⚖️ Side by side

Katy vs Sugar Land

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

Should you live in Katy or Sugar Land? Katy and Sugar Land are both communities in the Greater Houston metro area. Katy has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 7%. Katy is $376,800 against $406,600 for Sugar Land. On FEMA maps Katy is not one single zone and Sugar Land is Zone X (AREA WITH REDUCED FLOOD RISK DUE TO LEVEE). Every figure is sourced and linked.

Cost and Demographics

Both columns below come from the same Census ACS tables, so Katy and Sugar Land are measured the same way and each side links its own source.

MetricKatySugar LandSource
Median owner-occupied home value (ACS)$376,800 (2023)$406,600 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median gross rent (ACS)$1,609 (2023)$1,939 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median household income$107,332 (2023)$137,511 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Population23,900 (2023)109,735 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS

Flood Zone in Each Community

FEMA maps Katy as more than one flood zone and Sugar Land as Zone X (AREA WITH REDUCED FLOOD RISK DUE TO LEVEE). 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 WITH REDUCED FLOOD RISK DUE TO LEVEE)
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 centerKatySugar LandCloser
SLB32 min25 minSugar Land
Sysco30 min25 minSugar Land
Baker Hughes30 min29 minSugar Land
ConocoPhillips30 min29 minSugar Land
McDermott International30 min29 minSugar Land
Devon Energy40 min30 minSugar Land
Houston Methodist60 min36 minSugar Land
MD Anderson61 min36 minSugar Land
Memorial Hermann60 min36 minSugar Land
Daikin40 min76 minKaty
Chevron63 min43 minSugar Land
NRG Energy64 min43 minSugar Land
Halliburton70 min65 minSugar Land
ExxonMobil71 min82 minKaty
HPE71 min81 minKaty
United Airlines73 min71 minSugar Land
NASA107 min73 minSugar Land

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 Sugar Land data