Tarrytown vs. Westlake: Which Austin Luxury Neighborhood Is Right for You in 2026?

If you are shopping at the top of the Austin market, two names rise above the rest, and they could not feel more different. Tarrytown is old-Austin character a few minutes from downtown. Westlake is hill-country estates wrapped around the best public schools in Texas. Both are genuinely prime addresses. The right one comes down to what you are optimizing for: proximity and patina, or space and schools.

This guide compares the two on the things that actually drive the decision, with current market data, so you can see past the prestige and find the fit.

The snapshot

Tarrytown: old-Austin character minutes from downtown

Tarrytown is the established heart of central Austin luxury. It sits just west of downtown on the city side of Lake Austin, a neighborhood of tree-lined streets, mature oaks, and homes that range from preserved early-twentieth-century estates to ground-up modern rebuilds on the same compact lots. The appeal is location and character in equal measure. You are minutes from downtown, the University of Texas, and the water, in a part of the city that feels settled and green rather than new.

Because the land is central and the lots are smaller, Tarrytown trades at the highest price per square foot of the two areas. You are paying a premium for where the home sits, not for sprawl. That suits buyers who want to be close to the core of the city, value historic architecture and walkable pockets, and would rather have less house in a more central, characterful setting.

On schools, Tarrytown is part of Austin ISD, anchored by Casis Elementary, one of the most sought-after elementary schools in the district. Austin ISD is a large district with more campus-to-campus variation than Eanes, so families who prioritize schools should map the full path from elementary through high school for any specific address using a resource like GreatSchools.

Schools: the deciding factor for many families

For luxury buyers with children, the school question often settles the neighborhood question before price even enters the conversation.

Eanes ISD is the cleaner answer if top-rated public schools are non-negotiable. The district's independence from Austin ISD, its compact geography, and its long track record translate into a real and measurable price premium. By some local estimates, a comparable home just inside the Eanes boundary can sell for $150,000 to $200,000 more than one just outside it. That premium is not a quirk. It is buyers pricing in two decades of consistent performance.

Tarrytown's Austin ISD story is strong but more specific. Casis Elementary is a genuine standout, and homes in its attendance zone carry a documented premium of roughly 8 to 12% per square foot over comparable homes zoned to lower-rated campuses. The nuance is that Austin ISD is far larger and more variable than Eanes, so the strength of the assignment depends more on the exact address, particularly at the middle and high school levels.

The short version: if you want a top-to-bottom public school path with no homework required, Westlake and Eanes deliver it. If you love Tarrytown and the Casis zone, the elementary years are excellent, and you simply want to confirm the rest of the path.

Prices and the market: what the numbers say

Over the trailing twelve months through spring 2026, based on Unlock MLS data, the two areas tell a revealing story.

Westlake (78746) posted a median sale price around $1.88M, against roughly $1.36M in Tarrytown (78703). On absolute price, Westlake is clearly the more expensive address. Flip to price per square foot, though, and it reverses: Tarrytown ran about $631 per foot versus roughly $559 in Westlake. In plain terms, Tarrytown charges more for every square foot because you are paying for central land, while Westlake's higher total prices reflect larger homes on larger lots.

Liquidity was similar, with both areas sitting around 56 to 57 median days on market and close to six months of inventory, a relatively balanced setting at the top of the market. The clearer divergence was direction. Over the year, Westlake appreciated roughly 6% while Tarrytown softened by about 1%, a gap worth noting if you are weighing near-term value. For broader context on where the top of the market is heading, see our Austin luxury market trends coverage.

One honest caveat on the data: these figures are for the 78703 and 78746 zip codes, which contain Tarrytown and the Westlake communities but also some surrounding pockets, so they are a strong proxy rather than a street-level read. Market conditions also shift, so treat these as a snapshot of the trailing year, not a permanent state.

Property taxes: a real difference that favors the Westlake side

Property taxes are one of the most overlooked differences between these two areas, and at this price point the gap is real money every single year.

In Texas, your total property tax rate is the sum of every taxing entity whose boundary your home falls within, and that is exactly where Tarrytown and Westlake split.

A Tarrytown home sits inside the City of Austin, so its bill stacks the City of Austin, Travis County, Austin ISD, Austin Community College, and Central Health. For the 2025-26 cycle, that combined rate runs around 2.1% of taxable value, and the City of Austin line, which rose roughly 10% this cycle, is one of the larger pieces.

The Westlake side is where it gets interesting, because there are really three different tax situations depending on exactly where a home sits:

Inside the City of West Lake Hills. You still pay Travis County, Eanes ISD, ACC, and Central Health, but the West Lake Hills municipal rate sits well below the City of Austin's. At the same taxable value, a West Lake Hills home runs meaningfully lower than a comparable central Austin home, on the order of roughly $4,900 a year per $1M of taxable value.

Inside the City of Rollingwood. A similar structure, with Rollingwood's own municipal rate in place of Austin's.

In unincorporated Travis County, including the ETJ on the Westlake side. This is the quiet advantage. The extraterritorial jurisdiction is the unincorporated buffer around a city's limits, and a home that is not inside any city pays no municipal property tax at all. It carries only the county, Eanes ISD, ACC, Central Health, and any applicable special district. That can make the unincorporated and ETJ pockets the lowest total rate of the three, while still sitting in the same top-rated Eanes ISD.

So on a rate basis, the order generally runs from highest to lowest: Tarrytown, then West Lake Hills or Rollingwood, then the unincorporated and ETJ pockets on the Westlake side.

A few honest caveats. School taxes are the largest single line in every one of these bills, and both Austin ISD and Eanes ISD are property-wealthy recapture districts, meaning a share of what you pay is sent back to the state for redistribution. Some unincorporated areas sit inside a municipal utility district or emergency services district that adds to the rate, so no city tax does not always mean rock bottom. The 2026 school homestead exemption of $140,000 reduces the school portion for homesteaded owners in both districts. And the point that matters most: a lower rate on a more expensive home can still produce a larger dollar bill, so a $3M Westlake estate at a lower rate can easily owe more in total than a $1.4M Tarrytown home at a higher one. Always calculate from the current taxable value and exemptions for the specific parcel, which Travis Central Appraisal District publishes.

Which one is right for you?

The decision is rarely about which neighborhood is better. It is about which one fits your life.

Lean Tarrytown if you want to be minutes from downtown, the university, and Lake Austin, you are drawn to historic architecture and a settled, leafy feel, and you would trade square footage for a central address with character. You will pay a premium per foot, and for the right buyer it is worth every dollar.

Lean Westlake if top-rated schools are a priority, you want more space, larger lots, privacy, and hill-country views, and you are comfortable being a short drive rather than a few minutes from the core. You get more home and land per dollar of frontage, plus the strongest public school path in the region.

Many buyers tour both and feel the difference immediately. They are both the top of the Austin market, in two completely different keys.

The bottom line

Tarrytown and Westlake are the twin peaks of Austin luxury, and choosing between them is a question of priorities, not prestige. Tarrytown offers central, characterful living at a premium per square foot. Westlake offers space, views, and the best schools in Texas, at a higher absolute price. Neither is the wrong answer. The wrong move is choosing without understanding the real trade-offs, especially since many of the best homes in both areas trade quietly, before they ever reach the open market.

At Echelon Property Group, we work both areas closely, including off-market opportunities you will not find on a public search. If you are weighing Tarrytown against Westlake, the smartest first step is a conversation before you tour, so your search is built around how you actually want to live.