HighlandsTX
A town of 6,335, settled in 1929.
Is Highlands a good place to live?
Highlands is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C overall, 291st of 640 graded towns in Texas, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is cost of living: a typical home costs about $220K, 2.7 years of the Houston metro’s $82K median household income. Its lowest everyday mark is in health: CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 67% of the country. Highlands’ January low is 44°F, against 37°F in Texas’ towns and 22°F across U.S. towns.
Highlands has grown 15% from 2010 to 2020
7,522 counted in 2010 and 8,612 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
How Highlands grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far Highlands is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Daikin Park and 56 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Highlands. Close and well known come first.
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaDaikin Park
Big draw23 mi Stadium & arenaReliant Stadium
5 mi LandmarkSan Jacinto Monument
19 mi Stadium & arenaToyota Center
21 mi MuseumRothko Chapel
18 mi Stadium & arenaShell Energy StadiumPhoto credits
Daikin Park: Delaywaves, CC BY 3.0 · Reliant Stadium: User eschipul on Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0 · San Jacinto Monument: Tijuana Brass at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Toyota Center: Ed Uthman from Houston, TX, USA, CC BY 2.0 · Rothko Chapel: Unknown, Public domain · Shell Energy Stadium: HDFC PR, CC BY-SA 4.0
Moving to Highlands: who provides what
Highlands is unincorporated, so Harris County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Highlands.
Highlands is healthier than towns with similar incomes, has homes that are cheap against local pay and has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns.
Most of Highlands’ workers commute out: the town has 0.6 jobs for each of them
Jobs based here grew from 1,332 in 2013 to 1,904.
Most working residents leave Highlands for work: only 4% work in town. Highlands’ average trip to work is 31 minutes. Since 2013, Highlands has added 572 jobs, to 1,904 in 2023.
| Highlands | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $52,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.1% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 9.8% | 12% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Public schools in Highlands fall behind 56% of Texas districts
Its public schools are run by Goose Creek CISD. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands J HLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 885 | B |
| Point Alternative CenterLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 96 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TX on state tests and graduation
Highlands earns a B for cost of living
At 2.7 years of the Houston metro’s $82K median household income, the typical home (about $221K) costs less against local pay than in 78% of Texas towns; that ratio is one input to its B for cost of living.
The typical Highlands home is worth about $221,000, about the same as a year ago, 26% below the Texas typical home. 80% of Highlands households own their home.
| Highlands | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 80% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,223 a month | $1,206 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Highlands earns a C for health
Against the 6,520 U.S. towns with household incomes like Highlands’s, it is healthier than 66%, so its C isn’t only a matter of income.
21% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance in Highlands. Highlands beats the Texas average on 0 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 73% of adults had a checkup this year in Highlands.
| Highlands | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 18% | 8.1% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 73% | 74% | 79% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 20% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| What stands out | Highlands | TX |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 7.6% | 5.7% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 16.1% | 12.5% |
| More smokers | 15.2% | 12.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
In Highlands, expect mild winters and hot summers
January nights average 44.1°, milder than in 96% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 92.3°.
Highlands has warm winters and hot summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Highlands is 92°F. Snow is almost unheard of.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Highlands has set aside 0.9% of its land for conservation
1.2 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves.
| Highlands | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.9% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Highlands Sports Complex | 0.6 mi | 16 |
| 2. Highlands Community Center | — | 11 |
| 3. Stratford Park | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Highlands faces a high natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 60% of U.S. communities. Since 2008, 13 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Highlands.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Everything we know about Highlands
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Highlands
About 5 of every 100 Highlands residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Texas.
96% of working residents leave Highlands for work
Where Highlands’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Highlands’s neighbors
2 towns share a border with Highlands.
| Town | TX rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands | #291 | C | B | — | C+ | C |
| Channelview | #595 | D− | C+ | — | C | C− |
| Baytown | #574 | D | C+ | D | C+ | C− |
Highlands and Channelview report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Highlands with a neighbor →
Questions about Highlands
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Highlands, TX a good place to live?
Highlands grades C overall, better than 33% of U.S. towns and #291 of 640 in Texas. It grades C for health and C+ for schools.
Is Highlands, TX expensive?
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.