What is the capital of Texas?

Austin is the capital of Texas, located on the Colorado River of Texas (a different river from the major Colorado River that flows through the Grand Canyon) in central Texas in the Hill Country, about 165 miles northwest of Houston and 75 miles north of San Antonio. Austin has been the capital since 1839, when the Republic of Texas chose it as the new seat of government and named it after Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas, who led American settlers into Mexican Texas in the 1820s.

Texas has been a unique political entity. It was a Spanish province until 1821, a Mexican state until 1836, an independent republic from 1836 to 1845, and a U.S. state from December 29, 1845 (the 28th state). It seceded from the Union as part of the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865, was readmitted in 1870, and has continued as the second largest state by area (about 268,597 square miles) and the second most populous (about 30 million people).

Austin's population is about 975,000, and the metropolitan area has about 2.4 million people, making it the fourth largest metro in Texas after Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio. The Texas State Capitol, completed in 1888 of pink Texas granite, is taller than the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Austin is the home of the University of Texas at Austin (founded 1883, with about 50,000 students), one of the largest American universities, and the location of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library, the Bullock Texas State History Museum, and many state agencies.

Austin has emerged as a major technology hub since the 1990s, sometimes called Silicon Hills, with major employers including Dell, Tesla, Apple, Google, Meta, Oracle, and many others. The South by Southwest (SXSW) festival held annually since 1987 has made Austin internationally known for music, film, and technology. The Austin City Limits Music Festival began in 2002. The city's slogan "Keep Austin Weird" reflects its self-image as a creative and counterculture city within otherwise conservative Texas.

The Colorado River of Texas was dammed by a series of Lower Colorado River Authority dams beginning in the 1930s to create the Highland Lakes, including Lake Austin, Lake Travis, Lake LBJ, Lake Buchanan, Inks Lake, and Lake Marble Falls, which provide flood control, drinking water, and recreation. Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States, attracting tech workers, retirees, and migrants from California, the Midwest, and other regions. Texas has no state income tax, and Austin's growth has driven up housing prices significantly.