Even though Austin is not yet Silicon Valley, tech companies around the United States are taking serious notice of Austin. Austin continues to draw leading tech companies to expand and relocate here, largely due to the lower cost of doing business, Austin’s smaller size and the decreased cost of living compared to other larger U.S cities. Also, the combination of affordability and the geographical landscape, being in the middle of Silicon Valley and New York, make Austin a leading city for start-ups.
Austin has been famous for its live music scene, having the best BBQ, and well, being weird, but our reputation is changing. Today Austin, sometimes referred to as Silicon Ranch, is morphing into a technology consortium. Technology-based companies are filling up downtown and outlying Austin area’s office spaces. Google and Apple, formerly engrained in Silicon Valley, have already taken up Austin residence, and hundreds of other tech companies are following suit.
Austin is a U.S. and international cultural melting pot as people are moving here from every part of the world. For the last decade, Austin and the surrounding area has been making room for 150 new residents daily. In fact, the Austin area has seen more proportionate growth from net migration than any other major U.S. metro since 2010. As new tech companies migrate to Austin, their employers are moving with them. Due to the massive migration to Austin, people have brought their culture and influences from larger urban cities with them and made Austin a uniquely diverse, high-tech progressive city.
Texans widely consider Dell to be the flagship corporation that gave birth to the Austin tech ecosystem. Many employers and executives who started with Dell have become “Dellionaires” and have subsequently started new tech companies in the Austin and surrounding areas. Combine that with the University of Texas, and the annual South by Southwest music and technology conference, we see the city's tech presence on the map grow each year, bringing in tech experts and entrepreneurs from around the globe.
Austin's tech industry has observed that people in the arts and music business also fuel the tech industry here. Many musicians and artists work in the tech field, so there's a huge overlap of art and technology. The strong foundational tech base combined with the creative aspect becomes a powerful amalgamation that breeds new ideas and fuels innovation. This is a young city with an enormous pool of tech talent.
All of these factors make Austin a unique presence for new or established tech companies and startups to successfully grow, evolve and improve in a competitive and rapidly changing world environment.
