Austin took the #2 spot in this national top-40 list for its economic strength.  Interestingly, 8 of the remaining top 10 on this list are in driving distance of Austin.  It’s no accident that these areas continually make these top-10 lists from various sources, the Texas area has economic strength and stability!  It’s what draws so many to the area as well.

1. San Antonio, TX
2. Austin, TX
3. Oklahoma City, OK
4. Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR
5. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
6. Baton Rouge, LA
7. Tulsa, OK
8. Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA
9. Houston-Sugarland-Baytown, TX
10. El Paso, TX

Austin, a high-tech center, is also home to the University of Texas. Employment in the Austin metro peaked in the fourth quarter of last year. Gross metropolitan product peaked in the second quarter. Home prices grew 2.5% in the second quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. And the unemployment rate in June was 7.1%, up 2.6 points from a year earlier.

Job growth (since peak) rank: 2
Gross Metro Product (since peak) rank: 2
Unemployment change (year over year) rank: 16
Home price change (year over year) rank: 18

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Forbe’s list of America’s Best Bargain Cities based on average salary, annual unemployment statistics, the Housing Opportunity Index, and the cost of living:

1. Austin, Texas
2. Phoenix, Arizona
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Fort Worth, Texas
5. Cincinnati, Ohio
6. Indianapolis, Indiana
7. Columbus, Ohio
8. Dallas, Texas
9. Houston, Texas
10. San Antonio, Texas
11. Nashville, Tennessee
12. Denver, Colorado
13. Cambridge, Massachusetts
14. Kansas City, Missouri
15. Detroit, Michigan

Austin topped the list with high marks in all four indicators used by Forbe’s, and 4 other Texas cities joined Austin in this National top-15 list:  Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.

Nearly a decade ago, after making a donation to a volunteer-run radio station in Austin, Texas, local librarian Red Wassenich was asked why he chose to support a broadcaster with a penchant for playing strange crooner music. “Because it keeps Austin weird,” he said.

Since then, the phrase “Keep Austin Weird” has become the city’s official rallying cry against the establishment of large chain stores near mom-and-pop shops–and, more generally, for maintaining the city’s eccentric feel. The city may be weird, but perhaps more redeeming is that it’s also a bargain to live there: Austin is the place where people pay the least to get the most.

“Austin has always been really different from the rest of Texas,” says Wassenich, 59.

(Money Magazine) — On paper it seems like the perfect time to refinance. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage recently hit a 20-year low when it fell below 5% in mid-March. And the Fed has said that it will spend $300 billion to buy back government-backed Treasury bonds; that will probably keep loan rates low for months to come.

But wade into the mortgage market, and you may quickly feel as if you’re trying to grab a dollar in a game-show booth where the money is blowing around: Those ultralow rates are right in front of you, yet maddeningly elusive.

Lenders, grappling with deadbeat homeowners and shifting regulations, have pared back on mortgage products and upped credit requirements. Still, you have a good incentive to try: If you took out a mortgage two years ago, when rates were in the mid-sixes, you stand to drop your rate nearly two percentage points, saving almost $300 a month on a $300,000 loan. Here’s how to navigate the roadblocks.

7. Austin, Texas

Population: 715,000

Patents per 10,000: 19

Venture capital invested: $707 million

Average household expenditures: $51,877

Average commute: 21 minutes

Sources: Coldwell Banker Home Price Comparison Index; Zoom Porespector; U.S. Patent Office; U.S. Census; Growthink Venture Capital Research

While it might not be easy to save money in Manhattan or Beverly Hills, the cost of living in Austin, Texas, or Sunnyvale, Calif., is far more reasonable. With the economy in its current straits, expect to see a lot of former high-fliers looking to pinch pennies.