⚖️ Side by side

The Heights vs Memorial

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

Should you live in The Heights or Memorial? The Heights and Memorial are both communities in the Greater Houston metro area. They sit about 6 straight-line miles apart, a sample-point floor that converts to an estimated 13-16 minute drive. The Heights has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 48%. The Heights is $609,300 against $1,164,400 for Memorial. On FEMA maps The Heights is not one single zone and Memorial 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 HeightsMemorialSource
Median owner-occupied home value (ACS)$609,300 (2023)$1,164,400 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median gross rent (ACS)$1,567 (2023)$1,796 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median household income$142,414 (2023)$142,039 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Population40,155 (2023)37,647 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS

Flood Zone in Each Community

FEMA maps The Heights as more than one flood zone and Memorial 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 HeightsMemorialCloser
Devon Energy17 min5 minMemorial
Chevron9 min18 minThe Heights
NRG Energy10 min19 minThe Heights
Memorial Hermann13 min17 minThe Heights
Houston Methodist14 min17 minThe Heights
MD Anderson14 min17 minThe Heights
SLB26 min14 minMemorial
Baker Hughes27 min15 minMemorial
ConocoPhillips27 min15 minMemorial
McDermott International27 min15 minMemorial
Sysco28 min15 minMemorial
Halliburton24 min34 minThe Heights
United Airlines30 min40 minThe Heights
HPE46 min51 minThe Heights
ExxonMobil47 min52 minThe Heights
NASA58 min65 minThe Heights
Daikin70 min64 minMemorial

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 Memorial?

About 6 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 13-16 minute one-way drive. See how the estimate is built

Which is cheaper, The Heights or Memorial?

The Heights has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 48%: $609,300 for The Heights against $1,164,400 for Memorial (2023 ACS 5-year estimates). Rent and income sit in the table above on the same basis.

Which school districts serve The Heights and Memorial?

HOUSTON ISD (TEA B) serves The Heights; SPRING BRANCH ISD (TEA B) serves Memorial. 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 Memorial data