What are the best and worst areas of Austin?

Question

I'm planning on moving down there and I wanted to see what the best areas are. Are there any areas to stay away from?

Answer 1

It depends upon your income, lifestyle and openness to new things. If you want to live where the majority of the homes start at $500K and up, then West Lake is the neighborhood with all the homes for you. If you want urban life and feel, then a condo in the city near Town Lake or the wearhouse district might be your choice. If you want trendy neighborhood feel in the middle of the city then West Lynn is not a bad area. If you want artistic feel and trend, then the South Congress area is for you. If you access to the city, but not too close to it, then Allendale, Clarksville and Terrytown might be for you. If you truly want suburbs, then move at least 15 to 20mins outside of downtown. If you are only concern with the bad areas to town to avoid, then anything east of I-35 inside the downtown area is not a good choice. When you are north of downtown, then you want to avoid the Rundberg area. I hope this helps

Answer 2

avoid the riverside area at all costs, just a dumpy kind of area. also, if you want to avoid all the students, the west campus area of UT is not a great place for someone who is NOT wanting the college lifestyle. generally, like the other person already mentioned, east of I-35 is not great. i lived off of far west in the mopac/183 corridor and it was wonderful. i had a lot of easy access to all parts of austin, especially lake travis. west of mopac is pretty much nice houses and south austin is really becoming nice as well.