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Last year, the Austin-area job market grew faster than any other major metro in the country—adding 27,200 jobs in 2025, which represents 2% year-over-year growth, according to an April 2026 report from Opportunity Austin.

Diving in deeper: The health care industry is among the fastest-growing, and is expected to grow 2.4% annually, adding about 6,780 workers per year, said Ashley King, director of health care partnerships at Workforce Solutions Capital Area.

As of November, the education and health services sector had added 4,100 jobs, or 2.5% growth, from the prior year, according to Opportunity Austin’s January 2026 economic indicators. Meanwhile, the information sector, which includes most of Austin’s tech workforce, declined 2.4%, or about 1,200 jobs, during the same time frame, according to the report.

What's happening: Nursing programs across the country turned away 93,176 qualified applications in 2025—a record high—primarily due to insufficient clinical placement sites, faculty shortages and limited classroom space.

Despite the hurdles, health sciences was the fastest-growing area of study at Austin Community College in fall 2025.

City crews conducted hundreds of site visits, cleared hundreds of thousands of pounds of debris and moved dozens of people into shelter over the first month of Austin's ramped-up homeless encampment management.

The details: Earlier in the spring, Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations announced an expanded model for addressing the scores of known encampments in public places around the city. The renewed response came years after local voters reinstated a public camping ban, and followed shorter-term targeted encampment clearings by both the city and state agencies last year.

From May 11 to June 5, AHSO-led teams conducted 456 total visits to 127 unique locations citywide, where more than 334 tons of debris were cleared. Half of the people contacted at encampments accepted offers of assistance—either shelter or other services—while half declined any help. As part of ongoing monitoring, AHSO found people are frequently reoccupying sites after they're cleared, with signs of return activity at 28% of those locations.

Nonprofit Emancipet is adding Saturday service to its free mobile veterinary clinic through September, offering free spay/neuter surgeries, rabies vaccines and microchips at rotating Austin locations for Travis County residents.

The nonprofit operates 10 onsite clinics nationwide, four in Travis County, and a mobile clinic that operates according to a posted online schedule. The mobile clinic also offers low-cost wellness services with the office visit fee waived on free days.

What it means: CEO Cheryl Katon said the extra day could allow roughly 2,000 more spay/neuter procedures over the three-month span.

Affordable veterinary care helps reduce shelter intake in two ways: it allows owners facing cost barriers to keep their pets, and it lowers the lifetime cost of pet ownership from an estimated $8,000 to $25,000 at market rate down to $2,000 to $3,000 through Emancipet, Katon said.

What’s next: Whether the third clinic day continues beyond September depends on the city's budget, Katon said, deferring further detail to city officials.

Check out the latest transportation project updates across the Austin metro.

Upcoming projects

New Braunfels EDC invests $405K in pedestrian improvements: The NBEDC is funding the final design of Phase 2 of pedestrian improvements along five roadways. If approved, construction is expected to begin in 2028.

Ongoing projects

Legacy Ranch Drive expansion
Project: Crews are working to expand approximately 0.6 miles from Seward Junction North Loop in Liberty Hill to a CR 258 extension east of US 183, including new signals, pavement improvements, and turn lanes serving a future LISD site. 
Update: Contractors broke ground March 6.

• Timeline: completion expected this summer
• Cost: $1.4 million
• Funding source: Williamson County 2023 road bond