The fundamentals that made Austin a top 20 finalist and have helped our city be a leader in job generation—our incredible talent and lifestyle—haven’t changed.

Amazon already calls our region home. It has created thousands of jobs here with Amazon Web Services, the fulfillment center in San Marcos and, just last year, it acquired Whole Foods—a true Austin original.

We want to congratulate Arlington, Virginia, and New York City on their success and wish them and Amazon well. We want to thank our partners for helping the Austin region be one of the 20 finalist regions—no small feat.

One of the many positive outcomes from this process was an increase in interest from job creators around the world looking to relocate or expand in the Austin region. As we prepare to launch Opportunity Austin 4.0 in January 2019, we look forward to having more relocation and expansion announcements and continuing our strong relationship with Amazon.

While we appreciate interest in our bid for Amazon’s second headquarters, as with all our other economic development projects, it is not our practice to share details of these proposals.

Economy

Since 2004, Opportunity Austin and the Austin Chamber of Commerce have helped make the Austin region the envy of the world:

• 375,000 direct new jobs gained

• 863 company expansions and 515 company relocations

• $21 billion increase in local payroll

• $9,462 increase in per capita income

• $26,680 increase in family income

• 2% decrease in the poverty rate

Talent

The Austin region is known as the Human Capital:

• College graduates make up 43% of our adult population

• Since 2007, worked to increase number of local high school students going directly to college by 38%

Community

Opportunity Austin has focused on infrastructure development to make our communities more connected and affordable:

• Helped achieve more than $7 billion in Central Texas mobility project funding

• Advocated for improved infrastructure through “Take on Traffic” campaign

• Worked with regional partners to bring Austin its first transatlantic flight

• Supported efforts to cut base electricity rates in Austin

Innovation

Opportunity Austin has worked toward creating a strong and deeper ecosystem for our start-up and high-growth companies to diversity our local economy:

• First to call for a new medical school in Austin

• Launched Central Texas Regional Center of Innovation and Commercialization

• Helped develop the Central Texas Angel Network

• Created the Austin A-List of the Hottest Startup Companies

• Partnered with Capital Factory to launch a community center and co-working space

Learn more about Opportunity Austin here.