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2010
JAN Austin is 5th Best City to Live, Work & Make Movies.
Trade publication MovieMaker’s new ranking moved Austin to the No. 5 slot from its 10th place ranking last year. The city has appeared somewhere on this top 10 list for 10 consecutive years. Others at the top of the 2010 list include: Albuquerque, No. 1; Los Angeles, No. 2; Shreveport, No. 3; New York, No. 4.
(MovieMaker, 1/18/10)
JAN Austin ranks low for Rate of Home Foreclosures.
Austin metropolitan area properties with foreclosure filings represent only 1.25% of area housing units, according RealtyTrac’s Year-End 2009 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report . Nationally, the rate is 2.21%. No. 1 ranked Las Vegas has a foreclosure rate of 12.04%. Burlington, VT and Utica, NY report the lowest rate, 0.05%, in the ranking of metros with 200,000 or more population.
(RealtyTrac, 1/28/10)
JAN Texas Installed the Most Wind Power in 2009.
Texas installed more wind power, 2,292 megawatts, than any other state last year, according to the year-end market report from the American Wind Energy Association . Indiana came in second with 905 megawatts added. Last year, the nation as a whole installed more wind-creating facilities than any other year, erecting nearly 10,000 megawatts of new generating capacity, or enough to serve more than 2.4 million homes. Texas total installed capacity now totals 9,410 megawatts and the next largest state is Iowa with 3,670.
(American Wind Power Association, 1/26/10)
JAN Texas ranks among Lowest for Debt Burden.
Forbes places Texas 4 th best among the 50 states on the magazine’s “Debt Weight Scorecard.” The analysis employed a dozen or so factors, including unfunded pension liabilities, changes in tax revenue, debt as a percentage of GDP, debt per capita, growth expectations for employment and the state economy, net migrations and a ratio that compares government employees, pension burdens and Medicaid enrollees to private-sector employment.
(Forbes, 1/21/10)
JAN Austin metro rated the Most Conducive to Creation & Development of Small Businesses.
The nation’s top score for small-business vitality, according to a new Portfolio.com/bizjournals study, belongs to Austin , the state's capital and the center of a thriving metro with 1.7 million residents. The highest scores, based on a six-part formula used to analyze the 100 largest metros, went to areas that have prosperous economies, are expanding rapidly, and are densely packed with small businesses. Austin emerged as the clear winner, based on its outstanding performances in statistical categories of critical importance to entrepreneurs: Austin saw population growth four times faster than the national rate of increase, impressive long term job growth, and faster small business growth than any other market.
(Portfolio.com, 1/18/10)
JAN Texas ranks low for Rate of Foreclosure Filings.
Though 4 percent more foreclosed in 2009 than 2008, Texas came in 29 th among U.S. states for the share of housing with foreclosure filings. Slightly more than 1 percent of homes foreclosed in Texas, or about 100,045. The rate equates to about one in 94 houses. Nationally, foreclosures represent 2.21% of housing units. State foreclosure rates in 2009 ranged from 0.5% (Vermont) to 10.17% (Nevada).
(RealtyTrac, 1/13/10)
JAN Austin No. 2 among Best Places to Retire & Row in the U.S.
This is a huge honor which demonstrates the exceptional live-ability and row-ability of Austin and a survey/article will be published in the 2010-2011Rower's Almanac.
(RowingandSculling.com, 1/11/10)
JAN Austin ranked Best City to Invest in Commercial Real Estate.
Austin has the best prospects for commercial real estate investment this year, a Grubb & Ellis Co. forecast reported. Each year, the firm ranks the top 10 local markets in terms of long-term investment potential. In the office sector, Austin, Texas, took the top spot on Grubb & Ellis’ Investment Opportunity Monitor, a proprietary market ranking in which Grubb & Ellis annually measures 59 office markets against criteria important to the performance of real estate investments. Austin is anchored by a top-notch university and state government, and offers an advanced business base and the ability to attract young, educated workers.
(Grubb & Ellis, 1/4/10)
JAN Austin is home to the No. 3 Cleantech University.
Where will the cutting edge companies that transform the industries of cleantech going to come from? Venture capital firms now keep tabs on chemical and engineering labs at some of the best U.S. universities as potential sources of new cleantech companies. This ranking from The Cleantech Group identifies the 10 U.S. academic institutions best suited take part in the pipeline of collaboration of businesses, universities, state initiatives, investors and research dollars leading to commercially viable product. The University of Texas at Austin is a historical leader in energy innovation, R&D and teaching. UT is using its leadership of the conventional energy industry as a launching pad for continued leadership in the cleantech revolution. The inventor of the lithium-ion battery, John Goodenough, is a professor of mechanical engineering at UT. The university also is a leader in algae based biofuels. UT is a part of a multimillion dollar DARPA-sponsored project to produce jet fuels from algae. UT Austin was also awarded $35 million in research on carbon sequestration by the Department of Energy. Notable cleantech spinouts include: ActaCell, Advanced Hydro, Graphene Energy, Organic Fuels, and Inspired Solar.
(The Cleantech Group, 1/4/10)
JAN Austin is 9th Easiest City to Find a Job.
Job search engine Juju.com’s Job Search Difficulty Indexranks 50 major cities based on the number of unemployed in a metro area vs. the number of jobs available. According to the index, Austin has 4 unemployed individuals per advertized job. No. 1 ranked Washington has 2 unemployed per job.
(Juju.com, 1/10)