Residents of Austin are known as "Austinites," and include a mix of university professors, students, politicians, lobbyists, musicians, state employees, high-tech workers, blue-collar workers, and white-collar workers. The city is home to enough large sites of major technology corporations to have earned it the nickname "Silicon Hills." Austin's official slogan promotes the city as "The Live Music Capital of the World", a reference to its status as home to many musicians and music venues. In recent years, many Austinites have also adopted the unofficial slogan "Keep Austin Weird"; this refers partly to the eclectic and progressive lifestyle of many Austin residents, but is also the slogan for a campaign to preserve smaller local businesses and resist excessive commercialization. For more information visit the Austin offical website.

Climate
Austin has a humid subtropical climate, characterized by hot summers and mild winters. On average, Austin receives 33.6 inches (853.4 mm) of rain per year, with most of the precipitation in the spring, and a secondary maximum in the fall. During springtime, severe thunderstorms sometimes occur, though tornadoes are rare in the city. Austin is usually at least partially sunny.

Austin summers are usually hot and humid, with average temperatures of approximately 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) from June until September. Temperatures above 100 °F (38 °C) are common. The highest recorded temperature was 112 °F on September 5, 2000. For the entire year there is an average of 111 days above 90 °F (32 °C) and 198 days above 80 °F (27 °C).

Winters in Austin are mild and dry. For the entire year, Austin averages 88 days below 45 °F (7 °C) and 24 days when the minimum temperature falls below freezing. The lowest recorded temperature was -2 °F on January 31, 1949. Snowfall is rare in Austin, but once every year or two Austin is hit with an ice storm that freezes roads over and shuts down much of the city for around a day.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 656,562 people, 265,649 households, and 141,590 families residing in the city (roughly comparable in size to San Francisco, Memphis, and Columbus). The population density was 1,007.9/km² (2,610.4/mi²). There were 276,842 housing units at an average density of 425.0/km² (1,100.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 65.36% White, 10.05% Black or African American, 4.72% Asian, 0.59% Native American, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 16.23% from other races. 2.99% were from two or more races. 30.55% of the population were Hispanic or Latino, who can be of any race.

There were 265,649 households out of which 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.1% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.7% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.14.

In the city the population was spread out with 22.5% under the age of 18, 16.6% from 18 to 24, 37.1% from 25 to 44, 17.1% from 45 to 64, and 6.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 105.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $42,689, and the median income for a family was $54,091. Males had a median income of $35,545 vs. $30,046 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,163. About 9.1% of families and 14.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.5% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over. From the year 2000 to 2005, the median house price in Austin grew 34%.

The Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Area had 1,513,565 people as of 2006. Combined with the population of the San Antonio metropolitan area (nearly 75 miles to the southwest; the two areas together are commonly referred to as South Central Texas), the region is home to about 3.6 million people.

Austin is consistently ranked among the three safest cities per capita of any size in many categories and for many reasons, especially because annually, per 100,000 people there are fewer than 5 people murdered.

Economy
Thousands of graduates each year from the engineering and computer science programs at The University of Texas at Austin provide a steady source of employees that help to fuel Austin's technology and defense industry sectors. The metro Austin area has much lower housing costs than Silicon Valley, but much higher housing costs than many parts of rural Texas. As a result of the relatively high concentration of high-tech companies in the region, Austin was strongly affected by the dot-com boom in the late 1990s and subsequent bust. The general consensus is that high-tech recovery is proceeding rapidly. Austin's biggest employers include the State of Texas, The University of Texas, the SETON Healthcare Network, Dell, IBM and Freescale Semiconductor (spun off from Motorola in 2004). Other high-tech companies with operations in Austin include Apple Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Vignette, AMD, Applied Materials, Cirrus Logic, Hoover's, Inc., Intel, Motive Inc, National Instruments, Samsung, Silicon Laboratories, Sun Microsystems, and United Devices. The proliferation of technology companies has led to the region's nickname, "the Silicon Hills," (Austin was originally "Silicon Gulch", but San Jose, California already had that distinction) and has spurred rapid development that has greatly expanded the city to the north, south, east, and west.

In addition to global companies, Austin features a strong network of independent, locally-owned firms and organizations such as the Austin Independent Business Alliance. The success of these businesses reflects the high level of commitment by the citizens of Austin to preserving the unique spirit of the city, and has been tied to the "Keep Austin Weird" campaign. Small businesses from restaurants to clothing shops to salons to arts companies in Austin enjoy a lively existence gained by direct competition with large national and global rivals. The government, as Austin is the TX capital and politically active, non-profits, and schools (the university and colleges, preschool-12th grade) also provide many jobs. Whole Foods, a market/grocery store specializing in organic, local, and natural foods and other goods (now a corporation) started in and is based out of Austin, and work in the food industry/farming/culinary arts also provides a surprisingly high amount of employment/income for many people.

Attractions
As Austin's official slogan is The Live Music Capital of the World, the city has a vibrant live music scene with more music venues per capita than any other U.S. city. Austin's music revolves around the many nightclubs on 6th Street and an annual film/music/multimedia festival known as South by Southwest. The city also has a burgeoning circle of live performance theater venues such as: Zachary Scott Theatre Center, Vortex Repertory Company, Salvage Vanguard Theater, Arts on Real, Scottish Rite Children's Theater, Hyde Park Theatre, and the Esther's Follies comedy & magic show which has been operating for over 3 decades now. The longest-running concert music program on American television, Austin City Limits, is videotaped on the University of Texas at Austin campus. Austin City Limits and Capital Sports & Entertainment run the Austin City Limits Music Festival, an annual music and art festival held at Zilker Park in Austin. The long-running outdoor musical, the Zilker Park Summer Musical expects to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2008. The Urban Music Festival is held during the Texas Relays weekend every April. Other annual events include Eeyore's Birthday Party and the Austin Reggae Festival (previously named Bob Marley Festival) in April and Carnaval in February. Halloween, the two Mexican independence days (Cinco de Mayo and El 16 de Septiembre), St Patrick's Day, Mardi Gras, July 4th, and Juneteenth (Emancipation Day) are all widely celebrated. First Thursday is a popular festival which takes place the first Thursday of each month.

Austinites take pride in eccentricities and celebrate differences and being different (in lifestyle, character, beliefs, etc.). "Keep Austin Weird" has become a local motto in recent years, featured on innumerable bumper stickers and t-shirts. This motto has not only been used in promoting Austin's eccentricity and diversity, but is also meant to bolster support of local and independent businesses. This motto has been parodied on bumper stickers making fun of conservative suburbs: "Keep Round Rock mildly unusual" and "Keep Georgetown normal."

Ballet Austin is the fourth largest ballet academy in the country. Each year Ballet Austin's twenty member professional company performs ballets from a wide variety of choreographers, including their international award winning artistic director, Stephen Mills. Ballet Austin has traveled around the world performing in Europe, twice at the Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.), and in New York City's famous Joyce Theatre.

Nationally known Austinites include Willie Nelson, Lance Armstrong, Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock , Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez, Andy Roddick, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Michael Dell. Other well-known Austinites can be found in the List of Austinites.

Many of the tourists that visit Austin come for its vibrant nightlife; however, there are many other attractions in Austin, including the Texas Memorial Museum, the Blanton Museum of Art (opened in 2006), the galleries at the Harry Ransom Center, and the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum across the street (which opened in 2000). The Texas State Capitol itself is also a major tourist attraction. The Driskill Hotel built in 1886, located at 6th and Brazos, was finished just before the construction the Capitol building. Sixth Street is a musical hub for the city but also includes annual festivals such as the Pecan Street Festival and Halloween night. A very strange and eccentric, unique Austin haven for weird arts such as fire-dancing and circus-like-acts is the Enchanted Forest, which hosts many outdoor art and performance events.

The Congress Avenue Bridge houses the world's largest urban population of Mexican free-tailed bats. Starting in late February, up to 1.5 million bats take up residence inside the bridge's expansion and contraction zones as well as in long horizontal grooves running the length of the bridge's underside, an environment ideally suited for raising their young. Every evening around sunset, the bats emerge in search of insects, an exit visible on weather radar. Watching the bat emergence is an event that is popular with locals and tourists, with more than 100,000 viewers per year. The bats migrate to Mexico each winter.

Considering Austin's "Earth-friendly" persona, it is appropriate that the Austin Zoo, located in the Oak Hill neighborhood just north of U.S. 290, is a rescue zoo that provides sanctuary to displaced animals from a variety of unfortunate and often neglectful situations.

Austin also has several well-known swimming locations. These include Deep Eddy Pool, Texas' oldest man-made swimming pool, and Barton Springs Pool, the nation's largest natural swimming pool in an urban area. Both are spring-fed and maintain a constant temperature of 69 degrees year-round -- swimming in Barton Springs at Christmas is an annual tradition for many Austinites. Hippie Hollow, a county park situated along Lake Travis, is the only clothing-optional public park in Texas. Activities include rockclimbing, kayaking, swimming, exploring, and hiking along the greenbelt, a green, lush, long-spanning area that runs through the city. Hamilton Pool is a gorgeous and cool (temperature-wise) pool and wildlife park located about 30 minutes from the city and is strongly recommended by many locals.

Farmers markets are popular attractions, provided a variety of locally grown and often organic goods.

Sports
Austin is the largest city in the country without a franchise in any of the four major sports leagues. Instead, Austinites enthusiastically support the University of Texas Longhorns' sports programs. The University of Texas football and baseball teams each won their respective national championships during the 2005-2006 seasons. Minor-league professional sports came to Austin in 1996, when the Austin Ice Bats began playing at the Travis County Expo Center. Since then, they have been joined by many other teams.

Also, Austin is home to many rock-climbers, swimmers, divers, snorkelers, mountain bikers, cyclists, as the cities numerous trails and limestone rock formations support such outdoor activities. Cycling is popular partly due to an environmental awareness and also due to the popularity of native Austinite Lance Armstrong. It is a city of volunteering, activism, intellectualism, charity, and giving to the community; the sense of community is strong and people participate in many events to help their neighbors and many causes.

In addition to team sports, the combined draws of the bicycle-friendly Texas Hill Country that begins in Northwest Austin, the centrally-located Lady Bird Lake Hike and Bike Trail, and local pools like Barton Springs make Austin the home of several endurance and multi-sport races and communities. The venerable Capitol 10,000 is the largest 10 K race in Texas, and approximately fifth largest in the nation. The Austin Marathon has been run in the city every year since 1992. The Austin-founded American Swimming Association hosts the open water swimming event, the Academy Capital 2K, and other closed-course, open water, and cable swim races around town. Austin is also the hometown of several cycling groups and the champion cyclist Lance Armstrong. Combining these three disciplines is a growing crop of triathlons, including the Capital of Texas Triathlon held every Memorial Day on and around Lady Bird Lake, Auditorium Shores, and downtown Austin, even crossing 6th Street on several legs of the race.

Education
Given the title of America's #1 College Town by the Travel Channel, Austin is home to The University of Texas at Austin, one of the largest universities in the country. It is also the flagship institution of The University of Texas System — the largest state system of higher education in Texas. Other institutions of higher learning include Austin Community College, Concordia University, Huston-Tillotson University, St. Edward's University, the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, the Acton School of Business, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and a branch of LeTourneau University.

Most of the city is covered by the Austin Independent School District. Parts of Austin are served by other districts, including Round Rock Independent School District, Pflugerville Independent School District, Leander Independent School District, Manor Independent School District, Del Valle Independent School District, and Eanes Independent School District. Researchers at Central Connecticut State University ranked Austin the 16th most literate city in America for 2005.

Private and alternative education is also available for children in preschool-12th grade. Institutions include Garza (which is public), the Waldorf schools, The Griffin school, St. Stephen's, St. Mary's, St. Michael's, St. Andrew's, Huntington-Surrey, and many Montessori schools. Liberal Arts and Science Academy of Austin at LBJ High School has been considered by many magazines and scholars to be one of the best public high schools in the country, and Kealing and Fulmore middle schools participate in similar and similarly nationally-acclaimed programs known as the magnet programs. There are also some elementary, middle, and high schools that ofter gifted & talented, and International Baccalaureate programs.

Transportation
Central Austin is bracketed by Interstate 35 to the east and the Mopac Expressway to the west. U.S. Highway 183 runs from northwest to southeast, and State Highway 71 crosses southern part of the city from east to west, completing a rough "box" around the central and north-central city. Austin is the largest major city to be served by only one Interstate Highway.

In November 2006, Austin opened the first segments of its first-ever tollway system: State Highway 130 runs from Georgetown, Hutto, Round Rock, Pflugerville, where it connects with 45, passes US 290 just between the city limits of Austin and Manor, extending around the east side of the city until it ends at 71 just east of the airport. The next segment will loop around the airport to the east and meet with US 183 south of Creedmoor, then the last few segments will continue southward until it reaches Interstate 10 in Seguin, east of San Antonio.

Austin's airport is Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (IATA code AUS), located 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the city.

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro) provides public transportation to the city, primarily by bus. Capital Metro is building a commuter rail system that is scheduled for completion in 2008. The system will be built on existing freight rail lines and will serve downtown Austin, East Austin, Northwest Austin, and Leander in its first phase. An Amtrak Texas Eagle station is located west of downtown. Segments of the Amtrak route between Austin and San Antonio are under evaluation for a future passenger rail corridor as an alternative to the traffic congestion of Interstate 35.

Many citizens are demanding a light-rail system, better and more common bike-rails to be made all over the city that will be easily accessible/rideable and safe, better pedestrian sidewalks and lanes, and alternative modes of transportation, as car congestion is quite bad recently due to the sudden population boom and people refusing to carpool, take the bus, seek alternative modes and/or alternative modes being unavailable. Solutions are being worked on.