I get asked about Eanes ISD more than almost any other topic when buyers start looking west of Austin. It comes up in nearly every conversation about West Lake Hills, Rollingwood, or the Bee Caves corridor, and for good reason. School attendance zones are one of the most misunderstood parts of buying a home in this part of Central Texas, and Eanes ISD’s boundaries don’t line up neatly with city limits or zip codes. I wrote this guide to walk through the actual geography, the verifiable academic facts about the district, and how school zoning fits into your home search process. My goal is to give you a clear, factual picture, not a sales pitch.
TLDR (Too Long; Didn’t Read): A Guide to Living in the Eanes ISD Area
- Eanes ISD covers about 11.7 square miles, including the entire city of West Lake Hills, most of Rollingwood, the Lost Creek neighborhood, and pockets of unincorporated Travis County west of Loop 360 along Bee Caves Road.
- The district received an A rating from the Texas Education Agency’s accountability system for both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, scoring 94 out of 100 points.
- Eanes ISD has nine campuses: five elementary schools, two middle schools (Hill Country Middle School and West Ridge Middle School), and one high school, Westlake High School.
- Not every home marketed as “Westlake” actually sits inside Eanes ISD boundaries. Some fall in Austin ISD instead, so you need to verify the exact attendance zone for any specific address.
- School zoning is tied to your property’s address, not to a neighborhood name or city, so I always recommend confirming zoning through the district directly before you write an offer.
Where Eanes ISD Actually Sits on the Map
Eanes Independent School District is a compact district, roughly 11.7 square miles, tucked into the hill country just west of downtown Austin. It sits mostly outside Austin’s city limits, which surprises a lot of buyers who assume “Westlake” is a neighborhood inside Austin proper.
The district’s footprint includes the entire city of West Lake Hills and most of the city of Rollingwood, two separate incorporated municipalities with their own city governments, police departments, and zoning rules. Beyond those two cities, Eanes ISD also covers a significant amount of unincorporated Travis County, which means those areas fall under county governance rather than a city government for things like permitting and code enforcement.
Neighborhoods and areas that fall within the district include Lost Creek, Davenport, Rob Roy, Seven Oaks, and Cuernavaca, along with numerous other pockets tucked into the hills along the Bee Caves Road and Loop 360 corridors. The general shape of the district runs west from Loop 360 (Capital of Texas Highway), following the terrain along Bee Caves Road and the south shore of Lake Austin.
Here is the part I want to be direct about: the boundaries are irregular. They follow old surveys, annexation history, and geography rather than clean lines on a map. A street can be zoned to Eanes ISD on one side and Austin ISD on the other. I have seen listings marketed with “Westlake” in the headline that actually sit in Austin ISD, because “Westlake” gets used informally to describe the broader area west of MoPac, not just the school district. If school zoning matters to your decision, treat the marketing description as a starting point, not a confirmation.
The District’s Academic Facts, Verified
I only want to share numbers I can point back to a source for. Here is what’s verifiable about Eanes ISD’s academic standing:
- TEA accountability rating: The Texas Education Agency gave Eanes ISD an A rating for both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, with the district scoring 94 out of 100 possible points each year. These ratings weigh factors including STAAR performance, college, career, and military readiness, and graduation rates.
- Campus performance: Nearly all individual campuses within the district also received A ratings in the most recent accountability cycles.
- District size: Eanes ISD serves roughly 7,700 to 8,000 students across nine campuses.
- Westlake High School: The district’s single high school, located at 4100 Westbank Drive, enrolls approximately 2,800 students with a student-teacher ratio around 14:1. It carries a 9 out of 10 rating on GreatSchools as of the current school year.
The district’s full campus list, current as of this writing, is:
Elementary Schools (Grades K-5)
- Barton Creek Elementary
- Bridge Point Elementary
- Cedar Creek Elementary
- Eanes Elementary
- Forest Trail Elementary
(Valley View Elementary closed at the end of the 2024-25 school year, so the elementary count is currently five campuses rather than six.)
Middle Schools (Grades 6-8)
High School (Grades 9-12)
Both middle schools feed into Westlake High School, and the district also operates Adult Transition Services for students aged 19 and up. I’d rather list the raw facts here than characterize what any of it means for you personally. What the ratings and enrollment numbers tell you is how the district performs on state and third-party measures.
How School Zoning Actually Affects Your Home Search
This is the part that trips people up, so let me walk through the mechanics.
Zoning is tied to the address, not the area name
School attendance zones are drawn around specific parcels and addresses. They are not tied to zip codes, subdivisions, or informal area names like “Westlake” or “West Austin.” Two homes a few blocks apart can be zoned to entirely different districts. Before you get attached to a house because of the school listed in an MLS sheet or a marketing flyer, I recommend confirming the zone directly.
Verify through the district, not a third party
The most reliable way to confirm zoning is to check the address against Eanes ISD’s own boundary map or contact the district’s enrollment office directly. MLS data and real estate marketing sites pull school information from databases that don’t always update in real time, especially after a boundary adjustment or a campus closure like the recent Valley View Elementary closure. I always tell clients: verify with the district before you write an offer that depends on a specific school assignment.
Boundaries can shift
Districts adjust attendance zones periodically to manage enrollment and campus capacity. A property that was zoned to one elementary school five years ago could be rezoned today. If a specific campus assignment is a deciding factor for you, build in time during your option period to confirm current zoning rather than relying on historical information.
City limits and county jurisdiction matter beyond schools
Because Eanes ISD spans two incorporated cities (West Lake Hills and Rollingwood) plus unincorporated Travis County, the school district isn’t the only jurisdictional line you’re dealing with. Building permits, short-term rental rules, code enforcement, and even some utility providers differ depending on whether a property sits inside a city or in the unincorporated county. It’s worth understanding which jurisdiction a property falls under for reasons that go beyond schools entirely, since it affects renovation permitting and local ordinances.
Property taxes include the school district rate
Your property tax bill is made up of several taxing entities layered together, and the school district’s rate is typically one of the largest components. When you compare a home in Eanes ISD to a similar home in a neighboring district, factor the full tax rate into your monthly payment calculation, not just the sale price. I walk clients through this comparison regularly because it changes the real, all-in cost of a home more than people expect.
Confirm before you waive contingencies
If a specific school zone is part of your decision-making, I recommend confirming it in writing before you waive your option period or remove contingencies. It only takes a phone call or an email to the district, and it’s a lot cheaper than finding out after closing that a property doesn’t fall where you thought it did.
My Take on Working Through This Process
I’ve spent years helping buyers navigate this exact stretch of Austin, and the biggest mistake I see is treating “Westlake” as shorthand for a school zone instead of verifying it. The area covered by Eanes ISD includes some of the most varied terrain and housing stock in Central Texas, from properties in the city of West Lake Hills to unincorporated pockets tucked into the hills along Bee Caves Road. Each comes with its own mix of jurisdiction, permitting rules, and school zoning.
If you’re weighing a move into this part of the market, I’d rather spend fifteen minutes confirming the actual boundary for a property you’re considering than let you assume based on a listing description. You can read more about how I approach this work on my about page, and if you want to understand the brokerage I run things through, my team at Uncommon Realty handles the research side of these transactions with me. For a broader look at how I cover the Austin market generally, my Austin, TX page has more on the areas I work across.
Reach out if you’re looking at a specific address and want me to help confirm the zoning before you get further into the process. That’s a quick, useful step I’m glad to walk through with you.
Robbie English, Broker, REALTOR at Uncommon Realty.
