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Booming Austin sees costs of living skyrocketBooming Austin sees costs of living skyrockethttps://www.recenter.tamu.edu/news/newstalk-texas/?Item=53302014-01-09T12:34:00Z2014-01-08T00:00:00Z

AUSTIN - Austin is on a winning streak, amid twin booms in economic and population growth. Along with the city's success has been an increase in its cost of living.

The population grew from an estimated 674,000 in 2003 to 830,000 last year. Some area like Round Rock grew even faster, making Austin among America's fastest-growing large metro areas.

In August, Forbes magazine ranked the Austin area second among cities nationwide for job growth.

A study last year by Jed Kolko, chief economist for Trulia, found Austin is among the most expensive places for someone earning a median wage in a particular city. Kolko concluded that only half the homes for sale in Austin are within reach of a household earning a typical salary, a smaller percentage than in all but 13 of the top 100 metro areas.

Incomes have also risen in the area, but when income gains are measured against housing costs, the trend is headed in the wrong direction.

Median family income in the Austin area increased 13.5 percent from 2003 to 2012, while median home prices increased 31.3 percent and average rents increased 43 percent, according to the Real Estate Center Texas A&M University.

Austin American-Statesman
Austin-Round Rock
Economy
http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/texas/booming-austin-sees-costs-of-living-skyrocket/nccxp/Read more at {Source}

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