The Early Bird

• Austin ranks 3rd in Best Cities for Jobs in 2008 by www.forbes.com, January 2008

• Austin ranks 1st in Fastest Growing Metross in 2008 by www.forbes.com, March 2008

• Austin ranks as the 4th Best City in Overall Standard of Living by Expansion Management, June 2006

• Austin Ranks in the 10 Best Places to Live and Boat by Boating Life Magazine, July/August 2007

• Texas Ranks #1 in the Country for Economic Development in Business FacilitiesMagazine, December 2007

• Family Circle named Cedar Park as one of America’s Top 10 Cities for Families, August 2007

• Austin ranks 2nd among the Top 10 Best Big Cities in the country by cnn.money.com, 2006

• Austin ranks as the 3rd Smartest City in the country by Bizjournals.com, June 2006

• The Austin-Round Rock MSA ranked the best place for business in the US by MoodysEconomy.com,

August 2007

• Austin ranks in the Top 5 “Smart Places to Live” by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and the Austin Business

Journal, June 2006

• Austin ranked 28th in Best Places for Business and Careers by Forbes, May 2006

• Round Rock ranked the 7th Best Place to Live in America by Money Magazine, July 2008

• Austin ranks 2nd in the 50 Best Places to Live by Mens Journal, March 2006

• Austin ranks 6th in the Top 10 Cities forWalking by Prevention magazine, August 2006

• Austin ranks as the Best Place to Live in America for Hispanics by Hispanic magazine for the second year

in a row, August 2005

• Austin ranks as the 2nd Best Place to Live for Moviemakers by Moviemaker Magazine, December 2005

• Georgetown ranks 1st Among the Best Places to Retire by US NewsWorld Report, October 2007

• Austin ranks 2nd among the 10 Best Places to Live, judging on financial, educational and quality of life

criteria by Money magazine, July 2006

• Austin was included in the 8 Cheapest Places You’dWant to Live survey by Sperling’s BestPlaces.com and

msn.com, July 2006

• Austin ranks 2nd among the 50 Best Places to Live comparing the combinations of adventure, attractiveness,

and affordability by Men’s Journal, April 2006

• Round Rock was selected in a national competition as one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People

in the nation by America’s Promise, January, 2007

• Austin was voted the Best Place to Live for Future Business Locations by ExpansionMagazine, August 2006

• Austin ranks 9th in the Top 10 Hot Cities for Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur.com, September 2005

• According to DogFancy Austin is one of the Top 10 Cities to Be a Dog, November 2005

• Austin ranks 8th of America’s Cleanest Cities by Reader’s Digest, July 2005

• Austin ranks 10th in the Top 10 Healthiest Cities in America by Sperling’s, July 2006

• Cedar Park is ranked number 11 among the Top 20 Fastest Growing U.S. Suburbs by Forbes, July 2007

• Austin ranks 11th in the 25 Best Running Cities in America poll by RunnersWorld, July 2005

• Austin is one of 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live by Gregory A. Kompes, December 2005

• Austin ranks 2nd on Vegetarian Times’ Ten Greenest Cities list, July/August 2005

• Pollstar names Austin City Limits Music Festival the “Festival of the Year” during it’s annual Concert

Industry Awards, February 2006

• AmericanWay magazine features “The Top 10 Lists of Great American Music” and Austin appears on

three of the lists including “great music towns,” “great bigger-is-better music festivals” for the Austin City

Limits Music Festival and “sacred ground” for Threadgill’s restaurant, June 2005

• Austin ranks 6th in a study by Silicon Valley naming the nation’s Top TechHubs. The study compare business

and quality-of-life issues, claiming Austin has affordable housing, electricity and state taxes, September 2005

• Austin is among the Coolest Cities for Young Professionals according to Kiplinger.com, September 2005

• Austin ranks 1st among U.S. cities in the fourth annual Mayors Challenge rankings of the Best Cities for

Future Business Locations by Management magazine

• Each year, Intel ranks the Top 100 U.S. Cities and Regions with the Greatest Number of Commercial and

PublicWireless Internet Access Points and Austin ranks third, October 2006

• Austin ranks 3rd in a list of America’s Most Innovative Cities by theWall Street Journal