Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Kemah grades C− overall, 355th among Texas's 640 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. Its public schools beat 78% of Texas towns on state tests and graduation. On the other side, the typical home is worth about $306K, 3.7 years of the Houston metro’s $82K median household income. 29% of residents live below the poverty line in Kemah, against 12% in Texas’ towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Only 65 of Texas’ 1,000 towns score lower on history. Kemah's police reported 8 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 86% of U.S. towns.
Where Kemah beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Lavace Stewart El | PK–5 | 660 |
Where Kemah’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far Kemah is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,144 in 1970, 1,807 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1985 and 7 maps from 1916 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Kemah, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Kemah.
Kemah draws workers from League City and beyond and has a longer frost-free season than nearly all U.S. towns, but it has poverty well above the Texas rate.
2,406 jobs are based in Kemah, 2.5 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. Jobs based here grew from 1,604 in 2013 to 2,406.
Most working residents leave Kemah for work: only 4% work in town. Jobs based in Kemah grew to 2,406 in 2023, 802 more than in 2013. The top destinations are Houston (30%), League City (9%) and Pasadena (6%).
| Kemah | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 3.7% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Median household income | $85,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by Clear Creek ISD. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lavace Stewart ElLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 660 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TX on state tests and graduation
Reported crimes fell from 79 to 72 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Kemah’s property crime rate is 19.8 per 1,000 residents. Kemah reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 86% report less. Kemah’s violent crime rate is 2.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Kemah | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 19.8 per 1,000 residents | 10.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.5 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Kemah beats the Texas average on 7 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 19% of adults binge drink in Kemah.
| Kemah | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 17% | 16% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 18% | 8.1% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 30% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 24% | 19% |
| What stands out | Kemah | TX |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 12.7% | 19.1% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 15% | 19.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 7.6% | 6.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The Houston Nwso weather station, 5 miles away, records that the frost-free season runs about 317 days, longer than in 96% of U.S. towns. January nights average 46.4°, milder than in 97% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 89.9°.
Kemah has warm winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. The January low in Kemah is 46°F. Among 642 Texas towns, just 8 have a lower July high than Kemah.
| Kemah | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 46°F | 37°F | 22°F |
| July high | 90°F | 95°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
29.4% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.8% across Texas, which weighs on its B− for jobs and income.
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Texas average. 11% of Kemah residents are 65 or older. Kemah has grown 71% since 2020, to 3,097 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Kemah | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 11% | 14% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 34% | 23% | 29% |
| Median age | 36 years | 35.8 years | 40.5 years |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.9 points. Across Texas, 50.1% of residents are women.
| Kemah | TX | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 16% | 13.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.2% | 11.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.4% | 9.7% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.9% | 14.5% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 9% | 14.1% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.9% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 17.7% | 11.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 6.8% | 8.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4% | 5.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 11.1% | 14% | 10.4% |
| High school | 21.8% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 26.3% | 20.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6.7% | 7.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.9% | 21.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.2% | 12.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,100, single groups can be off by several points
1,167 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 79 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 54% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 1,167 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Kemah.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical value, about $306K, is 7% below its October 2022 peak.
The typical Kemah home is worth about $306,000, down 1.1% in a year, close to the Texas typical home.
| Kemah | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 54% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,775 a month | $1,206 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Kemah. Close and well known come first.
Big draw26 mi Stadium & arenaReliant Stadium
Big draw25 mi Stadium & arenaDaikin Park
5 mi MuseumSpace Center Houston
15 mi LandmarkSan Jacinto Monument
25 mi Stadium & arenaToyota Center
27 mi MuseumRothko ChapelReliant Stadium: User eschipul on Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Daikin Park: Delaywaves, CC BY 3.0 · Space Center Houston: Shujianyang, CC BY 4.0 · 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
6 within 15 miles of the center of Kemah
About 4 of every 100 Kemah residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Texas.
City in Texas, United States
Kemah ( KEE-mə) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, southeast of Houston along west Galveston Bay. The city's population was 1,807 at the 2020 census, down from 2,330 at the 2000 census. Located in Galveston County, Kemah's main industry is shipping. Originally a small fishing town, the city has become a tourist destination for the area's restaurants and attractions, which are contained within the Kemah Entertainment District. In 2012 Kemah was ranked the top tourism spot in the Greater Houston area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Kemah.
| Town | TX rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kemah | #355 | C− | D | D | A− | B+ |
| Clear Lake Shores | — | — | D | — | A− | A− |
| Bacliff | #399 | C− | C+ | — | B+ | D |
| League City | #84 | B+ | D | B | A− | A |
| Seabrook | #181 | B− | D | B− | A− | A |
Clear Lake Shores has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Clear Lake Shores and Bacliff report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Kemah with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Kemah grades C− overall, better than 24% of U.S. towns and #355 of 640 in Texas. It grades B+ for health, D for safety and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
