[5] Austin's largest suburbs are Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, San Marcos, Leander, and Pflugerville.

There also appear to have been small numbers of Kiowa, Yojuane, Tawakoni, and Mayeye Indians living in the Travis and Williamson counties at the time of the earliest Anglo settlements.

[9] Spanish explorers, including the Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre expedition, traveled through the area for centuries though few permanent settlements were created for some time.

[10] Following the independence of Mexico, of which Texas was a part, the empresario Stephen F. Austin issued grants to settlers in what is now Bastrop and Fayette Counties.

[13] During the 1830s others, such as Martín Veramendi and Thomas G. McGehee, were issued land grants by the Mexican government to encourage settlement in the region.

Following independence other settlements were gradually established including Waterloo and Brushy Creek (modern Round Rock).

[7] In 1839 a commission appointed by Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar selected Waterloo as the site for the new capital and the name Austin was chosen as the town's new name.

In 1861, with the outbreak of the American Civil War, voters in Austin, Bastrop, and other Central Texas communities and counties voted against secession.

[11] San Marcos, and some other communities, established significant manufacturing operations during the world wars substantially diversifying their economies.

[21] Beginning in the 1920s and 1930s, Austin launched a series of civic development and beautification projects that created much of the city's infrastructure and parks.

These projects were enabled in large part by the fact that Austin received more Depression era relief funds than any other Texas city.

The bisecting Balcones Fault renders eastern portions relatively flat and western portions—located on the edge of the Texas Hill Country—mildly hilly.

[17] Because the hills to the west are primarily limestone rock with a thin covering of topsoil, the western portions of the area are frequently subjected to flash floods from the runoff caused by thunderstorms.

[24][25] To help control this runoff and to generate hydroelectric power, the Lower Colorado River Authority operates a series of dams that form the lakes.

[32] On average, the City of Austin receives 33.6 inches (853.4 mm) of rain per year, with most of the precipitation in the spring, and a secondary maximum in the fall.

Central Texas summers are usually hot and humid, with average temperatures of approximately 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) from June until September.

Snowfall is rare in Central Texas, but the area suffers occasional ice storms each year that freeze over roads and can affect parts of the region for as much as 48 hours or more.

[32] As of March 2020, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines the Austin–Round Rock-Georgetown MSA as including Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson Counties.

Greater Austin is one of the fastest growing large metropolitan areas in the U.S.[46] In 2020, U.S. Census Bureau[47][48] estimated that in the Austin–Round Rock–Georgetown MSA increased to 2,283,371 people, 796,315 households, and 495,990 families.

The Austin-Round Rock MSA had an estimated gross domestic product of $168.4 billion in 2020, making it the 24th largest metropolitan economy in the U.S.[54] As of late 2021, major employers in the Greater Austin area include Accenture, Amazon, Apple, Applied Materials, Austin Independent School District, Ascension Seton HealthCare network, Dell, H-E-B Grocery, IBM, NXP Semiconductors, Samsung Semiconductors, St. David's HealthCare Partnership, the Texas State Government, Tesla, the United States Federal Government, The University of Texas at Austin, Whole Foods, and Wal-Mart.

[57] The Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival is centered in Austin but takes place at restaurants and venues in multiple communities.

Marble Falls hosts the Bluebonnet Blues and Fine Arts Festival, an event that attracts artists and performers from around the state to the community's downtown.

[65] The Starlight Symphony, a community orchestra, offers performances at various venues within the southwestern areas of Greater Austin including San Marcos, Dripping Springs, and Johnson City.

Additional institutions in the suburban communities include Temple College in Taylor and the Texas State University extension in Round Rock.

Loop 360 carries special scenic zoning as well preventing billboards and minimizing views of the surrounding buildings.

This project, completed in October 2012, now ends at Interstate 10 just east of Seguin, about 30 miles east-northeast of San Antonio.

Capital Metro operates 48 fixed-route, 1 flex-route, and eight express bus services within the city of Austin and several nearby suburbs in Travis and Williamson counties.

A commuter rail service—the Red line of Capital MetroRail—began service on March 22, 2010, connecting Downtown Austin with the city of Leander.

Politically, Greater Austin leans toward the Democratic Party, though it has voted Republican in the past, such as during Texan George W. Bush's presidential victories in 2000 and 2004.

However, at a local level, Austin has only two Democrats, Lloyd Doggett and Greg Casar, representing any part of it in Congress.