Economics
Business Cost Advantage
One of Austin's strongest advantages over many competing high-tech centers is its low business costs. Based on an overall business cost index, Austin's overall business costs are 6.1 percent below the national average. Business costs refer to the cost of labor, energy, taxes and office space.
Our city's business costs are even more attractive when compared to those of larger metropolitan areas such as San Jose where business costs are approximately 15 percent higher than those in Austin.
Overall, Austin's business costs are comparable to other, similarly sized metropolitan areas that have a strong high-tech presence, such as Portland, Oregon and Salt Lake City, Utah.
Innovation & Entrepreneurial Growth
Austin's research community is thriving. In fact, research consortia Sematech and Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. (MCC) continue to anchor Austin's thriving research community, which contributes to Austin's attraction for high-tech companies.
The entrepreneurial sector continues to support Austin's young companies. The internationally recognized Austin Technology Incubator is filled to capacity and has graduated 62 companies since its inception a decade ago.
The Red Hot Austin Economy
The Austin region economy has exhibited solid employment growth during the last decade --a 72% growth from 1990 through 2000 with over 280,000 new jobs added. In 2000, total employment grew by 5.9% from the previous year, adding 37,200 jobs to the market Over the decade of the 90s , Austin experienced an average annual job growth of 5.5 percent.
The Austin-San Marcos MSA ranked number one out of the largest MSAs in the State of Texas for job growth during 2000 Approximately 13% of all new jobs in the State of Texas were created in the Austin-San Marcos MSA .
The Central Texas economy remains strong. Unemployment, which had averaged 2 percent in 2000, started to rise in 2001. Six of eight major industry sectors added jobs in 2006, with only the manufacturing and transportation/public utilities sectors registering losses.
Outdoors
Opportunities for recreation abound. From cool, spring-fed swimming holes to Ben Crenshaw-designed golf courses, from area team sports to a walk in the beauty of Austin's natural settings there is something to get you onto your feet to take off across your field of dreams.
Golf
Austin's naturally temperate climate and rolling hills makes the area perfect for golfing. Home to Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw, Austin boasts some of the most scenic golf courses in the nation. There are 26 golf courses in Austin (5 municipal, 13 public and 7 private club courses). Course designers include Crenshaw, Kite, Arnold Palmer, Tom Fazzio and Robert Trent Jones, Sr. Green fees range from $11.50 to $17 on public courses, and membership initiation fees at country clubs start around $1,700.
Austin boasts several golf courses for Frisbee golfers, including one in Central Austin that winds along the banks of beautiful Shoal Creek, linking up some of the city's most pleasant greenbelt parkland.
Parks, Hills, Trails and Pools
Beginning in downtown Austin and stretching 150 miles west and north into the Hill Country of Central Texas lie the Highland Lakes, a chain of lakes created by seven dams along the Colorado River. Within a short drive of the city or a full day-trip excursion Austinites have access to boating, skiing, sailing, windsurfing, rowing, canoeing, fishing and swimming in some of Texas' most beautiful surroundings.
The City of Austin alone boasts 14,300 acres of parks. The hills west of the city include more than 7,566 public acres. Here, you can also enjoy hiking, mountain biking and other land-based activities.
In Austin and at points nearby, swimming is popular year-round because the climate is warm. Since most of the areas do not have lifeguards, swimming is at your own risk. The City of Austin operates numerous swimming pools in the summer months. For hours of operation and other types of information on any of the city's pools, call the Austin Parks and Recreation Department's Aquatics Division at 476-4521.
You can swim for fitness year-round in the lanes at Stacy Pool and the open expanses of Barton Springs Pool.Swimming classes are held morning and evening at 11 pools. In 1994 5,000 children had lessons. Call PARD, 476- 4521, for information on neighborhood pools and summer swimming classes and hours of operation.
In Zilker Park, just off Barton Springs Road, Barton Springs Pool is one of Austin's famous landmarks and easily the most popular swimming hole in the city. Spring fed and over 900 feet long, the pool was formed when Barton Creek was dammed up, so it has a natural rock and gravel bottom. The water temperature averages 68 degrees F' throughout the year, so enter the pool gingerly. As you swim across, feel how some spots are colder than others.To find out if the pool is open before traveling to the site, call the hotline number 867- 3080, which operates 24 hours a day. Fees ($2.50 per adult) are collected after 9 a.m. during the summer only.
Also within the city limits in southeast Austin is the municipally operated 640-acre McKinney Falls State Park.
Climate
Austin's weather has attracted so many to this attractive part of Texas, where the skies are always blue, the breeze is always fresh and cool, and the sun beams prettily from on high.
OK, it can get hot and humid in the summer with our tropical climate, but nights in summer usually offer pleasant relief from the hot summer days.
Winters are generally mild, with below-freezing temperatures occurring on an average of less than 25 days each year. Cold spells are usually of short duration, rarely lasting more than two days.
Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, with a total annual average of 32 inches. Heaviest rainfalls occur in late spring, with a second rainfall peak in Sept. Rainfall from April through September is mostly from thundershowers, with fairly large amounts falling within short periods of time. Snow is insignificant, and usually melts as rapidly as it falls. It's been years since we've seen a snowman in Downtown Austin.
Get up-to-the-minute weather forecasts for greater Austin from local television stations:
KTBC FOX 7
KVUE 24
KXAN-TV 36
K-EYE 42
Health Care
Once you start working here, you may find yourself in need of taking a sick day or two because you really are sick, not just checking out Barton Springs. When you feel poorly, you can rest assured that Austin's expanding health care system now rivals that of any major metropolitan area. Besides a clutch of 11 major hospitals and one children's hospital, there are numerous out-patient clinics, emergency medical facilities and all manner of awareness programs that serve up healthy doses of wellness advice and information.
The Texas Board of Medical Examiners puts the total number of practitioners at over 13,000 for the Central Texas region:
Over 2,000 licensed physicians
Over 8,000 registered nurses
Nearly 3,000 licensed vocational nurses
Hospitals
Hospital
Beds Specialty Services
Seton Medical Center503Acute care, Central Texas Heart Institute, regional neonatal center, 24-hour emergency
Brackenridge Hospital442Regional trauma center, Texas Cancer Center, maternity/women's services, heart center
St. David's Medical Center318Full-service acute care, emergency, rehabilitation, psychiatric services
South Austin Hospital201Maternity, cardiology, outpatient surgery, lithotripsy, endoscopy, oncology
North Austin Medical Center*146Women's center, 24-hour emergency room, skilled nursing unit, cancer treatment, rehabilitation center
Seton Northwest Hospital82Inpatient and outpatient medical and surgical services, emergency and minor emergency care, family-centered birthing units and sports medicine
Heart Hospital of Austin58Cardiac catheterization laboratories, surgical suites for open heart surgery, plus ancillary equipment for radiology, laboratory, nephrology, pulmonology and other services
Children's Hospital of Austin82Regional children's specialty hospital, specialty care center for chronic illnesses and surgery, heart program, pediatric critical care
St. David's Round Rock Hospital75Family birth center, rural health clinics, Women's Center, critical/acute/skilled nursing care, outpatient services
HealthSouth Surgical Hospital8Orthopedics, ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat, general surgery, gynecology, podiatry, plastic surgery, orthopedic spine surgery
Georgetown Healthcare System98Inpatient and outpatient acute hospital care, home health care, sports medicine, physical, occupational and speech therapy
Renaissance Women's Center24General surgery for women, OB/GYN, women's diagnostic imaging, lifestyle education classes
*Formerly, Austin Diagnostic Medical Center
Dining
Austin provides sustenance to suit every palate. From organic vegetables to good ol', down-home barbecued ribs, the culinary map extends to all styles and preparations of delicious food, and all manner of places in which to feast.
Tex-Mex cooking may be the most widely available in the area, and nothing beats heading off for a Chuy's margarita and nachos after work.
If your stomach demands some American fare, there's always the world famous Threadgill's with it's home-style cooking (and seconds if you eat all your vegetables!); or try one of several top-notch barbecue joints in and around town like The County Line. Some local restaurants grow their own vegetables further evidence of Austin's healthful approach to all aspects of life.
If you really want to get into preparing your own meals, try taking a cooking classes at Central Market a gourmet and international supermarket, cafe and live music venue.
Drinking
While not wanting to encourage excessive imbibing, Austin and its environs are home to some top-notch brewpubs, wineries, breweries and bars. Central Texas' most famous brewery creates the ubiquitous dark beer Shiner Bock, and the Belgian heritage Celis Brewery operates in Austin. There are a slew of in-town brew pubs like Waterloo Brewery and the Copper Tank, all offering great handmade beers in all varieties, with accompanying menus of food ranging from burgers to high-class bistro fare.
Software Industry Overview
In March 1991, the IC2 Institute and the Graduate School of Business of The University of Texas at Austin, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and Ernst & Young released the results of a 1990 study they had initiated which identified emerging technologies important to the Austin economy and which provided a perspective on the technology-based industries that would be significant to Austin in the 1990s.
The report showed that Austin was already well on its way to becoming a major center for software development, and that software was already a huge industry in the city. Because of the importance of this emerging industry, Dr. George Kozmetsky (regarded by many as the architect of Austin's high technology community), then director of the IC2 Institute, the Chamber and local civic and industry leaders worked together to create the Austin Software Council (now Austin Technology Council).
Since 1991, Austin's software industry registered phenomenal growth and remains strong despite setbacks that accompanied the economic slowdown of 2001 and 2002.
From 1975 to 1990, the industry in Central Texas grew at an average annual rate of 21 percent, accelerating during the 1990 to 1996 period to 22 percent growth per year far exceeding the pace of growth in other industries in the region. There are now more than 500 software companies operating in the area with a total of over 28,000 software developers. The average wage for software developers was $69,000 in 2001.
Growth in computer integrated design, advanced programming and prepackaged software is still accelerating dramatically. Today, these three sub-sectors account for the vast majority of total employment.
Software is one of the most skill intensive industries with nearly all the added value coming from the intelligence, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of people. The growth trends in Austin's software industry bode well for the future. The three high-growth sectors computer integrated design, programming and prepackaged software tend to have high-skill and high wage jobs.
The following companies are the top 10 software companies in the Austin area:
Company Austin Employees
IBM 3,000
Apple Computer Corp. 1,500
Computer Science Corp. (CSC) 1,300
Vignette Corp. 900
EDS Corp. (aka Electronic Data Systems) 800
BAE Systems Inc. 800
National Instruments 800
CCI-Triad 600
Why companies choose Austin:
Well-educated work force
Presence of a world-class research university
Favorable business climate
Reasonable tax structure
Outstanding quality of life
Wide-ranging cultural and recreational opportunities
Ability to recruit, attract and retain high-quality personnel
High degree of high-technology industry conglomeration
Lower cost of doing business: Austin's overall business costs are 6.1% below the national average.
Computer Literacy
According to a 1999 Austin newcomer study that was conducted by the Benchmark Company:
68 percent of households have computers
61 percent of households access the Internet
In February 2001, Yahoo! Internet Life named Austin as the third most wired city in the U.S., behind San Francisco and San Jose. Austin has ranked in the top five over the last several years. The study also noted:
Austin has the highest percentage of Internet use from home--69.7 percent
Austin ranks in the top 10 U.S. cities in total number of Internet hosts per 1,000 firms--1,733.1 per 1,000 firms
Austin has the forth largest amount of online spending per online user--$189 per online user
Patents
The Austin areas brainpower is evidenced by several measures. An often-used innovation measure is the number of patents issued in a city or region. As mentioned earlier, Austin has experienced strong growth in the number of patents issued since 1990. More recently, compared to benchmarked regions that are, like Austin, high tech centers, Austin ranked second to San Jose in the number of patents issued. In addition, Austin's population was one of the smallest.
Patents: High-tech Center Comparisons
City 2000 Population# of Patents Issued in 2001
1. San Jose 894,943 4,571
2. AUSTIN 656,562 1,961
3. Raleigh-Durham 463,128 1,027
4. Denver-Boulder 554,636 896
5. Seattle 563,374 855
6. Portland 529,121 789
7. Phoenix 1,321,045 735
8. Salt Lake City 181,743 353
Source: Economy.com; Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP
Austin Cost of Living
Austin was one of the less expensive cities to live in a decade or so ago. Things have changed But despite increased cost of living and drops in median household income, ING North America Insurance Corporation still ranked Austin # 81 in its Best Cities to Earn and Save Money in 2001.
Housing is the number 1 major cost concern. However, the cost of gas and groceries are generally lower than comparable cities in the US.
Unless otherwise noted figures are for the Austin-San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area1 (MSSA).
Income & Wages
• 2000: Austin Median Household Income: $49,218
• 2000: Austin Average Household Income: $84,904
• 1998 Average Wages by County in MSA
• Bastrop: $22,032
• Hays: $21,426
• Caldwell: $20,060
• Travis: $37,990
• Williamson: $25,293
• All: $35,492
Cost of Living Comparison - 2nd Quarter 2001
The following ranks Austin along with 4 other cities with developing hightech industries comparable to Austin's from lowest to highest (most expensive).
1. Phoenix
2. Salt Lake City
3. Austin
4. Denver
5. Boston
Texas
1.Dallas
2 Austin
3. San Marcos
4 Houston
5. San Antonio
Taxes
• State Sales Tax: 6.25% (no sales tax on unprepared food items)
• No State Income Tax
• Local Sales Tax: 2% (for a total sales tax of 8.25% as of January 2002)
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