Austin, Texas

The City of Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Austin has a population of 656,562 people, making it the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 16th largest in the United States. A 2004 U.S. Census estimate placed the population of the city at 681,804. Austin is the county seat of Travis County and is situated in Central Texas. The Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area is one of the fastest-growing in the United States and is home to an estimated population of 1.4 million as of 2003.

Economy

Thousands of graduates each year from the engineering and computer science programs at the University of Texas provide a steady source of young, talented, and driven employees that help to fuel Austin's technology sector. The metro Austin area also has much lower housing costs than, for example, Silicon Valley. As a result of the relatively high concentration of high tech companies in the region, Austin was strongly affected by the dot-com boom in the late 1990s and subsequent bust, although recovery is proceeding rapidly.

Related Topics:
Silicon Valley - Dot-com

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Austin's biggest employers include the State of Texas, the University of Texas, Dell, IBM and Freescale Semiconductor (spun off from Motorola in 2004). Other high-tech companies in Austin include Apple Computer, Vignette, AMD, Intel, Motive Inc, Cirrus Logic, Samsung, National Instruments, United Devices and Sun Microsystems. The proliferation of technology companies has led to the region's nickname, "the Silicon Hills," (Austin was originally "Silicon Gulch", but it seems that San Jose, California already has that distinction) and has spurred rapid development that has greatly expanded the city to the north and south.

Related Topics:
Dell - Freescale Semiconductor - Motorola - Apple Computer - Vignette - AMD - Intel - Motive Inc - Cirrus Logic - Samsung - National Instruments - United Devices - Sun Microsystems - San Jose, California

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Austin is served by the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

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