Forbes has just announced what many Austinites already knew: Austin, Texas is the best city to live in for affordability and opportunities. Austin landed number one on their Top 10 list of Best Bargain cities.

The list was based on five points:

- Average salary of workers (Bachelor’s Degree or higher)

- Annual unemployment statistics

- Cost of living

- Housing Opportunity Index (amount of homes sold that are affordable to family with the local median income).

Austin did well in all categories, particularly the unemployment rate, which at 5.5%, is about half the national average.

Why Austin? Austin has three main contributing features: being the state capital, a university town, and a technology industry based city. Further, Texas as a state offers many incentives for entrepreneurs and business owners; Texas is now home to many California businesses that became too expensive to operate in that state. Four other Texas metropolises are on the top ten (Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth). Although, even Forbes acknowledges that it’s the charm of the city and the people in it that makes Austin such a desirable place to work and live.

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