A Family Thing

Austin declared one of America's 10 best cities to raise a family

Families rule in Austin.

Photo by Jon Shapley

Those born and raised in Austin sure are lucky. Our city was just named the ninth best in America to raise a family.

A study conducted by SmartAsset, a personal finance company, considered factors like high school graduation rate, unemployment rate, crime rate, price of child care, cost of living, and percentage of the population under age 20 to determine the rankings. Texas dominates with five cities in the top 10. Fort Worth, No. 3, is followed by Arlington at No. 4; El Paso at No 8; and Corpus Christi, tied with Austin, at No. 9.

Compared to the other top Texas towns, the Capital City boasts the highest proficiency in math and reading (81.5 percent) and the highest high school graduation rate (90.1 percent). We also have the lowest poverty rate (14.5 percent) and unemployment rate (4.2 percent).

Fort Worth is the highest ranking Texas city thanks to its high-quality schools and amount of young people; 31 percent of Forth Worth's population is under 20. Just down the road, Arlington offers ideal qualities for families, including a low unemployment rate of 4.3 percent and a high reading and math proficiency of 79.7 percent.

El Paso boasts the fifth lowest crime rate of all the cities in the study, and in Corpus Christi, housing is relatively affordable, only requiring 22 percent of income.

While they don't crack the top 10, Texas' other large cities, San Antonio (No. 11), Dallas (No. 14), and Houston (No. 19), land in the top 20. The No. 1 spot goes to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

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Trucking news

Driverless truck company postpones Texas route, citing construction

Photo courtesy of Aurora

Driverless semis traveling from Dallas to Houston were expected to launch this year.

Autonomous truck company Aurora Innovation says it won't start hauling freight without humans on board until April of 2025, a delay from previous statements that commercial service would begin by the end of 2024.

The Pittsburgh company said the April launch of driverless semis traveling from Dallas to Houston — originally announced last year — will be “modestly later” than the company had intended. The company also previously announced a partnership with Uber.

The company told investors on its third-quarter earnings conference call that it has made progress toward ensuring its trucks will operate safely.

Remaining obstacles are “primarily in the areas of some elements of surface street driving and some elements of construction that we see on the freeway,” CEO Chris Urmson said. “We want to have extremely high confidence in the system as we as we go forward.”

The company will start with about 10 autonomous tractor-trailers and move to “tens” of trucks by the end of next year, Urmson said.

“This shift to our timeline will have a negligible financial impact and does not affect our scaling efforts on our path to self-funding," Urmson said.

Aurora also intends to haul freight without human drivers from Fort Worth to Phoenix later in 2025, Urmson said.

Aurora in August added nearly $500 million to its balance sheet with a capital raise in August, which the company expects to fund the initial phases of its strategy to scale up driverless trucking.

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