Pound for pound, does Austin outcompete other sunbelt cities in terms of wealth? (crime, compared)
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Austin is starting to resemble an expensive west coast city, do you think it is the most wealthy sunbelt metro pound for pound?
And do you think it is positioned to become another Seattle and leapfrog the large metros in the south?
Its GDP is smaller than all of the poll options except one, and also smaller than Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Portland, to name a few.
With regards to housing prices, the big difference is that the west coast metros have proven that they can sustain their prices, while is almost universally agreed that Austin is one of the nation's most overvalued markets.
Its GDP is smaller than all of the poll options except one, and also smaller than Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Portland, to name a few.
With regards to housing prices, the big difference is that the west coast metros have proven that they can sustain their prices, while is almost universally agreed that Austin is one of the nation's most overvalued markets.
When people say pound for pound, this usually means some kind of adjustment for size in terms of some denominator. I think in the case of GDP, it'd probably be something like GDP *per capita* rather than total raw GDP. That'd be something like this or this where Austin does do pretty well compared to the other cities the OP mentioned.
When people say pound for pound, this usually means some kind of adjustment for size in terms of some denominator. I think in the case of GDP, it'd probably be something like GDP *per capita* rather than total raw GDP. That'd be something like this or this where Austin does do pretty well compared to the other cities the OP mentioned.
There are a lot of people who just flat don't like Austin because of the attention it receives. Some of them have never even been there. I do think Austin and Raleigh have some of the highest per capita income among sun belt cities.
To answer to OPs question, I don't see Austin ever leaping over Dallas, Houston, or Atlanta. Those cities have far too big of a lead and will get first looks for corporate relocations. Austin's too nichey. It's focus is on tech, government, education and music festivals with overrated bands.
And football. But we're pretty bad at that right now.
On a per-capita level, because Austin is heavily focused on high-end tech as well as Government operations, it is very difficult to beat because it doesn't have much in the way of low to mid-career level opportunities. In this aspect, Austin very much reminds me of Seattle. DFW and Houston suck up operations & logistics like vacuums and Austin isn't geographically suited for either of them so its growth will likely remain catered to tech.
On a per-capita level, because Austin is heavily focused on high-end tech as well as Government operations, it is very difficult to beat because it doesn't have much in the way of low to mid-career level opportunities. In this aspect, Austin very much reminds me of Seattle.
Agreed. This is what I love about Austin but also what I hate about Austin. It would be cool if San Antonio were a little closer to balance them out
There are a lot of people who just flat don't like Austin because of the attention it receives. Some of them have never even been there. I do think Austin and Raleigh have some of the highest per capita income among sun belt cities.
To answer to OPs question, I don't see Austin ever leaping over Dallas, Houston, or Atlanta. Those cities have far too big of a lead and will get first looks for corporate relocations. Austin's too nichey. It's focus is on tech, government, education and music festivals with overrated bands.
And football. But we're pretty bad at that right now.
Agree with overall - Atlanta/DFW/Houston are more than 2x larger and of course will always feel more "wealthy" as there will always be more wealthy people (in raw number) even if you have the same percentage of wealthy people.
And I wouldn't say "hate" but I find ATX tend to be overrated on city-data as people talk it up to the point that it's somehow now on par with the like of SF or Boston even in raw numbers. Sure, it's a nice metro area with lots of people moving there (often from rest of Texas anyway...and California) with a prospering economy, but it's still a mid-size metro ultimately and would not become a giant 7M metro area alas Houston/DFW overnight (plus do ATX really want all those Houston-like crimes?)
P.S. Let's just not talk about Longhorns football...sigh...
There are a lot of people who just flat don't like Austin because of the attention it receives. Some of them have never even been there. I do think Austin and Raleigh have some of the highest per capita income among sun belt cities.
To answer to OPs question, I don't see Austin ever leaping over Dallas, Houston, or Atlanta. Those cities have far too big of a lead and will get first looks for corporate relocations. Austin's too nichey. It's focus is on tech, government, education and music festivals with overrated bands.
And football. But we're pretty bad at that right now.
I agree with the large current size difference makes a total leapfrog possible in our lifetimes though I disagree with the idea that Austin is too niche-y. If anything, I think Austin in some ways is far more diversified because of the broader balance of public and private sector and the general categories you mentioned of tech, government, education, and tourism (to a lesser extent) can internally by themselves cover a very diverse array of fields since tech, government, and education, notably higher education with a strong research component, can overlap into many different fields and sectors with the letter two having a higher degree of stability even in economic downturns.
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