working for yourself pays off

Austin freelancers brought in nearly $4 billion in 2023, new report finds

Austin is a major tech hub, and its freelancers makes up a significant part of the overall workforce.

Austin's reputation as a thriving tech hub has coined the city "Silicon Hills," but there's a much more local aspect that's boosting the city's tech industry outside of big companies like Google, Tesla, or Amazon. Independent professionals — better known as freelance workers — are a major backbone benefitting Austin's tech scene. They brought in nearly $4 billion to the city's economy in 2023, according to the latest Freelance Economic Impact Report by Fiverr.

The seventh annual edition of the report, published May 22, examined freelance economic data across the top 30 metropolitan cities in the U.S. and categorized freelancers' economic impact through three key industries: creative services, skilled technical services, and skilled professional services.

According to the report, Austin had more than 18,000 creative services freelancers in 2023, including artists, writers, performers, and video/audio producers. These creative freelancers brought in a projected revenue greater than $535.54 million last year, which was the 13th highest in the nation.

The report additionally found that independent creative workers in Austin, and in other cities within the top 30 markets, earn $32,085 on average, compared to the national average of $27,797.

Freelancers working in technical service roles in Austin – like data processing, architecture, design, engineering, IT, and scientific services – brought in a jaw-dropping $1.56 billion in projected revenue in 2023. There were fewer than 24,000 technical independent professionals working in Austin in 2023, the report estimated.

Freelance workers in the skilled professional services sector were defined as those working in legal services, accounting/bookkeeping, management consulting, marketing, and business support. The report estimated there were more than 38,000 professional service freelancers working in Austin that brought in over $1.87 billion in revenue in 2023.

Commonalities between the top freelancer markets

The Freelance Economic Impact Report additionally organized the top 50 U.S. freelancer markets into nine different categories: Diverse Professional Markets, Affordable Heartland Cities, Creative Destinations, Upscale Brain Markets, Sunbelt Professional Havens, Rising Tech Hubs, Lone Star Boom Towns, Middle Income Oases, and Big Tech Centers.

Rather than being grouped into the "Lone Star Boom Towns," Austin was specifically called out as one of seven "Rising Tech Hubs" nationwide. The report says it is the third-fastest growing category out of the total nine market groupings in both revenue and the number of freelancers.

"With a highly educated, relatively young population with kids in the household, this group may be the next tech-hub for freelancers as the tech economy in general shifts from the large tech centers to smaller cities," the report said.

Other "Rising Tech Hubs" include Atlanta, Georgia; Denver, Colorado; Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Elsewhere in Texas

Freelancers in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio are also raking in the big bucks for their respective city's economies, the report found.

Dallas has the No. 5 biggest freelance workforce out of the top 30 markets in the country, with an estimated nearly 196,000 independent workers. Those freelancers brought in a projected $9.05 billion in 2023.

Houston was right behind Dallas with the No. 6-biggest freelance workforce in the U.S., whose 188,882 freelancers brought in more than $8.46 billion in 2023.

San Antonio fell towards the bottom of the list with the No. 28 biggest independent workforce and revenue projections in 2023. The report estimated 47,715 San Antonio-based freelancers earned just under $1.84 billion in revenue last year.

The top 10 U.S. cities that earned the highest projected revenue from its freelance workforce in 2023 are:

No. 1 – New York, New York ($30,356,247,155)
No. 2 – Los Angeles, California ($22,198,541,206)
No. 3 – Miami, Florida ($15,687,788,406)
No. 4 – Washington, D.C. ($9,668,332,941)
No. 5 – San Francisco, California ($9,361,812,425)
No. 6 – Dallas, Texas ($9,053,620,596)
No. 7 – Houston, Texas ($8,459,360,530)
No. 8 – Chicago, Illinois ($7,878,098,522)
No. 9 – Atlanta, Georgia ($7,054,160,300)
No. 10 – Boston, Massachusetts ($6,961,305,451)

The Freelance Economic Impact Report analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Nonemployer Statistics (NES) data series and the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to determine the number of individual tax filings for independent workers and the overall revenue for the top 30 metropolitan cities in the country.

The full report and its methodology can be found on fiverr.com.

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Red Light

San Antonio leads Texas on ending horse-drawn carriage rides by 2030

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Horses will no longer pull carriages on the streets of downtown San Antonio.

San Antonio has pulled off something that the rest of Texas has yet to do, but it didn't come without some contentious conversations. City Council has unanimously voted (with one abstention) to phase out the use of horse-drawn carriages over the next five years. That means by January 1, 2030, there will be none on the streets at all; instead, there will be electric carriages.

These plans have been in the making since 2022 — if not always at the same level of intensity — when District 2 Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 3 Councilmember Phyllis Viagran wrote up some concerns about the horses' wellbeing. A special session at the end of October 2024 hinted to San Antonians that the end for this practice was neigh — sorry, nigh — and the final vote was made on December 12. In addition to accepting the plan, it extended its timeframe by two years.

The initial proposal included worries about the horses' exposure to traffic and pollution, as well how their presence might exacerbate those issues for the environment at large by slowing traffic. It also raised concerns about the effects of standing or walking on hard surfaces for too long, or spending time in extreme weather.

At the December 12 meeting, San Antonians gave impassioned speeches about animal welfare — both to call attention to the need for better conditions and to defend the reputations and jobs of current horse drivers — but it wasn't the first time the council heard from the public about the issue.

In a prior city survey, 50,476 respondents weighed in. Of those respondents, 51.98 percent said they liked the idea to "Transition horse-drawn carriages to electric carriages and pedicabs and ban horse drawn carriages completely." There were alternative solutions listed, but respondents were less drawn to them.

A cultural divide emerged in the data and continued in the December meeting: some people avoided the carriages because they worried about the treatment of the horses, while others enjoyed them because of their historical echoes and living legacy. Many speakers in favor of the plan used this to form their argument, raising questions about history versus progress.

More tangible objections to the plan hinged on the businesses — specifically five companies — and jobs that would be lost, which was the main factor behind extending the adjustment period.

Discussions about the particulars of the electric vehicles are still to come, as confirmed in the discussion near the end of the meeting. Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez addressed concerns about what would happen to the horses, mentioning the Brady Hunter Foundation as a future partner in finding them rescue homes.

Some council members also brought up rhetorical questions about animal exploitation by groups like Sea World, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, military and police forces, and even various groups in the Fiesta parade, although these did not come with a formal motion to pick the issues up.

This decision could have a ripple effect on other Texas cities. Dallas has recently considered a similar ban, but it appears to have stalled; Austin's attempts at a ban have been unsuccessful, but according to the Austin-American Statesman, only one operator is permitted to bring horses downtown. She declines to do so because the long hours are unfair to her and the horses. Houston does have horse-drawn carriages, and there seems to be little conversation about banning them.

Cities like Chicago and Salt Lake City have led the charge in the United States with some of the most prominent successful bans. Other cities around the world with bans include Brussels and Guadalajara, which both switched to electric models. Bans that have been around for years, like Guadalajara's and Prague's, still aren't out of the woods — people are still pushing back on the decision, so it sounds like San Antonio still has much work cut out for it.

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