This past month final nationwide data became available from the 2010 US Census for the entire United States. And
there’s some great news included for Austin! Among the over 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (an “MSA” is a “metro”
area with over 500,000 in population) Austin was the fifth fastest growing area during the past decade!

Numerous articles have been written about these economic and population trends (you can check out any of the
below list of links for more in-depth reading), but living and working right here in Austin gives us a much more unique
perspective on why Texas in general – and Austin in particular - continues to not only lead in the “good” categories
(quality of life, job growth, entrepreneurship, corporate & higher education research & development, etc.), but to also
buck the more negative ones (precipitous declines in both residential and commercial property values, hemorrhaging
state and local budgets, etc.)

Texas overall is considered a much more “business-friendly” state when compared to other states such as California
or New York for example. No personal income tax, lower overall corporate taxes, widely available and very affordable
housing, numerous world-class higher education facilities, and a constitutionally required balanced state budget are only
some of the reasons that 57 of the Fortune 500 companies have chosen to locate their corporate headquarters right
here in Texas.

And, as recently as February of this year, the Austin economy had an unemployment rate of approximately 7.0% versus
a statewide average of over 8%, and compared to a national unemployment rate of 9.0%. California’s was 12.0% as
recently as March.

You can click on the image below to watch an amazing video about job growth in Austin from a January 7th, 2011 report
from The CBS Evening News. According to The Brookings Institution, Austin now leads the entire nation in job growth!

Austin, Texas Leads the Nation in Job Growth – CBS News Online

And, what about Austin residential real estate? Although there was about a 7% decline in the number of single family
home transactions in 2010 over 2009 there was hardly any decline in the median sales price overall. Of course, changes
in values vary by price range and location, but, overall values continue to hold up very well in the Austin metro area.

The bottom line is that Texas and Austin are great places to live, work and play for a myriad of reasons – both economic
and otherwise.

I welcome you to share any of your thoughts about Austin in the comments section below.

Sharon Hillhouse

(Additional reading)

Population Shift Swells Southern and Western Cities – Wall Street Journal, April 15th, 2011
California Begs Texas for Job-Creating Recipe With Growth Trading Places – Bloomberg Online, April 14th, 2011
Fortune 500 – Our Annual Ranking of America’s Largest Corporations – CNN Money, 2010 Rankings

© 2011 REoutsourceSolutions