Most Walkable Austin Neighborhoods

If you are moving to Austin from somewhere like New York, Boston, Chicago, or Seattle, one of the things you probably love about that area is that it’s really walkable and convenient. You have your coffee shop, bodega, or grocery store on the corner. You have a bookstore that you always visit and a park where you walk your dog, and you get to hang out in this little community right around the corner from your apartment or wherever you’re staying. And many people moving to Austin have that feeling or that vibe that they want to maintain that quality of life or that style. Living in Austin and Austin is different from that. So, in this blog post, I will talk about the most walkable neighborhoods in Austin and give you an idea of what that means for that specific neighborhood.

But I want to preface this by saying most places in Austin are not as walkable as you would think, as in New York, Chicago, or Boston. And we don’t have very robust public transportation. So we don’t have a metro line, we don’t have a subway. We have a light rail, which is like a commuter rail. So rely on something other than public transportation, don’t rely on walking. You are going to need a car in Austin, and we’re going to talk about what the most walkable neighborhoods are in Austin. If that’s really important to you or you want to be walkable adjacent or somewhere like I can drive five or 10 minutes, that’s okay. Or no, I need to walk everywhere.

So, let’s jump in. Hi, I am Tiffany Moore. I’m a local realtor and broker right here in Austin, Texas. I help people worldwide move here and sell their homes here. If that’s something that you’re thinking about doing, please contact me. I’m going to give you the goods right off the bat. So we will go in direct order of most walkable to least walkable neighborhoods in Austin so you know what to expect.

Downtown Austin is the most walkable area in town. It’s one of the most popular areas in town. It’s got a lot of really cool stuff to do. The capital is there. The Convention Center, the Paramount Theater, which is somewhere I love, is home to many different shops, restaurants, and bars. It’s a perfect place to explore on foot. And some of my favorite places are downtown Austin, like Casino El Camino. This place has the best burgers in Austin; hands down, it’s a little dive shop. It’s got a hellscape theme. There’s loud, horrible music and B horror movies on constantly. But the burgers and the food are excellent. The drinks are cheap. The best place to go across the street from that is All Saints Tattoo. You can tell that I love tattoos. This is where I have almost all my tattoos from one of my favorite shops in Austin.

I would get tattooed, go across the street, have a burger and a beer, go home for the night, and call it a good night. And then another place that I love downtown is Parkside. All these places are off of Sixth Street, which is interesting because I only go on Sixth Street a little, but Parkside is a fantastic upscale restaurant tucked away from the madness of Sixth Street. It’s an excellent restaurant. They have delicious food and delicious cocktails. There’s a nice chill vibe in there. They have superior AC, which is essential, especially this time of year. But there are so many cool spots in downtown Austin, and this is the most walkable neighborhood in Austin. So when people say that they want to live somewhere like New York, Chicago, or Boston, unless you’re going to live in a condo in downtown Austin, that lifestyle will not be very realistic.

So downtown Austin does have. You can walk down from your condo, and coffee shops are nearby. There are some mini grocery stores, but you would think of something other than that they have in Chicago, Boston, New York, and other places. You’ll still need to go to H E B, our huge regional grocery store. You’ll still need to go there for groceries, so you’ll need to Uber or drive there. And because it’s not just downstairs, and you can go there and grab a pint of milk whenever you need it, you’re going to want to load up. So, you’ll need to get your groceries for the week or at least a few days. Buying groceries is the only thing you can’t do in downtown Austin. But you can do everything else.

You can walk everywhere, you can bike around. There are cool bike rental-like spots and shops where you can just rent a bike for a day, an hour, or half a day, whatever you need. And that’s really going to help you get around most places downtown. But the only thing that you will need to do is do your grocery shopping. So you can walk almost everywhere downtown. The question, especially this time of year, I’m filming this in mid-June, is whether you want to. Starting this week, Austin is getting above the hundreds in temperature. This week, it will be between 105 and 110 already in the middle of June. So you can walk places in downtown Austin. The question is, do you want to? I’m going to paint this picture for you.

Not only is it hot, it’s humid. If you walk for 10 or 15 minutes, you’ll probably be sweaty when you get somewhere. You will be very hot, and your face will probably be pink. So yes, you can walk places, but if you are going to be relying on walking to go to all the spots that you need to go run all your errands, do all the things, meet all the people that you’re trying to do in downtown, you may not want to walk. That may be something where you’re like, I’m going to take an Uber here, or maybe I’m just going to ride a bike and get that breeze going on your face to absorb some of that sweat and cool you off, and it’ll take you less time to get there. But you really have to consider the weather when figuring out whether you want to walk somewhere or not? It’s a significant factor you must pay attention to in Austin, Texas.

So, if you’re going to live in downtown Austin, you’re looking at living in one of the condos or apartments in the area. There really are only a few single-family homes in Austin. It’s all condos. If you were to buy a condo, I will share the most and least expensive condo on the market right now and what to expect at both prices. So, the lowest-priced condo in Austin right now is 255 K, which shocked me. I couldn’t believe a condo was on the market for 255. It’s a one bedroom, one bath. It’s 600 square feet. It was built in 1966. It has popcorn ceilings and a $ 500-a-month condo association fee. Remember when buying condos: there will be a hefty association fee, whatever building you’re with. So keep this in mind. I saw some pictures of this condo, which looks like a time capsule. It definitely needs to be renovated and needs some upgrades and updates. It does have popcorn on the ceilings, but for 255, it’s not that bad of a deal. The highest-priced condo downtown is 3.795 million. It’s on Congress at the Estonian, one of the town’s most highly sought-after condo buildings. So this unit is 2100 square feet. It’s the size of a house. It was built in 2008. It’s a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath with a $ 2,100-a-month condo association fee but with that, you get its prime location. The unit has fantastic views. It’s on a corner. It’s got incredible views of Lady Bird Lake and of South Congress. If you buy a condo in downtown Austin, this is the one you want to buy. And at a 3.8 million price tag, of course, who wouldn’t want to buy that?

So, the next most walkable neighborhood in Austin downtown’s the most walkable. This next one is South Congress. So South Congress is known for its quirky shops. It’s got really eclectic restaurants and places to hang out. It’s got really gorgeous views. Looking back at downtown Austin, it’s also highly walkable, and most of the stuff you’ll see is off of South Congress. That’s why it’s called the South Congress neighborhood. So this is home to, if you’ve seen any people standing before the, I love you so much signs. This is at Joe’s Coffee Shop on South Congress, and the Continental Club is on South Congress, which is self-proclaimed the granddaddy of all local music venues. It’s, it’s really awesome. It’s an old Austin staple you should check out if you love music. And, if you’re coming to Austin, you probably love music. So, it’s a place you need to check out.

South Congress has definitely glowed up in the past few years. It used to be older, Boston or Austin, a bit more boho, but it has definitely had a facelift, a turn of events, and many different pockets of South Congress. There are many superb restaurants to check out, shops, coffee shops, bakeries, and cool places to hang out, walk around, and enjoy life. These are some of my favorite places to check out on South Congress. The first is Perles. This is hands down my favorite restaurant on South Congress. It’s like high-end surf and turf. They have oysters, steak, lobster, and excellent fries. Everything is fresh and well prepared, and their cocktails are delicious. They also have a huge front patio. So, sitting on the front deck at Perlis, having oysters and a cocktail, is my idea of a perfect spring or fall afternoon.

They have a pretty shaded, and they have fans in the summer. If you go out there during the summer, look at the weather because it gets scorching and can be very hot. Another place that I love, that’s the other end of the spectrum as far as fine dining, is Magnolia Cafe. So this is a diner. It’s a fantastic diner in every sense of the word. My favorite thing to get there is pancakes with fresh strawberries. For some reason, you can’t get them everywhere in Austin, but I can get them at Magnolia at Cafe. It’s an excellent, truly Austin place to hang out and have breakfast anytime. And then, around the corner from South Congress in the same general area is Elizabeth Street Cafe. This is like a Vietnamese slash French fusion restaurant.

They have banhmi, dumplings, pho, and rice bowls. They also have unique cocktails and teas. And when I’m not in the mood for a cocktail, I get their shrubs, which I just learned about. It’s like watered-down vinegar, almost like the same idea of a kombucha. Really delicious. It’s not sweet. It’s tart but still bubbly and refreshing. I highly recommend it. Try one of their shrubs if you do not want a cocktail. Or if you want something hot, try their turmeric tea. I know, as crazy as it sounds, I do love hot tea. When it’s hot outside, their turmeric tea is delicious. What I like about South Congress versus downtown is South Congress is surrounded by single-family homes. So if you wanted to live in a walkable place, you want to be close to the cool shops and restaurants and things like that but still have a house.

South Congress is a perfect neighborhood to check out. The houses are really awesome. They have a ton of character. Most were built anywhere between the forties and the seventies. Some were built in the twenties, and they’re at all different stages of renovation. So, some of them have been completely torn down and rebuilt on the lot it was standing on. Some of them are just straight-up time capsules, and they look the same as when they were built in 1945 with the pink tile in the bathroom, the pink sink, the pink toilet, the laundry shoots, and everything. It’s really cool to see. And then you’ve got everything at all different stages in between. So, while the homes here are lovely and the neighborhood is walkable, this is one of the more expensive areas in town. So, as of filming this writing, the lowest price tag for a home in the South Congress neighborhood was $700,000.

And this is a straight-up teardown. It says that in the listing. So, if you buy this property, you’re purchasing it just for the land so you can build your house. And the most expensive home is 3.8 million. It’s the same price tag we saw in downtown Austin. This is a house, so it’s 3,500 square feet. It has five bedrooms. The listing says this is the number one Airbnb in Austin, with 2,505-star reviews. If you want to look at it that way, this is an investment or a gorgeous big house on South Congress. Either one would be awesome. So South Congress is just on the other side of the river from downtown. You could walk from one to the other. You could stop at the South Congress Bridge and watch the bats come out during the summer.

But remember, keep in mind the weather will be sweltering from June to mid-October. You’re probably not going to make that walk from South Congress to downtown unless you’ve got a hat, you’ve got sunscreen, you’ve got water, you’ve got a towel or an extra t-shirt or something like dry yourself off. It’s going to be really hot and sweaty. So, while Austin is walkable, consider the weather when you plan. Okay, the third more walkable neighborhood in Austin is East Austin. So, this neighborhood has undergone much change in the past few years. Some call it revitalization, some call it gentrification, but its history is a vibrant jazz and blues history. And the East side has always been a cool, artistic individual area. It’s always had a go-against-the-grain vibe, and it still does. It’s always been a tight-knit neighborhood and a true community in the real sense of the word.

So many of those same themes still run through the east side, but they’re on a more upscale, more developed, or more developed point of view. Some old jazz standards are still there, but they’re just next to new apartments and condos developed over the past 10 years. The East Side definitely has a distinct vibe from South Congress. It’s more independent, more underground. Some places are more grimy, but some of that is changing with the new developments that we’re getting. It’s still highly walkable. Lots of shops and restaurants, parks, bars, things to do. And it just got a new Whole Foods at the train station for our light rail. So, we do have a commuter light rail. It goes through downtown, it goes through the east side and is now attached to the train station. On the east side is a whole new Whole Foods. So, some of my favorite places on the east side are Whistlers. They make the best whiskey drinks in Austin. Easy tiger. They are known for their traditional German-style sausages or sauerkraut and pretzels, producing unique, excellent bread and pastries. And then Nixta. Nixta is a high-end taco place. They ‘nixmelize’ their own maize for their tortillas.

If you know anything about making tortillas, it’s more than just taking it out of the packet and putting it in the skillet. They take the grains, ‘mixmelize’ them, and then make the tortillas. So it’s the whole process. Everything is fresh, it’s handmade, it’s very well done. I could name many places on the East Side that I love. Those are the top three that came to mind first. So what is it like actually living on the east side? A lot of the new developments that are being built are apartments. They’re not necessarily condos, but the good news is that many single-family homes on the east side still have a lot of charm and character. Most of these will be single-style homes, more like cottage-style homes. They’re just similar to South Congress.

Some homes are everywhere in the renovation stage. Some have been torn down and have had new construction homes built on top. Others are in different stages of renovation. Some are time capsules, and some are somewhere in between. The East side is more affordable than South Congress, but it’s still not necessarily a steal unless you come from New York, California, or Seattle. So, as of mid-June, the lowest price listing on the east side was 4 75. And this is for a house that is 920 square feet. It was built in 1922. And this house is actually a teardown. So you’re buying it for the land, you’re going to tear down that house, and then you would build your own home on the lot. I checked out the other lowest-price listings on the east side. Everything under 500,000 is a teardown, so you must pay nearly 550 for a decent house. It will still need some renovations and some work. But 550 is a lot more doable than like 700 for a teardown.

Today, the highest price listing on the east side is 1.75 million. This is a 2,800-square-foot house. It has four bedrooms and three baths. It was built in 2012. It’s totally modern. It’s got a totally contemporary design. This is one of those houses where they bought the older house, tore it down, and then built this new one in 2012.

So, those are the most walkable neighborhoods in Austin. I will talk about a different area of Austin that is more realistic if you’re moving to town. So North Loop, Brentwood, and Allendale, out of all the neighborhoods we’re talking about, will be the least walkable of the neighborhoods we’re talking about today. But I feel like they’re more representative of Austin proper than any of the other areas. So downtown and South Congress are great but heavy on the tourist side. And even the east side is getting heavier on tourism versus the local aspect. But it’s really areas like the neighborhoods like North Loop Allendale and Brentwood that are more representative of what it’s actually like to live in Austin. And they are the most walkable areas of this city other than the three we just mentioned. North Loop, Brentwood, and Allendale are all similar in walkability. And by that, I mean they’re more cycle-friendly and cyclable than walkable. So these areas of town are away in neighborhoods, and there are coffee shops, restaurants, breweries, and all these things along the main strip in the community. So you’ve got all this stuff along the main strip, and then there’s so many neighborhoods and streets along the sides of those main strips where you have easy access to all that, but they may not be very walkable. So if you want to walk out your front door and be at a coffee shop within a five to 10-minute walk, you’ll need to be in downtown South Congress or the east side for that. But if you’re okay with a shore, like a five to 10-minute drive, your options will really open up.

So here’s what homes look like in these neighborhoods. They’re a little bit more affordable because they’re not directly in the center of town, but they are in what I call Austin proper, and they’re in the middle of the Austin vibe and that Austin lifestyle. All the things that you would do on your regular day-to-day basis are very Austin-y. So, the lowest-priced home in this area is 300,000. I was stunned to see this house, actually. It’s 576 square feet. It has two bedrooms. However, this is an estate sale, and it’s a teardown. So the house at the next price, like an actual house you could live in, was 550. This will be the lowest price range for livable homes in this North Loop Brentwood Allendale area. So it’s 550, it’s a 900 square foot house. It’s got three bedrooms. It was built in 1953. It has been updated and renovated with the fresh urban farmhouse style popular in Austin.

The highest-priced house is 3.4 million. So, this is about 4,400 square feet. It has five bedrooms. It is literally brand new. It was built in 2023. And it has a pool. It’s got a gorgeous design inside, as you can imagine. Around 3.5, 3.8 will be the high price point for some of the most walkable neighborhoods we’ve discussed in Austin. But the low points vary depending on the neighborhood you’re in, the location, how walkable it is, and all that good stuff. Austin has been taking steps to be more walkable and more walking and bicycle-friendly. In the past few years, we’re not quite there yet. And when you’re comparing us to cities like New York, Chicago, or Boston, where you could have the top five places you go to every day within a 10-minute walk of your neighborhood, I don’t know whether Austin will ever get there because we don’t have the same regulations. We don’t have that population density, and we don’t have the public transportation to support that. But if you want to be somewhere more walkable, hopefully, this blog post gave you a few different neighborhoods to check out and consider. If you need help when you’re moving to Austin, my contact info is below; feel free to reach out to me. I have got your back when you’re moving down here.