Austin Is Building a Mini Silicon Valley, With Some of the Same Problems
The heart of the Lone Star state is looking like a real tech hub, as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Juul make plans to expand.
Pedestrians cross South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas.
Photographer: Matthew Busch/Bloomberg
Three years ago, Brin Chartier went to Austin, Texas, for the South by Southwest festival and decided she wasn’t going to leave. The then 27-year-old found a job at a tech startup and moved there from Boston the following year. “I fell in love,” she said.
Lots of cities are trying to fashion themselves as the next Silicon Valley, but Austin is truly having a moment. Its economy, population and list of high-profile employers have all ballooned in recent years. Chartier is among a wave of Austin transplants, attracted by the mix of affordability, opportunity and eclecticism. “So many new people were moving in,” Chartier said. “It’s been wild. After a month or two, I was old news.”