Bastrop vs Cedar Creek, TX: City Limits or County Living?
This is a comparison between an incorporated city and an unincorporated community. Cedar Creek does not have its own municipal government or city property tax, but county rules, utility service areas, deed restrictions, subdivision rules, special districts, and a nearby city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction may still affect a property. The practical differences must be verified by address—not assumed from a Cedar Creek mailing address.
I am a REALTOR®, not a tax, engineering or legal professional. Rates below are adopted tax year 2025 figures from Bastrop CAD and the county’s truth-in-taxation posting. Fire emergency services district boundaries are address-specific. Verify the stack on the actual parcel.
The short version
| Category | Bastrop | Cedar Creek |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Incorporated city | Unincorporated |
| Population | 13,383 city (July 2025) | 3,154 CDP (2020) · 16,265 in ZIP 78612 |
| School district | Bastrop ISD | Bastrop ISD — the same one |
| Water | City utility or another certificated provider, depending on address | Provider varies by certificated service area; verify the parcel |
| Wastewater | City sewer in served areas; verify availability | Often OSSF/septic, but service availability is address-specific |
| Electricity | Bastrop Power & Light or another provider, depending on territory | Verify the assigned provider for the address |
| Total 2025 tax rate | 2.200610 | 1.696610 |
| Tax on $350,000 taxable | $7,702 | $5,938 |
| Median sale price | $386,143 (city, Apr 2026) | $369,995 (78612, May 2026) |
The illustrative tax difference—and what can change it
| Taxing unit | Bastrop | Cedar Creek |
|---|---|---|
| County general | 0.350500 | 0.350500 |
| County road & bridge | 0.078210 | 0.078210 |
| Bastrop ISD | 1.067900 | 1.067900 |
| City | 0.504000 | none |
| ESD #3 (countywide EMS) | 0.100000 | 0.100000 |
| Fire ESD (address-specific) | 0.100000 | 0.100000 |
| Total | 2.200610 | 1.696610 |
In the simplified 2025 example above, the City of Bastrop rate creates the displayed difference: approximately $1,764 per year, or $147 per month, on $350,000 of taxable value. That is not a quote for either property. Emergency-services districts, MUDs, PIDs, exemptions, appraisal limits, and other overlapping units can change the actual bill.
Use the example to understand the city-tax line—not to predict a specific bill or why people choose a community. Verify the parcel’s complete taxing-unit stack and current adopted rates through Bastrop Central Appraisal District and the applicable truth-in-taxation records.
One caveat, and it is not small. A MUD or PID sits on top of either column. The Colony’s municipal utility districts levied between 0.665000 and 0.850000 in 2025, and Bastrop-area districts run to a full 1.000000. A MUD at 1.000000 adds $3,500 a year on a $350,000 home — which wipes out the entire city-tax advantage twice over. Check the parcel, not the town. That is the whole point of my MUD and PID guide.
What “unincorporated” actually means day to day
- No city property tax — the 50 cents above.
- County services, not city services. The Sheriff patrols rather than a city police department. No municipal trash pickup — you contract your own. No city code enforcement.
- County permitting. Building and septic permits go through Bastrop County Development Services, 211 Jackson Street, (512) 581-7176 — not a city hall.
- Different land-use controls. Bastrop County generally has more limited zoning authority than a municipality, but county development rules, floodplain requirements, utility and road standards, subdivision regulations, deed restrictions, easements, and other laws may still apply. Research both the subject parcel and nearby land rather than assuming unrestricted use.
- No city vote. Decisions that affect Cedar Creek get made by Commissioners Court, and you vote in county elections rather than city ones.
- Watch for an ETJ. A parcel may be within a city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. The effect of an ETJ and the responsible permitting authority can depend on the property and current agreements, so confirm directly with Bastrop County and the applicable city.
Septic is the real trade, not the tax
Many Cedar Creek properties use an on-site sewage facility (OSSF), commonly called septic, while served properties may have a wastewater provider. Bastrop County administers OSSF permitting in its jurisdiction. Before relying on any general rule, verify the property’s service availability, permit history, approved design, and current county requirements.
- Every installation or modification requires a permit, regardless of acreage. There is no small-lot exemption here.
- Lot minimums: half an acre if the property is on public water, a full acre if it is not.
- Aerobic systems carry a mandatory two-year maintenance contract, and self-maintenance afterwards requires county-approved training.
- A licensed site evaluator or professional engineer must do a soil evaluation, and an affidavit gets recorded.
None of that is a reason not to buy in Cedar Creek — thousands of people live perfectly happily on septic. It is a reason to treat the option period differently: pull the permit history, get the system inspected by someone who does septic rather than someone who does houses, and find out whether it is conventional or aerobic before you are past your deadline. I walk through the whole checklist in the septic and OSSF guide.
Water is also address-specific. Aqua WSC serves portions of the area, but a Cedar Creek mailing address does not prove the assigned provider or that a connection is immediately available. For land or an unserved tract, obtain written confirmation of the certificated provider, feasibility, capacity, meter cost, and estimated timeline during the feasibility period. Details here.
Schools: identical district, different campuses
Both are Bastrop ISD. That surprises people who assume an unincorporated community must have its own small district — it doesn’t, and the school tax rate is therefore identical at 1.0679.
The Cedar Creek side of the district has Cedar Creek Elementary, Cedar Creek Middle School, Creekside Middle School and Cedar Creek High School. Creekside is the campus formerly called Cedar Creek Intermediate — Bastrop ISD converted both of its intermediate campuses into full grade 6-8 middle schools in 2025, and a great many listings and neighborhood pages in this market still name the old ones. On the Bastrop side, Bastrop Intermediate became Riverside Middle School in the same reorganisation.
Bastrop ISD’s tenth elementary school is under construction in the SilverLeaf area near Waterford Boulevard in Cedar Creek — about 106,000 square feet and $41.7 million. I am not publishing an opening date, because the district’s own sources conflict on it. Ask the district. And be aware that when it opens, Bastrop ISD has said plainly it will redraw attendance boundaries again — it has already done so for 2025-26 and 2026-27. Full district breakdown here.
The data center question — a real difference between the two
This is the biggest live issue in Cedar Creek and it has no equivalent in Bastrop. EdgeConneX is building a data center campus on FM 535 — first building nearly complete, occupant CoreWeave, and the first of as many as 19. Pacifico Energy and Amazon Data Services are also in play; if all three proceed, reporting suggests more than 5,500 acres of Cedar Creek would be tied to data centers.
Texas policy for large data-center loads is evolving. In June 2026, the Governor directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT to review how data centers affect infrastructure, reliability, water use, and residential ratepayers; the state later announced related actions in July. That directive did not establish the blanket August 3 halt previously described here. Buyers should verify the current status of each local project through Bastrop County, the PUC, ERCOT, and the developer. Read the official directive.
Why it belongs in this comparison: proposed or operating large developments can affect traffic, noise, utilities, views, and future land use. Municipal and unincorporated properties have different regulatory structures, but neither setting guarantees that surrounding land will remain unchanged. Review nearby ownership, plats, permits, public notices, road plans, and pending applications for the actual location. The Cedar Creek page tracks additional local context.
One pricing trap specific to Cedar Creek
Cedar Creek’s median list price and its median sale price are miles apart. In mid-2026 the automated home-value index for 78612 sat around $428,000 and the median list price around $522,000 — while the actual median sale price in May was $369,995.
That is not a market crash, it is acreage skew. Big-lot listings sit on the market and pull the index and the list-price average upward, while closings cluster far lower. If you are comparing Cedar Creek to Bastrop using whatever number a portal shows you, you are very likely comparing a Cedar Creek list price to a Bastrop sale price and concluding Cedar Creek is expensive. It isn’t. Compare sold to sold. Days on market here also runs longer — around 93 days on average in May, against roughly 82 in the Bastrop ZIP.
What Cedar Creek has that Bastrop doesn’t
Land, mostly — bigger lots for the money, more trees, more privacy, and a much shorter run west toward Austin and the airport than from Bastrop. The Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort & Spa is in Cedar Creek, not the city of Bastrop, on 405 acres along the Colorado River; it marked twenty years in June 2026. SilverLeaf is the large new-construction community out here, and it is where that tenth Bastrop ISD elementary is going.
What Bastrop has that Cedar Creek doesn’t: a downtown, a historic district, city sewer, city trash, a police department, two state parks on the doorstep, and the ability to walk somewhere.
So which one?
Cedar Creek may fit better when available acreage, the verified total tax bill, commute, utilities, land-use considerations, and maintenance responsibilities match your priorities. Confirm septic or wastewater service, water feasibility, restrictions, insurance, and surrounding land uses before deciding.
Bastrop may fit better when the verified city services, utility availability, downtown access, commute, housing options, and total monthly cost match your priorities. City limits do not guarantee that nearby development or services will never change.
The useful comparison is broader than tax: verify utilities, restrictions, permits, maintenance, emergency services, school boundaries, insurance, commute, and planned development for each address before the option period ends.
Send me the two addresses
I can help identify the listed taxing units, MUD or PID disclosures, utility and school-boundary resources, and available county permit records for two addresses. The appraisal district, taxing entities, county, utility providers, school district, inspectors, insurer, and lender remain the final sources for current information. Call or text (512) 993-8488 or use the contact form.
Go deeper: Cedar Creek homes for sale · SilverLeaf · Buying in Bastrop · Septic and OSSF · Water, wells and Aqua WSC · School districts · MUD and PID districts · Land and acreage
Written by Bre Meador, REALTOR® — All City Real Estate, Bastrop County, TX · U.S. Army veteran and former nurse · TREC #0835116
Read client reviews. Last updated August 6, 2026. Rates, boundaries, utility territories, permits, projects, school assignments, and market figures can change. This page is general information from a licensed REALTOR®, not tax, legal, lending, appraisal, engineering, environmental, septic, utility, or insurance advice.