West Round Rock

I talk to clients often about homes, schools, and communities in Round Rock every week, but I have been remiss in not writing more about Round Rock in my blog. Let me fix this over-sight.

Round Rock is located ~22 minutes from the heart of downtown Austin. Population is just over 100,000 people and is considered to be one of the more significant bedroom communities in the Greater Austin area. While many people who live in Round Rock (RR) work in Austin city limits, RR is home to the corporate headquarters of Dell Computer and Sears Holdings' national call center. Between the two, they employ more than 15,000 people--big employers by any standard. Round Rock is also home to one of the largest Austin area hospitals and medical centers, not to mention retail and higher education employers in the area. Round Rock is also home to a large colony of Mexican bats--who live under the McNeil bridge during the warmer months, and create a spectacle every evening as they fly out to rid the area of mosquitoes and other flying insects (just like Austin's Congress Street bridge). These bats are a wonderful spectacle to watch flying out of their habitat at the end of the day. 




One thing that the RR locals know is that the area schools are some of the best schools in Greater Austin. RRISD has 30 schools, 93% of which were rated Exemplary or Recognized during the most recent TEA accountability ratings. One of these High Schools, Westwood High, consistently shows up in the Top 100 Public High Schools in the nation--out of almost 30,000 public High Schools. But Westwood HS is not the only school in RRISD that is known for great education.

Homes in the Round Rock area range in price from the low $100's to just over $2M. In West Round Rock, where home values are above the Greater Austin median home price, homes average in the mid $200's up to the low $700's in this current market. Although most of the available land has been built out, a few new communities are still in development--namely in the north east quadrant near Dell Diamond minor league baseball park.


There are many wonderful neighborhoods in Round Rock to consider, especially in higher visibility neighborhoods. Some of the most recognized communities in the Round Rock area include: Forest Creek and Lake Forest (RRE, FC is a prominent Golf Community, homes from $300k to $2M), Behren's Ranch (RRW, homes from $200k to high 700's), Hidden Glen and Wood Glen (RRW, $200 to high $400's), the Brushy Creek communities in RRW (average home in the mid $200's). Of course there are many wonderful communities along FM 3406, FM 1431, and Old Settler's Blvd to explore. While there are no bad communities to speak of in Round Rock, each community has different things to offer and different price points.

Round Rock is not just home to Dell Computers--Round Rock is a bedrock community to the Greater Austin area, and a place that many people are proud to call home.

(If you did not know--there is a big round rock and a story that goes along with how the area got its name during the cattle driving days in Texas history...).