Festival season is in full swing,adding link to festivals guide here! but let's be real, when isn't it in Austin?

Whether you're a festival fanatic or prefer to avoid festival traffic, Austin's annual international festivities keep the local economy chugging. We're taking a quick look into how much cold, hard cash some of Austin's most famous events bring in.

Austin City Limits Music Festival

ACL 2020 was not included, since it was held virtually. | Graphic by ATXtoday

All-time economic impact: $3.08 billion, equivalent to 32,201 jobs.
All-time funding for the Austin Parks Foundation: $55 million

2022

Contributions to the Austin economy: $447.9 million
- That figure is equivalent to 3,578 full-time jobs.
- In comparison, the 2023 Super Bowl contributed about $600 million to Arizona's economy.
$7.2 million, excluding annual fees for Zilker Park restoration efforts, was donated to the Austin Parks Foundation for projects including:
- Trail improvements and maintenance at the Barton Creek Greenbelt
- Restoration of the historic Henry Madison Cabin at Rosewood Neighborhood Park
- Designing Austin's first all-abilities playground at Onion Creek Metropolitan Park

Note: ACL Festival began tracking economic impact in 2006, four years after the festival began.

SXSW

SXSW 2020 and 2021 were not included, by nature of being canceled and held fully virtually. | Graphic by ATXtoday

Economic impact since 2009: ~$2.88 billion

2022

Contributions to the Austin economy: $280.7 million
$1.8 million in hotel occupancy tax revenue, which came from 10,000 SXSW direct hotel reservations, or 45,500 room nights.

Note: SXSW's 2023 economic impact report had yet to be released at the time of publication.

Last year, Noel Leon was crowned 2021 champion.

Formula 1 US Grand Prix

All-time economic impact: ~$7 billion

2021

Contributions to the Austin economy: ~$1 billion
- Around 400,000 fans sat in the audience.
- Formula 1 fans reportedly spent $600 million in the city during Grand Prix weekend.
The day after the race ended in 2022, Austin Bergstrom-International Airport saw a record-breaking amount of passengers.

Note: the 2022 US Grand Prix economic impact report had yet to be released at the time of publication.