Where to live in Austin in 2020

What’s the best neighborhood in Austin? As with almost everything in life, it depends on what you’re into—and what you can afford.

Some of the questions are easy to answer: Are you renting or buying? Where do you work, go to school, or both? How much do you hate (or love) driving? Do public schools factor into your decision? Do you prefer nightlife, home life, a mix, or something else? How important are things like green space and the general landscape?

Other issues are more complex. Neighborhoods can be sensitive, organic entities, highly affected by the built and natural environments as well as by who lives there—and who leaves.

There’s no denying that Austin is booming. Transplants continue to move here in record numbers, home sales are off the charts, inventory is low, and the rental market is tight. At the same time, some longtime Austinites, overwhelmed by the transformation of their neighborhoods or just seeking a change, are on the move.

That’s why we picked seven neighborhoods to consider right now. They offer a variety of things—affordability, good schools, walkability, amenities, character, new homes, old homes, and so on—and some are undiscovered gems that aren’t usually top of mind when one thinks of Austin. What follows is a whirlwind tour—just to get you started.

North Loop

The draw: It’s like 1992, but with better pizza

Similar neighborhoods: Hyde Park; Skyview; Highland

The vibe: Liberal; funky; down-to-earth; energetic

Formerly beneath the flight path for the old Austin airport, North Loop has maintained a mix of its original working-class character and that of the bohemian cohort that moved there because the noise (and close-up sightings) of plane engines overhead made rents low.

North Loop’s defining characteristic is its namesake street, which winds through the middle of the neighborhood. The small commercial stretch—codified at some point as the North Loop IBIZ District—contains a number of surprisingly long-lived local vintage and record stores, coffeeshops, bars, restaurants, and such requisite oddities as the quirky convenience store, the anarchist bookshop, and the women-owned adult-toy shop. A bit more easygoing and less expensive than the equally tight-knit and neighborhood-proud Hyde Park to its south, North Loop has walkability and leafy streets in common.

Buyers will find small, traditional homes originally built in the 1940s—some remodeled or replaced by (usually) appropriately scaled contemporaries. (Small lots keep the neighborhood’s scale intact.) A mix of older and new multifamily complexes is scattered on the busier streets and corridors. North Loop homes sold for a median price of around $420,000, with median price for current listings at $491,950, according to numbers from listings site Zillow. Not great, but better than that of many newer central neighborhoods. Rentals are still relatively common in the area, with students, workers, and families renting apartments and houses alike, averaging $1,561 per month (latest rental reports put Austin’s median rent for a one-bedroom at $1,192 for an apartment and $1,470 for a two-bedroom). The current influx of locally loved restaurants and bars combined with North Loop’s stalwart quirkiness make it a magnet for seekers of ever-elusive Austin authenticity.

Cherrywood

The draw: A special find, hidden in plain sight—pretty, quirky, and fun

Similar neighborhoods: Maplewood; Delwood; Delwood 2; Chestnut

Vibe: Laaaaaiiiid back

With its gigantic shade trees, winding streets, and French place names (so many that it’s sometimes called French Place), East Austin’s Cherrywood has a slightly Southern vibe. Originally a hodgepodge of very small communities built between the 1930s and 1950s, it came together as a bona fide neighborhood in the 1980s. You’ll find bungalows and other small, wood-frame homes; Craftsman-style houses large and small; and one- and two-story stucco homes, many originally built for families of returning soldiers after World War II. Median home price last year was $452,500.

Being located just east of the University of Texas campus, it’s popular with students ready to escape the campus area party scene but still not be surrounded by uptight authority figures. Still, there fewer rentals than you’d expect, most of them concentrated on the edges of the neighborhood and running from around $900 to $1,600 per month for one-bedrooms, with the proverbial cute little bungalows renting from $2,500 to $3,000 per month.

Proximity to the school also brings UT faculty and workers; there are professionals, retirees, creatives, and service workers in the mix. Some of the latter work at the restaurants and bars that have built up along Manor Road and East 38-1/2 Street. It’s also convenient to two or three major grocery stores, depending on whether you count the Mueller HEB.

Somewhat overlooked (and downplayed by residents not wanting to mess with a good thing), Cherrywood is one of the few remaining central neighborhoods east of the highway that has maintained a residential core with easy walkability to lively corridors. That, along with the fact that it has kept many of its charming bungalows and other older homes intact, makes it attractive to artists, students, creatives, and anyone looking for an alternative to other, overheated parts of East Austin. With a strong sense of community, Cherrywood has a good shot at keeping its nature intact.

South Menchaca

The draw: 78745 is the new 78704

Similar neighborhoods: Garrison Park; Westgate; West Congress; East Congress

Vibe: Through being cool

Austinites old and new, priced out of the parts of South Austin closer to downtown or just tired of the touristy scene that has overtaken those locales, are finding community and hometown friendliness, much lower home prices, and a less hectic pace by moving just a little farther south. South Menchaca is one of the neighborhoods attracting such seekers; it’s close to those attractions when the mood hits, and more low-key, neighborly bars and shops are popping up all around—places such as the nearby, recently opened Yard in East Congress and soon-to-open St. Elmo Market,

While these changes are making the neighborhood increasingly walkable, it’s also easy to hop on major freeways and thoroughfares should the need arise. South Menchaca is home to Austin Community College’s south campus and not far from old-school Austin mainstays—some of which are part of the flight south—like End of an Ear record store, Uncommon Objects vintage shop, and the Cathedral of Junk. For more practical needs, there’s a strip mall complex containing a theater, a large Central Market, and much more retail in Westgate, just a neighborhood away.

The housing stock in Menchaca is small, densely spaced, single-family homes dating from the 1950s to the present, although there are some apartment complexes in the mix. Ranch-style homes are also fairly common. Prices are substantially lower than those in the northern south, so to speak: Average home price last month was $358,383. While young couples and families are increasingly buying in the area, there are still quite a few single-family homes for rent—a three-bedroom house renting for $1,850 per month, for example.

North University

The draw: All-ages ambience and compact walkability

Similar neighborhoods: Heritage; Hancock; Hyde Park

The vibe: Pastoral; historic; quiet; cool-kid and grad-student undercurrents

While its proximity to the University of Texas campus might not be to everyone’s liking, North University’s riches both contain and go beyond that association. It’s old-school Austin in an almost literal sense, home to generations of academics and their families under the watchful eye of UT.

It also features some of Austinites’ favorite coffee shops, restaurants, and bars, in addition to Wheatsville Food Co-op. The bluff at the south end of of the neighborhood, where Scottish Rite Dormitory and Kirby Hall school look down into the large oaks and rough-hewn structures of Hemphill Park (the latter courtesy of the Depression-era Works Progress Administration), feels a bit like the countryside it once was. On the neighborhood’s south side is the tiny Aldridge Place Historic District, a subdivision dating to 1910, where a large percentage of the original vernacular homes date to the 1920s.

Home prices—with a median around $409,000, though they can range up to the millions—are still reasonable for the city, despite its convenience to UT, downtown, and so many reliable local businesses. In addition to the home styles found in Aldridge Place, North University offers a variety of small and medium-sized one- and two-story wood frame houses and bungalows, many of them Craftsman-style, as well as historic houses that are beautiful and substantial without being grand.

Being near the school, North University naturally has rentals of all kinds in abundance, most lower than or at Austin’s median rents ranging from the high $800s for one-bedrooms to $6,000 to $7,000 per month for a pretty boss, freestanding home. North University blends a settled-in, comfortable-with-itself feeling with an academic sophistication—a blend that seems to resonate more and more as the city grows busier and louder.

J.W. Smith’s Western Oaks

The draw: The sweet side of suburbia—green, friendly, and reasonably priced

Similar neighborhoods: Circle C; Oak Hill

The vibe: Family-oriented; outdoorsy; wholesome

Not to be confused with the Village at Western Oaks, J.W. Smith’s Western Oaks is a small suburban enclave developed in the 1970s. Developer and builder Smith took pride in putting his name on every home he constructed and said things like “Any home worth building is worth building right.” The result is a 361-home subdivision that, with the exception of small areas developed in the 1980s and ’90s, is ranch-style heaven—no McMansions!—with its most characteristic homes backing to a greenbelt.

The Southwest Austin enclave is a family neighborhood in an old-fashioned, high-quality way; you can expect wide, bicycle-friendly streets, lots of green space, and easy access to a Whole Foods, Torchy’s, and P. Terry’s Burger Stand, as well as a 24-Hour Fitness, a Gold’s Gym, and Pure Yoga near the upscale Shops at Arbor Trails. There’s a community park-and-play with tennis courts, a playground, a pool, a basketball court, and a baseball field, and a city library branch lies just west of the subdivision.

Western Oaks offers the bang-for-buck ratio you’d expect from more remote neighborhoods: A large, built-to-last home in the neighborhood sold recently for $506,000. Rentals are rare, but there is a three-bedroom home open for $1,999 per month right now. The neighborhood’s small size means it’s in demand, especially for families in search of a suburban experience in the city. Community bonds are strong, and would-be buyers should take some time getting to know the ins and outs of the active neighborhood association—and be prepared to wait for a property to become available.

Crestview

The draw: Small-town vibe; big-city conveniences

Similar neighborhoods: Allandale; Brentwood; Rosedale

The vibe: Midcentury destination for the 21st century

Crestview and adjacent neighborhoods Brentwood and Allandale are in some ways the same neighborhood—all are former farmland in north central Austin that was developed between the 1940s and 1960s. This lineage offers a current-day version of the postwar/Atomic Age subdivisions they’ve been all along—suburbs in the city.

With the exception of recent contemporary builds, homes are small- to medium-sized, most frequently 1950s ranch-style houses. The 2019 median home sales price is $745,447. There are plenty of rentals, especially concentrated around the main corridors that form its boundaries; average rent is $1,385, with current prices ranging from around $1,000 to upward of $3,000 per month.

Crestview is particularly small-scale and walkable or bikeable to local businesses, including restaurants and pubs—as well as its iconic neighborhood grocery store; it’s bordered on three sides by commercial corridors in the process of revival. It’s also not far from the under-construction FC Austin Major League Soccer stadium, which is driving ancillary office and mixed-use construction and sparking interest in the area among footy fanatics. There are all sorts of amenities on offer, including Capital MetroRapid bus lines and a MetroRail stop on North Lamar Boulevard. Neighbors are friendly, the community is close, and it’s a magnet for young professionals and families who want a slightly quieter life than downtown but still crave an urban feel.

Windsor Park

The draw: Reasonably priced; close to Mueller; sweet parks; plentiful trees

Similar neighborhoods: University Hills; Delwood 2

The vibe: Unpretentious; diverse; artsy-eccentric

Windsor Park was developed in the 1950s and, like North Loop, suffered for a time under the sound and shadow of Austin’s Mueller airport. While the airport closed in 1999 and has since been developed into a popular mixed-use community, Windsor Park’s renaissance took a while, which turned out to be a good thing.

The small homes along its winding streets are some of Austin’s last bastions of middle-income affordability, housing a diverse mix of renters and owners—think workers, retirees, artists, and families. Homes are modest, midcentury-modern ranches, many of them remodeled and upgraded since the 1950s and 1970s. And they’re alluringly priced; median home sales is $385,000. Rentals are concentrated on the perimeter of the neighborhood, and median rent is $1,086. Quality can vary greatly, with new builds slowly replacing older, more affordable complexes.

Windsor Park is also close to burgeoning and amenity-filled Mueller without being in the path of its traffic and bustle. Parts of the neighborhood are hilly, verdant, and semi-rural. The major corridors, in contrast, have a mix of businesses, some serving Spanish-speaking communities; don’t miss Austin mainstays such as the Carousel Lounge and newer but similarly scruffy bars and coffeehouses such as Nomad and Corona Coffee.