TX · Travis County · 961,855 (2020) · 11th-largest US city · state capital
Austin, Texas
Austin lies on the Colorado River of Texas where the Hill Country meets the blackland prairie, halfway between Dallas and San Antonio. It is the capital of Texas and the eleventh-largest city in the United States.
- State
- Texas
- County
- Travis County (parts in Williamson and Hays)
- Population (2020)
- 961,855
- Rank
- 11th in the US
- Coordinates
- 30.27°N, 97.74°W
- Time zone
- Central
- Metro area
- about 2.3 million
- State capital
- Yes – capital of Texas
Where Austin is
Austin is at 30.27°N, 97.74°W in Travis County, of which it is the county seat, with northern and southern portions in Williamson and Hays counties. The city covers about 320 square miles at roughly 490 feet above sea level, straddling the Balcones Fault: west of Interstate 35 the ground rises into the limestone Hill Country, and east of it the land flattens into farmland. The Colorado River — the Texas one, not the river of the Grand Canyon — runs through the middle of the city as the dammed Lady Bird Lake. San Antonio is 80 miles southwest, Houston 165 miles east and Dallas 195 miles north.
Population and rank
The 2020 Census counted 961,855 residents, ranking Austin 11th in the US and fourth in Texas. Its growth is the fastest of any large US city over the past three decades: it had 466,000 people in 1990 and 790,000 in 2010. The Austin–Round Rock–Georgetown metropolitan area, five counties, has about 2.3 million people and passed the two-million mark shortly before the 2020 count. Austin is the second most populous state capital after Phoenix, yet only the fourth-largest city in its own state — Houston, San Antonio and Dallas all exceed it.
Geography
- Colorado River — impounded through the city as Lady Bird Lake (downtown) and Lake Austin, and above it as Lake Travis, the largest of the Highland Lakes. The river reaches the Gulf at Matagorda Bay 200 miles southeast.
- Balcones Escarpment — the fault zone that divides the Edwards Plateau (Hill Country) from the coastal plain; Barton Springs, in the city, is the largest of the escarpment springs.
- Hill Country — the west half of the city is dissected limestone hills reaching about 1,000 feet; Mount Bonnell above Lake Austin is a well-known viewpoint.
- Creeks — Barton, Shoal, Waller and Walnut creeks drain the city to the Colorado; flash floods are a recurring hazard.
Nearest large cities
San Antonio is a little over an hour down Interstate 35; Houston and Dallas are each about three hours. Distances are approximate road miles from the Capitol.
| City | State | Road distance (mi) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Antonio | TX | 80 | SW |
| Houston | TX | 165 | E |
| Dallas | TX | 195 | N |
| Fort Worth | TX | 190 | N |
| Oklahoma City | OK | 390 | N |
Austin as state capital
Austin has been the capital of Texas since 1839, when the Republic of Texas moved its government from Houston to a new town laid out on the Colorado River. The present Capitol, finished in 1888 in pink granite from Marble Falls, is taller than the US Capitol. Austin is the seat of Travis County. Unlike most state capitals it is one of its state's largest cities, though still fourth behind Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. See the Austin capital page for the story of how the site was chosen.
Related maps
- Texas map — the state with all 254 counties.
- Austin, state capital — capital facts and history.
- US cities map.
- Great Plains and Rio Grande maps.
- Other Texas cities: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth.
- West South Central division · Central Time Zone.