Article Contributor: Ben Burton, Austin Community College | Journalism Major
Main Industries and Major Employers
The City of Austin’s economy is booming, and there are many reasons why. Three of the crucial components in this strong period of prosperity are:
#1 Austin’s strong foundation as the capital of Texas (government employment).
#2 As the home of the University of Texas (educational employment)).
#3 And for its constantly growing technology industry (high-paying-hi-tech-hub of Texas).
The major fields of industry include:
Healthcare, Real Estate, Financial & Business services, Marketing, Accommodation and Food services, and last but not least, Tourism (SXSW), all of which contribute to the economic health of the city. One of the driving forces in Austin’s rapid economic expansion is the young, well-educated, and industrious workforce. Many hi-tech companies are relocating to Austin because it has the most highly educated population in Texas. The low unemployment rate, the high average salary rate, and the absence of any income taxes are some of the benefits of living and working in Austin. The WallStreet Journal ranked the Austin area #1 for growing businesses. Forbes Magazine listed Austin in the top 20 Best Places for Business and Careers.
Austin Main Industries
#1 – Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services
95,000 (approx. # of people employed). Job titles & average salary examples(approx.)
Accountant – $63,000
Attorney – $133,000
Developer/Programmer – $82,000
Graphic Designer – $65,000
Journalist – $90,000
Chief Executive Officer – $215,000
Chief Financial Officer – $190,000
Aerospace Engineer – $107,000
Software Developer -$97,000
Software Engineer – $82,000
Data Scientist – $102,000
Information Security Analyst – $82,000
Computer Research Scientist – $115,000
Web Developer – $78,000
Social Media Manager – $55,000
Growth Hacker – $72,000
#2 – Educational Services- 61,000 employees
Teacher – $55,000
Accountant – $58,000
Administrative Assistant – $40,000
High School P.E. Coach – $51,000
High School Principal – $88,000
UT Full-time Professor – $140,000 (nationally $113,000)
UT Associate Professor – $89,900
#3 – Healthcare and Social Assistance- 58,000 employees
Dentist – $226,000
Nurse – $76,000
Pharmacist – $109,000
Accountant- $63,000
Software Engineer – $82,000
Administrative Assistant – $49,000
Optometrist – $127,000
Biomedical Engineer – $80,000
Chiropractor – $152,000
Physician (Hospital) – $234,000
Physician Neurology – $260,000
#4 – Accommodation & Food Services – 48,000 employees
Chef – $80,000
Business Analyst – $119,000
Accountant – $63,000
Administrative Assistant – $49,000
Sales Representative – $64,000
Hotel Manager – $50,000
Restaurant Manager – $55,000
Bartender – $22,000
Waitperson – $31,000
Prep Cook – $30,000
Host/Hostress – $26,000
#5 – Retail Trade – 48,000 employees
Software Engineer – $82,000
Accountant – $63,000
Business Analyst – $119,000
Financial Manager – $194,000
Sales Representative – $64,000
Retail Stoer Manager – $46,000
#6 – Construction – 39,000 employees
Electrical Engineer – $98,000
Mechanical Engineer – $96,000
Roofer – $39,000
Architect – $91,000
Construction Worker – $43,000
Brick Mason – $53,000
Mason Helper – $31,000
Surveyor – $48,000
Construction Inspector – $56,000
#7- Manufacturing- 35,000 employees
Sales Representative- $64,000
Business Analyst- $119,000
Financial Manager- $194,000
Contract Manufacturing Manager- $109,000
Director Manufacturing- $104,000
Manufacturing Engineer- $81,000
Manufacturing Technician- $45,000
#8 – Public Administration – 32,000 employees
Administrative Assistant – $49,000
Internal Auditor – $103,000
Policy Advisor – $74,000
Human Resource Specialist – $68,000
Attorney – $133,000
Event Coordinator – $43,000
Government Administrator – $54,000
Business Administrator – $63,000
Austin Area Major Employers
E-Commerce Online Retail
Amazon.com LLC
11501 Alterra Pkwy
Austin,TX 78758
(972) 729-6115
https://www.amazon.com
Corporate office Austin employees- 11,000 approx. Online shoppingand specialty retail.
Retail
Walmart Inc.
702 Southwest 8th St.
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716
(479) 273-4000
https://www.walmart.com
Corporate headquarters Austin employees- 15,000 approx.
Retail co., super-centers, discount department stores, and grocery stores.
HEB
8100 Cameron Rd.
Bldg. A-200
Austin, Texas 78754
(512) 646-8500
https://www.heb.com
Corporate office Austin employees- 18,400 approx.
27 grocery/pharmacy stores
HEB Digital and Favor Eastside Tech-Hub
2416 E. 6th St.
Austin, Texas 78702
https://digital.heb.com
(737) 236-9600
Corporate office Austin employees- 600 approx.
Total HEB Austin employees- 19,000 approx.
Digital technology products and curbside/home delivery (express- 2hr.)
Education
University of Texas-Austin
110 Inner Campus Dr.
Austin, Texas 78712
(512) 471-3434
https://www.utexas.edu
Austin employees- 24,000 approx.
Public Research University provides a first-class education.
Austin Independent School District (Austin ISD)
4000 S. I-H35 Frontage Rd.
Austin, TX 78704
https://www.austinisd.org
(512) 414-1700
Main Headquarters Total Austin ISD employees- 10,943 approx.
Classroom teachers- 5,508 approx.
Administrators & Professional staff- 1,569 approx.
Bus drivers, custodians, food service staff, & Educational aides- 3,866 approx.
125 schools (elementary, middle, high, early college, academy, magnet, alternative, & community).
ACC Austin Community College District
5930 Middle Fiskville Rd.
Austin, Texas 78752
https://www.austincc.edu
(512) 223-7000
Highland Business Center Austin employees- 5,000 approx.
Public Community College System. The best college value in Central Texas.
St. Edwards University
3001 S. Congress Ave.
Austin, Texas 78704
(512) 448-8400
https://www.stedwards.edu
Main Campus Austin employees- 1,750 approx.
A Holy Cross private university. One of the leading providers of higher education in the U.S.
Government
Texas Workforce Commission
311 W. 13 St.
Austin, Texas 78701
(512) 463-2222
https://www.twc.texas.gov
Austin employees (State) – 62,853. (Federal) – 12,795
Federal and State Government employment agency.
City of Austin
Workforce Solutions
North location- 9001 N, N. Interstate Hwy 35 Ste 110 Austin, Texas 78753 (512) 454-9675
South location- 6505 Burleson Rd. Austin, Texas 78744 (512) 381-4223
East location- 3401 Webberville Rd. #1000 (in Austin Community College Eastview Campus)
www.austintexas.gov
Austin employees – 13.8 K
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
Dell Technologies
1 Dell Way
Round Rock, Texas 78682
(800) 289-3355
https://www.dell.com
Corporate headquarters Austin employees- 13,000 approx.
PCs, network servers, data storage solutions, software, and related products.
Samsung Austin Semiconductor
12100 Samsung Blvd.
Austin, Texas 78754
https://www.samsung.com
(512) 672-1000
Electronics manufacturer
Austin employees- 3000+
Samsung will build a $17 billion semiconductor factory in the Austin suburb of Taylor, Texas.
“This is the largest foreign direct investment in the state of Texas, ever.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbot said in announcing the project.
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE)
14231 Tandem Blvd.
Austin, Texas 78728
https://www.hpe.com
(888) 342-2156
Multinational Enterprise Information Technology Co.
Austin employees – 500 approx.
Apple Inc.
12545 Riata Vista Circle (W. Parmer Ln.)
Austin, Texas 78727
https://www.apple.com
(877) 412-7753
Electronics manufacturer
Austin employees – 7000 approx.
Tesla Gigafactory
Eastern Travis County at Del Valle
Austin, Texas 78725
https://www.tesla.com
(888) 518-3752
Automotive manufacturing facility Teslamotors CEO Elon Musk recently announced that the Tesla manufacturing plant being built near Austin will hire more than 10,000 workers through 2022. Musk also announced that he and
Tesla headquarters are relocating to Austin, citing that California “has taken innovators for granted.” Austin Mayor Steve Adler Stated that “We are one of the safest big cities, with a strong innovative entrepreneurial environmentally focused culture, and Tesla fits right in. Tesla is now an even larger part of a community that works together to meet our challenges and to enjoy a magical city.” Austin, Nov. 22 (Reuters)-Tesla Inc. is planning on spending more than$1 billion on its new vehicle factory in Austin, Texas, and plans to complete construction by the end of this year, public filings with the TX Dept. of Regulations showed.
IBM Corporation
11400 Burnet Rd., Bldg. 045
Austin, Texas 78758
https://www.ibm.com
Corporate office Austin employees – 6000 approx.
It services, cloud & cognitive offerings, enterprise systems, and software.
Adobe Inc.
11501 Domain Dr. #110 (in the Domain north-side)
Austin, Texas 78758
https://www.adobe.com
(512) 740-7398
Corporate office Austin employees – 300+
Digital media and digital marketing solutions
Electronic Arts
7700 W. Parmer Ln. Ste. 250 Bldg. 3 , Bldg. C
Austin, Texas 78729
https://www.ea.com
(512) 687-9700
Corporate office Austin employees – 750 approx.
Software company, digital interactive entertainment, develops and delivers games.
Google Austin
500 W. 2nd St. Suite 2900
Austin, Texas 78701
(512) 343-5283
https://careers.google.com
Company office Austin employees – 1400 approx. Multinational technology company
Oracle
2300 Oracle Way
Austin, Texas 78741
(800) 392-2999
https://www.oracle.com Corporate office
Austin employees- 2500 approx.
The 2nd biggest software company in the world. The world’s largest database company.
Healthcare
Ascension Seton
1345 Philomena St.
Austin, Texas 78723
(512) 324-1980
https://healthcare.ascension.org
Business office Austin employees – 15,000 approx.
Critical care hospitals/emergency rooms with advanced specialty care services.
St. David’s Healthcare Partnership
919 E. 32nd St.
Austin, Texas 78705
(512) 544-7111
https://stdavids.com
Medical center Austin area employees – 10,600
One of the 7 locations of the area’s leading hospitals and emergency rooms in Central Texas.
Cornerstone Specialty Hospitals Austin
4207 Burnet Rd.
Austin, Texas 78756
(512) 706-1900
https://www.chghospitals.com
Corporate office Austin employees- 546
High-quality care for patients in need of longer medical stays due to multiple and complex medical conditions.
So Why Austin?
Jill Gonzalez- Analyst for WalletHub (personal finance website) “Texas and Austin have an advantage when it comes to the existing business environment, ”she added “Austin in particular also tends to have easier and better access to resources than most other cities. This means more venture investment capital, but also higher education assets and a growing working-age population.”
Keith Nealon- CEO of Bazaarvoice (advanced technology co., software) that has 13,000 employees including 500 in its Austin headquarters. He calls Austin a boomtown “We will continue to see the different types of technology flourish, from software to AI, to healthcare, to FinTech. With all the brainpower relocating to Austin, definitely expect innovation to accelerate.”
Realtor.com (real estate agency, Santa Clara, CA ) is planning a major expansion. The company is looking to fill dozens of sales, support, and engineering positions in Austin. Ben Rubenstein, Chief
Revenue Officer stated that “We chose Austin because it’s an amazing place and a lot of people are moving to, it has a tremendous workforce. And, yeah, it’s just some great talent in this town.”
Ooni Pizza is a company (based in Scotland) that makes portable pizza ovens. They chose Austin as the site for their North American headquarters. Co-founder Darina Garland explains “We looked at New Jersey, Atlanta, and various other places, including Dallas on the shortlist. When it came to Austin it was like a romantic feeling, like this is our place. We love the quirkiness of it. We love the kind of friendliness. In Austin, there’s so much happening. And so there’s an influx of bright, brilliant people.”
Latham & Watkins (founded in LA, CA. 1934) is the second-largest law firm in the world by revenue (April 2021- 4.3 billion USD) with 4,500 employees and 2,858 attorneys. They are opening a new office in Austin. The firm chose Austin for the area’s thriving market and growing influence on the US and global economy.
TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES THAT MOVED THEIR HEADQUARTERS TO AUSTIN IN IN2021
| Tesla – Freemont, CA. | MarKaas – Los Angeles, CA. | BluePallet – Chicago, IL. |
| Blockcap – Las Vegas, NV. | Green Dot – Pasadena, CA. | CrowdStreet – Portland,OR |
| NinjaOne – San Francisco CA. | INVZBL – Charlotte, NC. | GovOs – Dallas, TX. |
| Harmonate – San Jose, CA. | iFly.vc – San Francisco, CA. |
