Fort Hood Area (Austin, Waco, Killeen: houses, construction, school district)

[bearsfanxo]

Good morning,
My husband is being relocated to Fort Hood (not military) and I am looking for safe/family friendly areas with good schools. I would like to be able to go out for a run by myself in the morning and feel safe. We are thinking about Georgetown, Leander, Round Rock, Salado, or possibly Temple. Do you have any insight on these areas?

Thank you!

[Westerntraveler]

What is your budget?

[bearsfanxo]

Most likely around $250k

[TXStrat]

The commute from the northern Austin 'burbs is quite a haul, and the traffic is painful. Was stationed at Hood three times and lived in Temple or Belton all three times. Belton had better schools in my opinion. Salado is good choice as well. You're far enough from post to get away from the "out the gate" stuff, but close enough that the commute isn't crazy. Not sure what your off duty interests are, but Belton Lake in Temple/Belton is very nice for fishing and recreation, and the same for Stillhouse Hollow between Belton and Salado. There are several nice running/walking trails around Belton, not to mention those located in the parks around the lakes, all of which are quite safe for an early morning run.

[bearsfanxo]

Thank you TXStrat. I have been looking at houses some more and came across Nolanville. How is that? When you say quite the haul how long are we talking? Like an hour? or more?

[TXStrat]

There are some good areas on the north side of Nolanville, along FM 439. Look closely at what school district the areas you're looking in fall into. Just a personal recommendation, avoid Killeen schools. There are areas along 439 that still fall into the Belton ISD. Belton ISD isn't anything remarkable, but it's much better than the options in Killeen. An average trip form Georgetown or Leander to Hood is 45-50 minutes in good traffic, over an hour in normal traffic. The Austin area, as a whole, is a traffic nightmare. You have to take that into consideration when looking at things like recreation on weekends. It can take over an hour just to get through Austin. If you go to Google maps, enable the traffic layer, and you can see live traffic conditions in and around Austin.

[TexasHorseLady]

Harker Heights or the part of Killeen that's right there close to Nolanville are good options. Lots of families stationed at Fort Hood like to live in Georgetown - commute is about 45 minutes depending on where in Georgetown and where on base - the widening of 195 has made it seem closer than it used to. Salado and Belton are good options (I live in the country outside of Jarrell 5 minutes from Salado and since I work both the Killeen/Harker Heights and Georgetown areas, I end up making the drive and shopping in those areas, as well). Jarrell is a small town option if that's what you're interested in, as is Florence. Liberty Hill is closer to Fort Hood than Leander with the same drive straight down 183 to get to Austin (assuming you're interested in going to Austin at all - not everyone is).

So what ARE your interests? That might help us give you better insights into which area would fit.

[txwriter]

Belton is a nice community but much smaller (compared to Temple, Killeen or Round Rock), so options will be limited.

West Temple is growing and there's plenty of traffic out that way (on West Adams Avenue and Highway 317), but that part of Temple is within the Belton school district boundaries.

Salado is a great little town, but with the Interstate 35 construction lately, driving is a mess. (The expected completion date is now spring 2019, but earlier the transportation department said constriction would be complete by fall 2018).

Driving on I-35 has been affected from the Waco area to south of Salado, but at one point I was reading about a wreck a day on I-35 in Salado, many involving 18 wheelers. With many of the communities south of Salado, you are on I-35 even longer.

I have really enjoyed living in the Temple area. There are some parts of North Temple that are really nice, too. Temple schools are improving under strong leadership, but when it comes to test scores, Belton still holds the edge.