West Lake Hills is a city in Travis County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,116 at the 2000 census, and 3,021 in the 2005 census estimate. The city is an upscale suburb of Austin, located on the west side of Austin on the edge of the Hill Country. The city developed rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s with many luxury homes in the hills on the south side of the Colorado River.According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.7 square miles (9.7 km2), all of it land.