CENTRAL TEXAS

Start exploring the ever-expanding Austin area

"I thought you said you lived in Austin."

"I do."

"My phone bill from last month says I called you at home in some place called Jollyville."

"Oh. Well, Austin is a really big place."

To be a bit more precise, the Austin metro area is about 4,200 square miles, larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined. About 90 times the land size of the city of San Francisco.

What began in the 1830s as a hunter's camp along the Colorado River called Waterloo has grown into Austin, the 16th largest city in the nation and core of the 37th largest metropolitan area in the country.

Today, an estimated 1.6 million people live in scores of towns and cities and hundreds of neighborhoods in Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Austin was the fifth-fastest growing metro area in the nation (4.3 percent) between 2006 and 2007. Among the more than 3,000 U.S. counties, Williamson was the 11th fastest growing and Hays was 13th. Travis was 99th and added nearly 33,000 new residents.

And the growth is expected to continue. This year, Forbes ranked Austin No. 1 on its list of fastest-growing, large metro areas and projected growth at another 15 percent by 2012.

Painting in broad strokes, Austin is young, diverse, highly educated and affluent. It is the state capital and home to the University of Texas and six other colleges and universities. It is an incubator for new technologies, and it is thoroughly wired. It has a internationally respected music scene and thriving creative arts communities. It's family oriented and physically active. High school, college and minor-league sports reign supreme. We love our parks, preserves, greenbelts, streams, rivers and lakes. We like hiking, biking, running, boating, swimming, fishing and yes, we love gardening. People have more dogs than they have cats.

Because the Austin area is so large and complex, the scope of it can be baffling, to not only newcomers but those who have been here for years. To help sort it out, the American-Statesman staff assembles and updates this section each year. In the end, it is, admittedly, just a thin veneer to all that is Austin. Still, it gives readers a sense of their community and what is out there beyond the fence line.

Consider it a starter kit. In the front of the section is some demographic information about the area in which you live: population, race/ethnicity, education levels, households, etc. There are maps to help readers pinpoint where they are and where they might be going.

Further along is basic information about the ginormous arts and entertainment scenes with calendars of dozens of annual events. There is information about scores of theaters and museums, and indoor and outdoor attractions of all kinds.

There are pages of parks and listings of recreation centers and a map of more than 70 pools. Like golf? We've listed and mapped nearly four dozen public courses.

Along the way, we've provided basic lists of radio and television stations as well as cable providers in the metro area.

We've also provided information about transportation providers, from the airlines and airport services to bus, shuttle and taxi services.

And that's just the first half. There is much more information that can help you navigate the Austin area. Where is City Hall? Where are the hospitals? Where are there volunteer opportunities? How and where can you register a vehicle?

Admittedly, it's a lot to take in. If you don't have time to read it now, set it aside. It might come in handy sometime between now and the next time we update it. And if you want more of this kind of information check out austin360.com, where all of this lives, often in greater detail.

Oh, and Jollyville? It's about 16 miles north of downtown. Named after John Grey Jolly, a blacksmith, who bought some land there in 1866. Only about 20 families lived there in 1960. Today, it's the seventh largest community in Williamson County. It's on the old road toward Pond Springs, but that's another story.