78704Living.com
78704
A guide to the ZIP itself: what it covers, what it does not, and why people search for it by number.
78704 is a postal boundary that turned into a shorthand. For most of two decades, saying "the 04" in Austin has meant a particular idea of the city rather than a particular set of streets, and buyers now arrive asking for the ZIP the way they would ask for a neighborhood. That makes it a useful place to start a search and a poor place to finish one, because the number covers ground that has very little in common with itself.
What the number actually covers
Roughly the wedge bounded by Lady Bird Lake to the north, Ben White Boulevard to the south, MoPac to the west, and I-35 to the east. Inside that boundary sit Travis Heights, Bouldin Creek, Zilker, Barton Hills, Dawson, and the South Lamar corridor, plus the commercial spines of South Congress Avenue and South First Street. St. Edward’s University sits inside it on South Congress. Barton Springs Pool and the eastern end of Zilker Park do too.
That is a lot of different things to hold one label. A 1930s bungalow on a small lot in Bouldin, a mid-century ranch on a quarter acre in Barton Hills, and a new condo off South Lamar are all 78704, and they are not competing for the same buyer. When someone tells us they want the 04, the useful next question is always which part, and why.
What it is not
It is not South Austin. 78704 is one ZIP inside South Austin, which also takes in 78745, 78748, and 78749, and those three hold considerably more houses than the 04 does. People who search the ZIP when they mean the side of town end up looking at a fraction of what would suit them, usually at a premium. If the real requirement is south of the river with a yard, the wider area page is the better starting point.
It is also not a school attendance zone. Austin ISD serves the whole ZIP, but the elementary boundaries cut across it rather than following it: Travis Heights Elementary, Zilker Elementary, and Becker Elementary each serve part of it, and Travis Early College High School sits inside it on East Oltorf. The school answer always comes from the address and never from the number.
Who buys here on purpose
People who want to be able to leave the car. That is the honest common thread across an area that otherwise has none. The reason to pay what 78704 costs is that Barton Springs, the Lady Bird Lake trail, South Congress, and South First are all reachable on foot or on a bike from most of it, and very little else in Austin offers that combination south of the river. Buyers who want the address for its reputation rather than for that daily reality tend to be happier a mile further out for meaningfully less money, and we will say so.
Neighborhoods inside 78704
Barton Hills, Dawson, and the South Lamar corridor are also inside 78704. Individual guides to those are still being written.
Nearby and Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 78704 actually cover?
Roughly the wedge bounded by Lady Bird Lake to the north, Ben White Boulevard to the south, MoPac to the west, and I-35 to the east. Inside that it holds Travis Heights, Bouldin Creek, Zilker, Barton Hills, Dawson, and the South Lamar corridor. It is a single ZIP, not a neighborhood, and the streets inside it differ from each other more than people expect.
Why do people search for 78704 by the number instead of by neighborhood?
Because the number became the shorthand. For a couple of decades "78704" has been used locally to mean a particular part of town rather than a postal boundary, so buyers arrive asking for the ZIP the way they would ask for a neighborhood. That is genuinely useful as a starting filter and genuinely misleading as a finishing one: a house on Bouldin Avenue and a house off Manchaca share a ZIP and very little else.
Which schools serve 78704?
Austin ISD throughout. Several campuses stand inside the ZIP, including Barton Hills Elementary on Barton Hills Drive, Becker Elementary on West Milton Street, and Lively Middle School on East Mary Street. The school answer always comes from the street address and never from the ZIP, so check a specific property with Austin ISD School Finder.
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