North Loop Austin | Best Places to Live in Austin
Over a hundred people move to Austin every day. To find out which Austin neighborhood is the right fit for you, I’m doing a series of blog posts highlighting some of Austin’s hottest neighborhoods.
We’ll dive deep into one of Austin’s most affordable neighborhoods and an excellent place for singles: North Loop. To get to North Loop, you should go up north and east. It is bordered on the right by I35. This is just on the cusp between West Austin and East Austin. On the left, it’s bordered by Lamar. On the north, it’s 290 and Koenig; on the south, it’s bordered by 51st Street.
I like to think of around 51st and Airport as the hub of North Loop – the quintessential North Loop neighborhood.
The location of North Loop is convenient. You’re about 10 to 15 minutes from downtown. And then, just to the east, you’ve got access to I35, which will take you north to the suburbs of Round Rock, Huttu, and Pflugerville.
The architecture of North Loop homes is similar to Allandale’s. They’re older ranch-style homes on bigger lots with lots of trees everywhere.
North Loop is also in the process of being updated home by home. So you’ve got some homes that have original 50 style floors, cabinets, appliances, that’s on one side of the spectrum. And then, on the opposite side of the spectrum are homes completely torn down and rebuilt in a modern kind of farmhouse style.
Like Allandale, one trend in North Loop is homes being knocked down and then two houses being built on one lot, one in the front, one in the back, with usually two or three stories. But it’s less common than it is in Allandale right now.
North Loop is the most affordable neighborhood in Austin. Realtor.com also reports home price sales range from $299K to $2.2M. The average sale price for homes in North Loop, Austin, over the last 12 months is $731,958, up 25% from the average home sale price over the previous 12 months, according to homes.com. The average price per square foot for homes sold in North Loop, Austin, was $425 in May 2023, down 6.2% from the previous year, according to Redfin.
On average, homes in North Loop sell after 73 days on the market, according to Realtor.com, compared to Allandale’s 19 days. That means, on average, it took 73 days from when you put the house on sale to when it’s under contract to be sold.
As I said earlier, North Loop is a great neighborhood for singles. Here are some of the reasons why. As of 2023, the median age of residents in North Loop, Texas, is 29.9 years old. This is slightly younger than the median age for the city of Austin, which is 32.6 years old. The median age for the state of Texas is 34.2 years old.
Niche reports that 40% of residents in North Loop have a bachelor’s degree, and 29% have a master’s degree or higher. However, it’s worth noting that Niche’s data is based on their own research and surveys and may not be as comprehensive as other sources.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in the Austin-Round Rock metro area (which includes North Loop) was $92,912 in 2019. However, this data is not specific to North Loop and consists of a larger geographic area.
Based on 2020 census data, Point2 Homes reported that 51.53% of the North Loop population is single, as in unmarried.
87% of households have no kids, and the neighborhood is 46% more dense in population than Austin on average. So you’ve got a lot of single people, only a few kids around a more dense population. It won’t take long to meet and greet your neighbors and get a community going.
Looking at the businesses in North Loop, plenty of iconic Austin businesses are in the neighborhood. On the far west corner of Lamar and 51st, you’ve got Austin Books and Comics.
You’ve got I Love Video on the east side, down a little bit further south. You’ll find popular Austin restaurants if you head north on Airport from I Love Video. These include Tyson’s Tacos, Satan, an excellent coffee shop to meet people, hang out, socialize, and even have business meetings.
Moving further north is Komé, a restaurant similar to Uchiko in Allandale. I wouldn’t call it sushi. They have sushi, but it’s more like Japanese small plates that are exquisite, delicious, and amazing. Still further north is East Side Pies, another iconic Austin pizza place.
To the west, you have Home Slice Pizza. I am a pizza fanatic. I’m gonna find the best pizza place in every district. If Allandale has Pinthouse Pizza, you have Home Slice Pizza and East Side Pies here in North Loop.
West of Home Slice Pizza is Foreign & Domestic. It’s one of my favorite restaurants in Austin, with just the best popovers and delicious fried chicken. A little bit further east is Epoch Coffee, another classic Austin business. There are several locations of Epoch Coffee. This one is a great place to work. It’s a great homey feel, delicious coffee, and a great vibe to hang out and get some work done.
There’s so much good food and small independent businesses in North Loop. This is definitely a business-friendly area that’s in the process of growing and expanding.
Let’s talk about the schools. The elementary schools are Ridgetop and Reilly. They both rank five out of ten according to greatschools.org.
The middle and high schools for North Loop are the same for Allandale. So Lamar for middle and McAllen for high school. Lamar is rated a six out of ten, while McAllen is rated seven out of ten.
I hope you found this blog post valuable and now have a better sense of what life is like in North Loop. For any questions, feel free to get in touch with me.
