Americans are moving to smaller towns in the South

“Keeping Austin”By Rebecca Jackson weird has been more of a slog than locals anticipated. Inundated with Silicon Valley refugees and Manhattan defectors, the Texan city once known for its cool subculture has become a tech metropolis. Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Tesla set up shop there, offering jobs that made it a magnet. From 2010 to 2020 metropolitan Austin’s population grew by more than that of any other big city, by one-third to 2.3m. It has since burst at the seams. Housing supply has failed to keep up with rocketing demand. In September the Austin Board of Realtors said the city is short of 152,000 affordable two-person homes. Locals are getting priced out, homeless people line the downtown streets and traffic is hellish.