Education in Austin
and Central Texas
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ducation has always been a central concern for Austin residents, but that could be
because the city’s such an educated town. With scores of national accolades and strong
community support, Austin’s a win-win proposition for education.
In 2011, Forbes designated Austin as one of the U.S.’s biggest “brain magnet” cities – the result of the
magazine’s analysis of the 50 largest metropolitan areas and ranking them by gains in those with college
educations compared to the population over 25 years of age. Austin was one of the top cities with gains,
scoring high marks all around. As of 2011, 40.6% of Austinites 25 years of age or older have a
bachelor’s degree or higher.
Intelligent Community Forum named Austin the number one Top Intelligent Community of 2012, and
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance included UT Austin on its 2011 list as one of the “best values in public
education.” And the Austin Independent School District outperformed many of the nation’s schools in
science, according to results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) – where Austin
