In venture dollar terms, Boston is 3x bigger than Austin:

http://www.inc.com/associated-press/top-20-cities-for-tech-s...

That list excludes biotech, and Boston is one of the top biotech hubs, so I suspect that would boost it even higher.

Interesting, didn't expect DC to be bigger than Austin as well.

Over the last year, I've seen Austin go from being mentioned as "second tier" startup city, to now being mentioned alongside SF and NYC. Has it really grown that much in such a short time? As someone just about to finish grad school, I may consider checking it out some more.

Depends on what you're looking for. I live in Austin and I love it. There are plenty of interesting companies to work for, and you'll live in a better home in a better neighborhood for your budget. Austinites are generally fantastic, welcoming people. It's probably a good place for you. Here are the exceptions:

1. Read https://breakoutlist.com/. If that argument matches your motivations, go to San Francisco.

2. Do you have a (relatively) niche interest, like VR/AR, machine learning, or blockchains? Go where those companies are: San Francisco and New York.

3. Do you want to experience a city where everything happens? Go to New York.

Otherwise, pick Austin. Maybe Seattle depending on weather preferences and distance from friends and family.

I'd chose Austin over Seattle any day, mainly because people really are just so nice in Austin.

It's hard to consider Austin as even a second tier startup city-- first tier would be SF/Silcon Valley and second would be NYC and Seattle.

I would be hard-pressed to come up with names of 3 successful startups from Austin, and I think most people would be too.

I'm not sure; I would guess it's on similar levels to somewhere like Austin or NYC since it's in the same grouping as it in the article, but I don't know first hand.