⚖️ Side by side

Montrose vs The Woodlands

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

Should you live in Montrose or The Woodlands? Montrose and The Woodlands are both communities in the Greater Houston metro area. They sit about 31 straight-line miles apart, a sample-point floor that converts to an estimated 68-85 minute drive. Montrose is $599,500 against $479,400 for The Woodlands. The two home-value figures are not directly comparable, so no percentage gap is claimed: Montrose's is a population-weighted average of ZCTA medians (ZIP/ZCTA proxy), while The Woodlands's is a figure whose derivation method is not recorded. On FEMA maps Montrose is Zone X (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD) 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, and each side links its own source.Montrose's figures are a population-weighted average of ZCTA medians (ZIP/ZCTA proxy), while The Woodlands's are a figure whose derivation method is not recorded. Where the derivations differ, the columns sit side by side for context, not as a like-for-like comparison. This pair's home-value figures carry a specific limitation: a derivation method is not recorded.

MetricMontroseThe WoodlandsSource
Median owner-occupied home value (ACS)$599,500 (2023)$479,400 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median gross rent (ACS)$1,761 (2023)$1,792 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median household income$102,003 (2023)$141,353 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Population23,927 (2023)116,916 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS

Flood Zone in Each Community

FEMA maps Montrose as Zone X (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD) 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 zoneX (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD)VARIES (AE, X)
Special Flood Hazard AreaNovaries

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 centerMontroseThe WoodlandsCloser
Chevron4 min67 minMontrose
Memorial Hermann4 min72 minMontrose
NRG Energy4 min67 minMontrose
Houston Methodist5 min72 minMontrose
MD Anderson5 min73 minMontrose
ExxonMobil56 min14 minThe Woodlands
HPE55 min15 minThe Woodlands
Devon Energy21 min61 minMontrose
SLB29 min65 minMontrose
Sysco30 min65 minMontrose
Baker Hughes31 min61 minMontrose
ConocoPhillips31 min61 minMontrose
Halliburton31 min42 minMontrose
McDermott International31 min62 minMontrose
United Airlines38 min37 minThe Woodlands
Daikin78 min50 minThe Woodlands
NASA50 min111 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 Montrose from The Woodlands?

About 31 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 68-85 minute one-way drive. See how the estimate is built

Which is cheaper, Montrose or The Woodlands?

Both home-value figures are in the table above ($599,500 for Montrose, $479,400 for The Woodlands, 2023 ACS 5-year estimates), but they are not directly comparable: Montrose's is a population-weighted average of ZCTA medians (ZIP/ZCTA proxy), while The Woodlands's is a figure whose derivation method is not recorded. Because the figures are not measured on the same geography basis, no like-for-like percentage gap is claimed between them.

Which school districts serve Montrose and The Woodlands?

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