Austin Happenings

Austin — known for being the Live Music Capital of the World (more than 120 live music venues), the River City and an integral hub for the high-tech industry — is giving you a lot of great excuses to call it home:

Lifestyle

• One of our favorite spots: Ice-cold Barton Springs, a spring-fed pool
• Hamilton Pool is a beautiful natural swimming hole and waterfall.
• Zilker Park is the huge city park on the lake near downtown.
• Austin is the state capitol and home of the University of Texas.
• There are too many great restaurants to list, but we have to mention the Oasis eatery. Located on the steep cliffs overlooking Lake Travis, it's one of Austin's biggest attractions (and the place to be at sunset).
• Austin has a great climate.
• The city has great parks, hills and trails (including 20,000 acres of parks in the area).
• The world's largest colony of Mexican free-tailed bats (1.5 million; see the video) lives under the Congress Street Bridge.

Arts & Music

• Each October: The Austin City Limits music festival
• Each March: The South by Southwest (SXSW) music and film festival
• Austin has a ton of other great arts and entertainment.
• If you are looking for a decidedly "Austin" evening, David and Mary Jane Keast personally recommend dinner at Artz Rib House and then a cold beer and dancing at Austin's famous Broken Spoke dance hall, both on South Lamar.

Business

• There are no state taxes in Texas. None.
• Austin offers a low cost of living.
• Austin has a low per capita tax burden (only five other states have a lower state and local tax burden!)
• Austin is a major player in the high-tech industry
• Austin offers an abundance of Green utility incentives

Want to know more? You can find almost anything you want to know about the city at the Austin Chamber of Commerce Web site.