Westlake is the name everyone uses. West Lake Hills is the city. It sits on the limestone hills west of Lake Austin, about six miles from downtown, and it's been its own municipality since 1953, with its own council, planning rules, and police. That independence is the whole story of the place. Lots are large because the city decided they would be, the tree canopy is intact because it's protected, and the houses vary because nobody built them in tracts. Roughly 3,400 people, around 1,000 homes, four square miles. Buyers come for two things: Eanes ISD, and the fact that you can live on a hillside with a view and be at a downtown dinner in fifteen minutes.
The city exists because a lawyer named Emmett Shelton didn't want to be annexed. He began buying land in 1929, what the Statesman called "roly poly country with second gear roads" and over the following decades sold parcels to friends who asked, and in 1953 went door to door to incorporate a town. The vote was unanimous. State law set a minimum number of residents, so the original city was small and deliberate. Much of what you see today dates from the decades after incorporation. The Emmett Shelton Bridge on Red Bud Trail still carries his name across the lake. The other landmark is Westlake High, opened in 1969 as Eanes ISD's only high school. Ask anyone who moved here why, and the school comes up within the first two sentences.
The Grove Wine Bar & Kitchen, Maudie's for Tex-Mex, Sway for Thai, Swedish Hill for coffee and lunch. Westlake residents also eat in Rollingwood, Barton Creek, and downtown, and a lot of them cook, because the kitchens here are worth it.
Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve is on Loop 360, 227 acres of the Balcones Canyonlands with trails and a creek. Lake Austin is at the bottom of the hill, with boat access for owners who have it and marinas for those who don't. The Barton Creek Greenbelt's western trailheads are minutes away. And the hills themselves are the amenity: a lot of Westlake lots back onto ravine and canopy, and the view from the back porch is the reason the house cost what it did.
Eanes ISD covers all of West Lake Hills and most of Rollingwood: Eanes, Cedar Creek, Bridge Point, Barton Creek, and Forest Trail elementaries, Hill Country and West Ridge middle schools, and Westlake High. The district is the reason a lot of relocating families draw their circle here first. Private options are close: St. Stephen's, St. Michael's, St. Gabriel's. What families notice after a year: how little traffic there is, the trees, and the fact that their kids' friends all live on the same hillside.
Three kinds of property. The older houses, often single-story, on large treed lots, many of them now candidates for renovation or replacement. The custom rebuilds, contemporary or Hill Country modern, which is where most of the current volume is. And the estates, on the ridgelines and the lake, which trade rarely and mostly privately. The lot matters more than the house in Westlake. Slope, tree cover, view, and what the city's rules allow you to do with all three determine value, and a flat lot with a tired house can be worth more than a beautiful house on a difficult one. Entry runs roughly $1.2M to $2.2M, and the estates above $7M. I wrote about the build-or-remodel decision in Westlake: Build New or Remodel and about buying when nothing seems to be listed in Buying in Westlake When Inventory Feels Tight.
An independent city since 1953 with its own zoning, police, and tree rules. Six miles to downtown. Eanes ISD. Large hillside lots with real canopy and real views. A market where the lot, not the house, sets the price. A meaningful share of sales that never reach the public market. East across Loop 360, Barton Hills offers greenbelt access at a lower entry price.
3,755 people live in Westlake, where the median age is 48 and the average individual income is $143,554. Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Total Population
Median Age
Population Density Population Density This is the number of people per square mile in a neighborhood.
Average individual Income
There's plenty to do around Westlake, including shopping, dining, nightlife, parks, and more. Data provided by Walk Score and Yelp.
Explore popular things to do in the area, including Stick To It Enterprises.
Westlake has 1,386 households, with an average household size of 3. Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Here’s what the people living in Westlake do for work — and how long it takes them to get there. Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. 3,755 people call Westlake home. The population density is 1,594 and the largest age group is Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Total Population
Population Density Population Density This is the number of people per square mile in a neighborhood.
Median Age
Men vs Women
Population by Age Group
0-9 Years
10-17 Years
18-24 Years
25-64 Years
65-74 Years
75+ Years
Education Level
Total Households
Average Household Size
Average individual Income
Households with Children
With Children:
Without Children:
Marital Status
Blue vs White Collar Workers
Blue Collar:
White Collar:
