Living in Castle Hills

No. Castle Hills is an independent incorporated Texas city in Bexar County, completely surrounded by the City of San Antonio. It has its own city government, its own zoning and codes, its own police department, its own municipal fire and 911 dispatch, and its own city property tax. Being surrounded by San Antonio on the map does not make it part of San Antonio.

Yes. Castle Hills incorporated in 1951 and operates its own municipal government, police department, fire and 911 dispatch, public works, sanitation, zoning, permitting, and city property tax inside its roughly 2.5-square-mile boundary. A 78213 mailing address does not change the municipal jurisdiction.

No, and the difference is one of the most important checks on this page. The City of Castle Hills is the incorporated city in Bexar County, Greater San Antonio, about 2.5 square miles, surrounded by San Antonio. Castle Hills in Lewisville is a roughly 2,900-acre master-planned community at the edge of Denton County with thousands of homes, annexed into the City of Lewisville in 2021. Different county, different region, different city rules, different market data.

The principal mailing ZIP is 78213, but 78213 does not equal Castle Hills city limits. Large portions of 78213 are in the City of San Antonio, and ZIP codes are postal geographies, not municipal boundaries. A mailing address never substitutes for confirming municipal jurisdiction, which is what decides your city tax, police and fire coverage, zoning, and permitting.

Castle Hills is served by North East ISD (NEISD). Campus assignment is address-specific and set by the district's current attendance boundaries, so verify the exact address with NEISD's Find Your Campus tool. Boundaries change, and being in the city does not by itself assign a specific campus.

There is no verified citywide Castle Hills homeowners association. Association and deed-restriction status is property specific: some subdivisions, condos, and garden-home developments have their own associations or restrictions, and many established single-family properties operate primarily under city zoning and deed restrictions with no HOA at all. Verify the plat, deed restrictions, HOA or POA status, easements, and architectural restrictions for the actual property.

Mixed, not uniformly large. The city holds established detached resale, large-lot detached homes, acre-plus properties, garden homes, duplexes, condos, limited multifamily, PUD housing, and occasional teardown and rebuild or custom infill. The largest lots concentrate in parts of West of West, while other parts of the city are standard suburban lots. Do not assume one lot size for the whole city.

West of West (WoW) is one of the six official planning areas in the City of Castle Hills planning framework, the western portion of the city. City planning documents describe acre-plus lots, narrower streets, areas without conventional curbs, gutters, or sidewalks, terrain sloping toward the west, a significant western floodplain, and substantial Rural Residential (RR) zoning, including the West Oaks PUD and a large-lot development pattern.

Not automatically. A large lot does not mean it can be split. The City planning framework describes Rural Residential zoning in parts of West of West where subdivision below approximately three-quarters of an acre is generally restricted in affected areas; confirm the current ordinance, exact boundaries, minimum-lot requirement, and exceptions with the City before relying on that number. Drainage easements, floodplain, slope, setbacks, zoning, trees, and sewer also affect what you can do.

Yes, in mapped areas. Parts of the western side, including portions of West of West, contain mapped floodplain, and the City documents five identified drainage watersheds with a formal drainage capital program. Evaluate any parcel by checking the exact property on current San Antonio River Authority floodplain mapping and current FEMA data, never by assuming a whole area is safe or unsafe.

The City's drainage documents identify multiple watersheds and street-specific projects, and City research has flagged drainage issues or projects around streets including Dogwood, East Castle, Wisteria, Mimosa, Krameria, Carolwood, Banyan, Glentower, Fox Hall, Lemonwood, Travertine, and Atwater. That does not mean every property on those roads floods; it means the City has documented watershed-specific infrastructure work. Check the exact parcel, watershed, easements, grading, culverts, channels, and prior water intrusion, and ask the current project status for the street.

SAWS, the San Antonio Water System, is the water-system provider and infrastructure operator in Castle Hills, and SAWS also provides wastewater service with sanitary-sewer connection requirements. Municipal sewer is the expected pattern, but for an unusual older large-lot property verify the actual service and account on that parcel. Electric comes from CPS Energy, and natural gas availability should be verified by address.

The City of Castle Hills Public Works Department provides municipal sanitation. Research found garbage collection twice weekly, brush weekly, and recycling weekly, and trash service is set up and billed through the SAWS account. Confirm the current schedule and any rate changes directly with the city; the garbage fee was changed in August 2026.

There is no verified large active tract-builder community inside incorporated Castle Hills, and I do not import master-planned builders into the city story. New construction here happens as individual infill, rebuilds, additions, and custom construction on existing lots, which is what the City permit activity reflects, including an approved new residential structure in West Oaks of Castle Hills Unit 2. Expect a property-by-property, permit-driven market, not model-home inventory.

Castle Hills has its own municipal permitting, so do not route renovation questions through the City of San Antonio as though the property were inside San Antonio. The City rules cover new residential construction, additions, remodels, pools, accessory structures, and major site work, with separate considerations for tree work, drainage easements, stormwater, and floodplain development. Describe the exact project to the City and verify what is required.

Work the buyer due-diligence checklist on this page, starting with whether the parcel is actually inside incorporated Castle Hills, then the planning area, NEISD campus assignment, tax jurisdictions and rates, zoning, HOA or deed restrictions, survey, easements, flood and drainage data, utilities, permits, inspection of an older home's systems, parking and rental rules if relevant, current street construction, the actual commute, and insurance. Send me the address and I can help you verify the city limits, school assignment, taxes, zoning, flood and drainage considerations, deed restrictions, and estimated monthly payment before you make an offer.