Austin has attracted the likes of Oracle, Palantir, and SpaceX, among others. Here's what it's like inside Texas's growing tech hub.

austin texas tech scooters 138 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

Austin, Texas, has become one of the hottest relocation hotspots for tech talent during the pandemic.
Tesla founder Elon Musk has a Cybertruck factory under construction outside the city, and his Boring Company recently bought an industrial site nearby.
Big Tech has noticeably made itself more at home in Texas's capital in the last decade, but the industry has a long history in Austin.
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Droves of tech talent from Silicon Valley and beyond continue to head to Austin, Texas - if they haven't landed there already.

In what many have called an exodus from the Bay Area, many tech workers - now untethered to their now-shuttered corporate offices - are able to work remotely and pack up for more affordable locales. Miami and Austin have turned out to be two of the most popular relocation spots.

Oracle is moving its headquarters to Austin, and Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, who already lives in Austin, confirmed in early November that he is moving his venture capital firm, 8VC, there as well. Tech executives like Dropbox CEO Drew Houston have announced they're moving to the Texas city. Tesla founder Elon Musk is building a new Cybertruck factory in Austin, and news recently surfaced that his Boring Company bought an industrial site in Pflugerville, a town just outside of Austin. Musk himself said he has moved to Texas, though it's unclear where exactly.

Google, Facebook, Atlassian, and Oracle have thousands of workers in Austin collectively. And Apple is shelling out $1 billion for a new campus in North Austin, with the potential to add 15,000 more workers to its existing 7,000.

Austin's considerably lower cost of living offers a nice reprieve from the sky-high costs in the Bay Area. But the recent tech boom isn't Austin's first rodeo - the industry has a long history in the capital city.

Here's how the tech industry has ballooned in Austin - and why "Silicon Hills" is so appealing to workers and companies alike.

As the tech industry continues to blossom in Austin, Texas, the capital city earns more and more comparisons to its West Coast tech hub cousin.

austin texas tech scooters 64 — The capitol is seen in downtown Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Bloomberg

Both it and Silicon Valley have experienced rapid tech growth in recent years and are grappling with the side effects that come with it.

transamerica pyramid san francisco california bay area people — The Transamerica Pyramid building is seen in San Francisco, California.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Bloomberg

Gentrification, rising housing costs, and a homelessness crisis are just some of the issues plaguing them.

homeless san francisco — A homeless individual lays on the sidewalk in San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Source: Austin-American Statesman and Bloomberg

But Austin is still leagues behind San Francisco in many respects, which might be why the Texas city has increasingly become a favorable relocation destination for San Francisco techies.

austin texas tech scooters 9 — Downtown Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Business Insider

A 2018 LinkedIn survey placed Austin in the No. 5 spot in a list of the top 10 US cities San Francisco LinkedIn users were migrating to.

austin texas tech scooters 119 — Passersby in Austin's South Congress district.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Business Insider

According to the US census, that influx is noticeable - Austin is the fastest-growing major metro area in the country.

austin texas tech scooters 171 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Curbed Austin

And a 2018 Brookings report cast Austin as No. 6 in a list of US cities attracting the most millennials, making Austin a hotbed for young professionals specifically.

rainey street bars austin texas 90 — Austinites take a load off at one of the many bars lining the city's Rainey Street district.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Brookings

For those seeking a progressive culture, Austin's got it - it's the third-best LGBTQ city in the US, for one thing.

austin texas tech scooters 100 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Austin Culture Map

And although Texas is typically a red state, the city of Austin skews left. As the Austin-American Statesman's Eric Webb writes, Austin is a "blueberry in the tomato soup of Texas."

austin texas tech scooters 131 — A sticker on a car's back window shows support for the one-time Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke in Austin, Texas, in December 2018.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Austin Culture Map and Austin-American Statesman

Throw in a vibrant nightlife and music scene, and you've got a good place to live in the "Live Music Capital of the World."

austin texas tech scooters 76 — A statue of Willie Nelson stands tall outside of Austin's Moody Theatre.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: NME

Austin has also earned another moniker in recent years: Silicon Hills, named after the Central Texas region's signature hill country.

austin texas tech scooters 158 — Downtown Austin is seen from the Congress Avenue Bridge.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: The New York Times

But Austin is no stranger to tech - not even close. The industry has had a foothold in the capital city for decades.

dell computers austin — A woman tests Dell computers on an assembly line in Austin, Texas, in October 1998.
Gregory Smith/Contributor/Getty Images

Source: Austin-American Statesman

IBM's Austin track record traces all the way back to 1937 with the opening of a sales office. It was an early move that cemented the city as a future tech hub.

Ibm austin — An IBM design studio in Austin, Texas, in 2015.
Wikimedia Commons

Source: Austin American-Statesmen

The same goes for Dell Technologies, the Austin area-based company established by now billionaire Michael Dell in 1984. Dell currently employs 138,000 workers worldwide, a reported 13,000 of which are in the Central Texas region.

Source: Austin Business Journal

And in 1983, Austin won a national competition to host the country's first for-profit computer research consortium, providing a resource pool for the top tech companies in the US.

MCC austin texas — The Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation headquarters in Austin, Texas, pictured here in 2005.
Wikimedia Commons

Source: Austin-American Statesman

Known as the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp, or the MCC, it helped establish Austin as a bigger player in the tech world. The MCC stopped operations in 2000.

Capitol Austin Texas — The Texas Capitol building pictured in 2006.
Wikimedia Commons

Source: Austin-American Statesman

In the 1990s, the Capital of Texas Highway, to the northwest of downtown, was a stretch where many tech companies set up shop. They started congregating in downtown Austin instead in the early 2000s.

capital of texas highway skitch — Google Maps/Business Insider

Source: Austin-American Statesman

In 1996, Samsung planted its first chip manufacturing center in Austin.

samsung austin office — Samsung Chairman Jong-Yong Yun (third from the right) along with Texas Governor Rick Perry (third from the left) at the grand opening ceremonies at Samsung Austin Semiconductor (SAS) for "Fab 2" manufacturing facility in Austin.
Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis via Getty Images

Source: Austin-American Statesman

And as far as the Silicon Valley lineup goes, Apple has had a presence in Austin for over two decades now. There are 7,000 workers currently employed by Apple in Austin.

texas austin apple campus — Apple's campus in Austin, Texas, on December 13, 2018.
Suzanne Cordiero/AFP/Getty Images

Source: City Lab

And there's potential for many more - 15,000 to be exact. Apple broke ground last year on a $1 billion campus in North Austin.

austin apple campus — Apple's future campus plans are displayed in the current Austin, Texas, campus on December 13, 2018.
Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP/Getty Images

Source: Apple

The new 3-million-square-foot campus will be less than a mile away from its current location that it opened in 2016, and will add an immediate 5,000 employees to Apple's existing 7,000 Austin workers.

apple austin campus — Google Maps/Business Insider

Source: Business Insider and City Lab

And Apple isn't the only California company to have moved into the Texas city.

austin texas tech scooters 68 — The Google Fiber Space at 201 Colorado St. in downtown Austin.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Mountain View-based juggernaut Google entered Austin's tech ecosystem in 2007 with its acquisition of the email security and archiving service Postini.

austin texas tech scooters 69 — The Google Fiber Space at 201 Colorado St. in downtown Austin.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Google

There are now over 800 Google employees in Austin.

austin texas tech scooters 70 — The Google Fiber Space at 201 Colorado St. in downtown Austin.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Austin American-Statesman

A good portion of them work in Google's swanky new offices down the street from the Fiber space. Teams here work on everything from Android and G Suite operations to finance and marketing.

austin texas tech scooters 82 — Google's offices at 500 West 2nd St. in downtown Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Curbed Austin and Austin Culture Map

The company snagged 300,000 square feet across five floors in this sky-scraping building, which opened in 2017.

austin texas tech scooters 83 — Google's offices at 500 West 2nd St. in downtown Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Curbed Austin

Right next door to it is a tower currently under construction, all 35 floors of which Google has leased, as reported by the Austin American-Statesman.

austin texas tech scooters 84 — Google's offices at 500 West 2nd St. in downtown Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Austin American-Statesman

The 35-story tower will stand right next to the Austin Public Library. When the tower is complete, it will open up hundreds more Google jobs in the capital city.

austin texas tech scooters 88 — The Austin Public Library.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Austin American-Statesman

Google's office is right smack in the middle of downtown, where many other companies have gravitated toward in recent years.

austin texas tech scooters 157 — A view of downtown Austin from the Congress Avenue bridge.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Austin-American Statesman

There's the $2.9 billion co-working firm WeWork that has a handful of locations throughout the city.

austin texas tech scooters 3 — The WeWork location at 600 Congress Ave. in downtown Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Business Insider

Job site Indeed occupies 10 floors in a downtown office building, with more locations to the north of downtown in The Domain shopping center. There are more than 1,600 Indeed employees in Austin.

austin texas tech scooters 42 — Indeed's downtown Austin office.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Indeed and Austin American-Statesman

The $19 billion software maker Atlassian opened an Austin office in 2014 for its then-150-person team. The company now employs more than 400 people in its Austin office. And earlier this year, Atlassian said its employees can work from home permanently.

austin atlassian office building — Atlassian occupies multiple floors in this high-rise at 303 Colorado St.
Google Maps/Business Insider

Source: Silicon Hills News and Business Insider

And thousands more are employed by other tech giants. Facebook has over 1,000 employees in the Austin area, Amazon has 5,600, and software company Oracle has 5,000 in its new waterfront campus.

facebook office employees — Content moderators work at a Facebook office in Austin, Texas, in March 2019.
Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Source: CNBC and Business Insider and Built In ATX

The newer tech fledglings have also sprouted up in recent years. Local Austin startups, including RigUp and DISCO, raised a collective $400 million in venture capital in January 2019.

sxsw austin tech startup — Host Jacob Soboroff, left, speaks onstage at Startup Alley: Fastball Speed Pitches during the 2013 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival at Austin Convention Center on March 10, 2013 in Austin, Texas.
Heather Kennedy/Getty Images for SXSW

Source: Built In Austin

Tech accelerator Capital Factory specifically has injected thousands of dollars into Austin, fueling the city's tech reputation.

capital factory austin obama — US President Barack Obama speaks with Capital Factory Founder Josh Baer, center, and US Chief Technology Officer Todd Park during a tour of Capital Factory.
Joshua Roberts/Reuters

Source: Austin-American Statesman

The city's established tech sector has also helped attract the US Army. Austin was chosen out of 150 US cities to house its new high-tech futures command center.

US Army futures command — US Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, left, and Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville announce that Austin, Texas, will be the new headquarters for the Army Futures Command in 2018.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Source: US News

The unit's goal is to develop new defense technology - and it purposefully chose Austin in hopes that its "weirdness" culture could inspire some out-of-the-box thinking.

austin texas tech scooters 4 — An art installation in downtown Austin.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: US News

Clearly, tech has been a part of Austin's DNA for decades now.

austin texas tech scooters 53 — A view of downtown Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

In the past eight years or so though, tech's influence on Austin has begun to show considerably more...

austin texas tech scooters 130 — The South Congress district in Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Bloomberg

...specifically, in the area's real estate market: Austin's median home value currently sits at $427,116, compared to the national average of $262,604.

austin texas tech scooters 39 — The Frost Bank Tower in downtown Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Zillow and Zillow

The blossoming tech presence has spurred an affordability crisis, just as it has in San Francisco. As tech companies and workers continue to pour into the city, demand and home prices have increased as a result...

austin texas tech scooters 66 — Pedestrians in downtown Austin.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: KXAN and Forbes

...so much so that Austin now has its first $1 million neighborhood, where the majority of homes boast an asking price of at least $1 million.

barton creek neighborhood austin texas million dollar homes 51 — The neighborhood of Barton Creek in Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Business Insider

The Barton Creek neighborhood has historically been one of the city's priciest zip codes and has seen its share of tech elite move in within the past couple of decades.

barton creek neighborhood austin texas million dollar homes 49 — The neighborhood of Barton Creek in Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Renters in the city don't have it much easier. The average price for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,284 a month, but that jumps to $1,992 in Downtown Austin.

austin texas tech scooters 93 — A leasing office in downtown Austin.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Zumper

And as more millennials, who usually rent instead of buy, flock to the city, the market will grow even more saturated, raising the rent in the process.

austin texas tech scooters 55 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Zillow, Austin Culture Map and Austin Curbed

Home prices are projected to continue to rise as well, though at a more stable rate than in years prior...

austin texas tech scooters 161 — A scooter rider scoots across Austin's Congress Avenue Bridge.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Forbes

...especially as West Coast companies continue to move to the Texas capital.

austin texas tech scooters 27 — Downtown Austin.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Forbes

An estimated 300 California companies have relocated their offices to Texas within a one-year period.

austin texas tech scooters 136 — A mural in Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Forbes

And Austin's considerably low cost of living, lower than in other tech-oriented cities, likely offers a nice reprieve for the transplanted workers.

austin texas tech scooters 47 — You can snag an avocado toast at Modern Market in downtown Austin for $4.50.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Bloomberg

A one-bedroom apartment in the city by the bay cost almost $3,280, but those prices have been dropping during the pandemic.

san francisco — Apartment buildings in San Francisco's Mission neighborhood.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: CNBC and Business Insider

Granted, Silicon Valley salaries are the largest in the industry. But even for the highest-earning Bay Area tech workers, the area's cost of living ensures that property-owning and other aspects of a higher quality of life may remain just out of reach.

san francisco california bay area fisherman's wharf people tourists — City-goers in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf district.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Forbes

Making the move to Austin can translate to a bigger bang for your buck - salaries simply go further.

Source: Forbes

Austin's zoning restrictions are also more lax than San Francisco's, so developers have a better chance of keeping up with housing demand by building new inventory throughout the city.

austin texas tech scooters 146 — New apartments sprouting up along South Congress in Austin, Texas.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Bloomberg and City Lab

Some of that inventory leans more toward luxury than affordable, like the Austonian downtown, where condos sell for anywhere between $1,490,000 and $6,995,000.

austonian austin tower apartments — The Austonian in downtown Austin.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Realty Austin

Though with so many high-earning techies in the city, there likely is a market for high-priced living.

austin texas tech scooters 28 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

With a wealth divide comes a homelessness crisis, which Austin has been grappling with. Homeless encampments on city streets have grown more and more pronounced recently.

austin homeless lava mae — Daniel Webster, who is homeless, gets his head shaved at Lava Mae's Pop-Up Care Village, which offers medical care, hair cuts, make-up, showers and other care to people in need.
Brian Snyder/Reuters

Source: Fox 7 Austin

The city of Austin made it legal for homeless people to sleep and set up camps in public areas that aren't parks or sidewalks. The city council told Fox 7 Austin that helping to solve the homeless crisis in Austin was its No. 1 priority for 2019.

lava mae austin homeless — Jennifer, who is homeless, gets her hair cut at Lava Mae's Pop-Up Care Village.
Brian Snyder/Reuters

Source: KLEW and Fox 7 Austin

Another side effect of Austin's growing tech presence is the industry's pervasive culture, which has brought a bout of change to the fabric of the city.

rainey street bars austin texas 54 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

Case in point: electric scooters.

austin texas scooters — Katie Canales/Business Insider

In April 2018, California-based electric scooter startups Bird and Lime illegally dropped hundreds of the dockless vehicles onto the streets of Austin before the city could impose regulations.

austin texas tech scooters 114 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Texas Tribune

A similar ploy played out in San Francisco, angering residents and politicians alike, just like in Austin.

austin texas tech scooters 147 — A scooter rider on South Congress Avenue.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: Business Insider

But Austin soon adapted by establishing guidelines for the ambitious companies.

austin texas tech scooters 67 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

Source: KXAN

And now, the city is crawling with licensed scooters, with locals and tourists alike taking to them to get around town.

austin texas tech scooters 6 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

Iconic Austin sites are speckled with them...

austin texas tech scooters 123 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

...like the "i love you so much" wall in the South Congress district.

austin texas tech scooters 125 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

Younger workers will likely continue to make up Austin's workforce, especially with the nearby University of Texas serving as a talent pool for companies seeking to recruit freshly minted tech workers.

university of texas austin campus — A student on the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas.
Jon Herskovitz/Reuters

Source: Bloomberg

But job opportunities are just one of the drivers bringing millennials to Austin.

rainey street bars austin texas 86 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

Austin also has vast music, art, food, and adventure scenes - all of which have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

rainey street bars austin texas 41 — Bangers in Austin's Rainey Street district is known for its beer selection.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

The Live Music Capital of The World usually provides an endless stream of concerts throughout the city year-round.

rainey street bars austin texas 89 — A band plays on the patio of Craft Pride in Austin's Rainey Street district.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theatre is famous for its shows, like The Shins in 2012.

acl live moody theatre the shins austin texas — The Shins play in Austin's Moody Theatre in 2012.
Andy Sheppard/Redferns via Getty Images

Source: KUT

There are also annual music festivals, like Austin City Limits every fall.

ACL austin texas — The atmosphere during Austin City Limits Festival at Zilker Park on October 14, 2018 in Austin, Texas.
Erika Goldring/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Source: ACL Festival

And South by Southwest, an annual music festival that kicked off in 1987, is held every March. The event was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

johnny cash sxsw austin — Johnny Cash performs at South by Southwest Music Festival in March 1994 in Austin, Texas.
Catherine McGann/Getty Images

Source: CNN and Business Insider

Since its inception, SXSW has evolved from a music-only event and to include, among other things, a prominent tech conference, where techies and startups discuss industry trends and new innovations.

susan wojcicki — CEO of YouTube Susan Wojcicki and Nicholas Thompson speak onstage at Navigating the Video Revolution in the Digital Age during SXSW on March 13, 2018 in Austin, Texas.
Jason Bollenbacher/Getty Images for SXSW

Source: Curbed

For adventurous folk, there's Barton Springs Pool, the Greenbelt, and plenty of outdoor spaces.

austin kayakers — Kayakers on Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin.
Elizabeth W. Kearley/Contributor/Getty Images

But it's Austin's bar and eatery scene that keeps Austinites entertained morning to night.

austin texas tech scooters 134 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

There's the city's Sixth Street stretch in downtown Austin.

austin texas tech scooters 31 — Shakespeare's Pub on Austin's Sixth Street.
Katie Canales/Business Insider

Not far away is Rainey Street, a drag of historic houses turned into bungalow bars.

rainey street bars austin texas 38 — Katie Canales/Business Insider

And Austin's East Side, although having been increasingly gentrified in recent years as a result of the influx of workers, also sports a hip bar scene.