Austin Is Nation's 3rd Most Changed City This Decade: Report

AUSTIN, TX — Those who've long lived in the capital city have bore witness to the sweeping changes that have swept through as the municipality has grown at breakneck speed. A newly released study further confirms that expansion, ranking Austin as the third most-changed among the nation's top metros.

As the decade comes to an end, Apartment List ranked the top 10 metros that experienced the most change over the course of the 2010s. Researchers found that Austin in the top three in terms of metamorphosis. Some highlights:

• From 2010 to 2018, Austin was the fastest growing of the nation’s 50 largest metros, with population growth of 22.7 percent.
• The share of Austin area households earning over $100,000 grew by 52.8 percent over the same period.
• Austin experienced a 6.6 percent increase in the share of households that contain married couples, but a 9.4 percent decline in the share with children.

To arrive at these rankings, we analyze changes across a comprehensive set of metrics on local housing markets and demographics.

In their report, researchers suggested the ever-changing landscape runs counter to locals' rallying cry to “Keep Austin Weird,” something of a municipal mantra alluding to the city's erstwhile uniqueness.

Indeed, the area has seen significant change over the course of this decade. Most notably, the Austin metro's 22.7 percent population gain in the studied period is the biggest increase among the 50 largest metros.

The growth has been fueled by the burgeoning tech industry, with both large and small tech companies increasing their presence in the city. Apple is a case in point. The company has grown its Austin workforce by 50 percent over just the past five years, and recently broke ground on a new $1 billion campus, as researchers noted.

The changes are such as to yield nuanced metrics in researchers' reckoning, analysts noted. The Austin metro experienced a 6.6 percent increase in the share of households that contain married couples — the biggest change among the 50 largest metros. However, Austin also saw a 9.4 percent decline in the share of households with children.

Related stories:

• Pet Dogs Supplant Children As East Austin Gentrifies: Study
• Study Shows Corrosive Effects Of Gentrification In East Austin

The child-less landscape wrought by gentrification is most pronounced in East Austin, and has been pointed out before. In a May 2018 study, Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis researchers at The University of Texas at Austin showcased the "resounding effects" of gentrification on East Austin residents.

Among the study's most astonishing findings was that East Austin — once largely a working-class enclave populated by Latino and black residents — now has twice as many dogs as it does children as an influx of Millennial singles charmed by the quirky sector have prompted a development boom — luxury apartments, upscale eateries, high-end cocktail bars — catering to the new demographic.

The net effect of that gentrification-fueled wave of real estate prospecting in East Austin has been exponential increases of property rates across the board, displacing an untold number of families no longer able to afford escalating property taxes.

Such sweeping, development-fueled change also has given Austin the dubious distinction of being the only major city in the U.S. to see a decline in its African American population. As previously reported by the Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis, Austin was the only fast-growing major city in the U.S. to show a decline in African Americans between 2000 and 2010. The reason for the exodus, researchers found, was rapid gentrification to Austin's former "Negro District" — established through Jim Crow in 1928 — priced out long-term residents, uprooting and displacing them to the surrounding, more affordable suburbs, according to researchers.

The upshot: Within the decade, East Austin's white population increased by 442 percent, the black population decreased by 66 percent and the Latino population decreased by 33 percent, according to the findings.

To see how Austin compares to the rest of the top 10 as studied by Apartment List, check out its full report here.