4 ms·

NY -> Miami California -> Austin I think you could probably chalk a lot of this up to where company leadership has their vacation homes.

adamnemecek 6y ago
No one has vacation homes in Austin.
- jnwatson 6y ago
  My sister is building a vacation home there.
- hotsauceror 6y ago
  The house we bought was a vacation home for a little old couple from Omaha. A remote place on a hill overlooking Lake Travis, 30 minutes from downtown. Amazing sunsets, the weather is in the 60s and 70s in January, the springtime wildflowers are unreal, there's great food, good live music, lots of charming little hill country towns just a short trip away.
- jere 6y ago
  It doesn't make sense from a weather perspective, since Austin has brutally hot summers and cold winters.
- CinchWrench 6y ago
  Uh, yeah they do. Just because the climate isn't as nice as the Bay Area doesn't mean people don't have homes there. For one, the culture/night life is incredible there.
hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
Lol, like people have "vacation homes" in Austin.
- CinchWrench 6y ago
  I can think of two in my extended network just off the top of my head. One is a run-of-the-mill general practitioner and the other is a brilliant entrepreneur. And these are people I live near in out here in East BFE.
A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago
You are being downvoted for a seemingly flippant remark, but someone should really check whether senior execs conveniently are already well positioned to move there.
- hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
  They are being downvoted because people who live in Austin think it's laughable that execs are moving to Austin because it's some cushy vacation spot. Execs are moving to Austin from CA for the exact same reason a huge chunk of the rest of the techies are moving to Austin: 1. No state income tax. 2. Comparatively cheaper home prices, though with news link this perhaps not for long, centrally located Austin single family homes are incredibly expensive now. 3. Vibrant tech and VC community - not at the same level as SV but a not-too-distant second-or-third.
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    I would be very interested to see data and analysis about migration within the US by income deciles. I suspect outside of the tier 1 cities, the biggest migrations for higher income populations are to WA/NV/FL/TX/TN due to no income tax. This Bloomberg article had a chart showing change in adjusted gross income from 2017 to 2018, but I'd be interested in something going back a few decades. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-05/even-before-covid-2-600-people-a-week-were-leaving-new-york-city https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-05/even-befo... https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iPUtINXvmFd4/v0/-1x-1.jpg https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iPUtINXvmFd...
  - bsder 6y ago
    > 3. Vibrant tech and VC community - not at the same level as SV but a not-too-distant second-or-third. Uh, no. Austin has a lousy VC community. There are countless articles about it. And, as for tech, for software it's mainly only Tivoli alums--and a lot of the best ones decamped for greener (read: better salary not in Austin) pastures. IBM as a technical presence has been gone forever (the Advanced Workstation Division was quite amazing and IBM Somerset was one of the PowerPC development arenas). Apple just came in so hasn't spun anybody out yet.
CalChris 6y ago
That does seem to be how Bezos chose HQ2 after a nation wide search.

adamnemecek 6y ago

No one has vacation homes in Austin.

jnwatson 6y ago
My sister is building a vacation home there.
hotsauceror 6y ago
The house we bought was a vacation home for a little old couple from Omaha. A remote place on a hill overlooking Lake Travis, 30 minutes from downtown. Amazing sunsets, the weather is in the 60s and 70s in January, the springtime wildflowers are unreal, there's great food, good live music, lots of charming little hill country towns just a short trip away.
jere 6y ago
It doesn't make sense from a weather perspective, since Austin has brutally hot summers and cold winters.
CinchWrench 6y ago
Uh, yeah they do. Just because the climate isn't as nice as the Bay Area doesn't mean people don't have homes there. For one, the culture/night life is incredible there.

hn_throwaway_99 6y ago

Lol, like people have "vacation homes" in Austin.

CinchWrench 6y ago
I can think of two in my extended network just off the top of my head. One is a run-of-the-mill general practitioner and the other is a brilliant entrepreneur. And these are people I live near in out here in East BFE.

A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago

You are being downvoted for a seemingly flippant remark, but someone should really check whether senior execs conveniently are already well positioned to move there.

hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
They are being downvoted because people who live in Austin think it's laughable that execs are moving to Austin because it's some cushy vacation spot. Execs are moving to Austin from CA for the exact same reason a huge chunk of the rest of the techies are moving to Austin: 1. No state income tax. 2. Comparatively cheaper home prices, though with news link this perhaps not for long, centrally located Austin single family homes are incredibly expensive now. 3. Vibrant tech and VC community - not at the same level as SV but a not-too-distant second-or-third.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  I would be very interested to see data and analysis about migration within the US by income deciles. I suspect outside of the tier 1 cities, the biggest migrations for higher income populations are to WA/NV/FL/TX/TN due to no income tax. This Bloomberg article had a chart showing change in adjusted gross income from 2017 to 2018, but I'd be interested in something going back a few decades. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-05/even-before-covid-2-600-people-a-week-were-leaving-new-york-city https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-05/even-befo... https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iPUtINXvmFd4/v0/-1x-1.jpg https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iPUtINXvmFd...
- bsder 6y ago
  > 3. Vibrant tech and VC community - not at the same level as SV but a not-too-distant second-or-third. Uh, no. Austin has a lousy VC community. There are countless articles about it. And, as for tech, for software it's mainly only Tivoli alums--and a lot of the best ones decamped for greener (read: better salary not in Austin) pastures. IBM as a technical presence has been gone forever (the Advanced Workstation Division was quite amazing and IBM Somerset was one of the PowerPC development arenas). Apple just came in so hasn't spun anybody out yet.

CalChris 6y ago

That does seem to be how Bezos chose HQ2 after a nation wide search.