Updated August 18, 2026
Living in Georgetown, TX: the city that more than doubled — and the commute that's the real cost
Georgetown is a city of roughly 106,907 people in Williamson County, at the north end of the I-35 corridor about 30 miles from downtown Austin. It is the Williamson County seat, home of the Most Beautiful Town Square in Texas, the Del Webb Sun City active-adult community, and Southwestern University, and it is served primarily by Georgetown ISD. It has been one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States.
Georgetown was founded in 1848 and named for George Washington Glasscock, who donated the land for the county seat. Its Victorian-era courthouse square — anchored by the 1911 Williamson County Courthouse — has been restored into one of the most complete 19th-century commercial districts in Texas, and the state has recognized it as the "Most Beautiful Town Square." Southwestern University, the oldest university in Texas, has anchored the town since 1840.
What defines modern Georgetown is Del Webb's Sun City, the largest active-adult community in the region, which brought tens of thousands of retirees and reshaped the city's age profile, its housing stock, and its politics. Roughly a quarter of Georgetown residents are 65 or older — well above the national rate — and that demographic weight is a feature, not a footnote, of how the market behaves.
Growth has been extraordinary. The 2010 Census counted 47,400 residents; the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate is 106,907 — the city has more than doubled in fifteen years, and grew roughly 58% between 2020 and 2025 alone. Georgetown has repeatedly topped the Census Bureau's list of the fastest-growing U.S. cities. That pace has reshaped the school district, the western master-planned communities, and traffic on I-35 and SH-130.
Three buyers dominate here: 55-plus relocation buyers targeting Sun City and the active-adult lifestyle; families relocating for the schools and new construction on the west side; and remote or Austin-adjacent workers trading the daily commute for a real downtown and a lower price per square foot. Each cares about a different variable — HOA and age rules, school feeder path, or the drive south — and in Georgetown all three change by neighborhood.
1 · School feeder path. Georgetown ISD is a B district overall, but the feeder path varies sharply by neighborhood — from a B-B-B run in Georgetown Village to a D-rated elementary in Old Town. Teravista even splits between Georgetown ISD and Round Rock ISD by section. Confirm the exact campus by address at txschools.gov.
2 · MUD / PID assessments. Many west-side and ETJ subdivisions carry a Municipal Utility District or Public Improvement District on top of the ~1.8% base rate, pushing the effective rate past 2%. Cimarron Hills also carries a mandatory country-club membership. Ask for the full tax and assessment picture on the specific property.
3 · City vs. ETJ. Some neighborhoods (Cimarron Hills, Teravista) sit in the extraterritorial jurisdiction, not the city limits — which changes services, some taxes, and utility providers. Georgetown also owns its own electric utility inside the city. Verify jurisdiction at the address.
With the Redfin median sale price at $429,766 and essentially flat year over year (Jun 2026), Georgetown has cooled from its frenzy into a more balanced market — more inventory and room to negotiate, without a real price drop. But a base tax rate near 1.82% — and 2%+ once a MUD or PID stacks on in the newer west-side communities — means the monthly carrying cost runs higher than the sticker suggests. Price the full payment, not just the list.
The bigger risk here isn't timing — it's buying the wrong feeder path or the wrong jurisdiction. A home a mile away can sit in a different school zone, a different tax district, or the ETJ instead of the city. Renting first while you confirm the campus and assessment picture for a specific street is a legitimate strategy in a city growing this fast.
Where to Live in Georgetown
Wolf Ranch
Georgetown's flagship master-planned community west of I-35, fully inside the city with Georgetown MUDs #28/#29 on the tax bill. Feeds Wolf Ranch Elem (B) → Tippit MS (C) → East View HS (C). Verified resale runs $362K–$1.25M. Full breakdown →
Berry Creek
Established north-side golf community, inside the city with no MUD or PID — the cleaner ~1.8% tax structure. Feeds McCoy Elem (C) → Forbes MS (C) → Georgetown HS (B), a different high school from Wolf Ranch. Club membership is separate from owning. Resale $365K–$1.395M.
Georgetown Village
The strongest feeder path in the city — a straight B-B-B run: Village Elem (B) → Benold MS (B) → Georgetown HS (B). Inside the city with the Georgetown Village PID. 1990s–2000s walkable-village stock with a city pool and park. Thin inventory in a tight $385K–$479K band.
Teravista
The one to verify by address: a 1,500-acre community straddling the district line, both sides in ETJ. The Round Rock ISD side rates A/B/B (Teravista Elem A); the Georgetown ISD side rates C/C/C. Same HOA, very different schools, split by section. Resale $425K–$865K.
Cimarron Hills
The priciest neighborhood here, in the ETJ with Williamson MUD #26 plus its own PID and a mandatory Troon-managed country-club membership (~$5K to initiate, ~$295/mo). Georgetown ISD only, despite the club's site suggesting otherwise. San Gabriel Elem (B) → Benold MS (B) → East View HS (C). $735K–$1.699M.
Old Town
The historic district — 1930s bungalows, walkable to the Square, the cleanest tax structure (in-city, no MUD/PID). The honest caution is schools: zoned to Purl Elem, rated D in the 2025 TEA cycle and flagged for targeted support. Feeds East View HS (C). Wide, thin market, roughly $495K–$1.3M.
The Reference Desk
Georgetown entered 2026 as a balanced-to-buyer market. The Redfin median sale price is $429,766, essentially flat from a year earlier (Jun 2026) — the cooling shows up as more inventory and negotiating room rather than a real price decline. The city's more-than-doubling since 2010 (47,400 to 106,907) built out a deep west-side new-construction pipeline that keeps a floor under demand.
The market splits by buyer: the 55+ Sun City resale pool trades on its own curve, west-side master-planned new builds compete with the developer's base pricing, and Old Town's historic stock is thin and heterogeneous. There is no single "Georgetown price."
A no-MUD homestead in Georgetown ISD and the city combines the city rate ($0.3530), the Georgetown ISD rate ($1.0506), and Williamson County plus FM/Road ($0.3694 + $0.0443) for roughly $1.82 per $100 — about 1.82% before exemptions. That is meaningfully higher than Round Rock's ~1.68%, driven by Georgetown ISD's higher school rate.
Add a Municipal Utility District (Wolf Ranch #28/#29, Cimarron Hills' Williamson MUD #26) or a PID (Georgetown Village, Cimarron Hills), and the effective rate climbs past 2%. Cimarron Hills also layers a mandatory country-club membership on top. Always price the specific parcel.
Rates: Williamson County 2025 Tax Rates & Exemptions (TY2025). Verify current adopted rates and any district assessment before closing.
Georgetown sits at the north end of the I-35 corridor, with SH-130 (a tolled bypass) offering a faster route south and east toward the airport, and SH-29 and Ronald Reagan Boulevard carrying east–west and west-side growth traffic. The honest headline for relocation buyers: downtown Austin is about 30 miles south, and at rush hour that drive runs close to an hour. The city's own mean travel time to work is 28.2 minutes (ACS).
If you work remotely or in the North Austin tech corridor (~32 min to the Domain), Georgetown's distance buys you a real downtown and lower prices. If you commute to central Austin daily, drive I-35 at 7:30 a.m. before you buy.
Georgetown is anchored by St. David's Georgetown Hospital, with Ascension Seton Williamson in nearby Round Rock and the broader Williamson County medical corridor a short drive south. Specialized care concentrates in Round Rock and North Austin.
Confirm current hospital affiliations and service lines directly with each system before relying on them.
Wolf Ranch Town Center and the Rivery anchor retail, with H-E-B stores across the city and the full big-box corridor along I-35. The historic Square adds boutique, dining, and specialty shopping that most suburbs don't have.
Inside the city, Georgetown owns its own electric utility — unusual in Texas — along with water and wastewater. In the ETJ and MUD subdivisions, providers vary by address, and a MUD may bill water/wastewater separately. Confirm at the specific parcel.
The west side (Ronald Reagan Blvd, SH-29, Wolf Ranch) is where most new construction and new traffic is concentrated. Road capacity is chasing rooftops; factor active construction into any west-side commute estimate.
Georgetown's restored Victorian courthouse square is a genuine, walkable downtown — restaurants, shops, and events around the 1911 courthouse — not a manufactured "town center." It's the single feature that most distinguishes Georgetown from the newer suburbs down the corridor, and the reason many remote buyers choose it over Round Rock or Cedar Park.
The Red Poppy Festival each spring and the courthouse lighting draw regional crowds; the San Gabriel River and its trails run right through town.
Del Webb's Sun City is the largest active-adult community in the region — roughly 9,700 homes, three championship golf courses (a fourth, "The Den," expected late 2026), and a golf-cart-community lifestyle. It gives Georgetown a large, engaged 55+ population and its own dedicated resale market. See our full Sun City Texas guide.
Georgetown skews older and more established than the rest of the corridor: roughly a quarter of residents are 65 or older — well above the U.S. rate — driven by Sun City. The owner-occupied median home value is about $429,100 (2020–2024 ACS), and owner-occupancy runs near 70%. It reads as a county-seat small city with a large retiree base, not a young-family bedroom suburb.
Demographics: U.S. Census QuickFacts (Georgetown city, 2020–2024 ACS / V2025 estimates).
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Living in Georgetown, TX: The Short Version
Living in Georgetown, TX means weighing georgetown tx schools, the georgetown housing market, and the georgetown tx neighborhoods that fit your budget and commute. Georgetown is the Williamson County seat at the north end of the I-35 corridor — a city that has more than doubled since 2010 to roughly 106,907 residents, anchored by its historic courthouse square and Del Webb's Sun City active-adult community.
The georgetown housing market sits near a $429,766 median sale price (essentially flat year over year), with a base property tax rate around 1.82% that climbs past 2% in MUD and PID subdivisions. Georgetown tx schools run through Georgetown ISD, a B-rated district — but feeder paths vary sharply by neighborhood, and Teravista even splits between Georgetown ISD and Round Rock ISD, so anyone moving to Georgetown TX should verify the campus at the exact address.
The best georgetown tx neighborhoods range from new-build Wolf Ranch and golf-course Berry Creek to walkable Old Town and the strong-schools Georgetown Village. For the full breakdown of every neighborhood, feeder path, and price band, see our guide to the best neighborhoods in Georgetown, TX, and our dedicated Sun City Texas guide for 55+ buyers.
Compare Georgetown with nearby Central Texas communities: Living in Round Rock, Leander, and Cedar Park.
For current data, see the Redfin Georgetown market report, the U.S. Census QuickFacts for Georgetown, and school ratings at the Texas Education Agency.