Welcome To Austin SAFeDATA

As of January of 2008 the estimated Greater Austin Metropolitan Statistical Area Population is 1,593,819 and the Greater San Antionio Metropolitan Statistical Area Population is 2,003,819. The Greater Austin-San Antonio Combined Statistical Area includes Austin, Georgetown, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Bastrop, Kyle, Wimberley, San Marcos, Lockhart, San Antonio, Boerne, New Braunfels, Seguin, Castroville & Floresville.

The Greater Austin-San Antonio Urban Area`s populus estimated to be 3,805,638. This would make the Austin-San Antonio Region the 15th largest Metropolitan area in the US.

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 main campus of the University of Texas is located in Austin. 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.

Before the arrival of settlers from the US, the area that later became Austin was inhabited by a variety of nomadic Native US tribes, including the Tonkawa tribe, the Comanches, and the Lipan Apaches.

At first, the new capital thrived. By the early 1840`s the populus stood at about 850 people. But when Lamar`s political enemy Sam Houston regained the presidency in 1841, he used two Mexican army incursions to San Antonio as an excuse to move the government to Washington (now known as Washington-on-the-Brazos). Within months Austin`s populus had shrunk to about 200, and many Texans assumed that the city would die. Remaining Austin residents responded to the threat by forcibly keeping the national archives in their city in defiance of President Houston`s attempts to bring them to Washington.

Anson Jones became president in 1844. The following year he called a convention in Austin to discuss annexation to the US as well as to consider a new constitution. Once annexation became official, delegates wrote a new state constitution in which Austin was again named the seat of government.