Austin, TX

Early voting for new schools, buses, and more begins in Central Texas

Published

7 months ago

April 22, 2025

Early voting for new schools, buses, and more begins in Central Texas

People certainly haven’t stopped moving to Austin, but the flow of newbies to Texas has slowed down significantly — including in the capital city.

That’s according to real estate platform Redfin, which released a study based on U.S. census data in April detailing changes in net domestic migration — i.e. the amount a population rose or fell due to people moving from other parts of the country — in the country’s 50 most populous metros in 2024. It noted that Texas, Florida, and other parts of the so-called Sun Belt were the hardest hit in comparison to prior years.

Despite maintaining the largest proportion of its inflow out of all major Texas cities, Austin still had an inflow of 8,239 fewer people than it did in 2023. Austin gained a net total of 13,980 people during 2024, compared to 22,219 in 2023. That’s about a 37 percent decrease.

Some similar studies note that people who would be moving to Austin — or people who already live in Austin — are opting for a life in the more affordable and laid-back suburbs like Hutto, Georgetown, and Manor. Some suburbs like Round Rock are particularly good at drawing newcomers for whom money isn’t a top concern. Either way, the suburb is becoming a heavyweight for Texans.

The Redfin study echoes the economic impetus and attributes some of the spike and drop in population growth to pandemic prices.

“Although the cost of buying or renting a home in much of Florida and Texas is now flattening out or falling, it rose rapidly during the pandemic, when migration into those states skyrocketed,” the study says. “Places like Tampa, Dallas and Austin were once seen as affordable alternatives to high-cost cities like San Francisco and New York, but now the gap in housing costs between big-city job centers and Sun Belt metros has shrunk.”

Other concerns it lists for both Texas and Florida include a return to working in big-city offices; natural disasters raising insurance premiums; and a high cost of living paired with economic uncertainty, influencing people to say in their current homes. It even cites competition from more affordable places. Even though Texas is often considered fairly bargain friendly, there’s often a cheaper option than its bigger cities; the report offers Minneapolis and Indianapolis as an alternative to Miami or Austin.

Here’s how other Texas metros stack up:

Dallas gained 35,229 people in 2023 and only 12,927 in 2024. That’s a reduction of 22,302, more than half of the 2023 figure. Houston saw an inflow of 39,461 movers in 2023 and 21,240 in 2024. That leaves a reduction of 18,221, slightly less than half.

Next up was San Antonio, which gained 30,103 people in 2023 and 18,981 in 2024, resulting in a comparative loss of 11,122. Finally, Fort Worth gained a relatively small set of 21,180 movers in 2023, which dropped to 11,623 in 2024; a decrease of 9,557.

On the other side of the spectrum, some metros are just doing especially well at holding onto its residents, the report points out. New York’s outflow shrank the most out of any other metro. Los Angeles followed. A decreased outflow for these cities is still a loss, just like a decreased inflow across Texas is still a gain — but it looks like the gap is closing slower now.

The top 10 metros where net domestic migration fell most in 2024 are:

Tampa, Florida
Dallas, Texas
Atlanta, Georgia
Houston, Texas
Miami, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
San Antonio, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Austin, Texas

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Austin, TX

‘Horizon’ Supercomputer Will Make Austin the Center of U.S. Research Power

Published

14 hours ago

November 19, 2025

Press Room

‘Horizon’ Supercomputer Will Make Austin the Center of U.S. Research Power

AUSTIN, Texas — The next wave of scientific discovery is being built right here in Central Texas.

The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin is teaming up with Dell Technologies and NVIDIA to launch Horizon, which will become the largest academic supercomputer in the United States when it goes online in 2026.

Designed to be a major engine for open science, Horizon will help researchers tackle some of the toughest problems of our time—from extreme weather forecasting to medical breakthroughs to national security.

A Texas-sized leap in computing power

Horizon will deliver 300 petaflops of performance—making it ten times faster than TACC’s current supercomputer, Frontera. For researchers, that means bigger projects, faster insights, and entirely new possibilities.

“It’s really exciting for Austin and for the University of Texas,” said Dan Stanzione, Associate Vice President for Research at UT and Executive Director of TACC. “We’ll have the largest academic computing resource in the country. Researchers will have unparalleled access to computing anywhere in the world.”

A supercomputer built in Central Texas

Horizon isn’t just located in Austin—it’s being built here, too.

Dell is designing the integrated racks.

Final assembly is happening in Georgetown.

The system will be housed in a Round Rock data center.

NVIDIA chips and VAST storage—both companies with Austin teams—power the hardware.

“Everyone involved has an Austin tie,” Stanzione said. “Finally deploying one of these major systems in the Austin area is pretty exciting.”

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What Horizon will do

In its first year, TACC expects hundreds of research projects to run on Horizon. Some of the earliest will focus on Texas-specific challenges, such as:

More accurate hurricane and storm surge forecasts

Disaster resilience modeling for the Gulf Coast

Healthcare and drug discovery

New materials and battery development

Horizon will also become the AI hub for UT Austin, enabling breakthroughs in machine learning and large-scale data analysis.

Keeping a giant cool

Running a supercomputer this large takes serious engineering. Each cabinet draws around 225,000 watts, requiring advanced cooling solutions.

Propylene glycol will flow directly across the chips, while chilled water circulates through rear-door radiators. In total, the system will move about 400,000 gallons of water per hour to keep everything stable.

What Dell says

For Dell Technologies, Horizon is a major step forward for the region and the research community.

“Horizon delivers over 300 petaflops of performance—ten to twelve times faster than Frontera,” said Seamus Jones, Director of Server Engineering. “It will help researchers break boundaries and drive advancements in technologies we haven’t even imagined yet.”

A new era for Texas innovation

With Horizon, Austin is poised to become the nation’s center for high-performance academic computing. The supercomputer will serve thousands of researchers across disciplines—and could reshape how science is done for years to come.

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Austin, TX

Volunteers build wheelchair ramp for resident, marking 40 years of Texas Ramp Project

Published

2 days ago

November 17, 2025

Press Room

Volunteers build wheelchair ramp for resident, marking 40 years of Texas Ramp Project

AUSTIN, Texas — Volunteers gathered in East Austin on Saturday to build a wheelchair ramp for a local resident, marking the Texas Ramp Project’s 40th anniversary of providing free mobility solutions to Texans in need.

Jimmy Garcia received the ramp at his home on East 22nd Street, where volunteers worked from morning through early afternoon to complete the installation. Before the ramp, he relied on his wife Jenny or their children to help him navigate the stairs.

“I feel grateful. I appreciate it,” Garcia said. “It’s a good program.”

Volunteers gathered in East Austin on Saturday to build a wheelchair ramp for a local resident, marking the Texas Ramp Project’s 40th anniversary of providing free mobility solutions to Texans in need. (Photo: Texas Ramp Project)

Jackie Gardener, the build team leader, said the organization has served more than 30,000 individuals across Texas since its founding in 1985. The nonprofit commemorated four decades of service by constructing one of 40 ramps planned across the state.

“It is such a special feeling of joy to be able to see a client take a look at their ramp and know that in less than a day, we’ve really changed somebody’s life,” Gardener said.

ALSO | Pflugerville fire crew aids statewide wildfire readiness as central Texas risks rise

More than 1.7 million Texans use wheelchairs or walkers, with nearly 23% of residents 65 or older living with mobility-limiting disabilities, according to the organization.

Jenny Garcia said the ramp would restore her husband’s independence after concerns about falls on the steps. “It’s going to be a big improvement with his walker to be able to come down by himself and have his independence back somewhat,” she said.

The organization depends entirely on its network of 3,500 volunteers. WellMed and the WellMed Charitable Foundation have contributed more than $100,000 and helped build over 100 ramps.

More information is available here.

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Austin, TX

High school volleyball: Three Austin area schools make state finals

Published

3 days ago

November 16, 2025

Press Room

High school volleyball: Three Austin area schools make state finals

UIL STATE VOLLEYBALL FINALS

When/where: Thursday-Saturday in Garland.

Thursday — Class A, Blum vs. Water Valley, 3 p.m.; Class 2A DI, Jewett Leon vs. Nocona, 5 p.m.; Class 2A DII, Iola vs. Crawford, 7 p.m. Friday — Class 3A DI, Goliad vs. Bushland, 11 a.m.; Class 3A DII, Clifton vs. Boyd, 1 p.m.; Class 4A DI, La Vernia vs. Decatur, 4 p.m.; Class 4A DII, Wimberley vs. Eagle Mountain, 6 p.m. Saturday — Class 5A DI, A&M Consolidated vs. Highland Park, 11 a.m.; Class 5A DII, Cedar Park vs. Argyle, 1 p.m.; Class 6A DI, Pearland Dawson vs. Northwest Nelson, 4 p.m.; Class 6A DII, Austin High vs. Southlake Carroll, 6 p.m.

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