⚖️ Side by side

Pearland vs Sugar Land

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

Should you live in Pearland or Sugar Land? Pearland and Sugar Land are both communities in the Greater Houston metro area. They sit about 19 straight-line miles apart, a sample-point floor that converts to an estimated 42-52 minute drive. Pearland is $330,900 against $406,600 for Sugar Land. The two home-value figures are not directly comparable, so no percentage gap is claimed: Pearland's is a figure whose derivation method is not recorded, while Sugar Land's is a figure whose derivation method is not recorded. On FEMA maps Pearland 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, and each side links its own source.Pearland's figures are a figure whose derivation method is not recorded, while Sugar Land'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.

MetricPearlandSugar LandSource
Median owner-occupied home value (ACS)$330,900 (2023)$406,600 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median gross rent (ACS)$1,759 (2023)$1,939 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median household income$112,470 (2023)$137,511 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Population125,983 (2023)109,735 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS

Flood Zone in Each Community

FEMA maps Pearland 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 centerPearlandSugar LandCloser
MD Anderson25 min36 minPearland
SLB49 min25 minSugar Land
Sysco50 min25 minSugar Land
Houston Methodist26 min36 minPearland
Memorial Hermann26 min36 minPearland
Baker Hughes53 min29 minSugar Land
ConocoPhillips53 min29 minSugar Land
McDermott International53 min29 minSugar Land
Devon Energy45 min30 minSugar Land
Chevron31 min43 minPearland
NASA31 min73 minPearland
NRG Energy31 min43 minPearland
Halliburton59 min65 minPearland
United Airlines66 min71 minPearland
Daikin104 min76 minSugar Land
HPE85 min81 minSugar Land
ExxonMobil85 min82 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 Pearland from Sugar Land?

About 19 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 42-52 minute one-way drive. See how the estimate is built

Which is cheaper, Pearland or Sugar Land?

Both home-value figures are in the table above ($330,900 for Pearland, $406,600 for Sugar Land, 2023 ACS 5-year estimates), but they are not directly comparable: Pearland's is a figure whose derivation method is not recorded, while Sugar Land'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 Pearland and Sugar Land?

PEARLAND ISD (TEA A) serves Pearland; 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 Pearland data · Full Sugar Land data