Neighborhoods of Austin
This page includes curated information about different areas and neighborhoods in Austin, Texas. Sources include the City of Austin, Austin Business Journal, Austin Chronicle, r/Austin, and Texas Monthly.
Downtown Austin
The obvious center of activity for the city. Here you’ll find the vast majority of our bars, upscale restaurants, and high-rise living. You could potentially ditch your car if you choose to live here, and walk to work, play, or exercise along our beautiful Town Lake trail.
North Austin
Is a good place to look if you are wanting relatively more affordable housing, and want to be by lots of shopping. Most of the homes were built in the 60s – 80s, with larger floorplans than Central Austin. It is also relatively central, so you’ll have a short commute to anywhere. All of the chain retail stores you can think of are in this area, plus the Domain. If you can get a house in the Round Rock or Pflugerville school district, you’ll probably be more impressed with the public schools.
West Campus
You wanna party on a Tuesday? One's going on next door right now! You wanna study on a Tuesday? There's a party going on next door right now! Pease Park is close by. Co-ops are the best way to live if you don't have a family.
West Austin
West Austin is generally considered to be the wealthy part of town, extending from the Mopac Expressway (Loop 1) all the way to Lake Travis. Austin’s terrain changes along Mopac from prairies in the east to hill country in the west, so you can find oak and cedar trees, great views and curvy roads throughout this area. Westlake Hills, along FM 2244, is a community barely 5-10 minutes from downtown, but parts of it still feel like it is in the hill country. You’ll find homes built in the 60’s to modern day construction. Schools here are some of Austin’s highest rated, and more and more companies are moving their offices over to Loop 360 – so perhaps you’ll have no commute if you live here.
East Austin
Historically this area has been home to those on the lower end of the economic spectrum; however, the past 10 years have completely changed East Austin. Now next to a run-down shack you might find a huge loft-style condo project filled with young professionals. Many long-time residents resent the rise in property values (and taxes), so there’s a slight fracturing of the community.
Homes are older – even dating back to the Victorian age the closer to Lady Bird Lake you are, with the exception of the Mueller development where the old airport used to be. Here you’ll find homes in a planned community- similar to being in the ‘burbs, but close to downtown. It is very hard to get into this community, as homes come on the market very rarely.
South Austin
There’s a slogan in Austin: “Keep Austin Weird.” The epicenter of weirdness is in South Austin, or in the zip code 78704 to be exact (ok, to be more exact, it’s everything north of Ben White/290 to Town Lake (known to newbies as "Lady Bird Lake"). In fact, just being in the 78704 zip code adds value and cachet to a home sale. The main drag is South Congress (known to newbies as "SoCo"), with lots of funky shops, restaurants and bars.
Riverside
Close to the lake. Everything is within 5 minutes driving distance. Nearby recreational opportunities. Many apartment rental units in this area. A lot of newcomers to Austin begin their lives here, as it is cheap and centrally located. Be prepared for crowding and poorer living conditions, as many of the properties are old and outdated. Downtown is less than 10 minutes away.