When the COVID pandemic hit Austin, Texas — the Live Music Capital of the World — in 2020, the city’s famous venues felt the brunt of the impact. In fact, one of the first signs of COVID’s seismic impact was the cancellation of South by Southwest (SXSW), the multimedia festival that had taken place (mostly) in downtown Austin every March since 1987. By one estimate, the move to an online festival cost Austin $350 million in revenue, as roughly 400,000 attendees stayed home. The city’s mayor at the time called the situation “horrible.”

Six years later, as the city prepares to host the latest edition — and the first since the demolition of the convention center where most of its panels have taken place — it seemed like a good time to check on the health of downtown Austin, where so much SXSW activity transpires.

By most measures, downtown Austin is back, if not quite at its pre-pandemic heights. According to the Downtown Austin Alliance, an organization devoted to helping the neighborhood thrive, year-round figures like hotel room occupancy show that the area is prospering. Occupancy is at 70%, just shy of its pre-pandemic figure of about 80%. (During the pandemic, it dipped to about 4%.) Overall consumer spending saw a similar increase, too.* And, according to Lyft data, Austin has seen a rebound in rideshare activity since 2023; for example, 34% more rides to work, 60% more rides to entertainment venues, and a whopping 300% more rides to both resorts and pizza places.

But what about SXSW itself? According to the festival’s own figures, last year’s SXSW and SXSW EDU welcomed 309,327 people to Austin, nearly 100,000 fewer than came in 2019. Some people now attend virtually, with an estimated 383,700 unique viewers following along on YouTube. 

That said, the festival still has an outsized local impact. According to an analysis from Greyhill Advisors, the 2023 festival generated $380.9 million for Austin, a $25 million increase over the last pre-pandemic festival. (That same publication reported a slight decrease to $377.3 million in 2024.)

According to the last seven years of Lyft data, the busiest time of the year in all of Austin has been during each in-person festival of SXSW (2019 and 2022 through 2025). That’s especially true downtown, where SXSW dates have seen, on average, double the number of rides of an average week. And they’re on the rise: Downtown rides have gone from a 66% increase in 2022 to an 85% increase in 2025 (see chart below).  

And those numbers are increasing. Year over year, the number of rides, both downtown and throughout Austin, has gone up during SXSW. That said, the numbers have yet to reach their 2019 peaks — though last year’s rides were starting to close in (they’re 20% away). 

Will that trend continue this year? It’s hard to say. Due to the convention center’s demolition, the festival is using what it’s calling a “clubhouse” model, spreading the conference to three venues for each branch of SXSW (music, film, innovation). These main venues are all downtown, but the festival will also include other locations (including a whopping 60 music venues) throughout the city. One would reasonably expect a disparate festival might find attendees taking more Lyft rides around town.

Ironically, the biggest impact might come from a programming update. The festival trimmed two days from this year’s schedule, due to declining interest in what was once its signature topic: music.

*Some of this increase could be due to inflation.