My wife and I are moving to Austin soon and looking for suggestions. We would prefer to live outside of Austin.

We have young kids so schools and community are important. We would like to live in a newer home with preferably at least a half acre lot.

Areas we are considering - dripping springs, Wimberley, Leander, Georgetown.

Any advice or experience would be much appreciated!

All have there pros and cons. A few other communities I would add for consideration like Lago Vista and Liberty Hill.

These factors are what played into our decision.

Church
Schools
Purchase budget
Community feel

Georgetown has been great for my family. It is growing fast though and not sure how things will be in the future.

Lago Vista has been fantastic for us.

I'll just throw out the usuals which I'm sure you'll find on your own quickly.

Circle C
Dripping Springs
Cedar Park/Leander
Round Rock
Lakeway/Lago Vista
Westlake
Steiner Ranch

Thanks for all the info so far.

From West Texas but currently in Houston so used to the suburb life. We definitely prefer a more conservative area and school system for sure.

I will be working in North/Central Austin. I go in early and am fine with a 45ish minute commute.

WestTXag18 said:

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Thanks for all the info so far.

From West Texas but currently in Houston so used to the suburb life. We definitely prefer a more conservative area and school system for sure.

I will be working in North/Central Austin. I go in early and am fine with a 45ish minute commute.

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What do you consider North Central?

Downtown? Hyde Park? Brentwood, Domain?

290/I-35 area. Will likely have to deal with traffic no matter what if we want to get outside of Austin.

Going north may be the safest option though.

Another option is east on 290. Lots of suburbs that popped up on that not-freeway-anymore. But that commute is pretty brutal as well. Especially on afternoon before holidays.

Round Rock, pflugerville and Georgetown but still using 35.

I've been out of the RRISD system for about 8 years but had zero problems during 20 years and 3 kids going to their schools and all three admitted and graduated from A&M.

SteveBott said:

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I've been out of the RRISD system for about 8 years but had zero problems during 20 years and 3 kids going to their schools and all three admitted and graduated from A&M.

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I have two kids, one graduated and one a senior. Lived here ever since marriage. The political makeup of the district now does not reflect the reasons I wanted to live here 21 years ago. Also the change in demographics at particular schools has amped up the scholastic competitiveness. Just the 4 year difference between my kids has seen dramatic differences. My younger kid's GPA is pretty good and SAT > 1300 and would have been easy top 10% 4 years ago or compared to some other high schools in the area but she can't sniff top 10% now.

Well the fact we have a bunch of smart kids competing against yours also attests the desirability of the offered. And yes if you go to Westwood or even a couple of others the competition is insane. But you still get a great education.

As for the politics Covid made a certain amount of people go insane. And it boiled over to the board. But those controversies are on the past. I've not seen much on those issues in the last two years.

What is your budget?

We moved to GT 2 years ago and really like it. Found an 80s house on 1/2 acre in middle of town. 6 yr old starts Grace in August but I've heard most of the public schools are pretty good. Will see how it goes.

Always something to do up here.

My Leander home on 5.5 acres will be on the market around January. I love living there but the wife wants to go to the country club in Georgetown so that's that.

Yeah if you are committed to giving up 500 hours a year on your commute, I'd listen to Bott. Round Rock, Georgetown, Pflugerville, and maybe add Taylor, Liberty Hill or Cedar Park

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I will be working in North/Central Austin. I go in early and am fine with a 45ish minute commute.

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In this case, as far north as you can stomach IMO. Wimberley, Lakeway, Dripping etc. are too far.

Wherever you work, you want to live between work and downtown. That way you are always going the opposite direction of most traffic. Drippin' or Wimberly to North Central Austin will not be a fun commute. Our commute has been nine miles or less against traffic and that has been ideal. Most people spend one to three hours round trip commuting and another half hour a day complaining about it. There are not a lot of politically obsessed nut jobs in the central West burbs of Austin. However, housing costs are completely insane. Most schools are good enough to get kids into a flagship and what happens in college is much more important than high school.

Only place between downtown and 35/290 is Mueller. I guess that work at 4000 a month in rent. And your kids are still smack dab in urban city with East Austin schools. Hard pass for me but to each his own

Rosedale, Tarrytown, Allandale, Far West Blvd / Cat Mountain.

Round Rock and Georgetown are good options for what you're looking for. Lockhart, Bastrop, and Taylor are also worth a look. (I know nothing about schools in those towns, though.) You can use 130 instead of I-35. West of Austin won't be a fun commute. It's pretty out there, but I wouldn't want to touch that drive.

our kids are younger, so limited experience, but nothing but positive with RRISD so far. Oldest daughter is in the Spanish Immersion program. There are several kids in her class who live out of district and parents drive them in specifically for the program. We'll be putting our younger daughter in as well, assuming she is accepted.

As for OP - good luck on that commute. Sounds like a beating, regardless of where you go. Getting into austin from north or going home is brutal. And they are going to tear up I35 in Round Rock to try and alleviate the traffic problem that seems to be there almost 24/7 between University and 620. When that happens, the construction will likely make traffic even worse for the next several years. I haven't done the 183 commute in several years since we move to RR, but that wasn't much better when we lived in the Anderson Mill area.

If you work in north/central, I would look around the Manor area right now. It still feels like the country out there, but there are massive developments going on, out that way, so anything you buy today will have some good appreciation going forward in the future. You are also located right near 130 and 290, so you can go anywhere you want in Texas without having to deal with Austin downtown. And you are 20 minutes away from the airport.

The Austin traffic is a common complaint, but I found dealing with traffic on 45 or even Hardy in Houston to be way worse than anything I ever experienced in 8 years of living in Austin.

Houston is worse than Austin by a lot, traffic wise. That doesn't make Austin traffic great. I chose to live way out east of town on rural acreage at the cost of a long commute, unless I get up pretty early. Most of the people in my office show up 6-6:30 and leave around 3 or so. The east side is the cheap side but it is growing fast. Elgin, Manor, Taylor, even out to Bastrop are all less than an hour to downtown if you get up early.

It's not for many people but I actually like living in the country, working in the city often enough to get to experience it and go do stuff after work now and then, but also be out where the nearest stuff to me is small towns like Giddings or Smithville or Bastrop.