Live in Clear Lake
The suburb Humble Oil's developers laid out beside NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in 1963, where Clear Creek ISD and a water authority's tax replace the Houston ISD bill, and where a fifth of the ground sits in FEMA's 0.2% flood zone rather than the 1%.
Humble Oil bought James Marion West's ranch around Clear Lake in 1938, saw 1,000 acres it had donated to Rice University chosen in 1961 for NASA's new crewed spaceflight center, and built Clear Lake City around it through its Friendswood Development Company, which set up the community association in 1963; the Legislature created the Clear Lake City Water Authority the same year. Houston annexed the part in its extraterritorial jurisdiction in 1977 over a campaign whose slogan was "Free the Clear Lake 25,000!". This guide uses the City's Clear Lake super neighborhood, about 15,496 acres with the Johnson Space Center inside it, where the 2020 census counted 59,677 residents and owners living in 59% of the occupied homes. The schools are Clear Creek ISD's, and the water authority levies 0.25 per $100 of its own on the homes inside its boundary.
An oil company's suburb for the space program, still run partly by its own water authority
The City of Houston's Clear Lake super neighborhood (POLYID 81 on the City's Super Neighborhoods layer), one of the 88 the City drew in 1999 for its civic councils and about 15,496 acres. On that layer the line follows Genoa Red Bluff Road on the north; Galveston Road (State Highway 3) and Beamer Road on the west, crossing Interstate 45 near Bay Area Boulevard in the southwest; El Camino Real and NASA Parkway on the south, with the Johnson Space Center inside the line; and Space Center Boulevard, Bay Area Boulevard and Middlebrook Drive on the east, where it follows no thoroughfare for stretches toward Armand Bayou. The polygon also carries two small rings near Interstate 45, and 622 of its 2020 residents, in Baybrook Municipal Utility District 1, are outside the City's full-purpose limits. No City historic district lies inside it.
Clear Lake exists because of a land deal. Humble Oil had bought James Marion West's ranch around Clear Lake and Clear Creek in 1938, and in 1961 NASA chose 1,000 acres of that cattle land, which Humble had donated to Rice University, for its Manned Spacecraft Center. The center opened in September 1963 and took Lyndon B. Johnson's name in 1973. Humble's Friendswood Development Company laid out Clear Lake City around it, founding the community association in 1963, the same year the Legislature created the Clear Lake City Water Authority to supply its water, sewer and drainage. This guide uses the City's Clear Lake super neighborhood, about 15,496 acres with the Johnson Space Center inside it, where the 2020 census counted 59,677 residents, 6% more than on the same ground in 2010.
Houston came in 1977, and the water authority stayed. The City annexed the part in its extraterritorial jurisdiction, 3,174 acres, over a residents' campaign whose slogan was "Free the Clear Lake 25,000!", and the lawsuits that followed are why Houston's council has district seats. The schools stayed Clear Creek ISD's, and the water authority still levies 0.25 per $100 on the homes inside its boundary, with its own 20% homestead exemption. Its jurisdiction was 16,098 acres by 2009 and does not follow the super neighborhood's line, so this guide cannot say how many of the area's homes pay it; the appraisal district's record for the address can. Houston has no zoning, and no City historic district reaches this far, so the recorded deed restrictions on a lot decide what can be built on it.
The bill is Clear Creek ISD's, not Houston ISD's. Inside the water authority the 2025 rates add to 2.36712 per $100, and a homestead at Zillow's August 2026 figure for ZIP code 77062, $314,349, owes about $5,053 a year. San Jacinto College taxes part of Clear Creek ISD and not the rest, and the college tells taxpayers to look the address up with the appraisal district; where it applies, the same house owes about $5,500. In 77059, where Zillow's typical home was $451,263, the bill inside the authority is about $7,845. The Houston Association of REALTORS' Greater Houston median single-family sale was $330,000; the city arithmetic is on the Houston page. On the edges, 622 residents are in Baybrook Municipal Utility District 1, outside the City's full-purpose limits, where the 2025 rate was 1.11 per $100.
The flood map is lighter here than the bay suggests, and that is not the whole story. FEMA's effective maps put 7.1% of the area in the 1% annual chance zone, where 1,080 residents lived in 2020, but 21.0% in the 0.2% zone, where 12,810 did, and the reference point is in it. The water authority says its ground runs from about 10 feet above sea level on the east to 35 on the northwest, and it drains through Horsepen, Armand and Cow bayous into Clear Lake and Galveston Bay. When developers eyed the old Clear Lake golf course, residents asked the authority to keep it, and it became Exploration Green, nearly 200 acres of detention ponds, wetlands and trails, now complete. Flooding still reaches streets outside the mapped zones when rain overwhelms the drains.
Owners live in 59% of the occupied homes, and 10,093 households rented in 2020. The space center employed 12,541 civil servants and contractors in 2024 by Wikipedia's count. METRO's Bay Area Park & Ride on Bay Area Boulevard has 1,155 spaces for the Interstate 45 express buses to downtown, $4.50 a trip, and the nearest METRORail station is about 24 km away in a straight line.
- Read the Harris Central Appraisal District's list of taxing units for the exact address: the water authority, San Jacinto College or Baybrook MUD 1 may be on it
- Look the address up on FEMA's effective map: a fifth of the area is in the 0.2% zone, which a lender may not flag
- Get the subdivision's deed restrictions and association dues, because they, not zoning, decide what can be built
- Confirm the zoned schools with Clear Creek ISD's school finder, since six elementary zones cover most of the area
- Price a separate flood policy, because a homeowners policy does not cover rising water
How Clear Lake got here
- 1938Humble Oil, now ExxonMobil, buys the ranch land of James Marion West around the shores of Clear Lake and Clear Creek after oil is found there.
- 1961NASA chooses 1,000 acres of cattle land that Humble Oil had donated to Rice University, beside Clear Lake, for its new Manned Spacecraft Center; NASA buys 600 acres more so the site faces a highway.
- 1962Construction of the center, designed by Charles Luckman, begins in April.
- 1963The Legislature creates the Clear Lake City Water Authority on 6 May to supply water, sewer and drainage; Friendswood Development establishes the Clear Lake City Community Association; the space center officially opens in September; and the Clear Lake golf course opens.
- 1964The Freeman Branch Library opens, named for the astronaut Theodore C. Freeman.
- 1973The Senate renames the Manned Spacecraft Center for Lyndon B. Johnson on 19 February.
- 1977Houston annexes the part of Clear Lake City in its extraterritorial jurisdiction, 3,174 acres, over a residents' campaign; the lawsuits that follow lead to the City's district council seats.
- 1991The City buys 111 acres on Clear Lake City Boulevard for $1,399,000; the park is named for Sylvan Rodriguez in 2001.
- 2004The current 42,000-square-foot city-county Freeman Branch Library opens, run by Harris County Public Library.
- 2005The Clear Lake golf course, about 180 acres, closes, and the water authority takes the property; when developers later show interest in it, residents ask the authority to keep it open.
- 2010The census counts 56,360 residents on the blocks inside today's super neighborhood line.
- 2016H-E-B opens a 106,000-square-foot store at 3501 Clear Lake City Boulevard on 17 February.
- 2019The first phase of Exploration Green, the water authority's detention project on the old golf course, wins a Texas engineering excellence gold medal.
- 2020The census counts 59,677 residents and 26,070 homes inside the line; owners live in 14,319 of the 24,412 occupied homes.
- 2026The water authority lists every construction phase of Exploration Green as complete and open, nearly 200 acres of detention ponds on the old golf course; Clear Lake High School is rated A, 95, for a second year.
A 4,300-acre preserve on the east side and a golf course turned into a detention park
Armand Bayou Nature Center, at 8500 Bay Area Boulevard just across the line in Pasadena, keeps more than 4,300 acres of wetland forest, prairie and marsh, with 5 miles of trails and a bison viewing platform, open Wednesday to Sunday. Inside the line, Exploration Green is the water authority's nearly 200 acres of ponds, wetlands and trails on the old golf course, and Sylvan Rodriguez Park is the City's 114 acres on Clear Lake City Boulevard, bought in 1991.
What the map does not show: Exploration Green is a flood detention facility first. Its lakes are built to fill in a storm, and the paths beside them are part of the same design.
Elsewhere in Houston, not Clear Lake
22 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 22 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are computed from OpenStreetMap's place node for Clear Lake, near El Camino Real, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model: honest ranges, not routed times.
Every gym within reach
The City runs no recreation center inside the line. Sagemont Community Center on Hughes Road is a City center to the west, open weekdays and Saturday mornings, and the nearest branch on the YMCA of Greater Houston's list is the Perry Family YMCA in League City, with a gymnasium and courts.
- Perry Family YMCA, 1700 West League City Parkway: from 4:30 a.m. on weekdays
- Sagemont Community Center, 11507 Hughes Road: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday in fall and spring
- Sylvan Rodriguez Park, 1201 Clear Lake City Boulevard: the City's largest park inside the line
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Sylvan Rodriguez Park open | The City's community park of about 114 acres at 1201 Clear Lake City Boulevard, the largest City park inside the line. | 6–9 min |
| Sagemont Community Center open | A City community center at 11507 Hughes Road, west of the line: in fall and spring open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday. | 13–19 min |
| Perry Family YMCA open | The YMCA of Greater Houston branch at 1700 West League City Parkway in League City: a gymnasium, basketball and pickleball courts, strength equipment and a seasonal outdoor pool, closed on the day this guide was checked. Open from 4:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays. | 13–20 min |
| Exploration Green trails open | The free option: the trails around the detention lakes and wetlands on the old golf course, inside the line, open to the public. | 5–8 min |
The free option is Exploration Green's trails around the detention lakes, inside the line and open to the public.
Clear Creek ISD, with intermediate schools for grades 6 to 8
Schools are the Clear Creek Independent School District's, which calls its middle schools intermediate. At the reference point the zones are Clear Lake City Elementary, rated A, 92, for 2026, Clear Lake Intermediate, C, 78, and Clear Lake High, A, 95 for the second year running. Clear Lake High takes 71% of residents and Clear Brook High most of the rest; Space Center Intermediate takes 46% of the middle grades. The schools serve different mixes: 52.5% of Clear Lake City Elementary's students and 58.4% of Clear Lake Intermediate's counted as economically disadvantaged, against 31.8% at the high school.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Clear Lake City Elementary School | Clear Creek Independent School District | 1707 Fairwind Road. On the Clear Creek ISD school finder layer its demographer last edited on 18 September 2026, it is the zone for the reference point and holds 16% of the super neighborhood's 2020 residents; Falcon Pass, Whitcomb, North Pointe, Ward, Armand Bayou and Brookwood hold most of the rest. The Texas Education Agency rated it A, 92, for 2026 and A, 91, for 2025, with 52.5% of students economically disadvantaged. |
| Clear Lake Intermediate School | Clear Creek Independent School District | 15545 El Camino Real: Clear Creek ISD calls grades 6 to 8 intermediate. It is zoned for the reference point and 52% of residents; Space Center Intermediate takes 46%. Rated C, 78, for 2026 and C, 74, for 2025, with 58.4% of students economically disadvantaged. |
| Clear Lake High School | Clear Creek Independent School District | 2929 Bay Area Boulevard: zoned for the reference point and 71% of residents, with Clear Brook High School taking 27%. Rated A, 95, for both 2026 and 2025, with a graduation component of 99.5 and 31.8% of students economically disadvantaged. 389 residents on the area's edge live outside Clear Creek ISD's zones altogether. |
Check the exact address with Clear Creek ISD's school finder before you commit. Its layer was last edited in September 2026, and ten elementary zones touch the area.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The appraisal district values every house as it stands on 1 January, and last year's tax bill is due by 31 January
- Highs near 17.7 °C and lows near 7.8 °C at Hobby, with about two nights at or below freezing on the 1991 to 2020 normal
- 72 mm of rain at Hobby, the driest month on the normal
- Highs near 19.8 °C
- Highs near 23 °C and 83 mm of rain at Hobby
- Armand Bayou Nature Center is open Wednesday to Sunday, with admission
- The appraisal district's notices arrive in spring; a buyer's first value is the market's, because the seller's homestead cap ends with the sale
- Highs near 26.3 °C and 104 mm of rain
- 15 May is the deadline to protest the appraised value, or 30 days after the notice is mailed if that is later
- 138 mm of rain and about seven days reaching 32 °C (90 °F)
- The Atlantic hurricane season opens on 1 June
- 155 mm of rain at Hobby, the wettest month on the normal, with about 21 days reaching 32 °C
- Highs near 33.8 °C, with about 26 days reaching 32 °C
- Exploration Green's trails, around the detention lakes on the old golf course, stay open to the public
- Highs near 34.2 °C and 138 mm of rain
- Clear Creek ISD's school year begins at Clear Lake City Elementary, Clear Lake Intermediate and Clear Lake High
- 10 September is the statistical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, with most activity from mid-August to mid-October
- 146 mm of rain at Hobby
- The taxing units adopt their 2026 rates; this guide's arithmetic stays on the 2025 rates
- Wings Over Houston flies at Ellington Airport on 31 October and 1 November 2026
- 147 mm of rain, second only to June; highs near 27.8 °C
- Armand Bayou Nature Center's Fall Festival is on 7 and 8 November
- The Harris County Tax Office mails the bills around mid-November, due by 31 January, with the water authority's line on the same bill
- The hurricane season closes on 30 November
- The Freeman Branch Library closes from 24 to 27 December
- Highs near 18.7 °C, with less than one night at or below freezing on the normal
8 more photographs of Houston and the region
Drawn from the site's shared, freely licensed Houston photo library, not photographs of Clear Lake itself. Filter by category.
Showing 1–8 of 8 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images from the site's shared Houston library, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. None of them is presented as a photograph of Clear Lake.