Lake Austin
A narrow, roughly 1,590-acre pass-through lake running directly through the city of Austin, immediately downstream of Lake Travis, ringed by some of the most expensive waterfront real estate covered anywhere on this site.
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Submit a Photo →The Lake at a Glance
Lake Austin is a narrow reservoir on the Colorado River, formed in 1939 by Tom Miller Dam and sitting entirely within Travis County and largely within Austin's own city limits, roughly three miles from downtown. The City of Austin owns the dam and lake, but the Lower Colorado River Authority operates it under a long-standing lease, part of the same chain of Highland Lakes that includes Lake Travis, Lake Buchanan, Inks Lake, Lake LBJ, and Lake Marble Falls.
At roughly 1,590 to 1,600 acres with about 24,644 acre-feet of conservation storage, Lake Austin is far smaller than Lake Travis immediately upstream, and functions fundamentally differently. Rather than absorbing and storing large flood volumes the way Travis does, Lake Austin acts as a genuine pass-through lake — water released from Mansfield Dam at Travis flows through this narrower reservoir on its way further downstream, keeping Lake Austin's level comparatively steady under normal conditions even though LCRA itself cautions that no Highland Lake, including this one, is ever perfectly constant.
Because this lake runs directly through the heart of Austin, its surrounding real estate market is genuinely unlike any other reservoir covered on this site. Neighborhoods including Tarrytown, Westlake, and Rob Roy regularly see waterfront listings well into eight figures, reflecting both the scarcity of true in-city waterfront and Austin's broader premium real estate market.
What Buyers Need to Know First
The single most important fact for buyers: Lake Austin is genuinely one of the most exclusive, expensive waterfront markets in Texas, not a budget-friendly rural getaway lake. Multiple waterfront properties here have listed in the $10 million to $20 million range in recent years, and buyers should approach this market with that price reality in mind from the very start of their search.
The second piece is dock permitting. Unlike the other five Highland Lakes, where LCRA regulates private docks and boathouses directly, the City of Austin — through its Development Services and Parks and Recreation departments — handles dock and shoreline modification permitting on Lake Austin specifically, a genuinely distinctive fact worth understanding before assuming LCRA rules from a nearby lake apply here.
The third piece is water quality and habitat. Lake Austin has dealt with a serious hydrilla infestation that led the city to introduce grass carp for control, and has been infested with zebra mussels since around 2018, prompting genuine "clean, drain, dry" boater advisories. Buyers should understand both issues honestly rather than assuming this in-city lake is free of the invasive-species concerns found at some rural Texas reservoirs.
Everything We Cover on Lake Austin
Independent research across every topic Lake Austin buyers ask about — ultra-premium pricing, City of Austin dock permitting, and how a genuinely in-city Highland Lake actually lives day to day.
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