⚖️ Side by side

The Heights vs Kingwood

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

Should you live in The Heights or Kingwood? The Heights and Kingwood are both communities in the Greater Houston metro area. They sit about 21 straight-line miles apart, a sample-point floor that converts to an estimated 46-57 minute drive. Kingwood has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 51%. The Heights is $609,300 against $301,206 for Kingwood. On FEMA maps The Heights is not one single zone and Kingwood 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.Both sides derive their figures the same way: a population-weighted average of ZCTA medians (ZIP/ZCTA proxy).

MetricThe HeightsKingwoodSource
Median owner-occupied home value (ACS)$609,300 (2023)$301,206 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median gross rent (ACS)$1,567 (2023)$1,797 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median household income$142,414 (2023)$114,560 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Population40,155 (2023)146,515 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS

Flood Zone in Each Community

FEMA maps The Heights as more than one flood zone and Kingwood 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 centerThe HeightsKingwoodCloser
Chevron9 min47 minThe Heights
NRG Energy10 min47 minThe Heights
Memorial Hermann13 min54 minThe Heights
Houston Methodist14 min55 minThe Heights
MD Anderson14 min56 minThe Heights
Devon Energy17 min61 minThe Heights
United Airlines30 min21 minKingwood
Halliburton24 min25 minThe Heights
SLB26 min69 minThe Heights
Baker Hughes27 min67 minThe Heights
ConocoPhillips27 min68 minThe Heights
McDermott International27 min68 minThe Heights
Sysco28 min70 minThe Heights
ExxonMobil47 min36 minKingwood
HPE46 min36 minKingwood
NASA58 min73 minThe Heights
Daikin70 min89 minThe Heights

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 The Heights from Kingwood?

About 21 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 46-57 minute one-way drive. See how the estimate is built

Which is cheaper, The Heights or Kingwood?

Kingwood has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 51%: $609,300 for The Heights against $301,206 for Kingwood (2023 ACS 5-year estimates). Rent and income sit in the table above on the same basis.

Which school districts serve The Heights and Kingwood?

HOUSTON ISD (TEA B) serves The Heights; HUMBLE ISD (TEA C) serves Kingwood. 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 The Heights data · Full Kingwood data