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Austin’s Reign as a Tech Hub Might Be Coming to an End

Regional tech hubs across the U.S. are losing talent as workers return to the coasts, with Austin being one of the hardest hit

 

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Isabelle Bousquette
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Updated May 20, 2025 12:14 pm ET

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Nearly five years after Austin, Texas, became a darling of the tech industry, luring companies out of California with the promise of lower taxes and a better quality of life, the city is now bleeding tech talent that is flowing back to the coasts.

A new report from venture-capital firm SignalFire shows that in 2024 Big Tech employment declined 1.6% in Austin, and startup employment fell 4.9%. Tech employment in Dallas and Houston also declined, along with cities like Denver and Toronto. Tech employment grew, on the other hand, in New York and San Francisco. 

It is a shift from five years ago, when Texas seemed like a growing Sunbelt beacon for tech, luring companies like Tesla, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Oracle from California, and inspiring a number of remote tech workers and startups to follow them. But many of those companies have since laid off workers and Oracle actually relocated from Texas to Nashville, Tenn.

 

“I think that promise was never realized,” said Asher Bantock, SignalFire’s head of research. “This idea that it would become a new startup hub didn’t materialize.”

Return-to-office requirements combined with the burgeoning artificial-intelligence industry centralizing in Silicon Valley drew workers back West, while Austin’s fluctuating living costs and outdated infrastructure left new transplants frustrated, Bantock said. 


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Gabriel Farid Guerra said he was extremely underwhelmed after moving to Austin from New York in 2022. Working a completely remote job at the time, he said he signed a one-year lease in the city, chasing the idea that it was “the new, booming U.S. tech hub.”

Compared with New York and San Francisco, he said, tech events were harder to find, the quality of events was lower and opportunities for new roles were sparser. Public transit also left something to be desired, he said. 

He broke his Austin lease after six months, and after bouncing to Boston and Washington, D.C., Guerra moved to San Francisco. He recalled that when he was living in D.C., he was asked in which regions his then-employer, startup Antithesis, should promote its software product.

“They gave me a list of cities and asked me about Austin, and I said, ‘No, not Austin. It’s kind of dead.,” he said. 

Reza Khosravi, a startup founder, relocated in 2021 from San Francisco to split his time between Dallas and Austin. He found the move to be a big culture shift. Innovation and diversity are deeply ingrained in Silicon Valley culture, he said, adding, “I did not find that in Austin.” 

AI brought him back to San Francisco, where the networking and learning opportunities are unmatched, he said. SignalFire’s numbers show that Big Tech employment in San Francisco grew 1.8% in 2024, while startup employment grew 0.8%.

Aerial view of Austin, Texas, skyline and highway system.

Austin has seen a decline in both Big Tech and startup employment, a report from SignalFire says. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Thom Singer, chief executive of the nonprofit organization Austin Technology Council, said Austin remains a compelling tech city and believes its best days lie ahead. The city is improving infrastructure and fluctuating costs of living are stabilizing, he said. While the scale of opportunities and the AI hub in San Francisco can’t be denied, Austin has a unique sell, and it isn’t trying to compete with the coasts, he said.

“You can’t view a short-term slowdown following unprecedented growth as the end of the story,” he said.

 
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New York also is drawing talent, fueled by an influx of AI companies that aim to sell to large enterprises. Big Tech employment in New York grew 2.2% in 2024, while startup employment grew 3.7%, according to SignalFire. 

LinkedIn’s data tells a similar story. From May 2024 to April 2025, the migration of tech, information and media workers from San Francisco to Austin decreased 23%, compared with a year earlier. New York to Austin moves decreased by 11% over the same period.

But workers are still moving to the Sunbelt, said Kory Kantenga, head of economics for the Americas at LinkedIn, and some of the workers leaving Austin are staying nearby in cities like Dallas. 

“People are putting down roots in these regional tech cities all across the country and I think that’s frankly good for America,” said Julie Samuels, president and CEO of Tech:NYC, a nonprofit advocacy group for New York’s tech sector. 

“But people who want to ride the AI wave, people who are really ambitious, who are trying to build big companies, those people are really attracted to the coasts right now,” she added.    

  • Haha 1
Posted

Amaravati dhebba….Austin Abba..!

Thank you Ursa Clusters and Quantum Valley..

Posted
Just now, Android_Halwa said:

Amaravati dhebba….Austin Abba..!

Thank you Ursa Clusters and Quantum Valley..

 @Konebhar6 will attack you uncle chusko asale valla range chala high and you are very jealous of them anta

Posted

Okappudu db lo Austin next Bay Area ani .. house prices will only go up ani oka mahaanubhavudu dil-pe theskuni full personal aipoyevadu 

Posted
2 hours ago, Android_Halwa said:

Amaravati dhebba….Austin Abba..!

Thank you Ursa Clusters and Quantum Valley..

anna planning to stay only in 2 place

US lo Dallas

India lo Amaravathi

Posted
4 minutes ago, perugu_vada said:

Okappudu db lo Austin next Bay Area ani .. house prices will only go up ani oka mahaanubhavudu dil-pe theskuni full personal aipoyevadu 

hype lo overpriced homes konna valla situation enti

Posted

it was never a tech hub for god's sake. Just a wannabe tech jub. Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, NC had more tech jobs than Austin at any point of time..

Posted
32 minutes ago, perugu_vada said:

Okappudu db lo Austin next Bay Area ani .. house prices will only go up ani oka mahaanubhavudu dil-pe theskuni full personal aipoyevadu 

Ekkada go up, ma travisso lo max 2023,24 batch under the water

Posted
10 minutes ago, ManOffSteel said:

it was never a tech hub for god's sake. Just a wannabe tech jub. Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, NC had more tech jobs than Austin at any point of time..

1.2 million daka teskellaru 3.5k sqft homes 

Posted

LinkedIn’s data tells a similar story. From May 2024 to April 2025, the migration of tech, information and media workers from San Francisco to Austin decreased 23%, compared with a year earlier. New York to Austin moves decreased by 11% over the same period.

 

 

Ante inka move avuthunnaru $%^.. idi just a blip .. malli punjukuntundi Austin market *u(

Posted
2 minutes ago, mettastar said:

LinkedIn’s data tells a similar story. From May 2024 to April 2025, the migration of tech, information and media workers from San Francisco to Austin decreased 23%, compared with a year earlier. New York to Austin moves decreased by 11% over the same period.

 

 

Ante inka move avuthunnaru $%^.. idi just a blip .. malli punjukuntundi Austin market *u(

I wish, adedo twaraga punjukunte inkoka rental property konali

Posted
11 minutes ago, mettastar said:

LinkedIn’s data tells a similar story. From May 2024 to April 2025, the migration of tech, information and media workers from San Francisco to Austin decreased 23%, compared with a year earlier. New York to Austin moves decreased by 11% over the same period.

 

 

Ante inka move avuthunnaru $%^.. idi just a blip .. malli punjukuntundi Austin market *u(

Austin lo house konnavu ani ardam aindhi.

Austin will be saudi in next 1 year

Posted

Atla ante etla anna.. monne Leander lo million dollar home sign chesina @Piscop em kavali

Posted
Just now, TOM_BHAYYA said:

Atla ante etla anna.. monne Leander lo million dollar home sign chesina @Piscop em kavali

nuvvu stratford university daggara konni settle ainavu manchigaa

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