East Austin was historically segregated through the City Plan of 1928, which encouraged racial divides. Today, Hispanics and African Americans continue to live in the east side of Austin on the other side of Interstate 35 due to city policies which long kept them from moving or gaining upward mobility to go elsewhere. With housing worn down and in bad conditions due to such policies, developers are keen to take advantage of these areas by building up while real estate is relatively cheap and advatageous. Amidst the new condos and trendy restaurants, there are still glimpses of "old East Austin" within the pocket communities, especially seen in the businesses that remain here despite the imbalanced dynamics of money and policy.

​

Austin's 78702 zipcode is one of four of the most gentrified zipcodes of the U.S. Here is an embedded map to illustrate what areas have that zipcode, which consists of most of East Austin.