An alternate view from the Pfluger Pedestrian BridgeAustin at night in 2023
Austin is the capital of theU.S state ofTexas. Itsmetropolitan area is the fourth-largest in the state, with 2.5 million people as of 2024. Austin is home to 61 completed buildings taller than 300 feet (91 m), 16 of which are at least 492 ft (150 m) in height. Austin's skyline is one of the largest in theSouthern United States. It has the third most skyscrapers taller than 492 ft (150 m) in Texas, afterHouston andDallas. The tallest building in Austin isSixth and Guadalupe, a 875 ft (267 m) residential skyscraper built in 2023. It is set to be overtaken byWaterline, asupertall skyscraper that is currently topped out at 1,034 ft (315 m), making it the tallest building in Texas.[1]
With a height of 311 ft (95 m) theTexas State Capitol remained the tallest building in Austin long after its construction in 1888, with the city's centralCongress Avenue otherwise lined with single-story buildings through the start of the 1900s.[2] The eight-storyScarbrough Building and the nine-story Littlefield Building, built between 1910 and 1912, are considered to be Austin's firsthigh-rises. The tallest building completed in the first half of the 20th century was theMain Building of theUniversity of Texas at Austin, which holds offices as well as library space for the university. The downtown skyline remained predominantly low-rise until the 1960s, with the addition of the 28-storyWestgate Tower in 1966 attracting controversy for its proximity to the capitol. The capitol's height was finally surpassed by the Procore Tower and theBank of America Center in the 1970s.One American Center, completed in 1984, remained the tallest building in the city for two decades.
Since the 2000s, Austin has been undergoing an unprecedented skyscraper boom, concurrent with rapid population growth in the city and its metropolitan area. TheFrost Bank Tower was the first building in Austin to exceed a height of 500 ft (152 m) it was completed in 2004. The boom was momentarily halted in the early 2010s due to theGreat Recession, and accelerated in the mid-2010s; around two-thirds of high-rises taller than 300 ft (91 m) in Austin were built after 2014. The majority of new skyscrapers are residential, with the title of the city's tallest building changing hands four more times among residential towers between 2008 and 2023. The city's tech boom has also resulted in more office towers, such asIndeed Tower and the sail-shapedBlock 185, which is intended to be fully leased byGoogle.[3]
Most of Austin's tallest buildings are located inDowntown Austin, sitting directly north of theColorado River. The Texas State Capitol separates the central skyline from residential towers in theWest Campus neighborhood, many of which are inhabited by students attending the nearby University of Texas at Austin. Tall buildings are relatively absent on the southern side of the Colorado River, although a number of them are planned in the South Central Waterfront area.[4] There are also a small number of high-rises inThe Domain, a commercial and residential center located in the city's north that is referred to as Austin's "second downtown"[5][6] In the 2020s, the boom saw the skyline extend eastwards towardsRainey Street Historic District, transforming the character of the neighborhood.[7][8] Construction on Waterline began there in 2023.[9] When completed, Greater Austin will be the smallest metropolitan area inNorth America with a supertall skyscraper.
Number of buildings by height in Austin by the end of each year, including the Texas State Capitol. Click on the legend to toggle a specific height on or off. Viewchart definition.
Bearing a height of 311 ft (95 m),[10] TheTexas State Capitol remained the tallest structure in Austin long after its construction in the 1880s, with the city's centralCongress Avenue otherwise lined with single-story buildings through the start of the 1900s.[2] The eight-storyScarbrough Building and the nine-story Littlefield Building, built between 1910 and 1912, were Austin's firsthigh-rise buildings; the Littlefield Building was the tallest commercial building in the U.S. west ofNew Orleans and east ofSan Francisco upon its completion.[11] In 1928, theAustin City Council briefly considered setting a 100 ft (30 m) height limit for future construction in the city but backed away from the proposal.[12]
After the mid-20th century,Downtown Austin began to transition from being predominantly composed of low-rise buildings to a skyline with high-rises.[13] Beginning with the 26-storyWestgate Tower, the addition of new skyscrapers to Downtown Austin between 1967 and 1980 led to an increasing realization that views of the state capitol from certain vantage points could become obscured.[2] The capitol was also no longer the city's tallest building,[14] surpassed in height by theDobie Center and the Chase Bank Tower.[b] In response, theTexas State Legislature and the City of Austin created 35 Texas Capitol View Corridors that wouldpreserve selected views of the capitol.[2]
By the mid-1980s, Austin featured over a dozen skyscrapers,[14] with at least 12 buildings built during the decade featuring at least 15 floors.[20] Described by theAustin American-Statesman as "the first downtown high-rise wave", the uptick in skyscraper construction that began in the 1980s was mostly characterized by granite and limestone office buildings.[21] More rapid construction of new high-rises in downtown Austin began by the 1990s and continued thereafter,[2] contrasting a concurrent slowdown in the construction of new skyscrapers inDallas andHouston.[14]
Mark Lamster, an architecture critic for theDallas Morning News, attributed the emergence of increasingly taller skyscrapers to the small size and high density of Austin, incentivizing vertical growth due to the resultingly high cost of land.[14] TheStatesman identified a second wave of new skyscrapers in Austin that began in the early 2000s, including construction of theFrost Bank Tower. By 2010, the construction of new residential buildings and office space for technology companies accounted for most of the city's new skyscrapers.[14] By 2023, the combined height of Austin's high-rises overtookDallas according to Texas Real Estate Source.[22][23]
The map below shows the location of buildings taller than 300 feet (91 m) in downtown Austin. Each marker is numbered by height and colored by the decade of the building's completion. There is only one building taller than 300 feet (91 m) located outside the map, that being The Domain II.
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Buildings taller than 300 feet (91 m) in Austin. An asterisk (*) next to the building's name indicates it is located outside the map.
Map all coordinates usingOpenStreetMapDownload coordinates asKML
This list ranks completed andtopped out skyscrapers in Austin that stand at least 300 feet (91 m) tall as of 2025, based on standard height measurement. This height includesspires and architectural details but does not include antennamasts. Unless otherwise noted, heights and floor counts are values assessed by the CTBUH. The “Year” column indicates the year of completion. Buildings tied in height are sorted by year of completion, and then alphabetically.
Was the tallest building in Austin upon completion
Tallest building in Austin from 1974–1975 until surpassed by Bank of America Center[116][19]
Constructed as American Bank Plaza and formerly known as American Bank Building, MBank Tower, Bank One Tower, and Chase Bank Tower[117][116][118]
A renovation completed in 1994 introduced 40 ft (12 m) tall roof addition and replaced the formerly gold-tinted glass façade with pewter-colored glass[116][119]
This table lists buildings under construction in Austin that are expected to be at least 300 ft (91 m) tall, as of 2025. The "Year" column indicates the estimated year of completion. Buildings under construction that have already beentopped out are also included. Unless otherwise noted, heights and floor counts are values assessed by CTBUH.
This table lists approved buildings in Austin that are expected to be at least 300 ft (91 m) tall as of 2025, based on standard height measurement. A dash “–“ indicates information about the building is unknown or has not been released.
This table lists proposed buildings in Austin that are expected to be at least 300 ft (91 m) tall as of 2025, based on standard height measurement. A dash “–“ indicates information about the building is unknown or has not been released.
^abThe Dobie Center, completed in 1972, has a total height of 328 ft (100 m) and an architectural height of approximately 307 ft (94 m).[15][16] The former value is taller than the 311 ft (95 m) height of the Texas State Capitol while the latter is shorter.[17][18] The Chase Bank Tower, completed in 1974, has an architectural height of around 325 ft (99 m), making it unambiguously taller than the capitol building.[19]
^abcdefghiHeight data fromSkyscraperPage. CTBUH either lacks information on the building's height or does not list this building.
^Sources disagree on the height of Sixth and Guadalupe. CTBUH lists the height of Sixth and Guadalupe as 874 ft (266 m).[26] SKYDB lists a height of 837 ft (255 m).[160]SkyscraperPage lists a height of 874 ft (266 m).[161]
^Rambin, James, and James RambinJames. “A Tower's in the Works at Fourth and Brazos in Downtown Austin.” TOWERS, 18 Feb. 2020, austin.towers.net/theres-a-tower-in-the-works-at-fourth-and-brazos-in-downtown-austin/?agent=.
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