Best PlacesWest Lake Hills, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around West Lake Hills, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
West Lake Hills ranks 146th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in West Lake Hills
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
West Lake Hills' strengths and weaknesses
Where West Lake Hills ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$200,208 median, better than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
Where West Lake Hills ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,048 a month, better than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in West Lake Hills
A household needs to earn about $452,000 a year to comfortably buy the median West Lake Hills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $200,208, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses West Lake Hills' effective rate of 1.13%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in West Lake Hills
West Lake Hills runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for West Lake Hills.
Who works in West Lake Hills, and how
Work in West Lake Hills centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 51%
- Work from home 46%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in West Lake Hills
West Lake Hills has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of West Lake Hills and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in West Lake Hills, month by month
West Lake Hills sees roughly 159 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 99 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| July | 99° | 86° | 76° |
| October | 85° | 72° | 62° |
Flying in and out of West Lake Hills
Austin-Bergstrom International sits about 10 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 10.7 million passengers in 2025, with 127 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around West Lake Hills
Schools across West Lake Hills average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Forest Trail ElA · 66% proficient
- Cedar Creek ElA · 65% proficient
- Bridge Point ElA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hill Country MiddleA+ · 75% proficient
- West Ridge MiddleA+ · 74% proficient
- O Henry MiddleB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Westlake H SA+ · 85% proficient
- Austin H SA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every West Lake Hills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
West Lake Hills measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare West Lake Hills against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in West Lake Hills
Is West Lake Hills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, West Lake Hills ranks 146th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is West Lake Hills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,652,364. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $200,208 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is West Lake Hills safe?
West Lake Hills is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $404 per resident a year.
Compare West Lake Hills with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to West Lake Hills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in West Lake Hills represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
West Lake Hills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for West Lake Hills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in West Lake Hills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of West Lake Hills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in West Lake Hills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
West Lake Hills detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.