Austin, TX
Austin named 9th best place to live, but falls out of top 10 largest cities
AUSTIN, Texas — Austin is one of the best cities in which to live in the country, at least according to one report.
Every year, U.S. News and World Report releases its list of the “150 Best Places to Live in the U.S.”
The method behind the rankings comes from looking at the most recent data from the federal government and a public survey of thousands of individuals throughout the U.S. on what they value in a place. Those factors include looking at the quality of life, job market, desirability and housing affordability of each city.
Austin came in at No. 9 right behind Virginia Beach, Virginia, and ahead of Boulder, Colorado. The outlet’s reasoning behind the high ranking was because of Austin’s “contagious vibrancy and enthusiasm,” job opportunities and live music scene.
U.S. News and World Report gave Austin an overall score of 6.8 out of 10. The highest-ranked city–Naples, Florida–had an overall score of 7.1 out of 10.
Mayor Kirk Watson said in a statement that this only confirmed what Austin residents already knew.
“We’re honored to be recognized by U.S. News & World Report with this distinction that confirms what Austinites know—our city is a special place,” Watson said in a news release. “Our access to nature, our dynamic and diverse economy, and an unparalleled music scene make Austin a vibrant place to live, work, and play.”
The next closest Texas city on the list was McAllen coming in at No. 48 because of its “good quality of life” and “bicultural community” according to the report. The next three on the list are all along the edges of the Lone Star State with El Paso at No. 62, Corpus Christi at No. 77 and Brownsville at No. 87.
Texas’ three most populated cities were further down the list with San Antonio at No. 89, Dallas at No. 95 and Houston at No. 97.
The last two Texas cities to make the top 150 were Beaumont at No. 99 and Killeen at No. 107.
These U.S. News and World Report rankings used the U.S. Census Bureau’s population data, which was recently updated to include the first half of 2023. This update saw a big change for Texas’ capital city.
Austin fell out of the top 10 largest cities in America after being surpassed by Jacksonville, Florida. Austin is now at No. 11 with approximately 980,000 people.
Texas’ other metropolitan areas stayed at the same rankings with Houston coming in at No. 4, San Antonio at No. 7 and Dallas at No. 9.
Fort Worth moved up the list to No. 12, surpassing San Jose, California.
Austin also saw its 12-year streak as the nation’s fastest-growing large metro area come to an end, with the greater Austin area slipping to second place behind Jacksonville.
Another notable thing to come out of the data was that three of the top five counties with the largest number of growth in housing were in Texas. Harris County–home to Houston–ranked at No. 1, while Travis County–where Austin is located–and Collin County–north of Dallas–came in at No. 4 and No. 5.
Texas cities also dominated the lists of the fastest-growing cities for both larger and smaller metro areas.
AUSTIN (KXAN) – Trevor Goosby is a projected first-round pick in the upcoming 2027 NFL Draft. The Texas offensive lineman anchors the group up front for one of the best teams in the country and was named a preseason All-American by Walter Camp.
But his football career felt in jeopardy when he was in high school.
“That was kind of my biggest question,” said Goosby. “I was really nervous because would I be the same football player coming back?”
Goosby was born with a congenital heart defect and had open-heart surgery when he was just 16 years old. He wasn’t sure how this would change his everyday life, including his football career.
“Definitely a lot of nerves just because you’re getting your ribs cracked open essentially and getting your heart worked on…It was a scary moment. I remember driving up to the hospital super nervous.”
Goosby was able to recover and become a great football player. He said not only has he become a person in learning to fight through adversity, but it helped him as a player as well with improved endurance.
Now, the star Longhorn is giving back as much as possible.
Goosby hosted a camp in Austin to benefit the Children’s Heart Foundation. The organization works to fund research on congenital heart defects.
The offensive tackle is matching all donations up to $20,000 made to the Children’s Heart Foundation through the event and campaign.
“It means a lot to me just because of the heart condition I did have back when I was 16. That just kind of changed my life. I just want to bring awareness to that.”
The camp was at Hyde Park High School in Northwest Austin. Goosby spoke about what he hopes the young campers took away from the event.
“I think it’s just more than football. Football is a big part of what I do but it’s not who I am…I just want to show all these kids that I’m just another great guy and just someone they can look up to.”
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas is getting its first major new national stock exchange in decades, and finance experts say it could create new opportunities for Austin’s tech companies and startups looking to grow.
The Texas Stock Exchange is launching this week in Dallas, with live trading expected to begin as early as Friday. The exchange began operations Monday, and it says all publicly traded stocks should be available on the platform by the end of the month. Thousands of publicly traded stocks are expected to be available by then.
Ray Perryman, President and CEO of the Perryman Group, said the launch signals Texas’ growing influence in the financial sector.
“It really lets the world know that Texas is indeed a major player in this industry,” Perryman said.
Gov. Greg Abbott called the exchange another sign of Texas’ expanding economic reach, saying, “This is another step that expands the financial might of Texas in the United States, and cements our economic power on the global stage.”
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Perryman said the exchange could provide another path for companies to go public and could help attract more growing companies to Austin and the rest of the state. He said the added access to capital could have ripple effects across the economy.
“It increases opportunities for firms in the area to expand, have access to capital, to be more profitable. That means they hire more people. That means they pay more taxes. That means they buy more things in their supply chains,” Perryman said.
Texas ranks second in the U.S. for Fortune 500 headquarters, behind California and ahead of New York. With the Texas Stock Exchange set to launch, experts say Austin’s startup community could see even more growth.
Perryman said Austin-area tech firms could benefit from having an in-state exchange option.
“They’ll now have a vehicle here in Texas that will be more efficient and less expensive to register on than the traditional exchanges,” Perryman said.
Perryman said the exchange’s success will depend on how many companies choose to list on it, how much investment it attracts, and how many additional companies decide to move to Texas.
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