• Austin named no. 1 Big City for Jobs. Of the 10 large cities with the best employment prospects, Austin is the leader. Austin also was

named the 6 th best city for jobs in the overall ranking. (Forbes, 4/12/09; also New Geography, 4/15/09)

 

• UT's McCombs ranks 18 th among nation's Best Business Schools. According to U.S. News & World Report, 82.4% of McCombs' 2008

graduates were employed full-time as of graduation. (U.S. News & World Report, 4/12/09)

 

• Texas ranks 13 th Happiest State. (Mainstreet.com, 4/6/09)

 

• Texas is the nation's 2 nd Largest Cyberstate. Texas remains the second-largest cyberstate by tech employment, behind California and

ahead of New York. (TechAmerica, 3/31/09)

 

• Forbes.com Ranks Austin the 8th Best Place for Business and Careers (Forbes.com, 3/27/09)

 

• Texas voted Best for Business by Chief Executive. Texas was ranked No. 1 on the magazine’s list, based on surveys done by 543 CEOs,

for the fourth straight year. (Chief Executive, 3/25/09)

 

• Austin & Raleigh are Fastest-Growing Metro Areas. Raleigh-Cary, N.C., and Austin-Round Rock, Texas, were the nation’s fastest-growing

metro areas between 2007 and 2008. The Austin metro saw its population climb 3.8% between July 2007 and July 2008, to 1.7 million. The

Austin metro area was the location of the sixth fastest growing county (with over 10,000 population), Williamson, as well as 10th-ranked Hays

County. (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 3/19/09)

 

• Austin-Bergstrom International among Top Performing Airports. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) ranked 3 rd in North

America (the top 2 being Canadian airports). Additionally, ABIA ranked 3 rd for its size (5-15 million passengers) among airports around the

globe. (Airports Council International , 3/10/09)

 

• Austin named no. 2 Healthiest Housing Market for 2009. While other markets lost employment, Austin added 17,400 jobs last year, 2.3%

growth rate. It helps that Austin is home to both a major university, The University of Texas, and the state capital. (Builderonline.com, 2/17/09)

 

• Austin named one of America’s Top 30 Most Wired Cities. Since 2007, Forbes has measured cities' wired quotient by computing the percentage

of Internet users with high-speed connections and the number of companies providing high-speed Internet. Since many urban residents

access the Internet by wi-fi, we also measure the number of public wireless Internet hot spots in a particular city. (Forbes.com, 1/22/09)

 

• Austin named one of 15 Coolest North American Cities. Famous for Tex-Mex food and its eclectic music scene, bustling Austin is also the

capital of the Lone Star state. Many visitors find its laid-back atmosphere especially appealing. (MSN Travel, 1/22/09)

 

• Austin named one of America’s 25 Strongest Housing Markets. "Texas has the best large-state economy in the country right now," says

Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy.com.(Forbes, 1/7/09)

 

• Texas ranks 4th on a new list of Best States to Start a Business. (U.S. News & World Report, 1/6/09)