was founded in Brooklyn in 1981 by David Booth, Rex Sinquefield and Larry Klotz. The company h ...
,
Golfsmith,
Forestar Group,
EZCorp,
Outdoor Voices,
Tito's Vodka, Speak Social, and
YETI
The Yeti ()["Yeti"](_blank)
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. is an ape-like creature purported t ...
.
In 2018, Austin metro-area companies saw a total of $1.33 billion invested. In 2018, Austin's venture capital investments accounted for more than 60 percent of Texas' total investments.
Top employers
According to Austin's
comprehensive annual financial reports, the top employers by number of employees in the county are the following. "NR" indicates the employer was not ranked among the top ten employers that year.
Transportation
In 2009, 72.7% of Austin (city) commuters drove alone, with other
mode shares being: 10.4% carpool, 6% were
remote work
Remote work (also called telecommuting, telework, work from or at home, WFH as an initialism, hybrid work, and other terms) is the practice of work (human activity), working at or from one's home or Third place, another space rather than from ...
ers, 5% use transit, 2.3% walk, and 1% bicycle. In 2016, the
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...
estimated modal shares for Austin (city) commuters of 73.5% for driving alone, 9.6% for carpooling, 3.6% for riding transit, 2% for walking, and 1.5% for cycling. The city of Austin has a lower than average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 6.9 percent of Austin households lacked a car, and decreased slightly to 6 percent in 2016. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. Austin averaged 1.65 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8.
In mid-2019,
TomTom ranked Austin as having the worst
traffic congestion
Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...
in Texas, as well as 19th nationally and 179th globally.
Highways

Central Austin lies between two major north–south freeways:
I-35
Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexico–Uni ...
to the east and the
Mopac Expressway (Loop 1) to the west.
US 183 runs from northwest to southeast, and
SH 71 crosses the southern part of the city from east to west, completing a rough "box" around central and north-central Austin. Austin is the largest city in the United States to be served by only one Interstate Highway.
US 290 enters Austin from the east and merges into I-35. Its highway designation continues south on I-35 and then becomes part of SH 71, continuing to the west. Highway 290 splits from Highway 71 in southwest Austin, in an interchange known as "The Y." SH 71 continues to
Brady, Texas
Brady is a city in McCulloch County, Texas, United States. Brady refers to itself as the "Heart of Texas", as it is the city closest to the geographical centre, geographical center of the state, which is about 15 miles northeast of Brady. Its popu ...
, and Highway 290 continues west to intersect
I-10 near
Junction. Interstate 35 continues south through
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
to
Laredo on the Mexican border. I-35 is the highway link to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in Northern Texas. There are two links to Houston (US 290 and SH 71/I-10). US 183 leads northwest of Austin toward
Lampasas
Lampasas ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lampasas County, Texas, United States. Its population was 7,291 at the 2020 census.
Lampasas is part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood metropolitan statistical area.
History
For his ...
.
In the mid-1980s, construction was completed on
Loop 360, a scenic highway that curves through the hill country from near the 71/Mopac interchange in the south to near the US 183/Mopac interchange in the north. The iconic
Pennybacker Bridge, also known as the "360 Bridge," crosses Lake Austin to connect the northern and southern portions of Loop 360.
Tollways
SH 130 is a bypass route designed to relieve
traffic congestion
Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...
, starting from Interstate 35 just north of Georgetown and running along a parallel route to the east, where it bypasses
Round Rock
Round Rock is a city in Williamson County, Texas, Williamson and Travis County, Texas, United States, part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Its population is 119,468 according to the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census.
The city stra ...
, Austin,
San Marcos and
New Braunfels before ending at
I-10 east of
Seguin, where drivers could drive west to return to I-35 in
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
. The first segment was opened in November 2006, which was located east of
Austin–Bergstrom International Airport at Austin's southeast corner on
SH 71. Highway 130 runs concurrently with SH 45 from
Pflugerville on the north until it reaches
US 183 well south of Austin, at which point
SR 45 continues west. The entire route of SH 130 is now complete. The final leg opened on November 1, 2012. The highway is noted for having a maximum speed limit of for the entire route. The section of the toll road between Mustang Ridge and Seguin has a posted speed limit of , the highest posted
speed limit in the United States.
SH 45 runs east–west from just south of US 183 in
Cedar Park to 130 inside
Pflugerville (just east of Round Rock). A tolled extension of State Highway Loop 1 was also created. A new southeast leg of SH 45 has recently been completed, running from US 183 and the south end of Segment 5 of TX-130 south of Austin due west to I-35 at the
FM 1327/Creedmoor Road exit between the south end of Austin and
Buda
Buda (, ) is the part of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, that lies on the western bank of the Danube. Historically, “Buda” referred only to the royal walled city on Castle Hill (), which was constructed by Béla IV between 1247 and ...
. The 183A Toll Road opened in March 2007, providing a tolled alternative to US 183 through the cities of
Leander and
Cedar Park. Currently under construction is a change to East US 290 from US 183 to the town of Manor. Officially, the tollway will be dubbed Tollway 290 with "Manor Expressway" as nickname.
Despite the overwhelming initial opposition to the toll road concept when it was first announced, all three toll roads have exceeded revenue projections.
Airports

Austin's primary airport is
Austin–Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) (
IATA code
IATA codes are abbreviations that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) publishes to facilitate air travel. They are typically 1, 2, 3, or 4 character combinations (referred to as unigrams, digrams, trigrams, or tetragrams, respec ...
AUS), located southeast of the city. The airport is on the site of the former
Bergstrom Air Force Base
Bergstrom Air Force Base was located seven miles southeast of Austin, Texas. In its later years, it was a major base for the United States Air Force (USAF) RF-4C Phantom reconnaissance fighter fleet.
History
Bergstrom was originally act ...
, which was closed in 1993 as part of the
Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) was a process by a Federal government of the United States, United States federal government commission to increase the efficiency of the United States Department of Defense by coordinating the realignment and ...
process. Until 1999,
Robert Mueller Municipal Airport was Austin's main airport until ABIA took that role and the old airport was shut down.
Austin Executive Airport, along with several smaller airports outside the city center, serves general aviation traffic.
Intercity transit
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
's
Austin station is located in west downtown and is served by the ''
Texas Eagle
The ''Texas Eagle'' is a long-distance passenger train operated daily by Amtrak on a route between Chicago, Illinois, and San Antonio, Texas, with major stops in St. Louis, Little Rock, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin. Three days per week, t ...
'' which runs daily between Chicago and San Antonio, continuing on to Los Angeles several times a week.
Railway segments between Austin and San Antonio have been evaluated for a proposed regional passenger rail project called "Lone Star Rail". However, failure to come to an agreement with the track's current owner,
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...
, ended the project in 2016.
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of Intercity bus service, intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as interci ...
operates the current Austin Bus Station at the Eastside Bus Plaza Grupo Senda's Turimex Internacional service operates bus service from Austin to Nuevo Laredo and on to many destinations in Mexico from their station in East Austin.
Megabus offers daily service to San Antonio, Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston.
Public transportation

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (
CapMetro) provides public transportation to the city, primarily with its
CapMetro Bus local bus service, the
CapMetro Express express bus system, as well as a
bus rapid transit service,
CapMetro Rapid. CapMetro opened a
hybrid rail
Hybrid rail, also known as diesel light rail transit (DLRT), is a mode of Passenger train, passenger rail service unique to North America that uses lightweight Multiple unit, multiple unit trains—typically Diesel multiple unit, diesel multiple u ...
system,
CapMetro Rail, in 2010.
The system consists of a single line serving downtown Austin, the neighborhoods of East Austin,
North Central Austin, and Northwest Austin plus the suburb of
Leander.
Since it began operations in 1985, CapMetro has proposed adding
light rail
Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...
services to its network. Despite support from the City Council, voters rejected light rail proposals in 2000
and 2014.
However, in 2020, voters approved CapMetro's transit expansion plan,
Project Connect, by a comfortable margin. The plan proposes 2 new light rail lines, an additional bus rapid transit line (which could be converted to light rail in the future), a second commuter rail line, several new MetroRapid lines, more MetroExpress routes, and a number of other infrastructure, technology and service expansion projects.
Capital Area Rural Transportation System connects Austin with outlying suburbs and surrounding rural areas.
Ride sharing
Austin is served by several
ride-sharing companies including
Uber
Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...
and
Lyft
Lyft, Inc. is an American company offering ride-hailing services, motorized scooters, and bicycle-sharing systems in the United States and Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dynamic pricing model based on local supply and demand a ...
.
On May 9, 2016, Uber and Lyft voluntarily ceased operations in Austin in response to a city ordinance that required ride sharing company drivers to get fingerprint checks, have their vehicles labeled, and not pick up or drop off in certain city lanes.
Uber and Lyft resumed service in the summer of 2017.
The city was previously served by
Fasten until they ceased all operations in the city in March 2018.
Austin is also served by Electric Cab of North America's six-passenger
electric cabs that operate on a flexible route from the
Kramer MetroRail Station to
Domain Northside and from the
Downtown CapMetro Rail station and MetroRapid stops to locations between the
Austin Convention Center and near Sixth and Bowie streets by
Whole Foods.
Carsharing
Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pri ...
service
Zipcar
Zipcar is an American car sharing, car-sharing company and a subsidiary of Avis Budget Group. Zipcar provides vehicle reservations to its members, billable by the minute, hour or day; members may have to pay a monthly or annual membership fee i ...
operates in Austin and, until 2019, the city was also served by
Car2Go
Share Now GmbH was a German carsharing company, formed from the merger of Car2Go and DriveNow. Since 2022, it was an subsidiary of the Free2Move division of multinational automaker Stellantis providing carsharing services in urban areas in Europ ...
which kept its North American headquarters in the city even after pulling out.
Cycling and walking

The city's bike advocacy organization is Bike Austin. BikeTexas, a state-level advocacy organization, also has its main office in Austin.
Bicycle
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...
s are a popular transportation choice among students, faculty, and staff at the University of Texas. According to a survey done at the University of Texas, 57% of commuters bike to campus.
The City of Austin and CapMetro jointly own a
bike-sharing service,
CapMetro Bike, which is available in and around downtown. The service is a franchise of
BCycle, a national bike sharing network owned by
Trek Bicycle, and is operated by local nonprofit organization Bike Share of Austin. Until 2020 the service was known as Austin BCycle. In 2018,
Lime began offering
dockless bikes, which do not need to be docked at a designated station.
In 2018,
scooter-sharing companies
Lime and
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
debuted
rentable electric scooters in Austin. The city briefly banned the scooters — which began operations before the city could implement a permitting system — until the city completed development of their "dockless mobility" permitting process on May 1, 2018. Dockless electric scooters and bikes are banned from Austin city parks and the
Ann and Roy Butler Trail and Boardwalk. For the 2018
Austin City Limits Music Festival, the city of Austin offered a designated parking area for dockless bikes and scooters.
Parking lots
In November 2023, Austin became the largest city in the US that has abolished
parking mandates. It did so to encourage walking, biking, and public transit use, as well as to lower the cost of housing and increase the amount of housing units that can be built in the city.
Portland and
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
also took this action.
Culture

"Keep Austin Weird" has been a local
motto
A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...
for years, featured on bumper stickers and T-shirts. This motto has not only been used in promoting Austin's eccentricity and diversity, but is also meant to bolster support of local independent businesses.
According to the 2010 book ''
Weird City'' the phrase was begun by a local Austin Community College librarian, Red Wassenich, and his wife, Karen Pavelka, who were concerned about Austin's "rapid descent into commercialism and overdevelopment."
The slogan has been interpreted many ways since its inception, but remains an important symbol for many Austinites who wish to voice concerns over rapid growth and development. Austin has a long history of vocal citizen resistance to development projects perceived to degrade the environment, or to threaten the natural and cultural landscapes.
According to the
Nielsen Company
Nielsen Holdings plc (or Nielsen) is an American media audience measurement firm. Nielsen operates in over 100 countries and employs approximately 15,000 people worldwide.
For most of its history, the company was known for its two subsidiarie ...
, adults in Austin read and contribute to blogs more than those in any other U.S. metropolitan area and have the highest Internet usage in all of Texas.
In 2013, Austin was the most active city on
Reddit
Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...
, having the largest number of views per capita.
South Congress is a shopping district stretching down South Congress Avenue from Downtown. This area is home to coffee shops, eccentric stores, restaurants, food trucks, trailers, and festivals. It prides itself on "Keeping Austin Weird," especially with development in the surrounding area(s). Many Austinites attribute its enduring popularity to the unobstructed
view of the Texas State Capitol.
The
Rainey Street Historic District is a neighborhood in Downtown Austin formerly consisting of
bungalow
A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...
style homes built in the early 20th century. Since the early 2010s, the former
working class
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
residential street has turned into a popular nightlife district. Much of the historic homes have been renovated into hotels, condominiums, bars and restaurants, many of which feature large porches and outdoor yards for patrons. The Rainey Street district is also home to the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center.
Austin has been part of the
UNESCO Creative Cities Network under
Media Arts the category.
Old Austin

"Old Austin" is an
adage
A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase ...
often used by
nostalgic
Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a neoclassical compound derived from Greek, consisting of (''nóstos''), a Homeric word meaning "homecomi ...
natives. The term "Old Austin" refers to a time when the city was smaller and more
bohemian with a considerably lower cost of living and better known for its lack of traffic,
hipsters, and
urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...
. It is often employed by longtime residents expressing displeasure at the rapidly changing culture, or when referencing nostalgia of Austin culture.
The growth and popularity of Austin can be seen by the expansive development taking place in its downtown landscape. This growth can have a negative impact on longtime small businesses that cannot keep up with the expenses associated with
gentrification
Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...
and the rising cost of real estate. A former Austin musician,
Dale Watson, described his move away from Austin, "I just really feel the city has sold itself. Just because you're going to get $45 million for a company to come to town – if it's not in the best interest of the town, I don't think they should do it. This city was never about money. It was about quality of life." Though much is changing rapidly in Austin, businesses such as Thundercloud Subs are thought by many to maintain classic Austin business cultural sentiments unique to the history of the city; as Diana Burgess stated, "I definitely appreciate that they haven't raised their prices a ton or made things super fancy. I think it speaks to that
original Old Austin vibe. A lot of us that grew up here really appreciate that." Aaron Franklin, owner of
Franklin Barbecue, credited the Old Austin cultural mindset and community support with the success of his barbecue restaurant and the long lines that have supported his business since starting it out of a food trailer in 2009.
Annual cultural events
The
O. Henry House Museum hosts the annual
O. Henry Pun-Off, a pun contest where the successful contestants exhibit wit akin to that of the author
William Sydney Porter
William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the Ma ...
.
Other annual events include
Eeyore's Birthday Party,
Spamarama, Austin
Pride
Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...
Festival & Parade in August, the Austin Reggae Festival in April, Kite Festival, Texas Craft Brewers Festival in September, Art City Austin in April, East Austin Studio Tour in November, and
Carnaval Brasileiro in February. Sixth Street features annual festivals such as the
Pecan Street Festival and Halloween night. The three-day
Austin City Limits Music Festival has been held in
Zilker Park every year since 2002. Every year around the end of March and the beginning of April, Austin is home to "Texas Relay Weekend."
Austin's Zilker Park Tree is a Christmas display made of lights strung from the top of a
Moonlight tower in Zilker Park. The Zilker Tree is lit in December along with the "Trail of Lights," an Austin Christmas tradition. The Trail of Lights was canceled four times, first starting in 2001 and 2002 due to the September 11 Attacks, and again in 2010 and 2011 due to budget shortfalls, but the trail was turned back on for the 2012 holiday season.
From 1962 to 1998, the
Austin Aqua Festival, or "Aqua Fest", took place on the shores of Town Lake (now known as
Lady Bird Lake
Lady Bird Lake (formerly, and still colloquially referred to as Town Lake) is a river-like reservoir on the Colorado River (Texas), Colorado River in Austin, Texas, United States. The City of Austin created the reservoir in 1960 as a cooling pon ...
). Originally conceived as a summer tourism draw, the multi-day event evolved from water-themed activities to a broader civic festival due to growth and community interest. Eventually attendance and financial solvency began to dwindle as larger music and summer festivals grew in prominence.
Cuisine and breweries
Notable Austin cuisine includes
Texas barbecue and
Tex-Mex
Tex-Mex cuisine (derived from the words ''Texas'' and ''Mexico'') is a regional American cuisine that originates from the culinary creations of Tejanos, Tejano people. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern ...
;
Franklin Barbecue in Austin's has sold out of
brisket every day since its establishment.
Breakfast tacos and
queso are popular food items in the city; Austin is sometimes called the "home of the breakfast taco."
Kolaches are a common pastry in Austin bakeries due to the large
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
and
German immigrant population in Texas. The
Oasis Restaurant is the largest outdoor restaurant in Texas, which promotes itself as the "Sunset Capital of Texas" with its terraced views looking West over
Lake Travis
Lake Travis is a reservoir on the Colorado River in central Texas in the United States. It is named in honor of William B. Travis.
Serving principally as a flood-control reservoir, Lake Travis' historical minimum to maximum water height cha ...
.
Birdie's, a
counter-service restaurant and wine bar that opened in 2021, was ''Food & Wine''
's 2023 Restaurant of the Year.
P. Terry's, an Austin-based fast food burger chain, has a loyal following among Austinites. Some other Austin-based chain restaurants include
Amy's Ice Creams,
Chuy's,
DoubleDave's Pizzaworks, and
Schlotzky's. The
Chili's at 45th and Lamar has been the subject of internet memes since 2011.
Austin is also home to a large number of
food trucks, with 1,256 food trucks operating in 2016.
The city of Austin has the second-largest number of food trucks per capita in the United States.
Austin's first
food hall
A food hall is a large standalone location or department store section where food and drinks are sold.
Overview
Unlike food courts made up of fast food chains, food halls typically mix local artisan restaurants, butcher shops and other food- ...
, "Fareground," features a number of Austin-based food vendors and a bar in the ground level and courtyard of
One Congress Plaza.
Austin has a large
craft beer scene, with over 50
microbreweries in the metro area. Drinks publication VinePair named Austin as the "top beer destination in the world" in 2019. Notable Austin-area breweries include
Jester King Brewery,
Live Oak Brewing Company, and
Real Ale Brewing Company.
Music

As Austin's official slogan is ''The Live Music Capital of the World'', the city has a vibrant live
music scene with more music venues per capita than any other U.S. city.
Austin's music revolves around the many
nightclub
A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...
s on 6th Street and an annual music/film/
interactive
Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...
festival known as
South by Southwest
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
(SXSW). The concentration of restaurants, bars, and music venues in the city's downtown core is a major contributor to Austin's live music scene, as the ZIP Code encompassing the downtown entertainment district hosts the most bar or alcohol-serving establishments in the U.S.
The longest-running concert music program on American television, ''
Austin City Limits
''Austin City Limits'' is an American Concert, live music Television show, television program recorded and produced by KLRU, Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", an ...
'', is recorded at
ACL Live at The Moody Theater, located in the bottom floor of the
W Hotels
W Hotels is an American hotel chain founded by Starwood Hotels and Resorts but now owned by Marriott International operating around 70 upscale hotels and long-stay apartment facilities worldwide.
History
W Hotels was launched in 1998 with W ...
in Austin. ''Austin City Limits'' and
C3 Presents produce the
Austin City Limits Music Festival, an annual music and art festival held at
Zilker Park in Austin. Other music events include the Urban Music Festival,
Fun Fun Fun Fest,
Wobeon Music Festival, Chaos In Tejas, Seismic Music Festival at the Concourse Project, and
Old Settler's Music Festival.
Austin Lyric Opera performs multiple operas each year (including the 2007 opening of
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
's ''
Waiting for the Barbarians'', written by University of Texas at Austin alumnus
J. M. Coetzee
John Maxwell Coetzee Order of Australia, AC Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL Order of Mapungubwe, OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African and Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, and translator. The recipient of the 2003 ...
).
The
Austin Symphony Orchestra performs a range of classical, pop and family performances and is led by music director and conductor
Peter Bay. The Austin Baroque Orchestra and La Follia Austin Baroque ensembles both give historically informed performances of
Baroque music
Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Classical music, Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance music, Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Class ...
. The
Texas Early Music Project regularly performs music from the
Medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
and
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
eras, as well as the Baroque.
Film
Austin hosts several film festivals, including the
SXSW (South by Southwest) Film Festival and the
Austin Film Festival
Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers' creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the c ...
, which hosts international films. A
movie theater
A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...
chain by the name of
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is an American cinema chain founded in 1997 in Austin, Texas, which is famous for serving dinner and drinks during the film, as well as its strict policy of requiring its audiences to maintain proper cinema-going etiq ...
was founded in Austin in 1997; the South Lamar location of which is home to the annual week-long
Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas, focused on fantasy, horror, sci-fi, action and cult films, the largest genre festival in the United States. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse.
Lisa Dreyer ...
film festival. In 2004 the city was first in ''
MovieMaker Magazine's'' annual top ten cities to live and make movies.
Austin has been the location for a number of motion pictures, partly due to the influence of The
University of Texas at Austin Department of Radio-Television-Film. Films produced in Austin include ''
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'' (1974), ''
Songwriter
A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...
'' (1984), ''
Man of the House'', ''
Secondhand Lions'', ''
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2'', ''
Nadine'', ''
Waking Life
''Waking Life'' is a 2001 American adult animated surrealist drama film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The film explores a wide range of philosophical issues, including the nature of reality, dreams and lucid dreams, consciousness, ...
'', ''
Spy Kids'', ''
The Faculty
''The Faculty'' is a 1998 American science fiction horror film directed and edited by Robert Rodriguez with a screenplay by Kevin Williamson. It stars Jordana Brewster in her film debut, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Josh Hartnett, Shawn Ha ...
'',
''Dazed and Confused'', ''The Guards Themselves'', ''
Wild Texas Wind'', ''
Office Space
''Office Space'' is a 1999 American satirical black comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes the office work life of a typical 1990s software company, focusing on a handful of individuals weary of their jobs. It stars Ron ...
'', ''
The Life of David Gale'', ''
Miss Congeniality'', ''
Doubting Thomas
A doubting Thomas is a skeptic who refuses to believe without direct personal experience—a reference to the Gospel of John's depiction of the Apostle Thomas, who, in John's account, refused to believe the resurrected Jesus had appeared to ...
'', ''
Slacker
A slacker is someone who habitually work aversion, avoids work or lacks work ethic.
Origin
According to different sources, the term "slacker" dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the UK, British Gezira Sche ...
'', ''
Idiocracy'', ''
Death Proof
''Death Proof'' is a 2007 American slasher film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Kurt Russell as a Stunt performer, stuntman who murders young women with modified cars he says are "death-proof". Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito ...
'', ''
The New Guy'', ''
Hope Floats'', ''
The Alamo'', ''
Blank Check'', ''The Wendall Baker Story'', ''
School of Rock
''School of Rock'' (titled on screen as ''The School of Rock'') is a 2003 comedy film directed by Richard Linklater, produced by Scott Rudin and written by Mike White (filmmaker), Mike White. The film stars Jack Black, Joan Cusack, White and Sa ...
'', ''
A Slipping-Down Life'', ''
A Scanner Darkly'', ''
Saturday Morning Massacre'', and most recently, the
Coen brothers
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, together known as the Coen brothers (), are an American filmmaking duo. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Among their most acclaimed works are '' Blood Simple'' (198 ...
' ''
True Grit'', ''
Grindhouse'', ''
Machete
A machete (; ) is a broad blade used either as an agricultural implement similar to an axe, or in combat like a long-bladed knife. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the Spanish language, the word is possibly a dimin ...
'', ''
How to Eat Fried Worms'', ''
Bandslam'' and ''
Lazer Team
''Lazer Team'' is a 2015 American Science fiction film, science fiction action comedy film directed, produced, and co-written by Matt Hullum. The first feature film produced by Rooster Teeth, it stars Burnie Burns, Gavin Free, Michael Jones (acto ...
''. In order to draw future film projects to the area, the
Austin Film Society has converted several airplane hangars from the former Mueller Airport into filmmaking center
Austin Studios. Projects that have used facilities at Austin Studios include music videos by
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals), Derek Brown ...
and feature films such as ''
25th Hour
''25th Hour'' is a 2002 American drama film directed by Spike Lee and starring Edward Norton. Adapted by David Benioff from his 2001 debut novel '' The 25th Hour'', it tells the story of a man's last 24 hours of freedom as he prepares to go to ...
'' and ''
Sin City
''Sin City'' is a series of neo-noir Comic book, comics by American comic book writer-artist Frank Miller. The first story originally appeared in ''Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special'' (April 1991), and continued in ''Dark Horse Prese ...
''.
Austin also hosted the
MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
series, ''
The Real World: Austin'' in 2005.
Season 4 of the
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
show ''
Fear the Walking Dead
''Fear the Walking Dead'' is an American post-apocalyptic horror drama television series created by Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson for AMC. It is a spin-off to '' The Walking Dead'', which is based on the comic book series of the same na ...
'' was filmed in various locations around Austin in 2018. The film review websites Spill.com and Ain't It Cool News are based in Austin. Rooster Teeth Productions, creator of popular web series such as ''Red vs. Blue'' and ''RWBY'', was also located in Austin.
Theater
Austin has a strong theater culture, with dozens of itinerant and resident companies producing a variety of work. A volunteer-run arts organization supporting creative expression and counter-culture community - Church of the Friendly Ghost (COTFG) helped many experimental programs get their start in Austin,TX. The city also has live performance theater venues such as the Zachary Scott Theatre Center, Vortex Repertory Company, Salvage Vanguard Theater, Rude Mechanicals' the Off Center, Austin Playhouse, Scottish Rite Children's Theater, Hyde Park Theatre, the Blue Theater, The Hideout Theatre, and Esther's Follies. The Victory Grill was a renowned venue on the Chitlin' Circuit. Public art and performances in the parks and on bridges are popular. Austin hosts the Fuse Box Festival each April featuring theater artists.
The Paramount Theatre (Austin, Texas), Paramount Theatre, opened in downtown Austin in 1915, contributes to Austin's theater and film culture, showing classic films throughout the summer and hosting regional premieres for films such as ''
Miss Congeniality''. The
Zilker Park Summer Musical is a long-running outdoor musical.
The
Long Center for the Performing Arts is a 2,300-seat theater built partly with materials reused from the old Lester E. Palmer Auditorium.
Ballet Austin is among the fifteen largest ballet academies in the country. Each year Ballet Austin's 20-member professional company performs ballets from a wide variety of choreographers, including their artistic director, Stephen Mills. The city is also home to the Ballet East Dance Company, a modern dance ensemble, and the Tapestry Dance Company which performs a variety of dance genres.
The Austin improvisational theatre scene has several theaters: ColdTowne Theater, The Hideout Theater, and The Fallout Theater. Austin also hosts the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, which draws comedic artists in all disciplines to Austin.
Libraries

The Austin Public Library is operated by the City of Austin and consists of the Central Library on Cesar Chavez Street (Austin), César Chávez Street, the Austin History Center, 20 branches and the Recycled Reads bookstore and upcycling facility. The APL library system also has mobile libraries – bookmobile buses and a human-powered trike and trailer called "unbound: sin fronteras."
The Central Library, which is an anchor to the redevelopment of the former Seaholm Power Plant site and the
Shoal Creek Walk, opened on October 28, 2017. The six-story Central Library contains a living rooftop garden, reading porches, an indoor reading room, bicycle parking station, large indoor and outdoor event spaces, a gift shop, an art gallery, café, and a "technology petting zoo" where visitors can play with next-generation gadgets like 3D printing, 3D printers. In 2018, Time (magazine), Time magazine named the Austin Central Library on its list of "World's Greatest Places."
Museums and other points of interest

Museums in Austin include the Texas Science and Natural History Museum, the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, Thinkery, the Blanton Museum of Art (reopened in 2006), the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum across the street (which opened in 2000), The Contemporary Austin, the Elisabet Ney Museum, the Women and Their Work gallery, and the galleries at the Harry Ransom Center. The
Texas State Capitol itself is also a major tourist attraction.
The Driskill Hotel, built in 1886, once owned by George W. Littlefield, and located at 6th and Brazos streets, was finished just before the construction of the Capitol building. 6th Street (Austin), Sixth Street is a musical hub for the city. The Enchanted Forest, a multi-acre outdoor music, art, and performance art space in South Austin hosts events such as fire-dancing and circus-like-acts. Austin is also home to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, which houses documents and artifacts related to the Johnson administration, including LBJ's limousine and a re-creation of the Oval Office.

Locally produced art is featured at the South Austin Museum of Popular Culture. The Mexic-Arte Museum is a Mexican and Mexican-American art museum founded in 1983. Austin is also home to the O. Henry House Museum, which served as the residence of O. Henry from 1893 to 1895. Farmers' markets are popular attractions, providing a variety of locally grown and often organic foods.
Austin also has many odd statues and landmarks, such as the ''Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial'', the Willie Nelson statue, ''Willie Nelson'' statue, the Mangia dinosaur, the Loca Maria lady at Taco Xpress, the Hyde Park Gym's giant flexed arm, and Daniel Johnston's ''Hi, How are You?'' Jeremiah the Innocent frog mural.
The Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge houses the world's largest urban population of Mexican free-tailed bats. Starting in March, up to 1.5 million bats take up residence inside the bridge's expansion and contraction zones as well as in long horizontal grooves running the length of the bridge's underside, an environment ideally suited for raising their young. Every evening around sunset, the bats emerge in search of insects, an exit visible on weather radar. Watching the bat emergence is an event that is popular with locals and tourists, with more than 100,000 viewers per year. The bats migrate to Mexico each winter.
The Austin Zoo, located in unincorporated area, unincorporated western
Travis County, is a Rescue coordination centre, rescue zoo that provides sanctuary to displaced animals from a variety of situations, including those involving neglect.
The HOPE Outdoor Gallery was a public, three-story outdoor street art project located on Baylor Street in the Clarksville, Austin, Texas, Clarksville neighborhood. The gallery, which consisted of the foundations of a failed multifamily development, was a constantly-evolving canvas of graffiti and murals. Also known as "Castle Hill" or simply "Graffiti Park", the site on Baylor Street was closed to the public in early January 2019 but remained intact, behind a fence and with an armed guard, in mid-March 2019. The gallery will build a new art park at Carson Creek Ranch in Southeast Austin.
Sports

Many Austinites support the athletic programs of the University of Texas at Austin known as the Texas Longhorns. During the 2005–2006 academic term, the Texas Longhorns football, Longhorns football team was named the NCAA Division I FBS National Football Championship, NCAA Division I FBS National Football Champion, and the Texas Longhorns baseball, Longhorns baseball team won the 2005 College World Series, College World Series. The football team plays its home games in the state's second-largest sports stadium, Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium, seating over 101,000 fans. Baseball games are played at UFCU Disch–Falk Field.
Austin was the most populous city in the United States without a Major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada, major-league professional sports team, which changed in 2021 with
Austin FC
Austin FC is an American professional soccer club based in Austin, Texas. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 2018, the club began play in the 2021 season. Their home stadium is Q ...
's entry to MLS. Minor-league professional sports came to Austin in 1996, when the Austin Ice Bats began playing at the Travis County Expo Center; they were later replaced by the American Hockey League, AHL Texas Stars. Austin has hosted a number of other professional teams, including the Austin Spurs of the NBA G League, the Austin Aztex of the United Soccer League, the Austin Outlaws in Women's Football Alliance, WFA football, and the Austin Aces in World TeamTennis, WTT tennis.
Natural features like the bicycle-friendly
Texas Hill Country
The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ame ...
and generally mild #Climate, climate make Austin the home of several endurance and multi-sport races and communities. The Capitol 10,000 is the largest race in Texas, and approximately fifth largest in the United States. The Austin Marathon has been run in the city every year since 1992. Additionally, the city is home to the largest 5 mile race in Texas, named the Turkey Trot as it is run annually on Thanksgiving. Started in 1991 by Thundercloud Subs, a local sandwich chain (who still sponsors the event), the event has grown to host over 20,000 runners. All proceeds are donated to Caritas of Austin, a local charity.
The Austin-founded American Swimming Association hosts several swim races around town. Austin is also the hometown of several cycling groups and the disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong. Combining these three disciplines is a growing crop of triathlons, including the Capital of Texas Triathlon held every Memorial Day on and around Lady Bird Lake,
Auditorium Shores, and
Downtown Austin
Downtown Austin is the central business district of Austin, Texas, United States. The area of the district is bound by Lamar Boulevard to the west, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (Austin), Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the north, Inte ...
.
Austin is home to the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), a grade 1 Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile specification motor racing facility which hosts the Formula One United States Grand Prix. The State of Texas has pledged $25 million in public funds annually for 10 years to pay the sanctioning fees for the race. Built at an estimated cost of $250 to $300 million, the circuit opened in 2012 and is located just east of the Austin Bergstrom International Airport. The circuit also hosts the Texas Grand Prix, EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix NASCAR race in late March each year.
The summer of 2014 marked the inaugural season for World TeamTennis team Austin Aces, formerly Orange County Breakers of the southern California region. The Austin Aces played their matches at the Cedar Park Center northwest of Austin, and featured former professionals Andy Roddick and Marion Bartoli, as well as current WTA tour player Vera Zvonareva. The team left after the 2015 season.
In 2017, Anthony Precourt, Precourt Sports Ventures announced a plan to move the Columbus Crew SC soccer franchise from Columbus, Ohio to Austin. Precourt negotiated an agreement with the City of Austin to build a $200 million privately funded stadium on public land at 10414 McKalla Place, following initial interest in Butler Shores Metropolitan Park and Roy G. Guerrero Colorado River Park. As part of an arrangement with the league, operational rights of Columbus Crew SC were sold in late 2018, and Austin FC was announced as Major League Soccer's 27th franchise on January 15, 2019, with the expansion team starting play in 2021.
The Austin Country Club is a private golf club located along the shores of the Colorado River, right next to the
Pennybacker Bridge. Founded in 1899, the club moved to its third and present site in 1984, which features a challenging layout designed by noted course architect Pete Dye.
Austin is set to host the Blast Austin Major 2025, BLAST.TV Austin Major, the 22nd Counter-Strike Major Championships, ''Counter-Strike'' Major esports tournament, from June 9 to 22, 2025.
Government
City government

Austin is administered by an 11-member city council (10 council members elected by geographic district plus a mayor elected at large). The council is accompanied by a hired city manager under the council-manager government, manager-council system of municipal governance. Council and mayoral elections are non-partisan, with a runoff in case there is no majority winner. A referendum approved by voters on November 6, 2012, changed the council composition from six council members plus a mayor elected at large to the current "10+1" district system. Supporters maintained that the at-large system would increase participation for all areas of the city, especially for those which had lacked representation from City Council.
November 2014 marked the first election under the new system. The Federal government of the United States, Federal government had forced San Antonio and Dallas to abandon at-large systems before 1987; however, the court could not show a racist pattern in Austin and upheld the city's at-large system during a 1984 lawsuit. In five elections between 1973 and 1994 Austin voters rejected single-member districts.
Austin formerly operated its city hall at 128 West 8th Street. Antoine Predock and Cotera Kolar Negrete & Reed Architects designed a new city hall building, which was intended to reflect what ''The Dallas Morning News'' referred to as a "crazy-quilt vitality, that embraces everything from country music to environmental protests and high-tech swagger." The new city hall, built from recycled materials, has solar panels in its garage. The city hall, at 301 West Second Street, opened in November 2004. Kirk Watson is the current mayor of Austin, assuming the office for a second non-consecutive term on January 6, 2023.
In the 2012 elections, City Council elections were moved from May to November and City council members were given staggered term limits In 2022 Proposition D moved the term of the Austin Mayor to coincide with Presidential election years, so Kirk Watson would only serve two years unlike his predecessor Steve Adler (politician), Steve Adler
Law enforcement in Austin is provided by the Austin Police Department, except for state government buildings, which are patrolled by the Texas Department of Public Safety. The University of Texas Police operate from the
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...
.
Fire protection within the city limits is provided by the Austin Fire Department, while the surrounding county is divided into twelve geographical areas known as emergency services districts, which are covered by separate regional fire departments. Emergency medical services are provided for the whole county by Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.
Mayor Kirk Watson (Democratic Party (U.S.), D)
In 2003, the city adopted a resolution against the USA PATRIOT Act that reaffirmed constitutionally guaranteed rights.
Crime
As of 2019, Austin is one of the safest large cities in the United States. In 2019, the FBI named Austin the 11th safest city on a list of 22 American cities with a population above 400,000.
FBI statistics show that overall violent and property crimes dropped in Austin in 2015, but increased in suburban areas of the city. One such southeastern suburb, Del Valle, Texas, Del Valle, reported eight homicides within two months in 2016. According to 2016 Austin Police Department, APD crime statistics, the 78723 census tract had the most violent crime, with 6 murders, 25 rapes, and 81 robberies. The city had 39 homicides in 2016, the most since 1997.
Notable incidents
In 1884 and 1885, one of the earliest recorded serial killer, serial killings in the United States occurred in Austin, in which 8 people were murdered by a suspect known as the "Servant Girl Annihilator".
One of the first American Mass shootings in the United States, mass school shooting incidents took place in Austin on August 1, 1966, when Charles Whitman shot 43 people, killing 13 from the top of the University of Texas tower.
The University of Texas tower shooting led to the formation of the SWAT team of the Austin Police Department.
In 1991, 1991 Austin yogurt shop murders, four teenage girls were murdered in a yogurt shop by an unknown assailant(s). A police officer responded to reports of a fire at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! store on Anderson Lane and discovered the girls' bodies in a back room. The murders remain unsolved.
In 2010, Andrew Joseph Stack III deliberately crashed his Piper PA-28 Cherokee into Echelon 1, a building in which the Internal Revenue Service was a lessee of, housing 190 employees. The resulting explosion killed one and injured 13 IRS employees, partially damaged the building and cost the IRS a total of $38.6 million. ''(see 2010 Austin suicide attack)''
A Austin serial bombings, series of bombings occurred in Austin in March 2018. Over the course of 20 days, five Letter bomb, package bombs exploded, killing two people and injuring another five. The suspect, 23-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt of Pflugerville, Texas, Suicide bombing, blew himself up inside his vehicle after he was pulled over by police on March 21, also injuring a police officer.
In 2020, Austin was the victim of a cyberattack by the Russian group Berserk Bear, possibly related to the 2020 United States federal government data breach, U.S. federal government data breach earlier that year.
On April 18, 2021, a shooting occurred at the Arboretum Oaks Apartments near The Arboretum (Austin, Texas), The Arboretum shopping center, in which a former Travis County Sheriff's Office detective killed his ex-wife, his adoptive daughter, and his daughter's boyfriend.
The suspect, who was previously charged with child sexual assault, was arrested in Manor, Texas, Manor after a 20-hour manhunt.
A mass shooting took place in the early morning of June 12, 2021, on Sixth Street (Austin, Texas), Sixth Street, which resulted in 14 people injured and one dead. The man killed was believed to be an innocent bystander who was struck as he was standing outside a bar. A 19-year-old suspect, De'ondre "Dre" White, was formally charged and arrested in Killeen, Texas, Killeen nearly two weeks after the shooting.
In 2024, Zacharia Doar, a 23-year old Palestinian-American man, was attacked and stabbed in the chest on West 26th Street, West Campus, Austin, Texas, West Campus, after returning from a rally in support of Palestinian human rights. The assailant, 36-year old Bert James Baker was arrested at the scene and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Other levels of government
Austin is the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of
Travis County and hosts the Heman Marion Sweatt Travis County Courthouse downtown, as well as other county government offices. The
Texas Department of Transportation
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a Texas state government agency responsible for construction and maintenance of the state's immense Texas state highway system, state highway system and the support of the state's maritime trans ...
operates the Austin District Office in Austin. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the Austin I and Austin II district parole offices in Austin. The United States Postal Service operates several post offices in Austin.
Politics
Former Governor Rick Perry had previously referred to it as a "blueberry in the tomato soup", meaning, Austin had previously been a Democratic city in a Republican state. However, Texas currently has multiple urban cities also voting Democratic and electing Democratic mayors in elections.
After the most recent redistricting, Austin is currently divided between the Texas's 10th congressional district, 10th, Texas's 35th congressional district, 35th and Texas's 37th congressional district, 37th Congressional districts.
Issues
A controversial turning point in the political history of the Austin area was the 2003 Texas redistricting. Before then, Austin had been entirely or almost entirely within the borders of a single congressional district–what was then the 10th District–for over a century. Opponents characterized the resulting district layout as excessively partisan gerrymandering, and the plan was challenged in court by Democratic and minority activists. The Supreme Court of the United States has never struck down a redistricting plan for being excessively partisan. The plan was subsequently upheld by a three-judge federal panel in late 2003, and on June 28, 2006, the matter was largely settled when the Supreme Court, in a 7–2 decision, upheld the entire congressional redistricting plan with the exception of a Hispanic-majority district in southwest Texas. This affected Austin's districting, as U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett's district (U.S. Congressional District 25) was found to be insufficiently compact to compensate for the reduced minority influence in the southwest district; it was redrawn so that it took in most of southeastern Travis County and several counties to its south and east.
Environmental movement
The distinguishing political movement of Austin politics has been that of the environmental movement, which spawned the parallel neighborhood movement, then the more recent conservationist movement (as typified by the Hill Country Conservancy), and eventually the current ongoing debate about "sense of place" and preserving the Austin quality of life. Much of the environmental movement has matured into a debate on issues related to saving and creating an Austin "sense of place."
In 2012, Austin became just one of a few cities in
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
to ban the sale and use of plastic bags. However, the ban ended in 2018 due to a court ruling that regarded all bag bans in the state to contravene the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act.
In 2016, Austin became the first Gold designee of the SolSmart program, a national program from the United States Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy that recognizes local governments for enacting solar-friendly measures at the local level.
Education
According to the 2015–2019 Census estimates, 51.7% of Austin residents aged 25 and over have earned at least a bachelor's degree, compared with the national figure of 32.1%. 19.4% hold a Graduate degree, graduate or professional degree, compared with the national figure of 12.4%.
Higher education
Austin is home to the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
, the flagship institution of the University of Texas System with over 40,000 undergraduate students and 11,000 graduate students.
Other institutions of higher learning in Austin include St. Edward's University,
Huston–Tillotson University
Huston–Tillotson University (HT) is a private historically black university in Austin, Texas, United States. Established in 1875, it was the first institution of higher learning in Austin. The university is affiliated with the United Methodis ...
, Austin Community College, Concordia University Texas, Concordia University, the Seminary of the Southwest, Texas Health and Science University, University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, Austin Graduate School of Theology, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Virginia College's Austin Campus, The Art Institute of Austin, Southern Careers Institute of Austin, Austin Conservatory and branch campuses of Case Western Reserve University and Park University.
The University of Texas System and Texas State University System are headquartered in downtown Austin.
Public primary and secondary education
Approximately half of the city by area is served by the
Austin Independent School District. This district includes notable schools such as the magnet Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School of Austin, Texas (LASA), which, by test scores, has consistently been within the top thirty high schools in the nation, as well as The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. The remaining portion of Austin is served by adjoining school districts, including Round Rock Independent School District, Round Rock ISD, Pflugerville Independent School District, Pflugerville ISD, Leander Independent School District, Leander ISD, Manor Independent School District, Manor ISD, Del Valle Independent School District, Del Valle ISD, Lake Travis Independent School District, Lake Travis ISD, Hays Consolidated Independent School District, Hays ISD, and Eanes Independent School District, Eanes Independent school district, ISD.
Private and alternative education
The Austin metropolitan area is also served by 27 charter school districts and over 100 private schools.
Austin has a large network of private and alternative education institutions for children in PreK–12th grade exists. Austin is also home to several child developmental institutions.
Media
Austin's main daily newspaper is the ''Austin American-Statesman''. ''The Austin Chronicle'' is Austin's alternative weekly, while ''The Daily Texan'' is the student newspaper of the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
. Austin's business newspaper is the weekly ''Austin Business Journal''. ''The Austin Monitor'' is an online outlet that specializes in insider reporting on City Hall, Travis County Commissioners Court, Austin Independent School District, AISD, and other related local civics beats. The ''Monitor'' is backed by the nonprofit Capital of Texas Media Foundation. Austin also has numerous smaller special interest or sub-regional newspapers such as the ''Oak Hill Gazette'', ''Westlake Picayune'', ''Hill Country News'', ''Round Rock Leader'', ''NOKOA'', and ''The Villager'' among others. ''Texas Monthly'', a major regional magazine, is also headquartered in Austin. The ''Texas Observer'', a muckraking biweekly political magazine, has been based in Austin for over five decades. The weekly ''Community Impact Newspaper'' published by John Garrett, former publisher of the ''Austin Business Journal'' has five regional editions and is delivered to every house and business within certain ZIP codes and all of the news is specific to those ZIP codes. Another statewide publication based in Austin is ''The Texas Tribune'', an on-line publication focused on Texas politics.
The ''Tribune'' is "user-supported" through donations, a business model similar to public radio. The editor is Evan Smith (journalist), Evan Smith, former editor of ''Texas Monthly''. Smith co-founded the ''Texas Tribune'', a nonprofit, non-partisan public media organization, with Austin venture capitalist John Thornton and veteran journalist Ross Ramsey.
Commercial radio stations include KASE-FM (Country music, country), KVET (AM), KVET (sports), KVET-FM (country), KKMJ-FM (adult contemporary), KLBJ (AM), KLBJ (talk), KLBJ-FM (classic rock), KJFK (AM), KJFK (variety hits), KFMK (contemporary Christian), KOKE-FM (progressive country) and KPEZ (rhythmic contemporary). KUT-FM is the leading Public broadcasting, public radio station in Texas and produces the majority of its content locally. KOOP (FM) is a volunteer-run radio station with more than 60 locally produced programs. KVRX is the student-run college radio station of the University of Texas at Austin with a focus on local and non-mainstream music and community programming. Other listener-supported stations include KAZI (urban contemporary), and KMFA (Classical music, classical).
Network television stations (affiliations in parentheses) include KTBC (TV), KTBC (Fox Owned-and-operated station, O&O), KVUE (ABC), KXAN (NBC), KEYE-TV (CBS), KLRU (PBS), KNVA (The CW), KBVO (TV), KBVO (MyNetworkTV), and KAKW (Univision Owned-and-operated station, O&O). KLRU produces several award-winning locally produced programs such as ''
Austin City Limits
''Austin City Limits'' is an American Concert, live music Television show, television program recorded and produced by KLRU, Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", an ...
''. Despite Austin's explosive growth, it is only a medium-sized market (currently 38th) because the suburban and rural areas are not much larger than the city proper. Additionally, the proximity of San Antonio truncates the potential market area.
Alex Jones, journalist, radio show host and filmmaker, produces his talk show ''The Alex Jones Show'' in Austin which broadcasts nationally on more than 60 AM and FM radio stations in the United States, WWCR Radio shortwave and XM Radio: Channel 166.
Notable people
International relations
Austin has two types of relationships with other cities, Sister city, sister and friendship.
Sister cities
Austin's sister cities are:
* Adelaide, South Australia, Australia (1983)
* Angers, Pays de la Loire, France (2011)
* Antalya, Antalya Province, Turkey (2009)
* Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea (2001)
* London Borough of Hackney, Hackney, London, England, United Kingdom (2014)
* Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany (1991)
* Lima, Peru (1981)
* Maseru, Lesotho (1978)
* Ōita (city), Ōita, Ōita Prefecture, Ōita, Japan (1990)
* Pune, Maharashtra, India (2018)
* Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico (1968)
* Taichung, Taiwan (1986)
* Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China (1997)
The cities of Belo Horizonte, Brazil and Elche, Spain were formerly sister cities, but after an Austin City Council vote in 1991, their statuses were deactivated. Orlu, Imo, Orlu, South East (Nigeria), South East, Nigeria became a sister city in 2000, but was downgraded to emeritus status later.
Friendship cities
Covenants between two city leaders:
* Siem Reap, Cambodia (2011)
* Villefranche-sur-Mer, France (2010)
* Tehuacán, Puebla (state), Puebla, Mexico (2019)
* San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí (state), San Luis Potosí, Mexico (2024)
* Chiang Mai, Thailand (2023)
See also
* List of companies based in Austin, Texas
* List of people from Austin, Texas
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Travis County, Texas
* Music of Austin, Texas, Music in Austin
* List of Austin neighborhoods, Neighborhoods in Austin
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
* Lawrence WWright, Lawrence.
The Astonishing Transformation of Austin, Texas. ''The New Yorker'', February 6, 2023.
External links
AustinTexas.gov- official city website
Austin Chamber of CommerceHistoric photographs from the Austin History Center hosted by th
Portal to Texas History*
*
{{Authority control
Austin, Texas,
Cities in Texas
Cities in Hays County, Texas
Cities in Travis County, Texas
Cities in Williamson County, Texas
County seats in Texas
Cities in Greater Austin
Planned communities in the United States
Populated places established in 1835
1839 establishments in the Republic of Texas
Academic enclaves
Capitals of former nations
State capitals in the United States