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The Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker, created by a team led by economist Raj Chetty, offers additional economic insights. In most of the metrics available by metro area, Austin is doing relatively better than the US average and many of its peers.

Oil

At the same time oil prices have experienced downward pressure due to a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, global demand for oil has plummeted. The result was the lowest prices for West Texas Intermediate since the 1980s. Faced with low prices, US oil production fell 900,000 barrels a day between between February and April. As the world economy began to reopen and demand began to recover, oil prices rose back into the $30 per barrel range in June.

From employment to exports, the health of the Texas economy is tied to the price of oil. In the Austin region, the impact of low oil prices on the state and education budgets will also have a major impact. The oil production tax is ordinarily one of the top 5 sources of revenue for the State of Texas. The drop in prices and production will be a hit to the state's revenues. In addition, the Permanent University Fund and the Permanent Schools Fund help fund education in Texas with distributions of income, which include oil royalties. In 2019, the funds distributed $2.5 billion to support school districts, the University of Texas System, and Texas A&M System. Distributions in 2020 will likely be considerably lower.