My family and I (wife and 5 year old) will probably be moving to Austin. What is the best part of town to live in?
We’re looking for
Safe neighborhoods.Bikeable for my kid getting to school.Easy access to cycling routes.Reasonable distance to a pool with year round open lanes.Reasonable distance to trails for trail running and mountain biking.Any suggestions and tips are greatly appreciated!
that would totally depend on how much you want to spend on housing.
wherever LA lives.
I live in Cedar Park and would recommend it. It has great access to relatively safe bike routes, great schools and is a great community for families. I haven’t been on the MTB here though. I used to live near actual mountains and just can’t get excited about the hills here. If you have any specific questions about the area, feel free to PM me.
Dave
x2 for Cedar Park area. I live off 620 and have easy access to great road rides in any direction from my house. MTB rides are not far off either with City Park, Walnut Creek, BCGB all within 30 minutes. There are some better places to ride if you don’t mind driving an hour or so, but like runningfoo said, there arent really any mountains here, but plenty of hill country. Nytro swim and Lifetime fitness have indoor pools open year round and lots of the neighborhood pools are accessable year round (the one in my hood is heated).
As Austin79 said, it does depend on how much you want to spend and what you consider as ideal. For my taste, I could never see myself living in Cedar Park, Leander, Round Rock, Buda, Kyle or any of the other cities on the outside of Austin because they are just that, outside of Austin. Trying to get to Austin for the things that make Austin great like Barton Springs, Outdoor music, the starting line for almost every major running or triathlon event, Lady Bird Lake, the Greenbelt, the non chain store shops restaurants and cafes, and UT football games would be just to much of a pain in the butt. It also depends on where you will be working. Traffic is bad, so consider how frustrated you will be if you have to give up sunlight and family time to be in the car. For that reason, Cedar Park or Round Rock might be a better choice. Basically, central Austin, South Austin, North Austin, etc… all have different vibes. If you have not spent much time in Austin, check it out and see what area really fits your family’s lifestyle.
It’s hard to suggest a neighborhood without knowing a price range and your commute constraints. Lakewood area is great since it’s close to downtown with very good schools. But it’s very expensive…
I live in Steiner ranch area near the Lake Travis. Miles and miles of trails, plenty of hills, and easy access to great cycling routes (such as Dam Loop). There is a heated outdoors pool within 10-15 minutes as well. I see kids riding bikes to schools within the neighborhood. But this area is 30 minute drive from downtown.
Feel free to PM me.
But if you live IN Austin, how do you get in long rides? Isn’t there just too much traffic?
FWIW, x3 for Cedar Park. I actually live south of Houston but my in-laws moved to Cedar Park last year. While it’s starting to get a little boring when I visit them, Parmer is a nice riding road. They live off Brushy Creek, and going north is wide open. I headed south once and vowed never to do that again - too many stoplights. There’s a ton of wide open roads north on Parmer. Places like Andice, Florence, Jarrell, etc are in the middle of nowhere but with nice roads.
The only bad thing about where they live is my wife won’t let me ride from their house. Honestly she has a valid point - Brushy Creek Rd is not a safe cycling road with many blind corners and only 2 lanes. But it’s only a 2 minute drive to park the car in a “safe” starting point. They live right across from Brushy Creek Park which has several miles of dirt/gravel trails for running.
Check out Leander, Tx. Just north of Austin (20 miles). Will have a train stop there this summer that will take you to downtown Austin. Good riding when you head west from there. Very good schools (keep you kid out of Austing School Dist)…Cheap homes…
I do a good part of my riding through Leander and NW of there. There are many miles of country roads that you can take with VERY low traffic once you get to know the area. Leander itself is a bit off the beaten path, of course 
I also live in Cedar Park. The school system is good.
Someoen mentione dit being a hassle to get to Barton Springs which is a spring fed swimming area. It takes me 25-30 minutes on the weekend to get there.
There i sa pretty long hike/bike trail system that has just been developed.
Housing prices are pretty reasonable for the Austin area.
My son is about to enter high school and he has yet to ride a bus. Teh elementary school adn middle school were very easy to get to.
As for bike routes, Cedar Park is basically on one of the main routes known as the dam loop. It is a 40-60 mile loop depending on the route an dyou get ~4,000 feet of climbing.
Or you can easily head northwest and ride rural routes with rolling hills.
If you are more urban minded, check out northwest Austin. You are closer in to downtown but still have relatively easy access from your house to bike routes.
In my opinion, the public school sin downtown Austin are not as good as the suburban schools.
There is a swimming complex near Cedar Park called Nytro. It is indoors.
I wouldn’t go the Cedar Park route if your really wanting the Austin life. But you do have to look ahead. Right now the real estate seems very inflated and I think some people who have bought around this time are going to find that they will have a hard time recouping there investment for many years. Austin is basically squeezing out every minority that it can (no judgement on this but its been made clear by developers that I have talked to that this is the overall plan) currently and the last place in Austin to have housing that is affordable is the the northeast part around 183 and Ohlen. You can get a good house for 150K to 200k in good neighborhoods. Some of the neighborhoods around it aren’t great but that will change over the next 5 years. If you do have more to spend than I would suggest the FarWest/Steck area. Close to 360 for riding, good schools, nice neighborhoods and close to downtown austin.
I live in Lost Creek, right off of Bee Caves/360. LOVE it. It takes me 7 mins to get to Zilker Park/Barton Springs, and I don’t have to travel highways. I very rarely deal with traffic. LOTS of people bike around here.
you’re also close to the things that make Austin what it is. The hike/bike trail, town lake, Barton Springs, Zilker Park, Shady Grove, etc. My wife takes ballet at Austin Ballet downtown. It takes her 10 mins to get there.
GREAT school system too. We live in the Eanes school district. Right inside 360 is West Lake Hills and Rollingwood. Beautiful areas, but pricey. We live just on the other side of 360, and prices are much more reasonable. Downtown housing is expensive.
My parents live in Cedar Park, and it’s nice as well. Too me, though, it’s not Austin. If I had to drive 30 mins to get to to town lake, I doubt I’d do it very often, especially with the traffic.
Alot depends on what you’re looking for. I wanted an older neighborhood, that’s close to downtown. It’s got character, and is great for families.
If you’re in Williamson county, you’re no longer in Austin. It’s burbs and Wilco isn’t very bike friendly. Very few bike lanes (if any) and big lotsa SUVs passing you rubbing your shoulders.
The north and west sides of town have the most access to leave my house on my bike and get in any length training ride I want. I live not far from the Mopac and Parmer intersection and I get get to 360 for hilly rides, go out Parmer for rolling rides all the way to Andice which 31 miles one way or zip through town on Shoal Creek and Mesa without too much trouble.
South Austin is cool too although I haven’t lived there. Probably better MTB access and still lots of easy to get to road cycling.
A lot depends on where you need to commute to, how much you can take from your cycling budget for housing and what type of cycling you want to do.
We live near 183/Ohlen on the south side of 183. IF we had kids, they would not go to one of the better public schools.
But, for triathlon. When I don’t ride inside…in other words on weekends…I can hit 360 in 12 minutes. We rode a 45 mile loop including Volente/Lime Creek (hilly) Saturday with no problem and the total time was about 10 minutes longer than the ride time. It takes us about 30 minutes to get to Parmer and 40 minutes to get out to the Longhorn Course or rides North East. Most group rides start central near Barton Springs, and riding down there is easy on weekends. Honestly, if you want to ride during the week and work 9-5 (like me), then the traffic is going to be bad wherever you are. And as popular as 360 and Parmer are for riding, there are a lot of lights…unless you are out near Cedar Park on Parmer. And there are a ton of lights on the popular dam loop.
We have a city pool that is open year round 10 minutes from the house. We have a 50m city pool with limited summer hours 2.5 miles from the house. I actually prefer running on the roads or tracks, and there is no shortage of neighborhoods.
So, it depends on what you want, what you want to spend, if you have kids, etc. Homes in our area have doubled in the last 8 years, but they are still ‘reasonable’ as far as some standards are.
But if you live IN Austin, how do you get in long rides? Isn’t there just too much traffic?
Austin is somewhat bike friendly thanks in part to the streets having actual bike lanes, and the plethora of bike messenger types, roadies, tri geeks, bmx’ers, hippie’s with basket bikes, etc…making their presence known. Probably the biggest weekly ride, the ATC shop ride, leaves from Austin tri cyclist on Barton Springs rd and heads out for the dam loop and the traffic around the group doesn’t seem to bother anyone.
Cedar Park is definately NOTTTTT the way to go. Its all just cookie cutter suburban insanity. If you like seeing a million houses that all look alike and a shopping area every mile then go ahead and move there. Austin is all about the scenery and beauty of the area, its about being as undefined as possible. sure the schools way be good, but almost all the school in the austin area are well off. You should look into Bee cave or Dripping Springs- its beautiful, the people are good, the schools are good. And for the love of god will you ppl stop inquiring about places to ride in Austin. If you live within 30 mi of downtown, you can fuckin find a place to ride. Austin is a cycling/ triathlon haven. how many towns have 2 tri shops and a LBS within 100 yards of eachother!
I suppose it depends on what you are looking for, and you are certainly free to express your opinion… I personally would rather be where it’s a little bit less crowded and where I can have a home with a decent sized yard with a view. I’d rather have training runs and rides that don’t require me to fight through traffic or stop at lights (yes, I can ride a 20 mile loop along Lake Travis without a single light). Say what you will about “cookie cutter” homes, but there are plenty of nice communities with custom homes if that’s what you’re looking for. There are also older homes with more “character” just a few minutes South of CP. Besides, I’m 15-20 minutes from downtown Austin when I want to be in town.
I have four kids, and family is the most important thing to me. CP is the most family-friendly place I’ve lived (I’ve also lived in Munich, Seattle and Salt Lake). It also made the top-10 list for friendly-friendly US cities on Parents.com/Family Circle (http://www.parents.com/family-life/better-parenting/parenting-style/10-best-towns-for-families/?page=3).
I lived in Austin for almost 15 years, mostly in south Austin (south Lamar) but also lived in NW Austin (Far West), central Austin (west campus), east Austin (Riverside/Oltorf), and SW Austin (Barton Skyway). If I wanted to be close to the things that make Austin, well…, Austin, then I would not settle in Cedar Park, Rflugerville, Buda, Kyle, RRock, Gtown, Leander, etc, etc. Select any of them and you might as well live in Dallas. Basically you’d just be marking time until you get hit by a tornado. Living around Austin and removing yourself from its bohemian culture is like dining at Pizza Hut while vacationing in Rome.
If I had a family, I’d buy a house in the Laurel/Exposition Blvd area just north of Tarrytown. Lost Creek/Westlake is great as well. Both are a pricey, but the neighborhoods and schools are great and offer easy access to loop 360 and hills to the west, lake austin, some great trail runs, and local HS tracks, Barton Springs, YMCA, RunTex, etc, etc.