Newcomer's Guide to Austin
NEWCOMER'S GUIDE TO AUSTIN

Welcome to Austin, Texas! This Newcomer's Guide to Austin is a resource for you to explore your new city, find important information on settling in, and a guide to help you acclamate so that you can get to enjoying one of the country's most popular and desirable cities to live in.

Even after settling in, come back to the Newcomer's Guide often, to get new information on Austin's growth, tradition, and some of the things that Keep Austin Weird!

MAP OF AUSTIN

MOVING TO AUSTIN
City of Austin

There are a few options for energy/water/gas services in the Austin area:

Spectrum is your one-stop provider for cable television, internet, telephone, and mobile in the Austin area:

GARBAGE AND RECYCLING

Garbage and recycling collection rules are very important and specific in Austin. If you don't know them, you may find yourself paying a lot of extra money for collection:

  • Place your trash cart at the curb by 6:30 a.m. on your collection day.
  • Place trash, recyclables and yard trimmings 5 feet apart to allow our automated trucks to collect materials safely and efficiently.
  • Extra bags of trash that do not fit in your trash cart with the lid closed must be placed next to the trash cart and tagged with an Extra Trash Sticker, which can be purchased at most local grocery stores ($4 + tax). Extra bags without a sticker will be charged a per-bag fee of $9.60 + tax.
  • Did we miss your cart? Call Austin Resource Recovery at 3-1-1 or send us an e-mail. We will come by to pick up the missed material as soon as possible.

Information courtesy of the City of Austin website

PUBLIC SAFETY AND NUMBERS TO KNOW
Austin Police

For more information on Austin public safety, please head over to our public safety page.

In the meantime, if you need to reach emergency services, here are some resources for you:

CITY BUDGET
Austin City Hall

Take a look at the Austin city budget to see where and how your tax money is being spent, and what initiatives are coming over the next few years. 

IMPORTANT DATES - 2019
SXSW