⚖️ Side by side

Katy vs Midtown

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

Should you live in Katy or Midtown? Katy and Midtown are both communities in the Greater Houston metro area. Katy has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 2%. Katy is $376,800 against $384,100 for Midtown. On FEMA maps Katy is not one single zone and Midtown 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, so Katy and Midtown are measured the same way and each side links its own source.

MetricKatyMidtownSource
Median owner-occupied home value (ACS)$376,800 (2023)$384,100 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median gross rent (ACS)$1,609 (2023)$1,320 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median household income$107,332 (2023)$65,901 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Population23,900 (2023)35,866 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS

Flood Zone in Each Community

FEMA maps Katy as more than one flood zone and Midtown 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 centerKatyMidtownCloser
Chevron63 min3 minMidtown
NRG Energy64 min3 minMidtown
Memorial Hermann60 min4 minMidtown
Houston Methodist60 min5 minMidtown
MD Anderson61 min6 minMidtown
Devon Energy40 min23 minMidtown
Baker Hughes30 min33 minKaty
ConocoPhillips30 min33 minKaty
McDermott International30 min33 minKaty
Sysco30 min33 minKaty
Halliburton70 min31 minMidtown
SLB32 min31 minMidtown
United Airlines73 min38 minMidtown
Daikin40 min80 minKaty
NASA107 min48 minMidtown
HPE71 min56 minMidtown
ExxonMobil71 min57 minMidtown

Straight-line distance converted at ~45mph effective speed. Estimates are not measured drive times. Real I-10, 290 and 59 traffic can exceed them.

Want this scored against your actual constraints? Run the match engine →. It weighs commute, cost, housing and risk instead of leaving you to eyeball two columns.

Full Katy data · Full Midtown data