Skip to content
ZipNumbers
Grid of numbered green mailboxes in an apartment lobby, illustrating ZIP code listings

Williamson County · Texas

ZIP code 78717

Population, income, housing costs and the sales tax rate charged on purchases inside ZIP 78717 — Census 2019-2023 ACS 5-year, no modelled estimates.
Population
36,085

ZCTA residents

Median income
$140,483

Household, past 12 months

Median home
$599,200

Owner-occupied value

Sales tax
8.25%

Combined state + local

Quick answer

ZIP 78717 sits in Williamson County, Texas and is home to 36,085 people. Median household income is $140,483, the median home is worth $599,200 and median gross rent is $1,833. 53.6% of households own their home, and purchases are taxed at 8.25% combined.

County
Williamson County

FIPS 48491

State
Texas (TX)

1,989 ZIPs covered

Area codes
512, 737

NANPA codes serving this area

Metro area
Austin

Rate jurisdiction used for tax

The numbers for 78717

American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZCTA.

Population
36,085ZIP 78717 residents
Median household income
$140,483Past 12 months, inflation adjusted
Median home value
$599,200Owner-occupied units
Median gross rent
$1,833Rent plus utilities, monthly
Median age
36.3 yrsAll residents
Homeownership rate
53.6%Owner-occupied households

ZIP 78717 in context

How this area compares with national benchmarks.

ZIP 78717 is a small city in Williamson County, Texas, with 36,085 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #276 of 1,989 ranked by population — larger than 86% of them. The median age here is 36.3 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in ZIP 78717 earn a median of $140,483 a year, 78.9% above the national figure of $78,538. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 4.3% of residents here, less than half the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 78717 is valued at $599,200, 97.5% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,833 a month, 30.4% above the national figure, or roughly $21,996 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 15.7% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 4.3×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 53.6% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.

Reading ZIP 78717 in context

How 78717 sits inside Williamson County and Texas.

ZIP 78717 is tabulated inside Williamson County, Texas, one of 19 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 1,989 across Texas. This is a dense urban ZIP, where a single postal boundary can hold more residents than an entire rural county. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 78717 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 78717 reports a median household income of $140,483, 39% above the $101,250 county median, and 106% above the $68,103 typical TX ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $599,200, 64% above the county figure and 207% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,833 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

A taxable purchase made inside 78717 carries 8.25% at the register, assembled from the Austin jurisdiction stack: the Texas state rate plus every county, municipal and special district levy that reaches this address. Because those district boundaries were drawn for schools, transit and hospital funding rather than for mail delivery, two addresses inside 78717 can legitimately fall under different totals — the rate shown here is the one that applies to the dominant jurisdiction.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 78717 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.

Sales tax in 78717

What a purchase inside this ZIP costs at checkout.

Rate applied
8.25%Austin jurisdiction stack
Tax on $100
$8Rounded to the dollar
Tax on $1,000
$83Before any exemptions

This ZIP falls inside the Austin rate area, so state, county, city and district levies are published here as a full stack.

Affordability in this ZIP

Derived from the Census medians above — indicative, not an offer.

Rent burden
16%Median rent ÷ median income
Price-to-income
4.3×Home value ÷ household income
Est. mortgage
$3,109/mo20% down, 30-yr at 6.75%
Poverty rate
4.3%Residents below poverty line

A rent burden above 30% is the federal threshold for cost-burdened households, and a price-to-income multiple above 4× is generally considered a stretched housing market. The mortgage figure is principal and interest only — taxes, insurance and HOA dues are extra.

How 78717 compares

ZIP 78717 against the median ZIP in Williamson County and across Texas.

MeasureZIP 78717County medianState medianvs state
Median household income$140,483$101,250$68,103+106%
Median home value$599,200$364,450$194,900+207%
Median gross rent$1,833$1,687$1,105+66%
Population36,08528,8775,317+579%

Medians are computed across the 19 ZIP areas in Williamson County and the 1989 ZIP areas in Texas.

Statewide rank

Where this ZIP places among all 1989 Texas ZIP areas.

Income

richer than 97% of 1,756 state ZIPs

#60
Home value

above 97% of 1,705 state ZIPs

#54
Population

larger than 86% of 1,989 state ZIPs

#276

Comparable ZIP codes

Texas ZIP areas with almost the same household income.

ZIPCountyIncomeHome valueRent
78261Bexar County$140,120$409,400$1,873
78944Austin County$140,875$374,200$1,313
77007Harris County$140,878$501,300$1,951
75036Denton County$141,761$500,000$2,238
77024Harris County$142,039$1,164,400$1,796
77381Montgomery County$142,210$445,400$1,699

Nearby ZIP codes

Other ZIP codes filed under Williamson County.

Adjacent ZIP Codes

Other ZIP codes in Williamson County, Texas.

ZIP 78717 questions

Common questions about this ZIP code.

Where is ZIP code 78717?
ZIP 78717 lies mostly in Williamson County, Texas. County assignment follows the largest share of land area, so a ZIP straddling a county line is filed under its dominant county.
What sales tax do I pay in 78717?
Purchases are taxed at 8.25% combined, built from the Austin jurisdiction stack.
Is 78717 expensive to live in?
Median rent runs $1,833 a month, about 16% of median household income, and the median home is worth $599,200 — +207% against the typical Texas ZIP.
Is a ZCTA the same as a postal ZIP code?
Not exactly. The Census builds ZIP Code Tabulation Areas from the ZIP codes of addresses inside each census block, so a ZCTA can differ slightly from the USPS delivery route of the same number, and PO-box-only ZIPs have no ZCTA at all.

Related pages for this area.

Sources & transparency

Every figure on this page is a published estimate for ZIP Code Tabulation Area 78717, except the affordability ratios and mortgage estimate, which we derive from those medians and label as estimates.

Last reviewed December 2024. Figures are published for reference and can change; verify with the source agency before filing or contracting. How we build and check this data.