Buda Real Estate

Buda sits on I-35 about 15 miles south of downtown Austin, the first of Hays County's two interstate cities and the one that still has a working 19th-century Main Street. Onion Creek runs through the middle of town, the historic core and most of the parkland sit west of the interstate, and the largest new subdivisions have gone in to the east. Most homes for sale are in communities built since the late 1990s, with new construction on both sides of I-35 and acreage tracts along FM 967 and FM 1626 toward the Hill Country. [Read more about Buda...]

Buda Homes for Sale, $100,000 - $200,000

REDUCED

162 Mendoza Lane

$195,000

Buda, TX
5 Bed, 2 Bath, 1692 Sqft, 0.39 Acres
Residential
Mile Realty Llc

REDUCED

204 Regina Drive

$190,000

Buda, TX
3 Bed, 1 Bath, 866 Sqft, 0.42 Acres
Residential
Realty Of America, Llc

Buda, Texas Lifestyle

Main Street and Onion Creek

Downtown Buda is a short stretch of Main Street along the rail line, with buildings from the 1890s and early 1900s, City Park and the Buda Amphitheater on Onion Creek at one end, and Historic Stagecoach Park at the other. It is the part of town that gives Buda an identity separate from the subdivisions, and it is where the calendar lives: the Buda Lions Country Fair and Wiener Dog Races in April, Buda's Birthday music festival in the spring, Red, White and Buda in July, Boo-da Halloween, Budafest and the holiday lights in December, and a downtown farmers market. The commercial side of town is out on the I-35 frontage, and most residents commute north; Buda's own job base runs to distribution and light industrial along the interstate.

The Outdoors

The Texas Legislature named Buda the Outdoor Capital of Texas for the amount of parkland it keeps per resident, and the city now counts 13 parks and natural areas. Historic Stagecoach Park is 51 acres of mesquite and oak at the end of Main Street with two historic farm structures, a pond, trails, a dog park and an amphitheater. Garison Park, north of downtown, is 40-plus acres along Onion Creek with more than a mile of trail and direct creek access, and the city built a multi-use trail of roughly 7,700 feet along the creek under its 2021 bond. Garlic Creek Park south of RM 967, Bradfield Village Park with its two fishing ponds and the Buda Sportsplex round out the system, and the city bought 30 acres east of I-35 in 2024 for a future Eastside Park. Maps and hours are on the city's parks page.

New Development

East of I-35, Sunfield is the community that defines the Buda market: roughly 2,400 acres and about 4,000 homes at build-out across several builders, with a lazy river and an elementary campus inside it, and still selling new phases. Turner's Crossing, to its north, is selling a new south phase. The school district's fourth high school and 18th elementary are both going in on this side, near Sunfield and Turnersville Road, with an extension of Main Street planned to reach the high school site.

West of the interstate the next wave is on RM 967 and FM 1626. Persimmon, a 775-acre master-planned community at Armbruster's Curve on RM 967, opened its first phase with move-ins slated from late 2025 and retail and multifamily planned alongside the houses. Two more projects are in development agreements at FM 1626 and Cole Springs Road, and the city has rebuilt and realigned Old Black Colony Road through that area, with new signals at RM 967 and FM 1626 and the old Cole Springs Road connection to RM 967 closed for good. For commuters on that side, the SH 45 toll link from FM 1626 to MoPac has been open since 2019.

Schools

Buda is in Hays CISD, the Kyle-based district that serves both cities. Six elementary campuses, three middle schools and two of the district's three comprehensive high schools carry Buda addresses, and the fourth high school is under construction on the northeast side with an opening now targeted for the 2030-31 school year. Most of Buda is zoned to Johnson High School, but Hays High School also carries a Buda address and takes the area between Buda and Kyle, and the district redrew several Buda-area elementary and middle school lines for 2026-27. Boundaries in this district change most years, so confirm the assignment for a specific address on the district's map rather than on a listing.

History

Buda began on April 1, 1881, when Cornelia Trimble platted a townsite called Du Pre on her land beside a new International and Great Northern Railroad depot, drawing residents away from Mountain City, the area's pre-railroad center three miles west. The post office forced a name change in 1887, and the usual explanation for "Buda" is the Spanish viuda, or widow, for the widows who cooked at the Carrington Hotel where trains stopped for meals. The town supplied the dairy farms and ranches around it, shrank by half during the Depression, incorporated in 1948 and joined Hays CISD in 1967. It had 1,795 people in 1990, when Austin's growth began to reach it, and 15,108 at the 2020 census.

For Buyers

A Buda address covers more than the city. The 78610 ZIP code takes in Mountain City, the City of Hays and a great deal of unincorporated Hays County, and the largest communities, Sunfield among them, sit outside the city limits in their own utility districts. That matters for the tax bill: an address inside the city pays a city rate, an address in a MUD or PID pays that district instead, and dues can run at more than one level on top of either. Acreage to the west is often on well and septic. Two homes at the same price can carry different monthly obligations, and the difference is not visible in the listing.

Search by more than the community name. Sunfield and the other large developments list under phase and section names in the MLS, so a name-only search will miss inventory; search by ZIP code and school district together, or ask us to run it. Read the median carefully as well, since Buda closes a large volume of new construction every year and a falling median often reflects what builders delivered that quarter rather than what an established home is worth.

Finally, verify your own address, including against any general description like this one. School boundaries here are redrawn regularly, city limits and utility districts do not follow the ZIP code, and both are worth confirming before you write an offer. If you would like one of our Buda Realtors to check a specific property against the current maps, or to compare Buda with Kyle and the rest of the corridor, reach out and we will set up a call. The full regional picture is on our Austin area school districts page.

By: Jim Olenbush
Area information last updated: August 2026