River Oaks vs The Woodlands
Greater Houston, TX: ACS figures, FEMA flood zone, and commute for both
Cost and Demographics
Both columns below come from the same Census ACS tables, and each side links its own source.River Oaks'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.
| Metric | River Oaks | The Woodlands | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median owner-occupied home value (ACS) | $795,278 (2023) | $479,400 (2023) | US Census ACS, US Census ACS |
| Median gross rent (ACS) | $1,865 (2023) | $1,792 (2023) | US Census ACS, US Census ACS |
| Median household income | $105,888 (2023) | $141,353 (2023) | US Census ACS, US Census ACS |
| Population | 42,931 (2023) | 116,916 (2023) | US Census ACS, US Census ACS |
Flood Zone in Each Community
FEMA maps River Oaks 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 zone | X (AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD) | VARIES (AE, X) |
| Special Flood Hazard Area | No | varies |
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 center | River Oaks | The Woodlands | Closer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Houston Methodist | 6 min | 72 min | River Oaks |
| Memorial Hermann | 6 min | 72 min | River Oaks |
| Chevron | 7 min | 67 min | River Oaks |
| MD Anderson | 7 min | 73 min | River Oaks |
| NRG Energy | 8 min | 67 min | River Oaks |
| ExxonMobil | 54 min | 14 min | The Woodlands |
| HPE | 54 min | 15 min | The Woodlands |
| Devon Energy | 17 min | 61 min | River Oaks |
| SLB | 25 min | 65 min | River Oaks |
| Baker Hughes | 27 min | 61 min | River Oaks |
| ConocoPhillips | 27 min | 61 min | River Oaks |
| McDermott International | 27 min | 62 min | River Oaks |
| Sysco | 27 min | 65 min | River Oaks |
| Halliburton | 31 min | 42 min | River Oaks |
| United Airlines | 38 min | 37 min | The Woodlands |
| Daikin | 75 min | 50 min | The Woodlands |
| NASA | 53 min | 111 min | River Oaks |
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
About 30 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 66-83 minute one-way drive. See how the estimate is built
Both home-value figures are in the table above ($795,278 for River Oaks, $479,400 for The Woodlands, 2023 ACS 5-year estimates), but they are not directly comparable: River Oaks'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.
HOUSTON ISD (TEA B) serves River Oaks; 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.
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