⚖️ Side by side

The Heights vs Montrose

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

Should you live in The Heights or Montrose? The Heights and Montrose are both communities in the Greater Houston metro area. They sit about 4 straight-line miles apart, a sample-point floor that converts to an estimated 9-12 minute drive. Montrose has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 2%. The Heights is $609,300 against $599,500 for Montrose. On FEMA maps The Heights is not one single zone and Montrose is Zone X (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD). 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 HeightsMontroseSource
Median owner-occupied home value (ACS)$609,300 (2023)$599,500 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median gross rent (ACS)$1,567 (2023)$1,761 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median household income$142,414 (2023)$102,003 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Population40,155 (2023)23,927 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS

Flood Zone in Each Community

FEMA maps The Heights as more than one flood zone and Montrose as Zone X (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD). Where the zone varies, whether flood insurance is federally required depends on the specific address rather than the community.

FEMA flood zoneVARIES (AE, X)X (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD)
Special Flood Hazard AreavariesNo

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 HeightsMontroseCloser
Chevron9 min4 minMontrose
Memorial Hermann13 min4 minMontrose
NRG Energy10 min4 minMontrose
Houston Methodist14 min5 minMontrose
MD Anderson14 min5 minMontrose
Devon Energy17 min21 minThe Heights
Halliburton24 min31 minThe Heights
SLB26 min29 minThe Heights
Baker Hughes27 min31 minThe Heights
ConocoPhillips27 min31 minThe Heights
McDermott International27 min31 minThe Heights
Sysco28 min30 minThe Heights
United Airlines30 min38 minThe Heights
HPE46 min55 minThe Heights
ExxonMobil47 min56 minThe Heights
NASA58 min50 minMontrose
Daikin70 min78 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 Montrose?

About 4 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 9-12 minute one-way drive. See how the estimate is built

Which is cheaper, The Heights or Montrose?

Montrose has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 2%: $609,300 for The Heights against $599,500 for Montrose (2023 ACS 5-year estimates). Rent and income sit in the table above on the same basis.

Which school districts serve The Heights and Montrose?

HOUSTON ISD (TEA B) serves The Heights; HOUSTON ISD (TEA B) serves Montrose. 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 Montrose data