78 Austin Trivia Questions (Ranked from Easiest to Hardest)

Austin, the capital of Texas, is known for its vibrant music scene, thriving tech industry, and iconic landmarks such as the Texas State Capitol and the University of Texas at Austin. The city is also a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts, with access to natural attractions such as the Colorado River and the Texas Hill Country.

Austin was founded in 1835 by a group of settlers led by Stephen F. Austin and was named after him. The city quickly developed into a major center of trade, with the growth of the cotton and livestock industries. Austin has also grown rapidly in recent years, becoming a major center for technology, healthcare, and education. The city is also a hub for creative and innovative individuals and businesses, earning the nickname "Silicon Hills."

Austin is also known for its diverse population, with a large number of immigrants from Mexico and Central America, as well as African American and Native American communities. This diversity is reflected in the city's food, music, and art, making it a vibrant and exciting place to visit or live. The city's annual festivals, such as South by Southwest, Austin City Limits and Texas Book Festival, are also major draws, attracting visitors from all over the world.

78 Austin Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2025)

1. The Republican and Democrat are two tacos competing for taste buds on the menu of what Austin-based, devilish taco chain?

Answer: Torchy's Tacos

2. Way more dormant than "9-1-1: Lone Star" would have you believe, Pilot Knob is an actual volcano near Bergstrom International Airport in what Texas city?

Answer: Austin

3. Hippie Hollow Park is a park and beach in northwest Austin, which is the only public beach in the state of Texas permitting what specific activity?

Answer: Clothing optional (nude beach)

4. The Domain residential complex in Austin is home to a museum for what popular dessert item, housed inside of a pink building?

Answer: Ice Cream

5. With words scrawled in red on a yellow background on the side of Jo's Coffee, the "I Love You So Much" mural is a popular Instagram photo spot in what Texas city?

Answer: Austin

6. The Austin-based bourbon distiller Nine Banded Whiskey is named for what nine-banded little armored critters that appear on their logos?

Answer: Armadillos

7. Named for a landmark in San Antonio, what theater chain that famously doesn't allow talking or texting during movies was founded in 1997 in Austin?

Answer: Alamo Drafthouse

8. The Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum is located in what Texas town, also home to the University of Texas?

Answer: Austin

9. What is the largest city by population in Texas that does NOT have either an NFL, NBA, or MLB team call it home?

Answer: Austin

10. How many stars appear on the center of each doorknob at the Texas State Capitol?

Answer: One

11. On April 20, 2012, Austin dedicated a statue to what red-headed country singer and author of "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die?"

Answer: Willie Nelson

12. Weather conditions were so hot and dry at the 2005 Austin City Limits festival, getting as high as 107 degrees Fahrenheit, that the event was nicknamed the “ACL _______ _______." The two words also represent the name given to the drought-stricken prairies of the 1930s.

Answer: ACL Dust Bowl

13. A manmade swimming pool in Austin, the oldest pool in the state of Texas with a bathhouse built by the Works Progress Administration, is the Deep ______ Municipal Pool. The term also applies to the circular movement of water, counter to a main current, that makes a whirlpool.

Answer: Deep Eddy Municipal Pool

14. What “P” Therapeutics company, founded in Austin in 1995, offers targeted radiotherapeutics for adults and children with rare cancers, and has a name that suggests addition?

Answer: Plus Therapeutics

15. The flood of July 1869 caused flooding in several towns south of Austin after which river—the longest in Texas—accumulated water to a whopping 55 feet high?

Answer: Colorado River

16. What is the name of the Austin-based software business founded by brothers David and Donald Yonce that was considered to be in the middle of the December 2020 Federal government hack?

Answer: SolarWinds

17. Which Falls is a state park in Austin, Texas, at the confluence of Onion Creek and Williamson Creek? It’s also the last name of Mark from the sketch comedy group “The Kids In The Hall" and Glenn on “Superstore.”

Answer: McKinney

18. What band that shares its name with a utensil hails from Austin and had an album in 2007 entitled "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga?" The lead singer of the band, Britt Daniels, performed Elvis Costello's song, "Veronica," on an episode of "Veronica Mars."

Answer: Spoon

19. If you have tickets to the Broken Spoke, Threadgill's, or Cactus Cafe, you're certainly in "the Live Music Capital of the World," which is what American city?

Answer: Austin

20. Oddly held right in the center of city, what ginormous Austin music fest scooped its name from what PBS music show?

Answer: Austin City Limits

21. Although it closed in 2015, what actress who starred in films including “The Proposal," “Two Weeks Notice," and “The Blind Side” opened her own restaurant called Bess Bistro in Austin, Texas in 2006?

Answer: Sandra Bullock

22. What famous TV journalist, who anchored CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981 and was known as "the most trusted man in America," attended his freshman year at the University of Texas - Austin, before dropping out of school altogether?

Answer: Walter Cronkite

23. Austin's Lady Bird Lake, despite being located in Texas, is actually a reservoir of what river that's named for a state that is not Texas?

Answer: Colorado

24. Clyde Stubblefield and Aaron Franklin are Barbecue Hall of Fame inductees whose meats rep the pit scene of what Texas city?

Answer: Austin

25. BFF mode helps you swarm together with new platonic besties on what Whitney Wolfe Herd-founded, Austin-based relationship app?

Answer: Bumble

26. Which country music star played a private concert at the VerkadaOne event in Austin in mid-2023?

Answer: Cole Swindell

27. Wade Watts digs through troves of '80s nostalgia to find the Easter eggs of a high-stakes virtual game in what 2011 novel by two-time Austin Poetry Slam winner Ernest Cline?

Answer: Ready Player One

28. A wildflower center at the University of Texas at Austin is named after what former First Lady of the United States, the wife of the president who succeeded John F. Kennedy following his assassination?

Answer: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

29. According to the Favor Delivery app, Austin was the city that ordered the most burritos for delivery in 2023. Which Texas city southwest of it came in second?

Answer: San Antonio

30. In what decade did the annual mishmash of film, media, and music known as South by Southwest (SXSW) first begin in Austin? The festival has remained in the Texas capital since it launched.

Answer: 1980s

31. What Austin-area structure is home to more than one and a half million bats, the largest urban bat colony in the U.S.?

Answer: The Congress Avenue Bridge

32. Austin's Rooster Teeth Productions started with "Red vs. Blue," a parody of what Xbox military video game series?

Answer: Halo

33. Applegate, Columbus Craft Meats, Dinty Moore, Jennie-O and Skippy are all brands owned and managed by what food processing company founded in Austin, Minnesota in 1891?

Answer: Hormel

34. Austin is the capital of Texas. Which other capital of a U.S. state is closest in distance to Austin? Use "as the crow flies" or haversine distance, rather than driving distance. And think of the city, not the state.

Answer: Oklahoma City

35. A demonym is a word that identifies a group of people in relation to a particular place, such as Chicagoan or Michigander. What is the official demonym for someone from Austin?

Answer: Austinite

36. What three-letter acronym band of Finnish folk musicians, mainly fiddlers, from Kaustinen released “Artology” in 2006? Their acronym comes in part from the fiddlers of Jarvela.

Answer: JPP

37. In Zilker Park in Austin, there’s an outdoor swimming pool with water from nearby springs called what? It’s also the last name of Hawkeye from the MCU, first name Clint.

Answer: Barton

38. Austin is home to the largest of what collective group of universities with an orange color scheme? Notable alumni include Owen Wilson and Michael Dell.

Answer: University Of Texas

39. Donning a verde suit, what local celebrity and Austin FC Minister of Culture drummed for the crowd during the team's inaugural 2021 home game?

Answer: Matthew McConaughey

40. A 3,000-mile race track and facility in Austin that has hosted the U.S. Grand Prix is the “Circuit Of The” what? The word implies that residents of Austin, as well as residents of Panama City and São Paulo, can also use it.

Answer: Americas

41. What Lake on the Colorado River in Austin is a river-like reservoir? It shares its name with the two-word nickname of President Johnson’s First Lady, who served from 1963 to 1969.

Answer: Lady Bird Lake

42. The Color Bar Experience is an in-store offering of what jeweler whose namesake founder started it out of her Austin home in 2002?

Answer: Kendra Scott

43. What “B” art museum on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin offers classes in addition to many exhibits and galleries?

Answer: Blanton Museum of Art

44. An archive and museum at the University of Texas, Austin that attempts to aid the study of arts and humanities is the Harry _____ Center. The word is also a term for the payoff to end a kidnapping.

Answer: Ransom

45. A historic nature preserve and park in west Austin off of 35th St, overlooking Lake Austin, is what Park? The name sounds like a spring month.

Answer: Mayfield

46. 35th St in Austin is home to the original site of the Austin Museum of Art that still houses art collections, known as The Contemporary Austin - Laguna ______? It’s also the name of a song originally recorded in 1964 by Them and later covered by Patti Smith.

Answer: Gloria

47. A whimsical, multilevel shelter/artwork made of tons of used furniture and home goods, on Lareina Dr in Austin, is the Cathedral of _______. The “J” term also applies to old, useless items often discarded, or a Chinese sailing ship with battened sails.

Answer: Junk

48. What professional tennis player became the first Austinite to win a Grand Slam singles title following his 2013 U.S. Open victory against Juan Carlos Ferrero?

Answer: Andy Roddick

49. Co-created by Bill Arhos and Bruce Scafe, what's the title of the PBS series that's been on the air since 1979 and helped Austin become the “Live Music Capital Of The World?"

Answer: Austin City Limits

50. A vibrant, trendy neighborhood in Austin that is home to the Continental Club and views of the Texas State Capitol is South _____ Avenue. It’s also the name of the most important legislative body in the U.S.

Answer: Congress

51. What museum on 6th Street in Austin, featuring Bigfoot exhibits and shrunken heads, appropriately advertises itself as a museum for things that are what adjective, often something supernatural or uncanny?

Answer: Museum Of The Weird

52. Lamar Blvd in Austin is home to a dance hall, live music, and chicken fried steak, and known as the Broken _______. It’s also the name of a bar that connects the center of a wheel to the rim.

Answer: Spoke

53. Which Texas city, now the largest in the state, was originally the capital of the Republic of Texas, before Austin became the capital in 1839?

Answer: Houston

54. What Texas musician, known for such hits as "The Sky is Crying" and "Tightrope," was immortalized in a statue located at Lady Bird Lake in Austin, after his death in a helicopter crash in 1990?

Answer: Stevie Ray Vaughan

55. What lake in Austin shares its name with a Texas county, as well as a Texas Revolutionary War hero?

Answer: Lake Travis

56. A Mexican restaurant on Comanche Trail in Austin: The Oasis On Lake _______. The “T” term is also the first name of Blink-182 drummer Barker and country music performer Tritt.

Answer: Travis

57. A wildflower center southwest of Austin, which protects over 900 species of plants native to Texas, is named for what woman? As First Lady, she helped bring wildflowers to the nation's highways by advocating for the Highway Beautification Act.

Answer: Lady Bird Johnson

58. Which “pfun” city in Travis County is a suburb of Austin and home to Typhoon Texas and Northeast Metro Skate/BMX Park?

Answer: Pflugerville

59. According to multiple weather websites, what is the hottest month of the year in Austin?

Answer: August

60. The hottest day in the history of Austin was on August 28, 2011, when the temperature reached how many degrees Fahrenheit?

Answer: 112

61. In 2011, Vista Equity Partners moved from its original HQ city of San Francisco, California to what state capital city?

Answer: Austin

62. 1. An acronym for a federal food assistance program. 2. What Lil Jon wants you to do with yo’ fingers in a 2006 hit. 3. A type of pea. All three share a word in the name with what Austin-based "ready-to-eat" marketplace?

Answer: Snap Kitchen

63. What “U” sculpture garden in Austin focuses on its namesake sculptor, first name Charles, in a setting adjacent to Zilker Park?

Answer: Umlauf sculpture garden

64. The "Servant Girl Annihilator" is the gory nickname given by writer O. Henry to the unknown Austin serial killer who murdered eight people from 1884-1885 with what common arboreal tool?

Answer: Axe

65. What real estate franchise with two names, founded in Austin by one of its namesakes in 1983, claims to be the world’s largest in terms of agents employed and sales? You can find them by looking up the letters “KW.”

Answer: Keller Williams

66. The fake eruption of the real-life dormant volcano Pilot Knob blasted off the second season of what Austin-set Rob Lowe TV EMS drama?

Answer: 9-1-1: Lone Star

67. What “B” Texas State History Museum, established in 2001 in Austin, is dedicated to telling the story of Texas through educational experiences? Its name is the same as the last name of the actress who starred in “Ocean’s 8” as Danny Ocean’s sister.

Answer: Bullock Texas State History Museum

68. A park in Austin on City Park Rd, on the shores of Lake Austin, is _________ Long Metropolitan Park. It’s also the name of an 1815 Jane Austen novel about romantic misunderstandings involving the Woodhouse family.

Answer: Emma

69. A Pool and Preserve in Austin shares its name with which popular historical musical about the first Secretary of the Treasury in U.S. History?

Answer: Hamilton Pool Preserve

70. The shallow, terraced falls of what river that’s 25 miles west of Austin are known for their rapid flash floods, which have led to several deaths at their namesake state park?

Answer: Pedernales River

71. What historic district, located near Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin, has a series of historic bungalow homes? It happens to share its name with the last name of the blues singer Ma from a 2020 August Wilson adaptation.

Answer: Rainey Street Historic District

72. Created in 2009 and based in Austin, Texas, what “A” software company helps optimize workplace productivity in the remote space by streamlining workflow and limiting distractions, keeping employees energetic?

Answer: ActivTrak

73. What saloon franchise has a location on 6th Street in Austin, and a movie made about it, starring Piper Perabo? The film, however, is set at the NYC location.

Answer: Coyote Ugly

74. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon was supplied with boxes thanks to the work of what AI-integrated, Jason Traff-founded Austin logistics startup with a very on-the-nose name?

Answer: Shipwell

75. Which month of the year is the wettest one on average in Austin?

Answer: May

76. Which real estate franchise based in Austin was started in 1983, has more than 180,000 global associates as of 2018, and was listed as one of the happiest companies to work for?

Answer: Keller Williams Realty

77. What “D” chocolatier, owned by Nicole Patel and operating out Austin, tries to use local Texas ingredients in its chocolate, and has an advent calendar? Its name is a derivation of a word meaning tasty.

Answer: Delysia

78. What U.S. real estate agency based in Texas was started by a couple of guys in Austin in 1983, one of whom went on to become known for the self-help book: “The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results,” which he co-authored with Jay Papasan in 2013?

Answer: Keller Williams

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