⚖️ Side by side

Midtown vs Montrose

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

Should you live in Midtown or Montrose? Midtown and Montrose are both communities in the Greater Houston metro area. They sit about 1 straight-line miles apart, a sample-point floor that converts to an estimated 2-3 minute drive. Midtown has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 36%. Midtown is $384,100 against $599,500 for Montrose. On FEMA maps Midtown is Zone X (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD) 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).

MetricMidtownMontroseSource
Median owner-occupied home value (ACS)$384,100 (2023)$599,500 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median gross rent (ACS)$1,320 (2023)$1,761 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median household income$65,901 (2023)$102,003 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Population35,866 (2023)23,927 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS

Flood Zone in Each Community

FEMA maps Midtown as Zone X (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD) and Montrose as Zone X (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD).

FEMA flood zoneX (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD)X (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD)
Special Flood Hazard AreaNoNo

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 centerMidtownMontroseCloser
Chevron3 min4 minMidtown
NRG Energy3 min4 minMidtown
Memorial Hermann4 min4 mintie
Houston Methodist5 min5 mintie
MD Anderson6 min5 minMontrose
Devon Energy23 min21 minMontrose
SLB31 min29 minMontrose
Sysco33 min30 minMontrose
Baker Hughes33 min31 minMontrose
ConocoPhillips33 min31 minMontrose
Halliburton31 min31 mintie
McDermott International33 min31 minMontrose
United Airlines38 min38 mintie
NASA48 min50 minMidtown
HPE56 min55 minMontrose
ExxonMobil57 min56 minMontrose
Daikin80 min78 minMontrose

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 Midtown from Montrose?

About 1 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 2-3 minute one-way drive. See how the estimate is built

Which is cheaper, Midtown or Montrose?

Midtown has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 36%: $384,100 for Midtown 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 Midtown and Montrose?

HOUSTON ISD (TEA B) serves Midtown; 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 Midtown data · Full Montrose data