Austin is regarded as a relatively inexpensive technology hub. Relative is the important word, as San Francisco, New York, Boston are considered more expensive.
The most well to do or expensive zip code around Austin is 78746. The locality is known as West Lake Hills. There the 2018 yearly earning was just north of $0.5M and house price $1.0M in 2018.
# zip agi “home price” city
0 78746 525,096 1,026,461 Austin
1 78703 386,442 866,180 Austin
2 78701 355,456 513,080 Austin
3 78733 300,399 694,161 Austin
4 78730 273,805 649,210 Austin
5 78738 252,558 547,671 Austin
6 78731 233,497 691,163 Austin
7 78732 207,362 503,764 Austin
8 78735 194,506 551,066 Austin
9 78739 172,770 491,751 Austin
10 78619 169,344 514,687 Driftwood
11 78737 155,117 470,277 Austin
12 78669 152,121 425,134 Spicewood
13 78734 151,635 419,876 Austin
14 78620 132,918 464,622 Dripping Springs
15 78756 120,458 515,284 Austin
16 78628 117,281 346,156 Georgetown
17 78704 117,144 544,025 Austin
18 78750 114,562 408,621 Austin
19 78717 113,437 376,415 Austin
20 78759 112,094 450,702 Austin
21 78645 105,701 299,800 Leander
22 78726 102,925 462,988 Austin
23 78757 102,330 447,055 Austin
24 78681 100,275 317,958 Round Rock
25 78736 98,896 386,982 Austin
26 78749 97,035 372,751 Austin
27 78676 96,956 344,922 Wimberley
28 78613 94,894 312,504 Cedar Park
29 78642 92,664 343,144 Liberty Hill
30 78641 92,365 293,112 Leander
31 78727 81,860 329,103 Austin
32 78722 81,316 432,675 Austin
33 78702 79,820 405,737 Austin
34 78751 79,330 449,897 Austin
35 78652 78,288 336,585 Manchaca
36 78610 73,594 264,742 Buda
37 78723 70,230 379,421 Austin
38 78605 69,703 222,120 Bertram
39 76527 69,048 284,205 Florence
40 78729 68,212 311,135 Austin
41 78748 66,859 300,501 Austin
42 78660 66,665 261,733 Pflugerville
43 78626 65,798 262,488 Georgetown
44 78705 64,394 325,993 Austin
45 78634 63,991 233,921 Hutto
46 78664 62,098 234,207 Round Rock
47 78662 61,161 247,068 Red Rock
48 78747 60,957 273,221 Austin
49 78745 59,347 316,969 Austin
50 78655 57,072 227,453 Martindale
51 78758 56,066 279,729 Austin
52 76530 55,965 208,674 Granger
53 78728 55,738 282,652 Austin
54 76537 55,256 226,235 Jarrell
55 78612 54,819 245,711 Cedar Creek
56 76574 54,220 188,672 Taylor
57 78754 54,177 254,603 Austin
58 78653 53,230 222,149 Manor
59 78640 52,157 217,064 Kyle
60 78644 50,838 169,469 Lockhart
61 78725 49,976 203,527 Austin
62 78666 49,154 220,496 San Marcos
63 78721 48,241 317,134 Austin
64 76511 48,056 138,774 Bartlett
65 78752 46,493 315,102 Austin
66 78741 45,986 294,622 Austin
67 78744 43,866 231,992 Austin
68 78616 43,850 195,997 Dale
69 78753 42,909 254,136 Austin
70 78656 41,087 170,231 Maxwell
71 78617 39,589 204,106 Del Valle
72 78724 38,622 222,479 Austin
73 78719 38,142 247,528 Austin
74 78742 36,109 260,624 Austin
Table: Zip Code, AGI, median home price for Greater Austin area.
Another general observation is that around half of the zip codes had higher than national AGI ($77K) , and about 33% also had AGI above $100K. The average AGI of Greater Austin Area was $97.9 in 2018.
The median home price in Austin Area was $325K in 2018. The median home price in the US was $233K in 2018.
AGI in Austin area was 27% higher than national. The median house price was 48% higher. The national median house price to AGI ration was 3. Which is about the commonly recommended “no more than 1/3 rd of income towards shelter”. The same ratio was 3.5 for Austin area — not exactly far off from the national ratio of 3.
In general it is in line with the observation that it is a relatively more expensive area compared to national, but significantly less so than some other technology hubs.
Since 2018, both AGI and house prices have increased. The Covid-19 pandemic probably has been having a major impact also. It is very likely that the ratio of home price to AGI has increased in Austin area appreciably since then.
