Austin: We have even more bragging rights!!

The June 12, 2006 edition of the Austin Business journal reported that according to a study by Bizjournals.com, Austin and San Francisco tied for second as the smartest big city in the U.S. Seattle was number one. The other top 10 cities were Colorado Springs, Minneapolis, Charlotte, San Diego, Washington, Portland, Ore., and Albuquerque.

Seattle, San Francisco and Austin rank first, second and third among large communities because they're the only ones where more than 40 percent of adults have bachelor's degrees.

In another article on MSN written by Liz Pulliam Weston, Austin was among the "8 cheap places you'd want to live" according to MSN's survey. The criteria was based on low housing costs, affordable cost of living, and a good local economy. They also noted that the location must be desireable and should include a college or university because "There's the vibrancy of the college scene, arts and lecture series, concerts (both touring and student-produced), guest professors, literary events, classes to audit, and not least, college sports, which some prefer to pro sports."

All of the selected cities had their down sides, but overall they were the best of the best. Here's "how Austin compares":

Population Austin 681,804
Median home price Austin $167,900 US Average $217,900
Median household income Austin $45,508 US Average $44,684
Cost-of-living index Austin 90.6 US Average 100
Unemployment Austin 4.30% US Average 5%
Future job growth Austin 24.15% US Average 9.06%

"Several years ago, a local resident told me that Austin had the largest population in the world of "Ph.D waiters," Ph.D waiters," which was his shorthand for highly-educated folks who opted to work menial jobs rather than leave their beloved city for better prospects elsewhere. A world-class music scene, great bars and the largest university in the U.S. are among Austin's attractions -- plus there's all the fun of watching the Texas legislature, given that this is also the state capital.

"These days, of course, the Ph.Ds don't have to leave Austin for better prospects. The city's shaken off much of the fallout from the dot.com blowout: Sperling describes Austin as a "rising star" economically.

"Watch out for: Allergy season can be long and brutal. And it's really, really hot in summer."

We Austinites are proud of our city and have been willing to share it's beauty and uniqueness with all who want to partake. We enjoy knowing we have low unemployment and highly educated residents. The city is big enough without being too big. It has charm as well as high tech. It has natural beauty as well as industry. So it's understandable that we should be highly rated. There is a lot to be said for a booming economy and a bustling tourist industry. However, we need to have some terrific planning going on to help with the population increases coming our way. Too many more highly paid people moving into town is bound to cause the cost of housing, as well as the cost of living, to sky rocket! Not that it hasn't already for most of us. And the roads in and out and around Austin can't get much more clogged than they are already. We have to start looking ahead more and making bigger plans. Austin needs to look out! While the economic BOOM isn't over yet, there might be a pretty big BANG coming later on down the road if we aren't careful!