Nolanville

Eight miles one way, thirteen the other

Nolanville is four and a quarter square miles, and its location does most of the work. Interstate 14 and US 190 run straight through town: eight miles east to I-35 at Belton, thirteen miles west to the Fort Hood entrance. It also sits between Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow, the only town here that can honestly claim both.

Settlers arrived in the 1840s and called it Nolan Valley; the railroad came late in the century and the name became Nolanville in 1883. It incorporated in 1961 with fewer than a thousand people. It now has close to 8,000 and is the fastest-growing of the Fort Hood communities. The railroad still cuts through and still shapes the town — grid streets north of the highway, cul-de-sacs south of it.

Why this is the small-town-new-house option

Nolanville has the highest owner-occupancy rate of the Fort Hood communities, at roughly 64 percent — which for a first-time buyer usually translates into neighbours who are also owners. Its city tax rate is well below Killeen’s. And there is genuine new inventory: more than 165 certificates of occupancy for new homes since January 2024.

The active communities are Wildwood, Bella Charca (gated) and Warrior’s Legacy, where several builders are working at once.

Here is the detail I like most about Nolanville, because it is concrete and it is about families rather than marketing. When the city approved Wildwood Phase 5 in April 2024 — around 64 acres and 250-plus homes — the plan included 11.2 acres of dedicated parkland, 8.4 acres more than the requirement. A town that over-delivers on park space in a new subdivision is telling you something about how it plans to grow.

One clarification: Village at Nolan Heights is in Harker Heights, not Nolanville. The names are close enough that aggregator sites mix them up regularly.

Schools, parks and the town itself

Killeen Independent School District serves Nolanville, with Nolanville Elementary and Richard E. Cavazos Elementary in town; secondary students attend KISD campuses outside the city. Confirm the assigned campuses for a specific address with the district.

Monarch Park on Gold Star Avenue had its first phase built with more than half a million dollars in state grant funding and has a scent garden, a splash pad, a shaded playground and a pavilion. Fox Park sits next to the JW Sims Community Center. The Avenue G Skate Path, finished in 2024, has skateable elements built directly into the sidewalk near City Hall. There is a dog park, basketball courts and sports fields, all open dawn to dusk.

Nolanville is also a common starting point for endurance cycling and running in this part of the county. The Train Whistle Jamboree and the Fox Trot 5K are the two events people turn out for.

Worth checking before you buy in Nolanville

• Which subdivision, and whether it has an HOA. Bella Charca is gated; others differ. The restrictions vary more than the marketing does.
• New-build contracts. Builder paperwork is not the standard promulgated form, and incentives are usually tied to the builder’s lender. Have representation before the first model-home visit.
• Nolan Creek. The creek runs east from here through Belton and it rises quickly. Pull the flood map for the parcel.
• Secondary school assignment. Elementary is in town, the rest is not. Worth knowing the actual route before you commit.
• USDA may well apply. Nolanville generally falls inside the USDA eligible area, which means a zero-down loan is genuinely on the table here in a way it is not in Killeen or Harker Heights. Check the specific address.