⚖️ Side by side

Memorial vs The Woodlands

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

Should you live in Memorial or The Woodlands? Memorial and The Woodlands are both communities in the Greater Houston metro area. They sit about 28 straight-line miles apart, a sample-point floor that converts to an estimated 62-78 minute drive. The Woodlands has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 59%. Memorial is $1,164,400 against $479,400 for The Woodlands. On FEMA maps Memorial is not one single zone and The Woodlands is not one single zone. Every figure is sourced and linked.

Cost and Demographics

Both columns below come from the same Census ACS tables, so Memorial and The Woodlands are measured the same way and each side links its own source.

MetricMemorialThe WoodlandsSource
Median owner-occupied home value (ACS)$1,164,400 (2023)$479,400 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median gross rent (ACS)$1,796 (2023)$1,792 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median household income$142,039 (2023)$141,353 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Population37,647 (2023)116,916 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS

Flood Zone in Each Community

FEMA maps Memorial as more than one flood zone and The Woodlands 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 centerMemorialThe WoodlandsCloser
Devon Energy5 min61 minMemorial
ExxonMobil52 min14 minThe Woodlands
SLB14 min65 minMemorial
Baker Hughes15 min61 minMemorial
ConocoPhillips15 min61 minMemorial
HPE51 min15 minThe Woodlands
McDermott International15 min62 minMemorial
Sysco15 min65 minMemorial
Houston Methodist17 min72 minMemorial
MD Anderson17 min73 minMemorial
Memorial Hermann17 min72 minMemorial
Chevron18 min67 minMemorial
NRG Energy19 min67 minMemorial
Halliburton34 min42 minMemorial
United Airlines40 min37 minThe Woodlands
Daikin64 min50 minThe Woodlands
NASA65 min111 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 Memorial from The Woodlands?

About 28 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 62-78 minute one-way drive. See how the estimate is built

Which is cheaper, Memorial or The Woodlands?

The Woodlands has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 59%: $1,164,400 for Memorial against $479,400 for The Woodlands (2023 ACS 5-year estimates). Rent and income sit in the table above on the same basis.

Which school districts serve Memorial and The Woodlands?

SPRING BRANCH ISD (TEA B) serves Memorial; CONROE ISD (TEA B) serves The Woodlands. 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 Memorial data · Full The Woodlands data