⚖️ Side by side

Montrose vs Sugar Land

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

Should you live in Montrose or Sugar Land? Montrose and Sugar Land are both communities in the Greater Houston metro area. They sit about 18 straight-line miles apart, a sample-point floor that converts to an estimated 39-49 minute drive. Sugar Land has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 32%. Montrose is $599,500 against $406,600 for Sugar Land. On FEMA maps Montrose is Zone X (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD) 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 Montrose and Sugar Land are measured the same way and each side links its own source.

MetricMontroseSugar LandSource
Median owner-occupied home value (ACS)$599,500 (2023)$406,600 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median gross rent (ACS)$1,761 (2023)$1,939 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median household income$102,003 (2023)$137,511 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Population23,927 (2023)109,735 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS

Flood Zone in Each Community

FEMA maps Montrose as Zone X (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD) and Sugar Land as Zone X (AREA WITH REDUCED FLOOD RISK DUE TO LEVEE).

FEMA flood zoneX (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD)X (AREA WITH REDUCED FLOOD RISK DUE TO LEVEE)
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 centerMontroseSugar LandCloser
Chevron4 min43 minMontrose
Memorial Hermann4 min36 minMontrose
NRG Energy4 min43 minMontrose
Houston Methodist5 min36 minMontrose
MD Anderson5 min36 minMontrose
Devon Energy21 min30 minMontrose
SLB29 min25 minSugar Land
Sysco30 min25 minSugar Land
Baker Hughes31 min29 minSugar Land
ConocoPhillips31 min29 minSugar Land
McDermott International31 min29 minSugar Land
Halliburton31 min65 minMontrose
United Airlines38 min71 minMontrose
NASA50 min73 minMontrose
HPE55 min81 minMontrose
ExxonMobil56 min82 minMontrose
Daikin78 min76 minSugar Land

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 Montrose from Sugar Land?

About 18 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 39-49 minute one-way drive. See how the estimate is built

Which is cheaper, Montrose or Sugar Land?

Sugar Land has the lower ACS median owner-occupied home value, by about 32%: $599,500 for Montrose against $406,600 for Sugar Land (2023 ACS 5-year estimates). Rent and income sit in the table above on the same basis.

Which school districts serve Montrose and Sugar Land?

HOUSTON ISD (TEA B) serves Montrose; FORT BEND ISD (TEA B) serves Sugar Land. 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 Montrose data · Full Sugar Land data