⚖️ Side by side

Sugar Land vs The Woodlands

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

Should you live in Sugar Land or The Woodlands? Sugar Land and The Woodlands are both communities in the Greater Houston metro area. They sit about 41 straight-line miles apart, a sample-point floor that converts to an estimated 90-113 minute drive. Sugar Land is $406,600 against $479,400 for The Woodlands. The two home-value figures are not directly comparable, so no percentage gap is claimed: Sugar Land's is a figure whose derivation method is not recorded, while The Woodlands's is a figure whose derivation method is not recorded. On FEMA maps Sugar Land is Zone X (AREA WITH REDUCED FLOOD RISK DUE TO LEVEE) 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.Sugar Land's figures are a figure whose derivation method is not recorded, 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.

MetricSugar LandThe WoodlandsSource
Median owner-occupied home value (ACS)$406,600 (2023)$479,400 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median gross rent (ACS)$1,939 (2023)$1,792 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Median household income$137,511 (2023)$141,353 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS
Population109,735 (2023)116,916 (2023)US Census ACS, US Census ACS

Flood Zone in Each Community

FEMA maps Sugar Land as Zone X (AREA WITH REDUCED FLOOD RISK DUE TO LEVEE) 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 WITH REDUCED FLOOD RISK DUE TO LEVEE)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 centerSugar LandThe WoodlandsCloser
ExxonMobil82 min14 minThe Woodlands
HPE81 min15 minThe Woodlands
SLB25 min65 minSugar Land
Sysco25 min65 minSugar Land
Baker Hughes29 min61 minSugar Land
ConocoPhillips29 min61 minSugar Land
McDermott International29 min62 minSugar Land
Devon Energy30 min61 minSugar Land
Houston Methodist36 min72 minSugar Land
MD Anderson36 min73 minSugar Land
Memorial Hermann36 min72 minSugar Land
United Airlines71 min37 minThe Woodlands
Halliburton65 min42 minThe Woodlands
Chevron43 min67 minSugar Land
NRG Energy43 min67 minSugar Land
Daikin76 min50 minThe Woodlands
NASA73 min111 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 Sugar Land from The Woodlands?

About 41 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 90-113 minute one-way drive. See how the estimate is built

Which is cheaper, Sugar Land or The Woodlands?

Both home-value figures are in the table above ($406,600 for Sugar Land, $479,400 for The Woodlands, 2023 ACS 5-year estimates), but they are not directly comparable: Sugar Land's is a figure whose derivation method is not recorded, 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 Sugar Land and The Woodlands?

FORT BEND ISD (TEA B) serves Sugar Land; 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 Sugar Land data · Full The Woodlands data