Ed 
Right now you can buy a home on an acre or more within an hour of Austin for as little as $429,900, and I pulled ten of them off our MLS feed this week that are all sitting under $800,000. The cheapest one is 3,068 square feet on a full acre in Kyle. The one with the most land is ten acres in Wimberley for $674,990. Eight of the ten homes in this post are active as I write this, and every price came straight out of our own listing database, not a national site guessing from a zip code.
Sounds like a lot of house for the money right. And it is, but you already know the catch, because there is always a catch. You are trading minutes in the car for elbow room. Nobody hands you an acre five minutes from downtown. So the real question is not “can I afford land near Austin” (you can), it is “how far out am I willing to live to get it.” That is the whole game, and I want to walk you through it with actual addresses instead of vibes.
I own property out in the Hill Country myself, so this is not a theory for me. I have also talked myself out of a couple of great pieces of land over the years by overthinking the drive, so you can learn from my mistakes there for free. I have sat at the closing table with buyers who wanted chickens and a shop and a place for the kids to get lost for an afternoon, and I have watched a few of them fall in love with a listing photo and forget to ask who brings the water to the house. So before the list, lets talk about the three things that actually change your life on acreage.
The acreage stuff nobody puts in the listing photos
Water and septic. Once you leave city limits, you are usually on a well and a septic system instead of a municipal hookup. That is not a dealbreaker, it is just a different set of homework. A well means you own the pump and the water table, and a septic system means you own the drain field and the pumping schedule. Both are totally manageable, and honestly a lot cheaper month to month than a city water bill, but you want to know their condition before you sign, not after. We put the whole thing in plain English in our guide to well water and septic systems in the Hill Country, and I would read it before you tour anything out here.
Ag valuation. This is the one people leave on the table. Once you get into real acreage, some of these properties can qualify for an agricultural valuation from the county, which taxes the land on what it produces instead of what it is worth on the open market. It can cut a tax bill down hard. But it is not automatic and it is not the same in every county, so you talk to the appraisal district about what the land already qualifies for before you assume anything. The ten acres in Wimberley on this list is the kind of parcel where that conversation is worth having.
Deed restrictions. Here is the myth I have to bust almost every week. People think “unincorporated” means “no rules.” Sometimes yes, sometimes very much no. A lot of these subdivisions out in the county have deed restrictions that tell you whether you can put up a barn, run a short-term rental, park an RV, or split the lot. And they were written by developers decades ago and buried in county records where nobody thinks to look. We just published a full Texas deed restrictions guide on exactly how to find them before you buy, because finding out after you close is a bad day. If you want the bigger picture on rural land, our guide to buying land in the Texas Hill Country ties it all together.
Ok. That is the grown-up part. Now the fun part. I grouped these by direction so you can picture your actual commute, because that is the only map that matters.
West: the Hill Country and Lake Travis
This is the direction people dream about and it is also where your dollar buys the least dirt, so the trick is finding the pockets that have not fully caught up.
Out in Spicewood, there is a 3-bedroom on 2.70 acres at 1025 Lake Shore Drive for $639,000. It is a 1968 build with 1,842 square feet, zoned to Lake Travis ISD, and it has been on the market about 276 days. That last number matters, because a home that has sat a while out here usually means the price started too high and is now getting honest, and that is exactly when a patient buyer does well. Gary Keller’s whole thing in the Millionaire Real Estate Investor is that you make your money going in, not going out, and a nearly-three-acre lake-area lot in Lake Travis schools is the kind of “going in” that ages well.
Push a little south into Dripping Springs and you get 101 Pioneer Trail, a 4-bed, 3-bath with 2,350 square feet on 3.27 acres for $685,000 in Dripping Springs ISD. Built in 1995, about 80 days on market. Dripping is not a secret anymore (the breweries and the wedding venues made sure of that), but three-plus acres in that district under $700K is still a genuinely good number, and this is the kind of lot where a shop or a casita makes sense down the road.
South: Wimberley, Buda, and Kyle
South is where the land gets bigger and the price per acre finally relaxes.
The showstopper is in Wimberley: 297 Robins Way, a 4-bedroom on a full 10.04 acres for $674,990, built in 2010, Wimberley ISD, around 115 days on market. Ten acres. Under $700,000. Forty-ish minutes to south Austin on a good day. This is the one I would send my ag-valuation buyers to first, because ten acres is enough to actually have that conversation with the county and maybe change what you pay every year.
In Buda, 330 Humphrey Drive is a 3-bed, 2-bath, 2,120 square feet on 2.58 acres for $599,000, built in 2000, Hays CISD, only about 80 days in. Buda is the sweet spot for people who still have to touch Austin a few days a week. You get real acreage and you are not signing up for an hour each way, which for a working family is worth actual money.
Then there is my value pick, and I am going to be straight with you about it. In Kyle, 585 Siebert Drive is 3,068 square feet on 1.10 acres for $429,900, a 4-bed, 3-bath built in 2002, Hays CISD. That is the cheapest home on this whole list and it is also the second-biggest house on it, which almost never happens. The catch is it has been on the market around 293 days, and when something sits that long you owe it to yourself to ask why. Sometimes there is a real reason. And sometimes the reason is just that not enough people are looking out there yet, which is the buyer’s version of good news.
East: Bastrop and Cedar Creek
East toward the Lost Pines is where I think the smart money quietly went while everybody was fighting over the west side. The pine trees surprise people (they do not expect them 25 minutes from the airport), and the prices are still human.
In Bastrop, 112 Michele Drive gives you a 4-bed, 2-bath with 2,896 square feet on 3.75 acres for $439,990, built in 1995, Bastrop ISD, about 46 days on market. Nearly 2,900 square feet and almost four acres for under $440,000. Read that twice, because you cannot do that on the west side at any price right now.
A few minutes over in Cedar Creek, 537 Leisure Lane is a 3-bedroom on 4.10 acres for $475,000, a 1976 build with 1,668 square feet in Bastrop ISD, roughly 184 days on market. Older home, four acres, and close enough to Austin and the airport that it works for a commuter who wants room to breathe on the weekend. This is the direction I would point a first-time land buyer who does not want to overpay to learn.
North: Georgetown, Liberty Hill, and Leander
North is the practical direction. Tech corridor jobs, strong schools, and toll roads that make the distance feel shorter than the map says.
In Georgetown, 6843 S Lakewood Drive is a 3-bed, 2-bath on 3.04 acres for $474,990, built in 1991, Georgetown ISD, about 22 days on market. Three acres under $500K near Lake Georgetown, in one of the fastest-growing towns in the country. That combination does not stay cheap forever, and I do not think it will here either.
Up in Liberty Hill, 410 Mustang Mesa is a 3-bedroom on 5.37 acres for $748,999, built in 2000, Liberty Hill ISD, around 121 days in. This is the top of our price range, but you are getting more than five acres in a district families are actively chasing right now, and Liberty Hill still feels like country even as the rooftops close in around it.
And in Leander, 759 Riva Ridge Road is the newest house on the list, a 4-bed, 4-bath with 3,611 square feet on 2.06 acres for $575,000, built in 2015, Leander ISD, about 60 days on market. A 2015 build this size on two acres for $575K, this close to the tech jobs, is the one I would tell a relocating family to go see before it is gone.
So what do you actually do with this
Here is the honest summary. If you want the dream address, go west and accept less land or an older house. If you want the most house and land for the fewest dollars, go east to Bastrop. If you want big acreage and a shot at an ag valuation, go south to Wimberley. And if you want land plus strong schools plus a real commute, go north. There is no wrong answer, there is just your answer, and it is mostly a question of what you are willing to trade.
These ten will not all be here in a month, that is just how active listings work. But there are always more, because land near Austin is one of the few things they genuinely are not making more of. If you want me to set up a saved search that pings you the second a new acreage listing hits under your number, that is a five-minute job and it is the single best thing you can do while you wait for the right one. You can also just browse everything we have on our land for sale page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to find your acre?
I have helped a lot of families make the move from a fence-line neighbor to a tree line, and the ones who do it well all start the same way: they get clear on their number and their commute, and then they let the right listing come to them. If that is you, reach out to me directly and we will build a saved search around exactly what you are after. The right piece of land is worth waiting for, right, but when it finally shows up you want to already be the person who is ready to move on it. Lets get you ready.
