(78702) East Cesar Chavez / Holly / Govalle / Plaza Saltillo Apartment Listings & Reviews

This is the ZIP code where you can leave your car parked for days and not notice.

East Austin’s apartment strip. The most walkable, bikeable, transit-connected renter ZIP in Austin. Studios from $1,140, one bedrooms from $1,451, two bedrooms from $1,539. 18 communities, all built between 2007 and 2022.

I’ve toured apartment communities across the 78702 ZIP code, and this is the one I send people to when they tell me they don’t want to need a car. Not “car optional” the way most Austin ZIPs use that phrase. Actually walkable. The Plaza Saltillo MetroRail station sits right in the middle of it. The 7th Street HEB is inside the ZIP. And there are more restaurants, bars, and coffee shops per block here than anywhere else in Austin outside of downtown.

Every community in this ZIP code has a full review below. Each one covers what listing sites leave out: actual screening criteria, real fee breakdowns, net effective rent math, and honest resident feedback compared to what I saw on my own tours.

A few things worth knowing about 78702 before you dig in.

Every apartment community in this ZIP was built in the last 19 years, and most went up in the last decade. There are no legacy garden style complexes from the ’80s or ’90s here. Zero. The oldest is AMLI Eastside (2007), and the newest is The Rail (2022). Everything is mid-rise, four to six floors, flat style. That means modern interiors across the board, but it also means you won’t find the kind of pricing floor that older stock creates in other ZIPs. The cheapest market rate option right now is Platform at $1,140 for a studio. And Platform is 557 units managed by Greystar, sitting on MLK near Chestnut, on the quieter east end of the ZIP.

The west half and the east half of 78702 are two different experiences. The Plaza Saltillo end, roughly from I-35 east to Chicon, is where walkability peaks. Walk Score hits 96 around 7th Street. You’re steps from Cenote (which moved to 1405 E 7th in 2025 but is still very much alive), Quickie Pickie on Cesar Chavez, The White Horse on Comal, Hotel Vegas, and the whole stretch of bars and taquerias along East 6th. Residences at Saltillo alone is 703 units built around the MetroRail station. The Govalle end, east of Airport, is quieter and a little cheaper. The Guthrie, Lenox 7th, and Nexus East are out there. Walk Score drops to the low 60s. You’ll need a car or a bike for daily errands, but you’re still five minutes from everything on 7th Street. Govalle Park has a pool, basketball courts, and connects to the Southern Walnut Creek Trail, almost 9 miles of paved path that most people don’t know about.

Specials are running at most of these communities right now. As of early November 2026, 8 of the 12 communities I track with live pricing are offering something. Corazon has 6 weeks free on 12+ month leases. The Guthrie and Lenox 7th are both running up to 8 weeks free. Residences at Saltillo and Eastside Station are offering up to 6 weeks. Even 7EAST is giving 2 weeks free on all vacant homes. That’s a lot of wiggle room in a ZIP where base rents start above $1,100.

To put a number on it: Corazon’s cheapest one bedroom lists at $2,222 right now. With 6 weeks free spread across a 13 month lease, that nets about $1,968 a month. Residences at Saltillo’s cheapest studio lists at $1,327. With up to 6 weeks free, that could drop to around $1,174. Those are the kinds of gaps that change which ZIP code fits your budget. I run this math for every community I send clients to, and every review below has a calculator that does it for you automatically.

Most of these communities screen like Class A buildings, because that’s what they are. Greystar manages four of the 18 communities here. Kairoi runs three. Bell Partners, Windsor, Willow Bridge, and AMLI each run one. That means income requirements at most of these buildings land around 3x gross monthly income. Credit floors are usually in the 600 range. And tolerance for broken leases or eviction history with money owed to an apartment is limited. If your screening situation is complicated, 78702 isn’t off the table. But it does mean you should talk to me before you start touring. I check each community’s current criteria before you apply so you’re not burning $50 to $75 application fees at places that won’t approve you. A few communities here are more flexible than the rest, and I know which ones.

A handful of communities in this ZIP have income-restricted units mixed in with market rate homes. Chalmers Courts South on East 2nd is the most affordable option in the ZIP, with one through four bedroom units starting around $1,062, but every unit there is income-restricted through Carleton Companies. Talavera Lofts on Navasota starts around $952 and also has income caps. Eastside Station has some income-restricted units mixed in with its market rate studios and one bedrooms. The Arnold has units set aside under its Affordable and SMART Housing programs, separate from its market rate plans that start around $1,673 for a studio. And Nexus East has a small number of income-restricted units mixed in with market rate homes starting at $1,351. If you qualify, these are real options. If you don’t, don’t let those low prices on listing sites throw you off. The market rate floor in this ZIP is around $1,140 at Platform.

Schools aren’t the draw here. The location is. 78702 is Austin ISD, and the schools in this ZIP aren’t the reason families move in. The draw is being eight minutes from downtown by car, 15 minutes by bike, and having a MetroRail station you can walk to. The airport is 12 to 15 minutes south. I-35 is your western border, which means highway access is right there, but it also means noise if you’re in a community near the freeway. The Arnold, Eleven by Windsor, and AMLI Eastside all sit close enough to hear it.

Pick a community below to read the full review, or let’s find a time to review your details if you want me to narrow it down based on your budget, timeline, and screening situation.