Don’t Pick The Wrong Neighborhood | Best Places to Live in Austin Texas

Are you thinking about moving or relocating to Austin, Texas? But you’re wondering if it’s really the right place for you. In this video, we will talk about several neighborhoods in Austin that may be ideal for you, depending on what you’re looking for.

So, if you’re considering moving to Austin, you want to ensure that you will live in the neighborhood supporting the lifestyle you’re moving here for. Some of the questions I ask people on our call include: what is most important to you? What are some of the top priorities you’re looking for when you move to Austin? Is it public schools? Is it hiking and biking trails? Do you want to be close to the cool restaurants and all the fun stuff there is to do here? Is it affordability? Is it proximity to work? What is the reason you’re actually moving here, and what neighborhood can we get you to so that supports the lifestyle that you want to live?

Top Rated Schools

Today, we will discuss the best neighborhoods for some of the most common reasons people move to Austin. One of the top reasons people move here is that one of the top neighborhoods they’re looking for is a neighborhood with excellent public schools. So, the top two rated public school districts in Austin are Eanes and Lake Travis Independent School District.

I like to use greatschools.org for all of my data about the public school districts and each individual school. They have a ton of criteria that they’re measuring schools on. They also discuss testing scores, college readiness, acceptance, and diversity. So, whatever criteria you use to pick schools, greatschools.org will be an excellent resource. So that is where much of the data we’re discussing today comes from. This isn’t just my personal opinion. I’m not making up what the best schools are. This is based on the data from greatschools.org.

For the Eanes Independent School District, 100% of the schools are rated above average. To better understand how this works in Texas, the average for schools is 35% below average, 39% are rated average, and 27% are above average.

So, in the Eanes Independent School District, 100% of the schools are rated above average. The top four of the six elementary schools in the Eanes Independent School District are rated a nine to 10 out of a possible 10 points. The two middle schools are rated nine out of 10, and one traditional high school is rated a nine out of 10.

The Lake Travis Independent School District is the other top school district in the area. Zero schools are rated below average, 22% average, and 78% above average. So, there are eight elementary schools in the school district. The top four are rated in eight to nine out of 10. There are four middle schools; the top is an eight out of 10, and there is one high school rated a seven out of 10. So these school districts are hands down the highest rated in the greater Austin area, and they have the highest rated schools in the Austin area.

They also have the highest price tags for homes and neighborhoods that feed into these schools. These are some of the most highly sought-after and expensive homes in the Austin area, unlike the Austin Proper homes. Homes in Austin proper have huge price tags but are slightly smaller. So the price per square foot is higher. The homes in these neighborhoods are bigger and grander. Their price tag is about the same, but the price per square foot homes in Austin proper will be higher than those in the Lake Travis Independent School District.

Affordable Neighborhoods

So, next, let’s talk about affordability as a general rule. The further away you get from Austin proper, the more affordable the homes will be. So, we’ll talk about some of my favorite affordable areas when you’re moving to Austin. The first one is Hutto. So, Hutto is on the northeast side of Austin. It’s between Round Rock and Georgetown.

It used to be literally all farmland, and now it is going through this vast development and growth phase with neighborhoods, restaurants, shops, and basically a whole new town being sprung up from nothing. You also have access to all the cool stuff that’s going on in Round Rock and in Georgetown. So you have access to the Round Rock Express Minor League baseball stadium. You’re close to the Kalahari Waterpark, America’s largest indoor waterpark. If you’re in Hutto or Round Rock, it’s down the street.

The Square in Georgetown has many shops and restaurants, Georgetown’s little downtown area, super easy access to that, and you’re about 30 to 35 minutes to downtown Austin. So Hutto is a perfect spot because it’s exploding, growing, and very affordable right now, and you have access to all these other amenities that have already been built up around it.

Another area that I really love is Bastrop. So Bastrop is southeast of Austin. It’s about 30 to 35 minutes away from downtown Austin. It’s like a little mini Austin. It has this cool older town feel, a slower pace, like what Austin used to be in the seventies or the early eighties. That’s how I think about Bastrop. It’s still a quiet little town with many fun things to do. They have a really cool downtown area with shops and restaurants.

They’ve got breweries and distilleries there, and Bastrop is just off the Colorado River. So there are a lot of hiking opportunities for hiking, canoeing, and stand-up paddle. They have music and art festivals, and there are gorgeous older historic homes around the downtown Bastrop area, similar to what we find outside the square in Georgetown. It has a vibe and architecture identical to the area outside of downtown Bastrop.

There’s also a lot of development going on there. So again, it’s very similar to Georgetown, where you’ve got the older historic downtown area, but then you’ve got a lot of development and growth outside of town. So, in 2021, I had four clients under contract for new construction homes in Bastrop. At the same time, there’s a massive neighborhood called The Colony. It’s driving so much of the growth in Bastrop. They are going to have their own elementary school and their own middle school. It’s like its own little community. That’s just some of the growth that’s going on in Bastrop, but the Colony is a massive part of the residential development that’s happening there.

Another area that I like for affordability is Liberty Hill. Bastrop or Hutto is more affordable than this because the area is developing fast. Liberty Hill, Leander, Georgetown, all these areas blend together at some point. There’s a mishmash in the middle where you’re like, I don’t know what city that is exactly. But when you think about and hear about all the growth in Leander, that also spreads and trickles over to Georgetown and Liberty Hill.

So, with Liberty Hill, you’re still close to Georgetown, Leander, and Cedar Park, as I mentioned. Higher-end homes are being built here, which raises the property value for the surrounding areas. So even if you were to get a more affordable home in Liberty Hill, it is surrounded by many other higher-end homes, which will continue to raise your property value for your market value, which is fantastic if you ever decide to sell. But also to remember that it will increase your taxes slightly too.

Liberty Hill is about 30 to 35 minutes from downtown Austin, which is decent, and I like the projected growth for this area. So again, Leander is in the process of exploding. We’re building a whole new Domain in the Leander area called Northline.

There’s going to be a train station there. It’s going to be super easy to get downtown. There are so many neighborhoods built up in the Leander, Georgetown, and Liberty Hill areas that I really like this area for the growth, development, future investment opportunity, and market value of homes in this general area.

I mentioned that Liberty Hill is less affordable than Hutto and Bastrop. It’s for these reasons. This area is experiencing a lot more growth than Hutto and Bastrop, so it will have many more amenities. There’s more opportunity in Liberty Hill than in those other areas.

For the Absolute Austin Experience

If you’re moving to Austin to live the Austin lifestyle, you want to be around all the cool shops and restaurants. You’re coming here for the vibe. You really want to immerse yourself in Austin. There’s nowhere you can live other than Austin to get that. I mentioned that Bastrop has a cool, old, older Austin vibe, but if you’re looking for the energy, excitement, stuff to do, art, and everything like that in Austin, you have to live in Austin to do that.

It’s hard to narrow this down because Austin has many cool pockets and neighborhoods. But I will share some of my favorite places if you want to immerse yourself in the Austin vibe.

The first area is South Lamar, so many little independent shops, restaurants, and bars exist. There are so many things within a short walking distance on South Lamar. So, if you’re looking for a walkable area of Austin in general, I tell people Austin is not walkable. You’re definitely going to need a car here. There isn’t a neighborhood where you can walk to the grocery store, a coffee shop, or a favorite little park bench.

There are some little pockets like that in Austin. South Lamar is definitely one of them. Another one I like is Cherrywood, but in general, you’ll need to drive a car to go to a restaurant or the grocery store or things like that. But if you’re just in the South Lamar area, you can park somewhere and meander around and go see all these cool shops and restaurants, all the things to do, and really immerse yourself in the vibe. That’s what I like about South Lamar; it’s walkable, not for everything you need in town, but for a lot of cool stuff to do.

The art scene in South Lamar is fantastic, and the homes in this area are cool and eclectic. They’re definitely not cookie-cutter. You will have a wholly modern contemporary home next to a more traditional Austin ranch-style home that’s been completely renovated next to something about to be torn down but has impressive, beautiful trees on the property.

South Lamar is definitely not cookie-cutter. It’s very unique. It’s very artsy. Another thing I love about it is that it’s right in the middle of the Austin Hills. So you get some of the Austin Hills in this neighborhood. Not as much as some of the others we’re going to talk about, but it’s definitely a good entry point if you’re looking for some beautiful topography, lots of trees, and something that’s not cookie-cutter.

My favorite neighborhood in Austin is Zilker. It is just west of South Lamar and shares some similar features, but the main attraction of the Zilker area is nature. So you’ve got Zilker Park. You can walk to Barton Springs or several other watering holes. One of my friends lived in this area for a while, and we would go to Barton Springs, and then when that would get just filled up, or we just wanted to go somewhere else, we would kind of walk in the back of this neighborhood through a park and somehow find this secret watering hole. And those places are all over Zilker. It’s amazing.

Zilker is very green and hilly, so you feel like you are just set in this treehouse surrounded by beautiful trees and vines and bushes everywhere, and it is in a very hilly area of Austin. So, if you are looking for something slower, quieter, and more set in this natural background, Zilker is definitely a place to be. It’s still close to South Lamar and South Congress and shops and things like that. So you get tucked away into this quiet little area of Austin surrounded by beautiful nature, but you have effortless access to many other things in the area.

Again, the houses here are very eclectic, just like South Lamar. Very unique architecture. It’s a beautiful place to walk around and look at all the beautiful homes. And like we talked about, there’s tons of stuff to do within a short walking distance or a short Uber ride.

Another excellent area that I really like is the North Loop neighborhood. So, this is right in the middle of cool restaurants, shops, and breweries. Austin is definitely walkable but less walker-friendly than the Zilker area. Things are more spread out, but there is a ton of stuff to see and do in this neighborhood, so you’ve got effortless access to the highway. If you’re trying to go north or south, it’s just right in the middle of town, and it will take you only a little bit of time to get downtown or to any of the little pocket neighborhoods in the area.

Essential Questions When Moving to Austin

There are so many really cool neighborhoods, suburbs, and communities in Austin that you need to find the one that will match your lifestyle. So this is one of the things we will discuss on our call: why are you moving here? What is vital for you to be around, and how can we match those things together and get you to a place you’ll love so that you enjoy living in Austin, like you’re moving here for a reason? If you’re looking for something cooler or better, another opportunity or a safer place for your family, or a better education, whatever it is, let’s hone in on those things and get you exactly what you want.

If you need any help doing that, reach out to me. We’ll get you on the road when you’re moving to Austin.