Live in Meyerland
Postwar ranch houses on both banks of Brays Bayou just outside the Loop's southwest corner, zoned to Bellaire High School, where FEMA's map puts 85% of the ground in the 1% annual chance flood zone and three floods in three years taught the street to build up.
George Meyer turned 1,200 acres of his family's rice fields into the Meyerland subdivision in 1955, and it grew into the center of Houston's Jewish community, with the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center and two large congregations on the Braeswood boulevards. This guide covers the City of Houston's Meyerland Area super neighborhood, about 2,633 acres around the subdivision, where the 2020 census counted 20,868 residents and owners lived in 54% of the occupied homes. Brays Bayou runs through the middle of it, and FEMA's effective map puts 85.1% of the area in the 1% annual chance flood zone; the bayou flooded Meyerland on Memorial Day 2015, again in April 2016 and worst in Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Zillow put the typical home in ZIP code 77096, which is larger than the neighborhood, at $434,316 in August 2026.
A 1955 subdivision on both banks of Brays Bayou, and the flood map is the first document
The City of Houston's Meyerland Area super neighborhood (POLYID 31 on the City's Super Neighborhoods layer), one of 88 the City drew in 1999, about 2,633 acres. Traced against the City's major thoroughfare layer, it runs along Loop 610 on the east from South Post Oak Road north past Brays Bayou, then northeast inside the Loop to Beechnut Street near Newcastle; its northern line runs west near Beechnut Street to Chimney Rock Road and on past Renwick Drive to Hillcroft Avenue, which it follows south to the Braeswood boulevards; it then runs west along Braeswood about 1 km beyond Hillcroft before turning south, and its southern line runs east near Willowbend Boulevard back to South Post Oak Road. The Meyerland subdivision itself, with 2,309 home sites under 22 sets of deed restrictions, is the core of it; the super neighborhood is larger. Every block is inside the City's full-purpose limits, in Harris County and in Houston ISD.
In the spring of 1955 George Meyer opened 1,200 acres of his family's rice fields as Meyerland, with Vice President Richard Nixon cutting the ribbon. Meyerland Plaza followed in 1957 and three elementary schools by 1961, and the neighborhood became the center of Jewish Houston, with the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center on South Braeswood and Congregation Beth Israel on North Braeswood. This guide covers the City's Meyerland Area super neighborhood, about 2,633 acres from Loop 610 west past Hillcroft Avenue, which takes in the subdivision's 2,309 home sites and the streets around them: 20,868 residents in 2020.
The flood map covers almost all of it. Brays Bayou runs through the middle, and FEMA's effective map puts 85.1% of the super neighborhood in the 1% annual chance zone and most of the rest in the 0.2% zone; 17,480 of the 20,868 residents live on blocks inside the 1% zone, and the guide's reference point is in zone AE. The Memorial Day storm of 2015 dropped nearly 11 inches in three hours on Brays Bayou and flooded more than 400 homes in Meyerland, the Tax Day flood of April 2016 came back, and Harvey in 2017 was worse than both. The Flood Control District adds that flooding reaches beyond any mapped floodplain.
The public works have caught up, partly. Project Brays, which rebuilt the bayou's channel and bridges, broke ground in 1993 and was completed in 2022. The Meyergrove detention basin at the Loop opened in January 2025 with 80 acre-feet of storage, and a second phase was approved that October. None of it changes the FEMA map on its own. The street shows height instead: by 2018 new houses were going up several feet above the base flood elevation, and the association keeps policies on structure height, skirting, impervious coverage and stormwater detention.
Deed restrictions, not zoning, set what a lot can become. Houston has no zoning. Each Meyerland section got its own restrictions as it opened, so there are 22 sets, and the Meyerland Community Improvement Association is modernizing them; Section 2 saw a draft in May 2026. No City historic district reaches the area. Owners lived in 54% of the occupied homes in 2020.
The price is a ZIP code's, and the tax is the city's standard stack. Zillow's August 2026 figure for ZIP code 77096, which is larger than Meyerland, was $434,316, up 1.8% on the year. This is a Harris County, City of Houston and Houston ISD address, so the eight units add to 2.12522 per $100 on the 2025 rates, and at Zillow's figure a homestead owes about $6,167 a year and the same house without the exemption about $9,230; the arithmetic is on the Houston page. Flood insurance is a separate premium. Route 4 runs along Beechnut every 15 minutes and Route 68 along Braeswood every 30.
- Pull the FEMA panel for the lot and ask for an elevation certificate
- Ask in writing whether water entered the house in 2015, 2016 or Harvey, and what was raised afterwards
- Find the lot's section and read its deed restrictions and the building policies before planning a rebuild
- Confirm the elementary, middle and high school zones in Houston ISD's locator: the area splits across seven elementary zones
- Price flood insurance before offering, since a homeowners policy does not cover rising water
How Meyerland got here
- 1890sJoseph F. Meyer, whose family came to Houston soon after the Civil War, starts buying land in southwest Houston until he holds more than 6,000 acres.
- 1954The Meyerland Community Improvement Association is incorporated as a Texas nonprofit on 24 September.
- 1955In the spring George Meyer opens 1,200 acres of former rice fields as a subdivision of single-family homes; Vice President Richard Nixon cuts the ribbon at a Parade of Homes in the 5100 block of Jackwood. Each section gets its own number and deed restrictions. Bellaire High School opens the same year.
- 1957Meyerland Plaza opens in October with a celebration billed as "Around the Shopping World in 80 Acres".
- 1958Lovett Elementary opens in September, and the Meyerland Club opens on 24 May.
- 1959Johnston Junior High opens; it is now Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School. Kolter Elementary follows in 1960 and Herod Elementary in 1961.
- 1983Record flooding along Brays Bayou in September floods about 1,000 homes and other structures.
- 1992On 21 May the Houston ISD board keeps Meyerland in the Bellaire High School zone after a draft had shown it moving to Westbury High.
- 1993Work starts on the federal Brays Bayou flood project, Project Brays, at the Beltway 8 detention basin.
- 1996The Meyerland Club closes and is sold to the Jewish Community Center, which redevelops it as the Merfish Teen Center.
- 2001Tropical Storm Allison drops more than 20 inches in five days on the Brays Bayou watershed.
- 2015On Memorial Day more than 6,000 structures flood in the Buffalo and Brays watersheds, with nearly 11 inches in three hours on Brays Bayou; Wikipedia counts more than 400 homes in Meyerland.
- 2016The Tax Day flood of April brings 12 to 16 inches in 12 hours across the county, and Meyerland floods again.
- 2017Hurricane Harvey floods Meyerland worst of the three; by Wikipedia's account one in thirteen Jewish families there had its house flooded.
- 2020The census counts 20,868 residents in the super neighborhood. Kolter Elementary, rebuilt after Harvey, reopens.
- 2022The Flood Control District completes Project Brays, a year after the channel work from the Ship Channel to Fondren Road.
- 2025The first phase of the Meyergrove Stormwater Detention Basin, between Brays Bayou and North Braeswood at the Loop, is dedicated on 31 January: 80 acre-feet for $19 million. On 22 October City Council approves the agreement for a second phase of about 8.1 acre-feet.
- 2026The association consults Section 2 owners in May on a modernized draft of their deed restrictions, part of an effort to bring the 22 sets up to date.
Two City parks inside the neighborhood, and a bayou rebuilt for floods
The City keeps two parks inside Meyerland. Godwin Park, 8.2 acres on Rutherglen Drive beside Kolter Elementary, has the Godwin Community Center, a lighted sports field, a baseball diamond and a covered basketball court. Meyerland Park, 6.3 acres on Jason Street, is where the neighborhood's Little League began in 1957. The larger parks are a drive away: Hermann Park, pictured, is about 13 km northeast past the Medical Center and is not in Meyerland.
What the map does not show: how the bayou now looks. Project Brays rebuilt the channel and its bridges, including those at Hillcroft Avenue and Chimney Rock Road, and the Meyergrove basin at the Loop added trails and benches around its storage; this guide has no photograph of either.
Elsewhere in Houston, not Meyerland
24 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 24 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are computed from the population-weighted center of the super neighborhood's 2020 census blocks, near Braeswood and Chimney Rock, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model: honest ranges, not routed times.
Every gym within reach
The Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center on South Braeswood, open to members of any background, has an aquatics center, a fitness center, tennis and gymnastics. The City's Godwin Community Center is in Godwin Park, and a full YMCA branch, the Weekley Family YMCA, is on Stella Link Road east of the Loop.
- Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center, 5601 South Braeswood Boulevard: about 0.7 km
- Godwin Community Center, 5101 Rutherglen Drive: about 1.6 km, phone 713-726-7114
- Weekley Family YMCA, 7101 Stella Link Road: about 6.3 km, from 5 a.m. on weekdays
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Godwin Community Center open | The City of Houston's community center in Godwin Park at 5101 Rutherglen Drive, a 3,654-square-foot building from 1960 on the City's layer, with the park's lighted sports field, baseball diamond and covered basketball court outside; phone 713-726-7114. | 4–7 min |
| Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center open | 5601 South Braeswood Boulevard, inside the super neighborhood and open to members of any background: an aquatics center, a fitness center, a tennis center and a gymnastics center. | 3–5 min |
| Weekley Family YMCA open | The YMCA of Greater Houston branch at 7101 Stella Link Road, east of the Loop: an outdoor pool, a splash pad, a gymnasium, a steam room and pickleball. Open 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday, to 8 p.m. Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. | 9–13 min |
| Meyerland Park open | The free option: the City's 6.3-acre park on Jason Street, and Godwin Park's fields and courts on Rutherglen Drive. | 4–5 min |
The free option is the City's two parks, Godwin's fields and courts and Meyerland Park's 6.3 acres, and the trails around the Meyergrove detention basin at the Loop.
Bellaire High for three in four, and the elementary depends on the bank
Schools are the Houston Independent School District's. On its 2026-27 boundaries 74% of residents are zoned to Bellaire High, in the City of Bellaire, rated A, 94, for 2026; in 1992 the board kept Meyerland in that zone after a draft moved it to Westbury. The elementary follows the bayou: Lovett, rated A, 91, north of it, Kolter, A, 90, south of it, and Herod, B, 83, in the west, where the guide's reference point is. Half the residents are zoned to Meyerland Middle, a performing and visual arts school rated B, 86, and 39%, including the reference point, to Fondren Middle, rated C, 79.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Herod Elementary School | Houston Independent School District | 5627 Jason Street, at the edge of Meyerland Section 10, opened in 1961 and rebuilt in 2011. On Houston ISD's 2026-27 attendance boundaries it is the zone the guide's reference point falls in, holding 28% of the residents. Lovett Elementary, north of the bayou, takes 20% and was rated A, 91, for 2026; Kolter, south of it, 16% and A, 90; four more zones share the rest. Herod was rated B, 83, for 2026 and B, 84, for 2025, with 68.9% of students economically disadvantaged. |
| Meyerland Middle School | Houston Independent School District | 10410 Manhattan Drive, opened in 1959 as Johnston Junior High and now Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School: the zoned middle school for 52% of residents, rated B, 86, for 2026 with 55.7% economically disadvantaged. The reference point itself is in the Fondren Middle School zone, 39% of residents, at 6333 South Braeswood Boulevard, rated C, 79, for 2026 after C, 72, with 99.5% economically disadvantaged. |
| Bellaire High School | Houston Independent School District | 5100 Maple Street in the City of Bellaire, opened in 1955: the zoned high school at the reference point and for 74% of residents, and in 1992 the board kept Meyerland in its zone. Rated A, 94, for 2026 and A, 92, for 2025, with a 94.7 graduation rate component and 55.5% economically disadvantaged. The other 26% of residents are zoned to Westbury High. Houston ISD also runs magnet and choice seats, so a zone is a right to a seat, not an obligation. |
Check the exact address in Houston ISD's school locator before you commit. Seven elementary zones and four middle school zones cross the super neighborhood, and a quarter of residents are zoned to Westbury High rather than Bellaire. Houston ISD also runs magnet and choice seats, so the zone is a right to a seat, not the only option.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The Harris Central Appraisal District values every house as it stands on 1 January
- The year's tax bills are due by 31 January; penalty and interest begin on 1 February
- Highs near 18 °C and lows near 8 °C at Hobby Airport, with about two nights at or below freezing on the 1991 to 2020 normal
- The World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest opens the rodeo season at NRG Park, east on the Loop; it ran from 26 to 28 February in 2026
- 72 mm of rain on the normal, the driest month
- Highs near 20 °C
- The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo runs from 2 to 21 March 2027 at NRG Park, about 9 km east along Loop 610
- Highs near 23 °C and 83 mm of rain
- The Tax Day flood of April 2016 put 12 to 16 inches of rain on the county in 12 hours, the second of Meyerland's three floods in three years
- The City's Tour de Houston bike ride is on 4 April 2027
- Highs near 26 °C and 104 mm of rain
- 15 May is the deadline to protest the appraisal district's value, or 30 days after the notice is mailed if that is later
- The Memorial Day flood of May 2015 brought nearly 11 inches in three hours on Brays Bayou; another Memorial Day storm in 2016 flooded more than 400 structures in the county
- 138 mm of rain and about seven days reaching 32 °C (90 °F) on the normal
- The Atlantic hurricane season opens on 1 June and runs to 30 November
- 155 mm of rain, the wettest month on the normal, and about 21 days reaching 32 °C
- The appraisal review board holds Saturday protest hearings in June and July
- The City's Freedom Over Texas celebration is on Buffalo Bayou downtown on 4 July
- Highs near 34 °C, with about 26 days reaching 32 °C
- Hurricane Harvey's floods at the end of August 2017 were the worst of Meyerland's three
- School starts at Herod, Lovett, Kolter, Meyerland Middle, Fondren and Bellaire High
- Highs near 34 °C and 138 mm of rain
- The Atlantic hurricane season peaks around 10 September; the Brays Bayou flood of September 1983 reached about 1,000 homes and other structures
- The taxing units adopt their 2026 rates; this guide stays on the 2025 rates, 2.12522 per $100 before exemptions
- 146 mm of rain on the normal
- The Meyerland Community Improvement Association's board meets on 15 October 2026 at its office on West Bellfort Avenue and on Zoom, with board elections for 2026-27 coming up
- Meyerland Plaza opened in October 1957
- 147 mm of rain, as wet as June on the normal
- The Jewish Book and Arts Festival runs from 1 to 15 November 2026 at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center on South Braeswood
- The 77th H-E-B Thanksgiving Day Parade is downtown at 9 a.m. on 26 November 2026
- Hurricane season closes on 30 November; highs near 23 °C
- Deck the Hall opens the holiday season at City Hall on 5 December 2026
- Highs near 19 °C, and a freezing night is rare, under one a month on the normal
Every photograph in this guide's library is above
This library holds 4 photographs and the page has already printed all of them, each once. The credits are in the footer.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Meyerland, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Houston library.