Checked on Austin's growth, and it's pretty alarming: 656k in 2000, 804 now. Doesn't mean it's less liveable - the right kind of suburban sprawl can be hardly noticeable. Looking back, Austin has been a growth monster for a long time, damn near doubles in size every 20 years:
1970 - 251,000
1980 - 345,000
1990 - 472,020
2000 - 656,562
2010 - 790,390
2012 - 804,000 (est.)
As far as Utah and SLC, I'm a big fan actually. Spent 4 days each in Provo and Salt Lake covering the old WAC hoops tournaments, couple of football overnights. Not the right place for most of us, but if you're laid-back, a non-drinker with a family, it would be hard to beat. Clean city, low-crime, highly educated with a decent jobs base. LDS people, too ... there's something about them. "Shiny" is the word that leaps to mind. Can't say I'm a big fan of the religion, but the people have a unique something.
Just saw a couple of surprising SLC facts: 1) It's a Top 50 gay friendly city, and 2) most plastic surgeons per capita. Weird.