Austin, TX
11 Best Suburbs In Austin Texas
Embark on your journey to find the ideal home sweet home in the dynamic city of Austin, TX, one of America’s fastest-growing cities. This blog post is your key to discovering the best suburbs around the Austin metro area, catering to diverse preferences. Whether you’re drawn to lakeside living, golf course homes, the charm of Texas hill country, or the vibrant city life in East Austin, we’ve got you covered. Explore Leander, Bastrop, and more, each offering unique features. With top-rated schools, hiking trails, and the Colorado River nearby, let a skilled realtor guide you through your dream home search.
SEE ALSO: 18 Best Neighborhoods to Live in Austin in 2022
If the suburb lifestyle is calling your name and you want to entertain Austin’s dynamic options for your new home, one of these ten suburbs of Austin could be where you land!
Round Rock
Located just 15 miles North of Austin, Round Rock has an array of amenities and home styles to offer all. This suburb of Austin gets its name from a literal round rock that protrudes from flowing water of the popular Brushy Creek.
Visitors and residents alike have plenty of entertainment to enjoy – from catching a Round Rock Express baseball game at the Dell Diamond or playing 18-holes at Teravista Golf Club or Forest Creek Golf Club, to year-round swimming at America’s Largest Indoor Waterpark at Kalahari Resort and Convention Center. These popular attractions make Round Rock, Texas an exciting place to live and play. While enjoying many options of restaurants and shopping (include the Round Rock Premium Outlet Mall), don’t forget to grab a signature Round Rock Donut!
When it comes to schools in the area, Round Rock ISD is a highly rated, public school that is recognized throughout the state and nation for excellence. Being nationally recognized as “one of the country’s most livable towns” makes this a popular option for homebuyers. Popular neighborhoods in the areas include Brushy Creek, Teravista and Avery Ranch.
Cedar Park
Sixteen miles northwest of Downtown Austin is the flourishing suburb of Cedar Park which appropriately got it’s name from the abundance of Cedar trees and the local park near the railroad that had a “welcome station” for visitors in the 1800s. The area lives up to its name and maintains an abundance of parks to this day. Brushy Creek Lake Park is popular for outdoor activities.
Residents can enjoy a refreshingly cool venue by visiting the HEB Center for a Texas Stars hockey game or one of the many concerts hosted year-round. On a typical day, you can grocery shop at HEB or Whole Foods, have your pick from many restaurants, or get out of the house to work on some health and wellness.
Homebuyers have their pick of low-maintenace garden homes, luxury homes with first-class views of the Hill Country and everything in between. Popular neighborhoods in the area include master planned communities like Cedar Park Town Center, Twin Creeks, and Whitestone Oaks. Cedar Park gets an A+ for access to everyday necessities combined with good schools and many housing options.
Pflugerville
Just North of the Q2 Stadium (where Austin’s MLS Soccer Team plays) is Pflugerville, Texas – where affordability meets accessibility. Residents have easy access to many different parts of Austin because of its proximity to Toll Roads and major highways.
If you’re looking to have some fun in the sun, visit Typhoon Texas or Lake Pflugerville. Local golf enthusiasts have options right out their doorstep when visiting courses like Blackhawk Golf Club. If you can’t get enough golf, head to the Golf Club at Star Ranch just down the road in Hutto! Residents and visitors can prepare their own farm-to-table experience outside of the city by checking out the Pflugerville Pfarmers Market at Heritage Park on Tuesdays.
Pflugerville is home to an expansive spectrum of master-planned community options, many with outdoor and kid-friendly amentities like ponds, playscapes, pools and hiking and biking trails. Falcon Pointe, Villages of Hideen Lake and Highland Park are just a few of the popular neighborhoods in Pflugerville, each with different character and floor plan options to fit your household’s needs. When it comes to affordable accessibility to Downtown Austin and great neighborhood features, Pflugerville is a great option.
Lake Travis
Take a scenic drive 20 minutes West of Downtown Austin and you will find yourself in a community devoted to outdoor activity (and Texas football, of course!). From watersports to tennis courts, golf courses to school sports, the Lake Travis area attracts those looking to maintain an active lifestyle.
Outside of the many options available at the Hill Country Galleria, you can find many more restaurants and entertainment options, like High 5 Bowling and Family Entertainment which is a popular local attraction for all ages.
While esteemed public schools and competitive sports within Lake Travis ISD draw many people to the area, the housing options the community offers are attractive as well. If you’re looking for something special, this may be the spot for you as you can find homes on the private University of Texas Golf Course, lakeside… or even on a private airport runway. When considering Lake Travis as your next landing spot, you will not be disappointed with your options in Rough Hollow, Steiner Ranch, Lake Pointe, and The Hills of Lakeway and many more neighborhoods.
SEE ALSO: 9 Reasons Why Austin Texas Is The Best Place To Live
Liberty Hill
Traveling past Cedar Park, you will stumble upon a hidden gem of an area called Liberty Hill. Due to the proximity to the city, the area may be best suited for those suited for telecommuters or those locally-employed. With distance, comes slower living that appeals to many – and also outdoor fun.
Residents and visitors can spend the day swimming, boating or fishing in the waters of Tejas Park if they aren’t hiking the 26-mile San Gabriel Trail or enjoying a year-round calendar of events for holidays, the local rodeo and hot air balloon festival.
One of the most popular communities with newer single-family homes is Santa Rita Ranch. This community has won “Master Plan Community of the Year” several times because of the amenities offered: two resort-style pools and splash pad, fishing lake, Wellness Center and full calendar of events for the residents. While most residents travel to neighboring areas for larger amenities or more mainstream events, the quiet and calm that Liberty Hill provides is rural living at its finest.
South Austin
If you are looking to stay within the Austin area, South Austin is an established yet thriving community to consider.
SEE ALSO: Ultimate Neighborhood Guide To South Congress, Austin
There is truly something for everyone here and fun can be had enjoying live music at a local venue, hiking and biking the Velloway or other greenbelt trails, and tons more! Hiking or camping at nearby McKinney Falls State Park is also a quintessential Austin experience.
Since South Austin is already an established area, the local Austin ISD schools have plenty to offer as far as credibility. These homes within the city limits come in all shapes and sizes. You can have your pick of what fits your needs – whether condos in Gabardine, single-family homes in Shady Hollow or golf course homes in Circle C suit you best. Then you can jet right up MoPac into Downtown Austin.
SEE ALSO: 36 Best Restaurants In South Austin
Georgetown
Head Northbound 35 to where small town meets big city and home to the “Most Beautiful Town Square in Texas”. Georgetown’s quaint yet hospitable vibe attracts those looking for a suburb with character and charm.
The outdoor activity options in Georgetown are attractions that attract visitors from all over the city and state. Visit Inner Space Caverns to walk through and learn about the vast underground caves that spread through the region. Lake Georgetown is a popular year-round activity for all things outdoors – boating and fishing, picnicking and swimming, and even camping! You can spend a whole day just in the town square eating, shopping for antiques, clothing and toys, learning the rich history in The Williamson Museum and ending the day at one of the several wineries or breweries.
With more than 100 historic homesites, Georgetown also offers the chance to build a new home with modern floor plans in .Venture into a few of the top neighborhoods like Wolf Ranch where you can pick your favorite builder and build your own home, or head to Berry Creek to see what golf course living could be like. Because larger neighborhoods are located on city boundaries, parts of Teravista and Santa Rita Ranch, (neighborhoods previously mentioned) are located within Georgetown and feed different schools and city services.
Just West of Austin, sits a beautiful suburb where more and more people are planting their roots. Known as the “Gateway to the Hill Country”, Dripping Springs sits right between the City of Austin and rural Hill Country cities like Johnson City and Fredericksburg and gets the best of both worlds.
You can’t find more beautiful nature while still being as close to the city as Dripping Spings.The area is gifted with natural swimming holes like Hamilton Pool and prides itself on stargazing abilities, due to the lack of light pollution from the the city – the area hosts the “Dark Sky Festival” in March. Don’t forget to visit Dreamland for all-ages entertainment! Residents here feel a large sense of community and often mingle at the farmers market (ranked the “best in all of Texas”!) or at school events.
Homes within the area feed the exemplary school district of Dripping Springs ISD. The great schools, great homes (some with amazing hill country views) and great neighbors make this suburb of Austin one of the most popular when buying a home for all ages.
SEE ALSO: Ultimate Guide To Things To Do in Fredericksburg
Buda
Located “Just South of Weird”, Buda maintains the small town vibe within the ample space for parks and many master-planned communities. While it’s named the “Outdoor Capital of Texas”, Buda is famously known (at least locally) for it’s yearly Wiener Dog Races at the local city park and Main Street.
Grab your computer and some joe (or a cocktail) at Nate’s Coffee and Cocktails or bring the family to eat and play yard games at Willies Joint. With Circuit of the Americas just minutes away via Toll Road, you have easy access to experience big city events.
When homebuyers look for a mix of affordability and accessibility to the South of Austin, Buda is typically high on their list to check out. Popular neighborhoods in the area where you can find resale homes include Whispering Hollow and Garlic Creek. The largest of the master-planned communities in the areas is Sunfield, which boasts numerous amenities like dog parks, community pools, and a lazy river!
Kyle
You can find Kyle, Texas about 20 miles South of Austin. For a suburb outside of the Austin city limits, this suburb serves residents with plenty of entertainment options and has easy access for day trips to nearby Hill Country cities.
What’s more charming that a town known for its pie? The Texas Pie Company is not to be missed when checking out the area – a local favorite as well as a feature in several national media outlets. Other notable places to visit within Kyle are the Plum Creek Golf Course, Lake Kyle, and EVO Entertainment for comfortable movie watching, bowling and more. Kyle is also attractive to those who commute to work or school in other cities nearby like San Marcos, New Braunfels or San Antonio.
If the area seems to fit your needs, you can find many options of single-family homes within popular neighborhoods like Crosswinds, Four Seasons Farm, Stagecoach Crossing, and more.
West Lake Hills
Surrounded by greenbelts, parks and lakes, West Lake Hills is a large affluent community that spans from the Rollingwood boundary with Downtown Austin to the East, almost all the way West to Lake Travis.
With both Downtown and Lake Austin attractions and views at its core, the area encompasses some of the most beautiful homes in the city, and one of the best school districts for children. For these reasons, West Lake Hills is known as one of the top suburbs in the city – and the home prices certainly fit the demand. Homebuyers looking to call West Lake Hills home, can find many options ranging from low-maintenance townhomes to gated estates sprawling across the side of rolling hills or Lake Austin waterfront.
For quick access to home prices and even more information about each of these suburbs of Austin, request a FREE relocation guide from The Ramirez Team.
Resources on school ratings and crime rate, we recommend visiting the following:
https://www.greatschools.org/
https://www.safewise.com/blog/category/safety-news/
https://spotcrime.com/ – Of the website of the local sheriff’s office
David and Alyssa Ramirez are Native Austinites who have seen the city grow in all ways. With their Austin roots and family backgrounds in real estate, they were destined to find passion in the industry, which has flourished into profound knowledge of the Austin Real Estate market. Being a lifetime resource for all things real estate and Austin is their #1 goal. TheIR team is consistently recognized as a top producing team with awards from the Austin Business Journal (#15 in Austin), Platinum Top 50 (since 2017), and the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (#44, 48 and 98 in the country, since 2020).
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson said Tuesday she will leave the post next month.
What we know:
In a statement, Nelson said her resignation will be effective July 17 but did not provide a reason for the departure.
“It has been an honor to serve the people of Texas in this role,” Nelson said. “My time as Secretary came at an important moment for Texas, and I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish as an agency in under four years.”
Nelson has served in the role since 2023.
Among other things, the Secretary of State oversees elections and business filings in the state and serves as the chief diplomat of Texas.
View of Texas State Senator Jane Nelson, during the 80th Texas Legislature, on the floor of the Senate at the Texas State Capitol, Austin, Texas, January 22, 2007. (John Anderson/The Austin Chronicle / Getty Images)
What they’re saying:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott described Nelson as extraordinary.
“I am deeply grateful for her long and loyal service and outstanding leadership. She has represented our state with grace and honor across the globe, and Texas is better because of it,” Abbott said. “Cecilia and I wish her all the best in the next chapter of her distinguished career.”
Dig deeper:
According to the Secretary of State’s office, Nelson has presided over seven statewide elections during her tenure with a cumulative 27 million ballots cast and broke a record with more than 3 million active business filers.
Nelson also served three decades in the Texas Senate, where she remains the longest-serving Republican in state history.
The Source: Information in this story came from the Texas Secretary of State’s office.
Michael Dorman
Austin, Texas, is revving up to sell $2.35 billion of debt for a convention center and a wastewater treatment plant, while a legal battle continues over bonds to help finance a light rail system.
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The bond boom comes as the city council voted on Thursday to pursue the development of a $390 million baseline general obligation bond package for the November ballot despite a call by Mayor Kirk Watson to wait until 2028.
“I believe we can and we should bring forward significant investments in the future,” he said. “In fact, if we restore compliance with our financial policies and we maintain the discipline we actually will have greater future capacity to do more for this community in 2028.”
A bond election would
The city, which last held a successful GO bond election in 2022 for $350 million of debt for affordable housing, had $1.03 billion of unissued voter-approved GO bond authorization as of the Sept. 30 end of fiscal 2025. Last year,
On Thursday, the city council signed off on a $34.5 million wrongful prosecution and conviction settlement with four individuals to be financed through the sale of non-voter-approved GO bonds.
The council approved up to $1.35 billion of special tax revenue bonds on May 21 for a $1.6 billion project to replace the city’s now-demolished convention center with a facility that will increase rentable event space to 620,000 square feet from 365,000 square feet.
Rich Saskal
The bonds are backed with revenue from certain city hotel occupancy taxes and incremental state tax revenue generated within a project finance zone the city established in 2024. Amounts and timings for issuing the debt are being determined, according to the city, which filed a petition with a Travis County District Court for an expedited validation of the bonds.
An ordinance approved in October
The city also plans to refund hotel occupancy tax-backed debt issued for the prior convention center in order to pledge a 4.5% hotel tax for the upcoming bonds.
“The refunding bonds are a separate, but related item to the expansion bonds and will only be secured by 2% venue HOT,” city documents said. “The 2% venue HOT will not be pledged to the expansion bonds and will cease to be collected upon final maturity or early payoff of (the refunding bonds).”
A petition drive that would have delayed the project fell 494 signatures short of a requirement for 20,000 valid signatures of registered voters, Austin City Clerk Erika Brady determined in November.
Petition backers are appealing a district court’s refusal to force validation in state appellate court after the Texas Supreme Court dismissed
The petition drive by Austin United PAC and others sought a ballot measure to stop the demolition and reconstruction of the convention center for seven years — or until the project was approved by voters — and prioritize city funding for local live music, arts, cultural, and outdoor tourism.
The Austin City Council also approved as much as $1 billion of water and wastewater system revenue bonds last month for the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion and enhancement project. The bonds will be used to obtain a direct low-interest loan from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program.
Other financing sources for the $1.5 billion project are $59 million from the Texas Water Development Board Clean Water State Revolving Fund program and funding from Austin Water.
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The plant, which serves more than 50% of Austin and operates at a treatment capacity of 75 million gallons per day, will have its capacity increased to 100 MGD, helping meet future demand and requirements set by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for Austin’s projected growth of 1.5 million by 2040, according to a city statement.
A legal logjam over a light rail system eased May 22 when the Texas Supreme Court finally ruled on a procedural issue related to an initial $150 million of bonds for the project. The high court ordered a Travis County Court judge to decide whether the bonds’ issuer, the Austin Transit Partnership, a nonprofit corporation created by the city and Capital Metro Transportation Authority, has standing to seek court validation for the debt.
City taxpayers who filed a lawsuit in 2023, along with the Texas Attorney General’s Office have been challenging the legality of the bonds, which would be paid off with a portion of Austin’s operation and maintenance property taxes
Escalating costs led ATP to downsize Project Connect to an initial less than 10-mile, 15-station system with a similar price tag. The completion of a federal environmental review in January allowed the project to continue a process
ATP said Project Connect is moving forward with construction scheduled to begin next year.
“We are confident in our case and look forward to our day in court,” ATP said in a statement. “The pending litigation has not slowed our progress advancing Austin light rail, which has hit major milestones in the federal funding process, design, and pre-construction work this year.”
Bill Aleshire, an attorney who filed the taxpayers’ lawsuit, cautioned that several issues remain before the court, including the legality of the downsized project and the ability to pay off bonds with property tax revenue that is supposed to be used for operations.
“Their federal funding is uncertain, their ability to issue bonds is uncertain, and they just stubbornly will not listen to us and say it’s time to pause Project Connect and rethink it, that maybe rail isn’t the best way to go at this time and maybe we can’t afford it at this time,” he said.
AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) — Does the state of Texas have too many law enforcement agencies? That was a topic of discussion at a Texas House Committee meeting on May 28, which focused on police standards and policy.
It was comments from TCOLE Deputy Chief TJ Vineyard that drew the attention of unions and lobbying groups representing law enforcement across Texas.
“We’re starting to look now at encouraging the consolidation of agencies,” Vineyard said during the nearly eight-hour-long hearing.
The response was almost immediate from groups representing various aspects of law enforcement.
One social media post on Facebook from the Texas Law Enforcement Association proclaimed concern about the future of smaller departments across the state, despite an exchange later in the hearing between the committee chair, State Representative Cole Hefner, and TCOLE’s Executive Director, Chief Gregory Stevens.
“We’re not taking police off the street?” Hefner asked. “We’re making sure that we have qualified people that are equipped and trained.”
“One hundred percent,” Stevens said.
According to TCOLE’s own numbers, there are more than 2,700 accredited agencies and some 83,000 peace officers.
The chair asked whether 2,700 was a good or bad thing, given that Texas has more agencies than the next four largest states combined.
“There is a lot of duplicative coverage,” Stevens said, “overlapping coverage. When it comes to resources, it can be inefficient.”
Also speaking on the panel was Jennifer Szimanski with the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT), which also posted on social media about the hearing. While the group wouldn’t comment directly about consolidation, Szimanski told ABC13 that “consolidation is not the legislative intent for TCOLE” and that “we should be forward-looking and raising standards”.
But in a conversation with ABC13, Stevens said targeting smaller departments is not their intent. TCOLE wants every department, regardless of size, to comply with the higher standards implemented in 2023.
“Some of the things that are out there surfing out across social media and on other platforms is that TCOLE wants to shut down small agencies and let sheriff’s offices take over, and that’s absolutely not true. It couldn’t be further from what we’re doing,” Stevens said. “It doesn’t matter about the size of the agencies, and I want to be really clear on that point. TECOL is not out to shut down or to make life hard on a small municipal agency, a school district, police department, or what have you.”
But the larger conversation is not limited to the state of Texas.
Harris County is home to more than 60 agencies. In the last major study on overlap in 2018, Rice University’s Kinder Institute found that consolidation could help address inefficiencies. Kyle Shelton, now at the University of Minnesota, co-authored the report eight years ago.
“It’s really just an opportunity to look at how regional governments, which are often overlapping, best coordinate and collaborate on the services that they’re providing,” Shelton told ABC13.
Whether it’s Harris County or the state of Texas, the cost of funding and maintaining law enforcement agencies is getting more expensive. While consolidation may not be the answer, it is part of a conversation in which Kyle Shelton says governments should be engaging.
“It’s not a quick band-aid to pull off and say, ‘Hey, look, we fixed the budget crisis, or, you know, addressed some efficiencies here in a nice, neat three-month process,” Shelton said. “You know, it likely takes years and a lot of trust building, both with residents and the agencies.”
Texas does have more law enforcement agencies than the next four largest states combined, according to TCOLE.
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