Northwest Hills is an established hillside neighborhood in Austin’s 78731 ZIP code, bounded roughly by MoPac (Loop 1), Loop 360, RM 2222 and Spicewood Springs Road. Developed mainly between 1962 and 1972, it offers sloped, tree-covered lots, a retail core on Far West Boulevard, and a free-flow drive of about 6.9 miles to the Texas Capitol.

I am Lindsay Neuren, a third-generation Austinite and the co-founder of The Speed & Neuren Group at Compass, and I grew up in these hills. This guide covers where the neighborhood starts and stops, how it was built, what drives prices from one street to the next, which Austin ISD campuses serve it, what the tax bill looks like, and how long the drives take.

Where is Northwest Hills in Austin?

Northwest Hills sits between MoPac (Loop 1) and Loop 360, north of RM 2222 and south of Spicewood Springs Road, mostly in ZIP 78731. Those four roads are how the neighborhood connects to the rest of the city: MoPac runs south to downtown and north to The Domain, Loop 360 runs south toward Westlake and the Pennybacker Bridge, and RM 2222 runs west toward Lake Austin.

The terrain is the defining feature. The land rises from a low mesa along MoPac into limestone hills and creek canyons to the west, which is why streets curve with the contours instead of running on a grid. Covert Park at Mount Bonnell, a 5.36-acre city park overlooking Lake Austin, sits just south of RM 2222 in the same 78731 ZIP, and the Bull Creek corridor runs along the western side near Loop 360.

When was Northwest Hills built, and what are the homes like?

Most of Northwest Hills was developed between 1962 and 1972. The Barrow family began assembling land in 1944, finished the Balcones Park subdivisions east of Mount Bonnell between 1950 and 1959, formed Austin Corporation in 1962 to develop Northwest Hills west of Balcones Drive, and completed the Cat Mountain section in 1972 (Four Points News, March 2024). By the late 1950s the family owned or held options on more than 2,500 acres, which is why the neighborhood reads as one planned piece rather than a patchwork.

That history sets the housing stock. The original homes are single-family houses from the 1960s and early 1970s, set on sloped lots under a mature canopy. Over time many have been remodeled, expanded or replaced, so one street can hold an original house, a full renovation and a new build side by side. Two practical consequences follow for buyers:

• Slope and foundation work matter more here than on flat ground, so inspections should look closely at drainage, retaining walls and foundation movement.
• Large trees carry rules. The City of Austin requires a permit to remove a protected tree, 19 inches or more in diameter at 4.5 feet above ground, and generally prohibits removing a heritage tree, 24 inches or more of listed species including all oaks (City of Austin City Arborist). That affects additions and rebuilds.

How much do homes cost in Northwest Hills?

Northwest Hills prices move street by street, so start with the citywide reading, then the closed sales on the streets you are considering:

Market measure, September 2026	City of Austin	Travis County
Median sale price	$570,958	$497,400
Closed sales	777	1,031
Active listings	4,502	6,360
Months of inventory	5.4	5.8
Close-to-list price ratio	92.5%	92.5%

Source: Unlock MLS, September 2026 Central Texas Housing Report, released October 13, 2026.

Inside Northwest Hills, price moves with four things: elevation and view, lot slope and usable yard, whether the house is original, remodeled or rebuilt, and which pocket it sits in. Two houses a few streets apart can differ widely on those factors alone. This is where Ross’s appraisal training matters: we value a Northwest Hills home off recent closed sales from the same pocket with the same condition profile, not off a citywide per-square-foot average. If you want a current reading for a specific street, we pull the closed sales for it.

Which Austin ISD schools serve Northwest Hills?

Northwest Hills is in the Austin Independent School District. Under Austin ISD’s 2026-27 district feeder pattern (published February 16, 2026), Davis, Doss, Hill and Summitt elementary schools feed Murchison Middle School, and Murchison feeds Anderson High School. Doss Elementary (7005 Northledge Drive) sits inside the neighborhood; Hill Elementary (8601 Tallwood Drive) is just north of Spicewood Springs Road.

Campus	Level	Program facts published by Austin ISD or the campus
Doss Elementary	Elementary	Mandarin and English dual language program, K-5; it opened as a Mandarin immersion program in fall 2013 and became a dual language program in fall 2021.
Hill Elementary	Elementary	Feeds Murchison Middle School (2026-27 feeder pattern).
Murchison Middle School	Middle	An International Baccalaureate World School and Austin ISD’s only IB middle school.
Anderson High School	High	An IB school since 1991 and Austin ISD’s only IB high school, offering the IB Diploma Programme.

What is the property tax rate in Northwest Hills?

For tax year 2026, a Northwest Hills home inside the City of Austin and Austin ISD carries a combined rate of about 2.1211 dollars per 100 dollars of taxable value, before exemptions. The breakdown, from the Travis County Tax Office rate table and Austin ISD’s September 24, 2026 board resolution:

Taxing unit	2026 rate per $100
Austin ISD	0.9184
City of Austin	0.579948
Travis County	0.386210
Travis Central Health	0.132863
Austin Community College	0.103643
Combined	2.121064

Homestead exemptions reduce the taxable value, so the effective rate on an owner-occupied home is lower than the headline. The City of Austin adopted its 2026 rate on August 12, 2026, and Austin ISD adopted its 2026 rate on September 24, 2026. Confirm the taxing units and exemptions for a specific parcel on the Travis Central Appraisal District site, and see our guide to protesting a Travis County appraisal.

How long is the commute from Northwest Hills?

From Far West Boulevard, free-flow drives run about 12 minutes to the Texas Capitol (6.9 miles), 9 minutes to The Domain (4.6 miles) and 30 minutes to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (16.8 miles), based on OpenStreetMap routing computed September 28, 2026 with no traffic. Peak-hour trips take longer, and MoPac is the constraint.

The main tool for that constraint is the MoPac Express Lane, run by the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority. It is an 11-mile lane from Parmer Lane to the Cesar Chavez and 5th Street exit downtown, fully opened in October 2017, with a variable toll that rises as the general lanes congest. Loop 360 is the alternative for trips toward Westlake and southwest Austin.

What parks and shopping are near Northwest Hills?

Three city green spaces sit within about 3.3 driving miles of Far West Boulevard, all in ZIP 78731:

• Stillhouse Hollow Nature Preserve, 7810 Sterling Drive, about 1.9 miles.
• Bull Creek District Park, 6701 Lakewood Drive near Loop 360, about 3.0 miles.
• Covert Park at Mount Bonnell, 3800 Mount Bonnell Road, about 3.3 miles.

Day-to-day retail centers on Far West Boulevard between MoPac and Mesa Drive. That commercial core sits on the former Texas Crushed Stone quarry, which the developers bought and converted into the neighborhood’s shopping center; it also holds Murchison Middle School and a post office (Four Points News, March 2024). The Domain is about 4.6 miles north.

How does Northwest Hills compare with West Lake Hills?

Both are hillside areas west of central Austin, but they sit in different cities and school districts, and that shows up most clearly in the tax rate.

Factor	Northwest Hills	West Lake Hills
Jurisdiction	City of Austin	City of West Lake Hills
ZIP	78731 (some 78759)	78746
School district	Austin ISD	Eanes ISD
School district rate, 2026	0.9184	0.8254
City rate, 2026	0.579948	0.174896
Travis County + Central Health, 2026	0.519073	0.519073
Austin Community College, 2026	0.103643	Not in taxing district
Emergency services district, 2026	None (Austin Fire Department)	ESD No. 9, 0.0779
Water control district, 2026	None	WCID No. 10, 0.057
Combined, 2026 (per $100)	2.121064	1.654269
Free-flow drive to Texas Capitol	6.9 miles from Far West Blvd	5.2 miles from central West Lake Hills

Sources: Travis County Tax Office rate table, tax year 2026; Austin ISD board resolution, September 24, 2026; Austin Community College district service area; Westlake Fire Department; OpenStreetMap routing, September 28, 2026. Rates are before exemptions.

For more on the other side of Loop 360, see our West Lake Hills guide.

Work With a Northwest Hills Specialist

Northwest Hills is the neighborhood I know best. As a third-generation Austinite who focuses on relocation clients, I help buyers understand the differences between the pockets, read the view and elevation premiums that move prices here, and handle the due diligence this terrain calls for: slope, trees, campus verification and the tax picture. For sellers, our team pairs that local knowledge with pricing from Ross, who trained as an appraiser early in his career, so a hillside home is positioned on the comparables that actually fit it.

The Speed & Neuren Group at Compass, led by Ross Speed (TREC #625854) and Lindsay Neuren (TREC #695144), ranked #1 in Austin by sales volume and by transactions in the 2026 RealTrends Verified rankings, based on 2025 sales.

Frequently Asked Questions About Living in Northwest Hills