Leander/Cedar Park vs Kyle/Buda (San Antonio, Austin: school district, to live in, cost)

[calien]

Which area would you prefer to live in if these were your choices? Please compare access to infrastructure, entertainment, schools, outdoor activities, etc as well as cost and diversity of housing and jobs. Thanks.

[atxcio]

The most important thing is where you work. A short commute can have a tremendous lifestyle benefit, far more than the difference between those two suburb pairs.

If work is not a factor, like say you worked at home, or for a company with locations close to both city pairs -- I'd probably pick Leander/Cedar Park. But that's just me. Why? Closer to the lakes, better schools, northwest is slightly more upscale than far south, roads slightly better because you aren't dependent on 35.

But the southern suburbs have their pros, too. Somewhat closer-in to downtown, definitely closer to SoCo and funky/unique South Austin areas. The southern burbs might be positioned for a bit of a boom, like some of the northern areas had.. but it's not definite. There needs to be a huge employer (or several mid-size ones) moving in to create the effect Dell had in RR.

[neddy]

I live in Leander and my cousin lives in Buda and both areas are good fun areas with Leander being close to lakes and Kyle Buda closer to the San Antonio area. Like Atxcio said choose based on your commute!

[love roses]

I would pick Leander/Cedar Park. I like Dripping Springs for South.

[bcamden914]

We just moved from Indiana to Cedar Park 3 weeks ago. We love it here. We have 2 boys, and what i have read and heard, Leander ISD schools are really good. We live next to Leander High School. There are plenty of parks to visit. Too me, Cedar Park has everything you need and more.

[calel]

Well, I live in Cedar Park, but I'd still say Cedar Park if I were able to pick. Cedar Park has great parks, schools, and ridiculous amounts of shopping, plus easy access to the lake and surrounding cities. I also hate going anywhere in Austin via I-35.

[yaxzone]

I would have to agree with the rest here, Cedar Park has everything we need. In our case, schools was the most important factor when we looked at different communities. By far the Leander school district has very high metrics when it comes to performance. I would suggest checking GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community for detailed info on how the schools in your are are doing. We also love the fact that there are more trees in this area then some of the other communities we have seen. A lot of the builders in this area only removed the trees where they were building the house, i think that is a very smart thing. On the negative side, this side is pricier.