Changes In Latitude, Changes In Attitude -- Peter Zeihan On Texas -- March 24, 2023

From this link, Peter Zeihan:

I may have ditched the "howdys" and "y'alls" for the high mountains of Colorado, but Austin remains part of one of the fastest-growing economic and urban zones in the western hemisphere. However, Austin can't credit all of its success to the "Keep Austin Weird" bumper stickers...

The key here is in the neighborhood. It's a blue city in a red state, so they get low taxes and a high level of city services. More importantly, Austin falls right in the middle of the Texas Triangle - a zone comprised of San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas.

Houston is an energy hub and heavy into manufacturing. Dallas is an auto and aerospace hub. Both of those are financial centers in their own way. San Antonio offers a low cost of living and low labor costs. Austin happens to be the missing piece in the Texas Triangle, high-end tech. Austin can operationalize the research the other cities need and disseminate the plans from there.

It doesn’t look like Austin’s growth will be slowing down anytime soon. As the world faces deglobalization, Texas (the triangle specifically) will play a critical role for the US.