Austin, a 2026 city reportUSA · population 2.47 million metro · index 8.1 of 10

Austin in 200 words.

Austin scored 8.1 on the everycity index in 2026. The headline numbers: rent on a one bedroom in the central districts runs 1,750 dollars/mo (1,750 USD), the monthly all in cost lands at 2,950 dollars for a single resident, the income tax position runs to a top combined rate of 37.0 percent federal, and the safety score is 7.6 on the same 10 point scale we apply to Tokyo, London, and New York.

Austin runs roughly 35 percent below San Francisco, 28 percent below New York, and 12 percent above Houston on the May 2026 basis. The full numbers run by category through this report. If you want the comparison view first, start with Austin vs Miami or Austin vs San Francisco, then return here for the deep read.

The data feeding this report is from our methodology page, with primary sources at the bottom of the page. Numbers are May 2026 unless stated otherwise. Currency is the US dollar, with all figures USD.

One reading note. This is the long form report. If you only want the headline numbers, the city score generator returns the index figure with custom weights in 30 seconds. If you want the comparison view across two cities, the Austin vs Miami page is the first stop. If you want the full continent context, North America places Austin on the regional table. The cross references inside this page run thick deliberately. Skim the section eyebrows and jump to the section that matches the question you came with.

For new readers: this report sits inside Volume 04 of the everycity atlas, our 2026 issue. The methodology has been refreshed against the May 2026 Numbeo, Mercer, and OECD data drops, with primary source rechecks done in March and April 2026. Where the numbers conflict, we use the lower of the published values for cost and the higher for risk; the result is a slightly conservative read that residents tell us matches lived reality. The next refresh ships August 2026.

A 10 point read on streets, day and night.

Austin scored 7.6 overall. The breakdown matters more than the headline.

Compared with the rest of the index, Austin sits within the band of cities where the headline reads cleanly but the night and central district variability deserves attention. The safest cities ranking places Tokyo at 9.6 and Singapore at 9.5 as the top of the global table; for comparison with London at 7.4 and New York at 7.0, Austin ranks in line with peer cities of comparable size.

Practical notes for new residents: the public transport network and the central retail districts are well covered by police, the residential safety record varies by neighborhood (see Section 06), and most petty crime concentrates in the central tourist and nightlife corridors. Carry an international policy from SafetyWing for the first six months while your local healthcare enrollment processes and your private cover settles. The full safety methodology is on our methodology page. The solo female safety ranking and family safety ranking show how Austin compares on those axes specifically.

The four categories that make up the overall safety score are: violent crime, property crime, traffic safety, and emergency response time. Austin is strongest on emergency response and weakest on property crime in the central business district where retail and vehicle theft are concentrated. The Austin safety deep dive walks the four categories with the underlying data from the local police statistics office and the EIU index.

For the comparison view across cities of similar size, the Austin vs Denver page lays the figures side by side. The global safest cities ranking and the low crime ranking set the frame. The expat safety guide 2026 covers the practical move in playbook for the first 90 days.

Who pays, and how much the tax takes back.

Salary medians are May 2026, sourced from Glassdoor, Levels.fyi, and OECD wage data. Tax figures are from the official revenue authority.

The major employers in Austin are: Tesla (now headquartered at Giga Texas), Oracle (HQ moved here in 2020), Dell Technologies (HQ in Round Rock), IBM, Apple (the Austin campus is now its second largest US campus), Google Austin, Meta, Amazon, Indeed (HQ), Bumble (HQ), the University of Texas system, the State of Texas, the Whole Foods Market HQ now under Amazon. The full take home math is sensitive to deductions and statutory contributions, the tax calculator tool is the cleanest way to run the numbers on a real offer. For benchmarking against other cities, the highest paying cities ranking and the Austin vs San Francisco comparison cover the major destinations on the same chart.

Note on tax: Texas levies no state income tax, but property taxes are 1.7 to 2.4 percent of assessed value annually (one of the highest property tax regimes in the country) and the sales tax runs 8.25 percent. Run your number against your actual income, not the headline.

Working culture in Austin is its own variable. The standard week is 40 hours per week, the leave baseline is 10 to 15 days paid time off plus 9 to 11 federal holidays at most major employers. The Austin working culture guide covers the specifics. Negotiating a contract before signing, the boring kind of advice that pays for itself within a year, applies more in some cities than others. Read the relocation checklist for the items the recruiters skip.

Career mobility for the relocated worker is shaped by the visa pathway. The routes available are: the standard US employment visas (H-1B, L-1A, L-1B, O-1, E-2 for treaty country investors), plus the EB-5 investor green card and the relatively rare EB-1 extraordinary ability route. Each carries different processing times, sponsorship requirements, English language thresholds, age caps, and points thresholds. The career growth ranking tracks the pattern across the cities in this issue, and the visa to citizenship guide covers the long term residency and citizenship math that most worker visa holders eventually consider.

One more lens. The dual income household question. In Austin, the H-4 spouse work authorization is restricted; the L-2 spouse gets automatic work rights. The spouse visa guide covers the 30 most common destination cities. Two thirds of the families we surveyed in 2026 underestimated this variable elsewhere; check the local rule against your visa class before signing the offer.

Where to actually live.

Eight neighborhoods, each with the rent number and a one line verdict.

The neighborhood scores feed our neighborhood matcher tool, which takes your lifestyle inputs and returns the right area within Austin on a 1 to 10 fit. For comparable neighborhood guides in other cities, see London neighborhoods, Tokyo neighborhoods, and Miami neighborhoods.

For long term rentals beyond the first month, residents use Apartments.com, Zillow, and HotPads for the major listings; the Austin subreddit and Bungalow for the share market. The application process is competitive: most rentals require credit check (most landlords want 650 plus), proof of income at three times the monthly rent, two prior landlord references, and the security deposit of one month rent. The relocation checklist covers the documentation you will need.

Two neighborhood rules of thumb the data supports. First, the second ring out from the geographic center is almost always the best value: cheap enough to feel like a discount, central enough to feel central. Second, the neighborhood directly adjacent to the most expensive one tends to gentrify next; track the corridor on the map and you can usually pick the right one in fifteen minutes. Apply those two rules across the eight Austin neighborhoods above and the right answer for your budget usually surfaces inside an afternoon.

Schools, if you have kids.

The international school option, the local school option, and the cost of each.

Austin hosts 14 international and high fee independent schools; St Stephen's Episcopal, St Andrew's Episcopal, the Austin International School, the German Texan Heritage Society school, Headwaters School, the Austin Waldorf School, and the magnet programs at Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA) are the established names. Tuition at the major independent schools runs 21,000 to 36,000 dollars a year per child a year per child plus enrollment fees and the building levy.

The family rating for Austin weights school quality, park access, safety, healthcare, and the cost of a three bedroom flat. See the best cities for families ranking for the full table. The relocating with kids guide covers the school admissions calendar; Austin Independent School District registration is rolling for catchment students; the independent school cycle opens in October with most decisions issued by February.

Beyond school, the family experience in Austin is shaped by what is free. Public parks, public libraries, public swimming pools, and free or reduced museum admission are the four amenities that change a family budget the most. Austin offers Zilker Park, Barton Springs Pool (with seasonal admission), the Lady Bird Lake hike and bike trail, the Austin Public Library system, the Blanton Museum of Art with reduced admission days. Track the city you are considering against this checklist before you sign a school contract. The family budget guide models the realistic monthly all in figure for a family of four across 30 destination cities.

For the working couple, on site daycare runs 1,400 to 2,200 dollars a month for full time at the licensed daycares. The Austin childcare guide works through the application timeline and the wait list (six to twelve months for the popular central centers).

University, for the family with teenagers, opens a separate calculation. The major institutions in the metropolitan area include University of Texas at Austin, St Edward's, Huston Tillotson, Concordia. Tuition for domestic students runs 11,800 to 15,400 dollars a year for in state residents; international students pay 42,000 to 56,000 dollars a year for international and out of state students. The cities for university students ranking walks the trade off between cost, prestige, and post graduation work permits. the F-1 OPT runs 12 months for most majors and 36 months for STEM fields, with the H-1B as the standard transition path. Plan two to three years out: most application cycles open eighteen months before enrollment.

What makes Austin itself.

The food signatures, the nightlife rating, the cultural calendar.

Food in Austin: the Texas barbecue cathedral (Franklin Barbecue, La Barbecue, Terry Black's), the Tex Mex tradition (Matt's El Rancho, Curra's, Joe's Bakery), the breakfast taco religion at Tacodeli and Veracruz All Natural, the chef driven scene at Uchi, Olamaie, Suerte, and Emmer and Rye. The casual end of the spectrum runs through the food truck culture that the city did not so much invent as institutionalize, the Vietnamese pho corridor on East Riverside, the Korean BBQ scene on North Lamar. The nightlife scores 8.0 on the 10 point scale, the methodology weights bar density, late hour transport, and the diversity of the scene. The best cities for nightlife ranking places this in context.

Cultural temperament is its own variable. Austin hosts South by Southwest in March (the largest convergence of music, film, and tech anywhere), Austin City Limits Music Festival in October, the Formula One US Grand Prix in October, the Texas Book Festival, the East Austin Studio Tour. For day to day cultural input, the Austin cultural calendar tracks the festivals, museum exhibitions, and gigs worth a flight. Tour bookings for first time visitors and friends arriving for a long weekend run cleanest through GetYourGuide; the local apps mostly resell the same stock.

Two underrated reads on cultural fit: how late the city eats, and how quietly it complains. Austin eats at 18:00 to 20:30, kitchens close by 22:30 with the Sixth Street and Rainey corridors running until 02:00. The cities for foodies ranking lists the food capitals on a single chart. For complaint culture, the local subreddit, r/Austin, and the Texas Tribune comment threads tell you what residents fight about (it is mostly traffic and property tax); the Austin resident grievances roundup reads them so you do not have to.

For language and integration, the cultural integration timeline runs differently in every city. The Austin cultural integration guide covers the practical four to six month window that residents tell us defines whether they stay or leave. Babbel remains the cleanest language learning tool we have tested for the major European languages and Korean; for the rarer locals the in person classes at the regional cultural institutes still beat the apps.