Best suburbs of Austin

We scored all 20 towns and communities of 10,000+ people in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX metro area on what most people weigh when they pick a suburb: what homes cost compared with local pay, household income, poverty, commute times, education, homeownership and how many families with kids live there. Brushy Creek, Hutto and Leander come out on top.

top 10 upper half lower half Austin. Dot size shows population.

The top 25

#	Place	Score	Population	Median home	Home vs income	Household income	Commute	Poverty	Miles away
1	Brushy Creek, TX	77	19,576	$499,300	3.6×	$138,589	24.2 min	5.5%	15
2	Hutto, TX	75	46,048	$365,700	3.1×	$118,834	29.3 min	5.7%	21
3	Leander, TX	73	91,132	$506,200	3.6×	$139,048	29.2 min	5.8%	20
4	Buda, TX	67	16,166	$446,600	3.6×	$123,766	29.0 min	6.0%	16
5	Steiner Ranch, TX	66	18,619	$826,500	4.3×	$190,523	29.8 min	2.4%	10
6	Lakeway, TX	64	19,027	$841,300	4.4×	$190,060	28.8 min	2.5%	14
7	Pflugerville, TX	63	68,316	$402,400	3.4×	$117,799	27.4 min	6.1%	14
8	Cedar Park, TX	60	79,032	$513,600	4.0×	$129,545	25.5 min	5.9%	15
9	Sonterra, TX	53	10,563	$273,600	3.0×	$92,319	34.1 min	10.4%	36
10	Elgin, TX	50	13,327	$326,400	3.6×	$91,114	32.3 min	5.3%	22
11	Round Rock, TX	47	141,282	$418,600	4.2×	$99,287	24.9 min	7.8%	17
12	Georgetown, TX	42	106,907	$429,100	4.5×	$95,062	28.2 min	8.0%	26
13	Hornsby Bend, TX	41	12,367	$314,900	3.5×	$89,614	33.7 min	15.0%	11
14	Manor, TX	39	23,070	$347,900	4.1×	$84,529	35.5 min	9.8%	12
15	Kyle, TX	35	69,917	$334,600	3.7×	$90,323	36.4 min	8.9%	22
16	Taylor, TX	34	18,402	$285,800	3.8×	$75,508	30.4 min	7.7%	27
17	Lockhart, TX	32	18,159	$251,600	3.7×	$68,400	28.6 min	13.0%	29
18	Bastrop, TX	31	13,383	$339,600	4.2×	$81,551	30.0 min	7.2%	29
19	Wells Branch, TX	30	13,523	$401,100	6.0×	$66,656	21.6 min	12.9%	11
20	San Marcos, TX	21	77,830	$310,400	6.1×	$51,281	24.0 min	26.9%	31

Most affordable homes

Sonterra 3 years of income, $273,600
Hutto 3.1 years of income, $365,700
Pflugerville 3.4 years of income, $402,400
Hornsby Bend 3.5 years of income, $314,900
Brushy Creek 3.6 years of income, $499,300

Most families with kids

Steiner Ranch 52.3% of households
Sonterra 51.3% of households
Hutto 48.6% of households
Leander 45.4% of households
Buda 43.3% of households

How the score works

For each measure we rank the 20 places from worst to best within this metro area, then combine the ranks with these weights: home value compared with household income (20%), household income (15%), poverty rate (15%), average commute (15%), share of adults with a bachelor's degree (10%), homeownership (10%), households with children (10%) and population growth since 2020 (5%). Unincorporated communities have no official growth estimate, so they get the middle value for that part. A score of 100 would mean first on every measure.

Everything comes from the Census Bureau: the American Community Survey 2020-2024 and the 2025 population estimates. We leave out crime and school ratings because comparable official data for every town does not exist; check local school district and police data for the places on your shortlist.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best suburbs of Austin?

On our data-only score, Brushy Creek, Hutto and Leander rank highest among 20 places of 10,000+ people in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX metro area.

What is the most affordable suburb of Austin?

Sonterra has the lowest ratio of median home value to household income (3 years), with a median home of $273,600.

Which Austin suburb has the shortest commute?

Wells Branch, where the average commute is 21.6 minutes each way.

Back to the Austin city profile, or see the best suburbs of other big cities.

Places are incorporated cities, towns and villages plus census-designated places with 10,000 or more residents, assigned to the metro area by county (OMB 2023 delineations). Distances are straight lines from the center of Austin. The Census Bureau caps published medians at $250,000 for income and $2,000,000 for home values, shown with a plus sign.