⚖️ Side by side

Cypress vs Katy

Greater Houston, TX: ACS figures, FEMA flood zone, and commute for both

Should you live in Cypress or Katy? Cypress and Katy are both communities in the Greater Houston metro area. They sit about 15 straight-line miles apart, a sample-point floor that converts to an estimated 33-41 minute drive. Cypress is $364,996 against $376,800 for Katy. The two home-value figures are not directly comparable, so no percentage gap is claimed: Cypress's is a population-weighted average of ZCTA medians (ZIP/ZCTA proxy), while Katy's is a figure whose derivation method is not recorded. On FEMA maps Cypress is not one single zone and Katy is not one single zone. Every figure is sourced and linked.

Cost and Demographics

Both columns below come from the same Census ACS tables, and each side links its own source.Cypress's figures are a population-weighted average of ZCTA medians (ZIP/ZCTA proxy), while Katy's are a figure whose derivation method is not recorded. Where the derivations differ, the columns sit side by side for context, not as a like-for-like comparison. This pair's home-value figures carry a specific limitation: a derivation method is not recorded.

MetricCypressKatySource
Median owner-occupied home value (ACS)$364,996 (2023)$376,800 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median gross rent (ACS)$1,803 (2023)$1,609 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median household income$128,399 (2023)$107,332 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Population208,149 (2023)23,900 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS

Flood Zone in Each Community

FEMA maps Cypress as more than one flood zone and Katy as more than one flood zone. Where the zone varies, whether flood insurance is federally required depends on the specific address rather than the community.

FEMA flood zoneVARIES (AE, X)VARIES (AE, X)
Special Flood Hazard Areavariesvaries

Each designation was sampled at the community centroid and at four points about a mile out; "varies" means those samples disagreed, so the community genuinely has no single zone. Check a specific address on the FEMA Map Service Center before drawing an insurance conclusion either way.

Commute to Job Centers from Each

Estimated one-way minutes from each community's centroid to every major Houston employer campus, so the same commute is priced from both sides.

Job centerCypressKatyCloser
Daikin24 min40 minCypress
Baker Hughes30 min30 mintie
ConocoPhillips31 min30 minKaty
McDermott International31 min30 minKaty
Sysco34 min30 minKaty
SLB35 min32 minKaty
Devon Energy36 min40 minCypress
HPE40 min71 minCypress
ExxonMobil41 min71 minCypress
Halliburton48 min70 minCypress
United Airlines49 min73 minCypress
Chevron55 min63 minCypress
NRG Energy56 min64 minCypress
Houston Methodist57 min60 minCypress
Memorial Hermann57 min60 minCypress
MD Anderson58 min61 minCypress
NASA104 min107 minCypress

Straight-line distance converted at ~27mph effective speed. Estimates are not measured drive times. Real I-10, 290 and 59 traffic can exceed them.

Questions people ask about this pair

How far is Cypress from Katy?

About 15 straight-line miles between their map centroids, a sample-point floor rather than a door-to-door promise. Converted at ~27mph effective speed that is an estimated 33-41 minute one-way drive. See how the estimate is built

Which is cheaper, Cypress or Katy?

Both home-value figures are in the table above ($364,996 for Cypress, $376,800 for Katy, 2023 ACS 5-year estimates), but they are not directly comparable: Cypress's is a population-weighted average of ZCTA medians (ZIP/ZCTA proxy), while Katy's is a figure whose derivation method is not recorded. Because the figures are not measured on the same geography basis, no like-for-like percentage gap is claimed between them.

Which school districts serve Cypress and Katy?

CYPRESS-FAIRBANKS ISD (TEA B) serves Cypress; KATY ISD (TEA B) serves Katy. District letters are TEA 2024-25 accountability ratings: a district letter averages dozens of campuses and is never a rating of the schools one specific address is zoned to.

Which community is safer?

This site does not rank safety between communities. Crime varies block to block, and one number for a whole community hides that spread for both. The right question is address-level, and official incident data can answer it in about ten minutes. Read the ten-minute safety research method

Want this scored against your actual constraints? Run the match engine →. It scores commute, budget fit, and lifestyle. School and flood selections add research notes; they do not change the ranking.

Full Cypress data · Full Katy data