Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in Austin might be more expensive than living in rural Texas, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Austin neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Austin are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Austin for 2025? According to the most recent census data, Mckinney looks to be the cheapest Austin neighborhood to live in.
At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Austin. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Austin that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Austin.
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Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Austin For 2025
1. McKinney
/10
Population: 5,030
Cost Of Living Index: 93 (15th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.9 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (17th cheapest)
More on Mckinney:
2. Windsor Hills
/10
Population: 9,032
Cost Of Living Index: 92 (13th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.3 (13th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (19th cheapest)
More on Windsor Hills:
3. Pecan Springs Springdale
/10
Population: 7,352
Cost Of Living Index: 101 (26th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.1 (10th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (9th cheapest)
More on Pecan Springs Springdale:
4. Montopolis
/10
Population: 10,471
Cost Of Living Index: 85 (3rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.3 (12th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (32nd cheapest)
More on Montopolis:
5. Georgian Acres
/10
Population: 9,299
Cost Of Living Index: 86 (4th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.0 (9th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.022 (39th cheapest)
More on Georgian Acres:
6. North Burnett
/10
Population: 10,086
Cost Of Living Index: 87 (6th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.3 (15th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (33rd cheapest)
More on North Burnett:
7. Crestview
/10
Population: 6,739
Cost Of Living Index: 118 (49th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.9 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.011 (cheapest)
More on Crestview:
8. South Manchaca
/10
Population: 7,520
Cost Of Living Index: 99 (22nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.4 (18th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (16th cheapest)
More on South Manchaca:
9. Windsor Park
/10
Population: 16,512
Cost Of Living Index: 101 (26th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.8 (2cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (10th cheapest)
More on Windsor Park:
10. Johnston Terrace
/10
Population: 1,314
Cost Of Living Index: 97 (2cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.2 (11th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (26th cheapest)
More on Johnston Terrace:
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Austin Hoods In 2025
To rank the cheapest places to live in Austin, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.
Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 60 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Austin.” We’re lookin’ at you, Mckinney.
We updated this article for 2025. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Austin. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Austin
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Austin where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Austin are McKinney, Windsor Hills, Pecan Springs Springdale, Montopolis, Georgian Acres, North Burnett, Crestview, South Manchaca, Windsor Park, and Johnston Terrace.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Austin aren’t all cheap. Hancock takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Austin.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Austin are Hancock, Hyde Park, West Gate, North Loop, and North University.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
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Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Austin For 2025
| Rank | Neighborhood | Cost Of Living Index |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mckinney | 93 |
| 2 | Windsor Hills | 92 |
| 3 | Pecan Springs Springdale | 101 |
| 4 | Montopolis | 85 |
| 5 | Georgian Acres | 86 |
| 6 | North Burnett | 87 |
| 7 | Crestview | 118 |
| 8 | South Manchaca | 99 |
| 9 | Windsor Park | 101 |
| 10 | Johnston Terrace | 97 |
| 11 | Riverside | 86 |
| 12 | Garrison Park | 101 |
| 13 | Sweet Briar | 91 |
| 14 | Franklin Park | 88 |
| 15 | North Lamar | 92 |
| 16 | Southeast | 92 |
| 17 | Saint Johns | 91 |
| 18 | Saint Edwards | 90 |
| 19 | North Austin | 90 |
| 20 | East Congress | 94 |
| 21 | Mlk | 100 |
| 22 | Triangle State | 100 |
| 23 | Rmma | 130 |
| 24 | Govalle | 105 |
| 25 | Rosewood | 103 |
| 26 | Rosedale | 133 |
| 27 | Heritage Hills | 94 |
| 28 | University Hills | 102 |
| 29 | Galindo | 116 |
| 30 | Pleasant Valley | 81 |
| 31 | Martin Luther King-Hwy 183 | 96 |
| 32 | Zilker | 134 |
| 33 | Dawson | 116 |
| 34 | Holly | 112 |
| 35 | Highland | 102 |
| 36 | Central East Austin | 113 |
| 37 | West Congress | 107 |
| 38 | Brentwood | 111 |
| 39 | Wooten | 105 |
| 40 | South River City | 131 |
| 41 | Parker Lane | 95 |
| 42 | Upper Boggy Creek | 112 |
| 43 | North Shoal Creek | 109 |
| 44 | East Cesar Chavez | 112 |
| 45 | Windsor Road | 133 |
| 46 | Allandale | 108 |
| 47 | Chestnut | 114 |
| 48 | Bouldin | 131 |
| 49 | South Lamar | 110 |
| 50 | University Of Texas | 111 |
| 51 | West University | 83 |
| 52 | Old West Austin | 129 |
| 53 | Coronado Hills | 95 |
| 54 | Barton Hills | 136 |
| 55 | Downtown | 135 |
| 56 | North University | 101 |
| 57 | North Loop | 116 |
| 58 | West Gate | 115 |
| 59 | Hyde Park | 127 |
| 60 | Hancock | 130 |