Which code applies to your lot: city limits, ETJ, or unincorporated

Last verified August 7, 2026 against the Austin Land Development Code · Kimbrough Gray · KiliGray Homes

Inside city limits the city's full code applies. In its extraterritorial jurisdiction the city may regulate platting and subdivision but is expressly forbidden by §212.003 from regulating use, bulk, height, building size, floor-to-area ratio or units per acre. Outside both, county rules and state law apply and there is no zoning at all.

Applies to: Any lot in the Austin area. The distinction matters most for readers who found this hub through an Austin code page: almost everything those pages explain stops at the city limit.

Three regimes, and they are not degrees of the same thing

Land around Austin sits in one of three situations, and the difference is not how much regulation applies — it is which government may regulate what.

Inside city limits. The city's full code applies: zoning, height, floor-to-area ratio, impervious cover, setbacks. This is what every other page on this hub describes.
In the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). The city may regulate platting and subdivision — and is expressly forbidden from regulating use, height, building size or density.
Outside both. County authority and state law. No zoning at all, because Texas counties do not have zoning power.

If you arrived here from an Austin code page, this is the important part. Almost everything those pages explain — floor-to-area ratio, the setback plane, height limits, units per lot — is something Austin may not apply in its ETJ. Not "applies differently". May not apply.

What a city may not do in its own ETJ

§212.003(a) is unusually direct. After allowing a city to extend its subdivision ordinances outward, it says that in its extraterritorial jurisdiction a municipality shall not regulate:

the use of any building or property for business, industrial, residential or other purposes;
the bulk, height, or number of buildings on a tract;
the size of a building — "including without limitation any restriction on the ratio of building floor space to the land square footage";
the number of residential units per acre.

That third item names floor-to-area ratio in everything but the acronym. The single most consequential rule on the Austin side of this hub is one the city is statutorily barred from imposing a mile outside its boundary.

"Unless otherwise authorized by state law." The prohibition opens with that qualifier, and it does real work — other statutes grant cities extraterritorial authority in particular fields, water quality being the obvious one in Central Texas. So the list above is what a city cannot do under its zoning and subdivision power, not a guarantee that no city rule reaches your land.

And it cannot fine you out there either

Two provisions that rarely get mentioned together:

§212.003(b) — a fine or criminal penalty prescribed by the ordinance does not apply to a violation in the ETJ.
§212.003(c) — the city is instead entitled to injunctive relief in district court.

So enforcement in the ETJ is not a citation and a fine. It is the city asking a judge to stop the work. That is slower to arrive and considerably worse to receive.

How far the ETJ reaches depends on the city's population

§42.021 sets the distance in bands. The ETJ is the unincorporated area contiguous to the city boundary, extending:

½ mile — fewer than 5,000 inhabitants
1 mile — 5,000 to 24,999
2 miles — 25,000 to 49,999
3½ miles — 50,000 to 99,999
5 miles — 100,000 or more

Applying those bands to nearby cities gives very different reaches — Austin projects five miles outward, while its small neighbors project half a mile:

City	Population	ETJ reach under §42.021
Austin	over 100,000	5 miles
Lakeway	16,216	1 mile
Bee Cave	6,983	1 mile
West Lake Hills	3,254	½ mile
Rollingwood	1,571	½ mile

The distance bands are §42.021. The population figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey place file for 2024, and applying one to the other is our arithmetic rather than a table in the statute. A city near a band edge can change reach as it grows.

Since September 2023, landowners can petition out — and silence releases them

Senate Bill 2038 added a release route. A resident or landowner petitions the city; if the petition carries the required signatures, the city shall immediately release the area.

The provision with teeth is what happens if the city does nothing:

If a municipality fails to take action to release the area … by the later of the 45th day after the date the municipality receives the petition or the next meeting of the municipality's governing body that occurs after the 30th day … the area is released by operation of law.

Inaction is not refusal. It is release.

And release is close to a one-way door: an area released this way may not be brought back into any city's ETJ or corporate boundaries unless the owners request it.

Not everywhere qualifies. §42.101 excludes areas near an active military training base, industrial districts designated under §42.044, and land subject to a strategic partnership agreement, among others.

This page cannot tell you which regime your lot is in. It tells you what each one means. After the 2023 release law and the 2024 disannexation votes, the boundary you find on an old map may not be the boundary that governs — and some areas have since voted to rejoin. Confirm the current status with the city and the county before you rely on any of it, in writing if money depends on the answer.

Common questions

Does Austin zoning apply in its ETJ?

No. §212.003(a) forbids a municipality from regulating use, the bulk, height or number of buildings, the size of a building including any floor-area-to-land ratio, or the number of residential units per acre in its extraterritorial jurisdiction. Subdivision and platting rules can be extended outward; zoning cannot.

What can a city regulate in its ETJ in Texas?

Principally platting and subdivision, which §212.003(a) allows a city to extend by ordinance, along with ordinances relating to access to public roads. Other statutes can grant extraterritorial authority in specific fields — the provision begins "unless otherwise authorized by state law".

How far does Austin's ETJ extend?

Five miles from the city boundary, because §42.021 gives a five-mile reach to any municipality of 100,000 or more inhabitants. Smaller neighbors reach far less — half a mile for a city under 5,000, one mile from 5,000 to 24,999.

Can a city fine you for a violation in its ETJ?

No. §212.003(b) says a fine or criminal penalty prescribed by the ordinance does not apply to a violation in the extraterritorial jurisdiction. The city's remedy under §212.003(c) is injunctive relief in district court instead.

How do you get out of a city's ETJ in Texas?

By petition under the release subchapter added in 2023. If the petition carries the required signatures the city must immediately release the area — and if the city fails to act by the later of 45 days or its next meeting after 30 days, the area is released by operation of law. Certain areas are excluded, including land near an active military training base and land under a strategic partnership agreement.

Can land come back into a city's ETJ after release?

Only if the owners ask. §42.105(e) says an area released this way may not be included in any municipality's ETJ or corporate boundaries unless the owner or owners subsequently request it.

Is there zoning in unincorporated Travis County?

No. Texas counties do not have zoning authority. Development outside any city and outside an ETJ is governed by county authority — subdivision, floodplain, on-site sewage, stormwater — and by state law, not by a zoning district map.

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We do this research ourselves on every project we take on — zoning, floodplain, watershed, trees, whether it is a legal lot. Send us an address and we will run it and tell you what we find. It works the same whether you own a vacant lot, a house you are thinking of adding a unit to, or a house you are thinking of replacing. No charge and no strings, and if it is a bad lot we will say so.

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We are homebuilders, not the City of Austin. This page explains how we read the code in practice — it is not legal advice and it is not an official determination. Always confirm with Austin Development Services before you rely on it for a project. The authoritative text is the Austin Land Development Code; permitting questions go to Austin Development Services Department.