Last week, Inc. magazine unveiled the 50 best places to start a business, and Austin led the list of top surge cities. Dallas came in at No. 17.

Last spring, U.S. News and World Report ranked the best places to live in America, and Austin was No. 1 for the second year in a row. Dallas was 18th.

Just over a year ago, Moody's Analytics did a deep dive on 65 metros to determine the best location for Amazon's second headquarters. Austin ranked first, based on several dozen data points, while North Texas was far behind — Dallas-Plano-Irving at 34th, Fort Worth-Arlington at 55th.

All this (and there’s more) might be enough to give D-FW an inferiority complex, except that it’s one of the country’s leading economies. This region has added about 100,000 jobs annually for several years and is on a similar pace this year.

But Austin is definitely having a moment, and it seems to be lasting for the better part of a decade. And it’s not just about winning beauty contests with the media and economists.

Austin has been growing jobs at a faster rate than Dallas and pulling in over 2,400 residents a year from North Texas. It's also landed some major projects that would have made Dallas leaders scream for joy.

This month, Apple unveiled a billion-dollar expansion plan that will add 5,000 to 15,000 jobs in Austin. In October, a Honeywell spinoff named Resideo (annual revenue of $4.5 billion) designated Austin as its headquarters. In July, the Army chose Austin for its Futures Command HQ, which will lead to billions in new research and development.

Austin is "no longer the scruffy college town known for its slacker culture, rowdy live music venues, and clothing-optional festivals," Inc. wrote in its cover story.

Austin-born Dell and Whole Foods have been luring talent for years, and tech giants Google, Facebook, Amazon and Dropbox have large workforces. Add in a gusher of entrepreneurs — both home-grown and transplanted — and the result is a thriving startup scene in food and drink, computer hardware, enterprise software and consumer tech, Inc. wrote.

You can’t buy that kind of publicity, and although Dallas has considerable strengths, it’s worthwhile to consider what Austin has been doing so well.

It all starts with building around a flagship university. The University of Texas at Austin has been producing talented graduates and groundbreaking research for decades, said Bill Sproull of the Richardson Chamber of Commerce.

That foundation is especially appealing to companies in Silicon Valley, where top tier research universities have been crucial to innovation and success.

“UT-Austin is their Stanford,” Sproull said. “That’s hard to compete with.”

The Capitol and seat of state government elevate the politics and culture of the city. There's also a unique brand that resonates with young people — “Keep Austin weird” — along with countless restaurants, bike paths and outdoor venues. Taken together, Austin has created a unique ecosystem, and it resonates with California companies in particular.

Texas is the favorite for California employers looking to flee high costs and high regulation, and Austin is easily their first choice. From 2008 to 2016, Austin landed 117 relocations and expansions from California firms, according to a report by Joseph Vranich, a corporate relocation consultant.

That’s almost twice as many moves as the D-FW area, whose total includes two dozen projects in Plano and Irving.

“With the rolling hills, the Austin area looks like California, and Austin has a little bit of that flair,” said Vranich, president of Spectrum Location Solutions.

At the start of the decade, companies that were expanding or relocating often focused on affordability. Today, they’re more worried about the size and quality of the labor pool — talent generated locally and talent that can be imported from other regions.

Austin scores well on all fronts, in part because it’s a popular destination. While Dallas is a major convention town that attracts people for business and family, Austin is popular for getaways, such as music festivals, reunions and bachelorette parties.

“I tell friends that Dallas is a more livable city, but Austin is much better to visit,” said Lily Kramlich-Taylor, a 26-year-old from Sacramento who moved to Dallas after graduating from college in Maine.

She and a friend started a website and Instagram page for newcomers, Dallasites 101, that spotlights restaurants and events, such as a candlelit yoga and wine class. She's planning to quit her public relations job to focus on that effort.

Dallas needs more voices to celebrate its successes, said Ben Lamm, a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Chaotic Moon Studios in Austin and other startups.

“Austin is great at marketing Austin and selling the quality of life,” said Lamm, now leading Dallas-based Hypergiant Industries, a collection of artificial intelligence companies.

Lamm spends time in Dallas, Austin and Houston and believes there should be more cooperation than competition, even while leaders play to their strengths. Dallas, for instance, has so many big corporate players that a startup could build a big company without leaving the region, he said.

But there's reason to focus on improving the quality of life. That includes boosting parks and recreation, and promoting more local restaurants and retailers. While Dallas has made major progress, he said, the region must push for more — like the Klyde Warren Park times 10.

"We have more Fortune 500 companies, more diversity and more money than Austin," Lamm said. "So we should be able to close the gap."