What's so great about Austin, Texas?

What's So Great About Austin Texas?

Top 10 Best Big Cities to Live ( Money.com - 2006)

1. Colorado Springs, CO
2. Austin, TX
3. Mesa, AZ
4. Raleigh, NC
5. San Diego, CA
6. Virginia Beach, VA
7. Omaha, NE
8. Columbus, OH
9. Wichita, KS
10. New York, NY

50 Smartest Places to Live (Kiplinger.com - June 2006)

1. Nashville, TN
2. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
3. Albuquerque, NM
4. Atlanta, GA
5. Austin, TX
6. Kansas City
7. Asheville, NC
8. Ithaca, NY
9. Pittsburgh, PA
10. Iowa City, IA

Top 50 Cleanest Cities in America (Readers Digest - July 2005)

1. Portland, OR
2. San Jose, CA
3. Buffalo, NY
4. Columbus, OH
5. San Francisco, CA
6. Denver, CO
7. Rochester, NY
8. Austin, TX
9. Orlando, FL
10. San Diego, CA

Top 10 Cities for Walking

Prevention Magazine - August 2006
1. Portland, OR
2. Colorado Springs, CO
3. Madison, WI
4. Boise City, ID
5. Las Vegas, NV
6. Austin, TX
7. Virginia Beach, VA
8. Anchorage, AK
9. Fremont, CA
10. Raleigh, NC

Top Cities for Clean Technology (SustainLane - 2007)

Austin, TX
San Jose, CA
Berkeley, CA
Pasadena, CA
Boston, MA

Top 10 Cities for Moviemakers

MovieMaker Magazine - Winter 2005
1. New York, NY
2. Austin, TX
3. Philadelphia, PA
4. New Orleans, LA
5. Portland, OR
6. Chicago, IL
7. Los Angeles, CA
8. Miami, FL
9. Baltimore, MD
10. Orlando, FL

Top 10 Wireless Cities ( LiveScience.com - June 2005)

1. Seattle-Bellvue-Everett-Tacoma, WA
2. San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland, CA
3. Austin, TX
4. Portland, OR-Vancouver, WA
5. Toledo, OH
6. Atlanta, GA
7. Denver, CO
8. Raleigh-Durham, NC
9. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
10. Orange County, CA

Top 10 Metros for Future Business Locations ( Expansion Magazine - August 2006)

1. Austin, TX
2. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WIS
3. Raleigh-Cary, NC
4. Dallas-Ft. Worth-Arlington, TX
5. Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land, TX
6. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-WVA
7. Madison, WS
8. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
9. Pittsburgh, PA
10. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ

Top 10 Hot Cities for Entrepreneurs ( Entrepreneur.com - September 2005)

1. Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
2. Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC
3. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
4. Las Vegas, NV-AZ
5. Indianapolis, IN
6. Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV
7. Atlanta, GA
8. Nashville, TN
9. Austin, TX
10. Memphis, TN-AR-MS

Top 10 Healthiest Cities in America ( Sperling's - July 2006)
1. San Jose, CA
2. Washington, DC
3. San Francisco, CA
4. Seattle-Bellevue, WA
5. Salt Lake City, UT
6. Oakland, CA
7. Sacramento, CA
8. Orange County, CA
9. Denver, CO
10. Austin, TX

More Austin Accolades
All Information compiled from www.austintexas.org/visitors/austin_rankings .

Active
Golf Magazine.com lists Barton Creek Resort & Spa among the top 50 golf destinations in the US(August 2006)
Men's Journal ranks Austin #2 among America 's Heart Healthy Cities, citing Mayor Will Wynn's efforts to make Austin the fittest city in the U.S. by 2010. (August 2006)
Austin was named the sixth best walking city in the nation by the American Pediatric Medical Association. (March 2006)
Runner's Worldnames the "25 Best Running Cities in America " and Austin is 11. (July 2005)
Condé Nast Traveler's readers choose Barton Creek Resort as Spa as having one of the top 100 Golf Courses in the world (June 2005)
The American Hiking Society named the Barton Creek Greenbelt number two on its "top 10 top walking trails." Each of the trails named can be completed in 60 to 90 minutes and are within 10 to 15 miles of a major metro area. (May 2005)

Relationships - Austin makes the cut as one of 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live by Gregory A. Kompes. (December 2005)

Good news for singles: according to AXE and with Sperling's BestPlaces Austin is the fourth best city to hook up in America because it is "young and full of fun." (November 2005)

Food
The Hill Country Dining Room at Barton Creek Resort & Spa earned a AAA Four Diamond rating. (November 2005)

Austin earns the number two spot on Vegetarian Times' "Ten Greenest Cities" list. (July/August 2005)

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) places Austin at #8 among America 's top 10 vegetarian/vegan-friendly large cities. " Austin might be University of Texas Longhorn country, but many folks in this vegetarian-friendly oasis would rather meet cows than eat them!" (April 2006)

Tyson Cole, owner & chef of South Austin restaurant Uchi, is one of "America's 10 Best New Chefs," according to Food & Wine magazine's annual ranking. 7, located on South Congress, also has one of ten of the "Best New Wine Lists 2005." (July 2005)

Music & Nightlife
Pollstar names Austin City Limits Music Festival the "Festival of the Year" during it's annual Concert Industry Awards. (February 2006)

Entertainment Weekly declares local radio station KGSR as one of five "Great Old-School Radio" stations, citing "an only-in-Austin blend of alt-country, hippie jams, singer-song-writers, and lots of Willie Nelson, of course." ( October 21, 2005 )

American Way magazine features "The Top 10 Lists of Great American Music" and Austin appears on three of the lists including "great music towns," "great bigger-is-better music festivals" for the Austin City Limits Music Festival and "sacred ground" for Threadgill's restaurant. ( June 1, 2005 )

Austin is among the coolest cities for young professionals, according to Kiplinger.com. The website sited University of Texas , the city's musicians, margaritas and cheap rent as contributing factors to the Capital City 's cool factor. (September 2005)

Austin 's Mean-Eyed Cat bar makes Condé Nast Traveler magazine's annual "Hot Nights" list. The bar is one of only 35 bars or clubs from around the world named in the publication, including nine from the US . Oslo nightclub made the list in 2004. (May 2005)

Sports Illustrated recognized the Longhorn hangout of Scholz Beer Garten as 18 of the "25 Best Sports Bars in America ," noting the bar as being the oldest continuously operated business in Texas

Travel & Leisure
Sperling's BestPlaces and Bailey's Irish Crème named Austin #9 among the Top Ten "Chill" Cities. The survey created a "chill index" based on the behavior of the city's residents and social opportunities the city provided. (July 2006)

Four Seasons Hotel Austin and The Driskill Hotel appear on two prestigious lists, Travel + Leisure's top 500 Hotels and Conde Nast Traveler's 2006 Gold List of the World's Best Hotels. ( January 22, 2006 )

Texas Highways readers choose the tops in Texas with The Oasis as the " Best Place to Watch the Sunset," The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum as the favorite museum and Barton Springs as the "Favorite Swimming Spot." (January 2006)

SoCo's hip Hotel San Jose is one of 10 international Hot Properties, according to Outside Online magazine. (Winter 2005)

For the first time, Lake Austin Spa Resort ranks 10th on Travel & Leisure magazine's list of the world's best spas, as voted by readers. (August 2005)

Austin joins the likes of Bermuda , Hilton Head, South Beach and Yellowstone as one of MSNBC's "top 10 memorial getaways." ( May 26, 2005 )

Business, Technology & Education
Expansion Management magazine puts the Austin area first among U.S. cities in the magazine's fourth annual Mayors Challenge rankings of the best cities for future business locations.

The Wall Street Journal names Austin #3 in a list of America 's Most Innovative Cities. The Capital of Texas had the third-highest number of patents in 2005.

CNN.com ranks Austin among the top ten cities for job growth as the "Sun Belt" provides the hub of tech development from now through 2015.

Each year, Intel ranks the top 100 U.S. Cities and regions with the greatest number of commercial and public wireless Internet access points and Austin ranks third. (October 2005)

Entrepreneur.com and the National Policy Research Council rank Austin number 9 in a ranking of "Hot Cities" for entrepreneurs . Austin also took the number 8 spot for "young companies" and the number 10 spot for companies experiencing "rapid growth." (September 2005)

Austin came in sixth in a study by Silicon Valley naming the nation's top tech hubs. The study compared business and quality-of-life issues, claiming Austin has affordable housing, electricity and state taxes. (September 2005)

UT rocks and the proof is in the fact that Austin takes the number four slot on the top fifty schools that rock, detailed in Schools That Rock: The Rolling Stone College Guide book. (July 2005)

The US Census Bureau reports that Austin ranks 5^th among the most educated cities in the U.S. 45.1% of the population has a college degree, or higher.

An Intel survey ranks Austin third among top WiFi cities in the country based on commercial and free wireless internet access. (June 2005)

The Austin area ranked third on Forbes magazine's "Best Places" for business and careers, giving the Capital City high marks for education attainment, net migration to the area and the cost of doing business in the region. (May 2005)

Families & Living
Money magazine lists Austin as #2 among the 10 best places to live, judging on financial, educational and quality of life criteria, among others. (July 2006)

Sperling's BestPlaces and msn.com rate Austin among "8 Cheap Places You'd Want to Live." The survey highlights citywide economic prospects and cultural atmosphere. (July 2006)

Men's Journal ranks Austin number two among the "50 Best Places to Live." The magazine ranked the "Best of the Best" the cities that are the perfect combination of adventure, attractiveness, and affordability. (April 2006)

According to DogFancy Austin is one of the top 10 cities to be a dog. (November 2005)

Austin is number one for the second consecutive year on Hispanic magazine's, "Top 10 Cities for Hispanics to Live In" list. (August 2005)

Austin ranks eighth of " America 's Cleanest Cities," according to Reader's Digest. (July 2005)

Local film director Robert Rodriguez is one of the nation's 25 most influential Hispanics, according to Time magazine. ( August 16, 2005 )

Austin is third in a listing of 150 places to live in an upcoming book, How people Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness by the former publisher of Forbes magazine, Rich Karlgaard.

Austin again makes Men's Journal's list of "50 Best Places to Live"- this time at number 35. The city also received the "Best Nightlife" accolade, beating out New York City .

According to a study by UHAUL International Inc., Austin ranked third on its list of fastest growing cities, sighting a growth spurt of about 6.4 percent in 2004.

Family and Kid Friendly - Austin is a very kid and family friendly city - many nice restaurants (not just fast food) have playgrounds and play areas were grown ups can have a nice sit down meal and kids are playing outdoors in a fenced play area in plain view of them. Just about every restaurant goes out of its way to accommodate and welcome children, and so too do supermarkets and other stores. There is even a large jewelry store that has a kids play area!

People tend to be very relaxed around, and accepting of, children wherever you go. The weather is beautiful so there are lots of nice pools and parks that are open late and many families stay out late since it is cooler at night. Zilker park is a great public park that has a little working train that runs throughout the day that the kids can ride on for just a few dollars. There are all kinds of free children events going on all of the time and Austin has a nice Children's museum right downtown as well. Even many of the apartment complexes that cater to families who need to rent while they are building or looking for a home to buy, have lots of children's amenities.

Great for Single People - I know it sounds like a contradiction, but Austin is a very friendly kid and family city as well as being one of the best cities for Singles (Austin is just that kind of place). There are so many "young professionals" here due to all of the high tech companies as well as the University which has lots of graduate and doctoral students. The downtown area has become a booming, trendy, artsy place with lots of lofts and condos that many young, single professionals are buying. There are many hip cafes, art galleries, upscale, but casual restaurants and of course many great bar/restaurants with live music where people gather to meet.

What's So Great About Austin Texas?