Situated on the banks of the Colorado River, Austin is an eclectic town noted for its politics, scholars, rolling hills, live music, boutiques, movie stars, and even for Central Market, a gourmet grocery store that offers a world-class cooking school, seated massages, and live music performances.
But Austin is greater than its natural and artistic assets. An emphasis on education has made Austin one of the most highly educated cities in the nation. This environment has attracted numerous technology-based firms into the Austin area and has propelled Austin into its position as one of the fastest-growing cities in America.
In 2003 Forbes magazine ranked Austin as one of the best cities in America for business and careers. The New York Times wrote: "Austin is a difficult place to categorize, at once the least Texas and most Texan of cities. With a burgeoning high-tech industry, a university population of close to 50,000, the endless carnival of Texas statehouse politics and a music and restaurant scene that would be envied by a city twice its size, Austin is a mecca for writers, scholars, Hollywood stars … it is also the main Texas city … where the great myths of Texas seem to find their most eloquent voice" (January 10,1999).
