Parmer Lane vs Kathy Caraway: Pflugerville ISD vs Round Rock ISD

Different Districts, $160K Apart: Parmer Lane vs Kathy Caraway, What Buyers Actually Get

One of the most common mix-ups I see from buyers searching the north Austin and northwest Austin corridor is assuming Parmer Lane Elementary and Kathy Caraway Elementary are in the same school district. They are not. Parmer Lane sits in Pflugerville ISD. Kathy Caraway sits in Round Rock ISD. The two campuses are roughly a 10-minute drive apart in northwest Austin, but the K-12 pipelines, demographics, and price points are very different.

I get the question almost every week because both schools share the same general geography near Parmer Lane and the 78727/78759 zip codes. On Zillow or in an MLS listing, the school district line on each home tells you what you actually need to know. So lets walk through what each campus is, what the Texas Education Agency says about them, the feeder pattern through middle and high school, and what buyers are paying in each zone right now.

Parmer Lane vs Kathy Caraway: Quick Comparison

Source: Texas Tribune Schools Explorer (enrollment, demographics) and Neuhaus Realty Group VOW MLS data (closed sales, last 12 months through May 2026).

Two Different Districts, Two Different Stories

The accountability picture matches the demographic picture. Kathy Caraway has been a consistently A-rated campus by the Texas Education Agency, with the 2025 cycle showing the campus near the top of Round Rock ISD’s elementary lineup. Parmer Lane has had a tougher recent run on the TEA scorecard, reflecting the academic challenge that comes with serving a student body where roughly 3 in 4 students qualify as economically disadvantaged.

I want to be clear about something. A TEA letter grade is not a verdict on whether a campus is “good.” It is a snapshot of standardized testing performance and the demographics that performance is measured against. A C-rated Title I campus that gets kids reading on grade level while serving an overwhelmingly low-income, high-English-Learner population is doing harder work than an A-rated campus in an affluent zone. Both can be the right school for the right buyer. The point of this post is to help you understand what you are actually buying when you choose one zone over the other.

Parmer Lane Elementary: The Pflugerville ISD Pocket of North Austin

Parmer Lane Elementary is one of 22 elementary schools in Pflugerville ISD. Despite the name, the campus is geographically in Travis County, tucked into the section of Pflugerville ISD that wraps into the 78727 zip along the Parmer Lane corridor between MoPac and I-35. The zone covers a mix of 1980s ranch homes and townhomes in subdivisions like Scofield Farms, Milwood, and Lamplight Village, plus newer townhome stock that has been built in the last decade.

The campus enrolls 449 students. The demographic profile is 75.3% Hispanic, 76.2% economically disadvantaged (Texas Tribune Schools Explorer, 2026 data). Enrollment is down about 2.8% since 2016, which is consistent with the broader trend across the Pflugerville ISD elementary footprint as smaller cohorts move through the system.

The K-12 pipeline matters. From Parmer Lane, students continue to Westview Middle School and then to John B Connally High School, both within Pflugerville ISD. Connally has had its own accountability bumps in recent years, and that is worth knowing if you are buying for a long-term hold and the high school years matter to your plan.

Kathy Caraway Elementary: The Round Rock ISD Anchor in Northwest Austin

Kathy Caraway is a different animal. The campus sits in the 78759 zip code in northwest Austin, technically inside Williamson County and inside Round Rock ISD. The attendance zone covers established neighborhoods around Anderson Mill, Spicewood Springs, and Great Hills, with a mix of 1980s single-story ranches on quarter to half-acre lots and pockets of newer construction.

Enrollment is 500 students. The demographic profile is roughly 47% white, with 11.2% economically disadvantaged (Texas Tribune Schools Explorer). Enrollment has dropped about 32% since 2016, which is part of the district-wide enrollment contraction Round Rock ISD has been working through. The campus has been an A-rated TEA accountability performer with consistent results across Student Achievement, School Progress, and Closing the Gaps.

The Caraway feeder pipeline is the real story for many buyers. Students continue to Canyon Vista Middle School and then to Westwood High School, which together form one of the most academically competitive public K-12 pipelines in central Texas. Westwood routinely ranks near the top of the state for STEM and AP performance. That is what most buyers in the Caraway zone are actually paying for, and it is priced in.

The Neighborhoods and the Price Gap

This is where the practical math lands. Pulling closed single-family sales from the last 12 months (May 2025 through May 2026) for each elementary zone:

• Parmer Lane Elementary zone: 131 closings, median sale price $460,000, median $244 per square foot, average home size about 1,904 sqft. Inventory turns reasonably quickly and there are still entry-level homes available in the high $300s.
• Kathy Caraway Elementary zone: 140 closings, median sale price $597,697, median $322 per square foot, average home size about 1,943 sqft. Active listings frequently push north of $750K when a remodeled home hits the market.

The gap is about $138,000 on the median sale, or roughly $78 per square foot, for homes of nearly identical size. The premium is the feeder pattern, the demographic concentration, and the long-hold neighborhood character. Caraway also draws from a longer-tenured ownership base where turns are less frequent and inventory is thinner relative to demand.

To browse current inventory, see homes zoned to Parmer Lane Elementary or homes zoned to Kathy Caraway Elementary.

Which School Fits You?

This is not really a debate about which campus is “better.” Kathy Caraway is the higher-scoring campus by TEA accountability ratings, and the K-12 pipeline through Canyon Vista and Westwood is genuinely one of the best in the region. Parmer Lane is a Pflugerville ISD Title I campus that serves a very different student population at a price point about $138K lower for a comparable home.

You might lean toward Parmer Lane Elementary if:

• You want to be in north Austin near the tech corridor along Parmer Lane (Apple, IBM, the Domain) and want a sub-$500K single-family option
• You commute into downtown, the Domain, or the tech employers off Parmer and want to keep the drive short
• You are comfortable with a Title I campus and the Pflugerville ISD pipeline at the middle and high school level
• You are flexible on long-term schooling (Pflugerville ISD has open transfer policies inside the district that some buyers use to access other campuses)

You might lean toward Kathy Caraway Elementary if:

• You want the Canyon Vista to Westwood pipeline for middle and high school (the actual reason most buyers chase the 78759 zone)
• You value the consistency of an A-rated TEA campus across all three accountability domains
• You can stretch to $600K-plus and want a long-hold home in established northwest Austin
• You see real estate as a 10-to-20-year decision and want to be in a zone with thin inventory and strong long-term demand

If I am being honest, both of these zones are defensible buys for the right person at the right life stage. The Caraway zone is one of the more durable real estate investments in central Texas precisely because of the school feeder. The downside is you pay for it on day one. Parmer Lane is the better entry point for a buyer who wants into the north Austin corridor without stretching the budget, and the Pflugerville ISD pipeline is what it is.

What you should not do is assume the two are interchangeable because they sit close together on a map. They are in different districts, with different feeders, different demographics, and a real price gap.

Ready to Find Your Home?

I have walked buyers through both of these zones for the better part of 19 years. So whether you are stretching the budget to get into the Westwood pipeline, or you want the most house your money can buy along the Parmer Lane corridor in Pflugerville ISD, lets grab coffee and map out what actually makes sense for your situation. I do not have a preferred answer here, but I do have a lot of data and a lot of recent transactions.

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