The question worth answering first · Prices August 2026, rents September 2026

Renting vs buying in Houston

The Greater Houston MLS median single-family price is down 1.5% on the year and Zillow's index of every home in the city down 2.3%, and the city's median rent is down 2.3% on Apartment List's count. Here is the arithmetic, including the property tax that takes eight taxing units and their homestead exemptions to work out and the mortgage insurance that stops in the middle of the model, and then the part the arithmetic misses.

Calculator

The short answer

Half the single-family houses sold across Greater Houston in August 2026 went for more than $330,000 and half for less, down 1.5% on a year earlier. That is the region the Houston Association of REALTORS reports, not the city alone. A three-bedroom rents for about $2,100. Run those against each other at a 2% appreciation assumption and the answer turns on how long you stay and on the mortgage rate, which was 7.03% on the 24 September survey.

The two price measures are far apart. The MLS median, which counts the houses that sold across the region, is down 1.5%; Zillow's index, which models every home in the city rather than the ones that sold, is down 2.3% and sits far lower, at $261,740. The city's median rent is down 2.3% on Apartment List's count. Texas law guarantees nothing either way: a city may adopt rent control only after a disaster and with the governor's approval.

The tax is the cost that decides it. Texas has no income tax and no transfer tax, and it collects instead through the property tax. On the median house a homesteaded owner pays about $4,391 a year, 1.33% of the value, after the school district's $140,000 exemption and the others'. Unlike the interest, it does not shrink as the loan is paid down, and it does not end when the loan does.

Getting in is cheap and getting out is not. A buyer pays no transfer tax and the seller customarily buys the owner's title policy, so closing runs to about $1,630 plus lender fees. Selling costs about 6.3% once the commission and that title policy are counted, or roughly $20,790 on this house, which is the shape that punishes a short stay.

The calculator below opens with real Houston figures and every one of them is editable. Three warnings: the property tax rate is set to 1.33% of market value, the homesteaded rate, not the 2.12522 per $100 the eight units levy before exemptions, so if you will not live in the house, set it to 2.13%; the insurance figure has no flood policy in it; and below 20% down the owner is charged private mortgage insurance every month until the balance reaches 78% of the price, at which point it stops. All three are explained in the questions below.

Your situation

Compare like for like: the rent on somewhere you would actually be willing to live, not the cheapest listing in the city. Drop the price to around $300,000 and the rent to a one-bedroom figure to compare apartments instead, and put the condo fee in under Assumptions.

20.0% down. The renter starts with this plus closing costs: $67,630: invested instead.

The single biggest lever. Buying costs a lot to enter and a lot to exit, and only time amortizes that away.

Assumptions: every one of them editable

The Greater Houston median single-family sale price is down 1.5% year over year, on 7,100 sales. HAR reports townhouses and condominiums together: their median, on 405 sales, is down 7.1% at $195,000, and Zillow's condominium index for the city is down 6.0%. Try a negative number for a condo.

What the renter earns on the down payment they never spent. This is the comparison's hidden lever. A renter who spends it instead of investing it does far worse than this model shows.

Texas cities may not adopt rent control unless the city council finds a housing emergency caused by a disaster and the governor approves the ordinance, under section 214.902 of the Local Government Code. Nothing caps an increase at renewal, and no statute sets a notice period for one: a month-to-month tenancy can be ended, and so repriced, on a month's notice under Property Code section 91.001 unless the lease says otherwise. The one statutory limit is on retaliation: a landlord may not raise the rent within six months of a tenant's good-faith repair request or complaint. Any rent-growth figure here is a forecast with no legal ceiling behind it.

Roofs, furnaces, fences, hail. Averaged out it is a real cost even in the years nothing breaks.

Zero for a house with no association. In Houston many houses do have one: the Census Bureau counts 45.8% of the city's owners paying a homeowners' or condominium association fee, at a median of $144 a month, most of it the dues of deed-restricted subdivisions. A condominium fee carries the building's insurance, roof and reserves and runs well above that.

Commission and legal fees, charged against the price you eventually sell at. The owner's net worth below is after this comes off.

Net worth, side by side

The buyer's line is home value minus what is still owed minus the cost of selling, plus anything they invested in months when owning was cheaper. The renter's line is one portfolio: the down payment and closing costs they never spent, plus the monthly difference whenever renting is cheaper.

Renting stays ahead for the whole 30 yearsTwo lines over 30 years: the owner's net worth and the renter's. The year-by-year figures are in the table below.$0k$432k$864k51015202530Years
OwnerRenter
Show the year-by-year figures
Year by year, what the owner and the renter are worth
YearHome valueOwedOwnerRenterDifference
1$336,600$261,334$54,060$81,838−$27,777
2$343,332$258,474$63,228$96,577−$33,348
3$350,199$255,406$72,730$111,870−$39,140
4$357,203$252,116$82,583$127,743−$45,161
5$364,347$248,587$92,806$144,223−$51,417
6$371,634$244,802$103,419$161,336−$57,916
7$379,066$240,741$114,444$179,111−$64,667
8$386,648$236,386$125,903$197,579−$71,676
9$394,381$231,715$137,820$216,771−$78,951
10$402,268$226,704$150,221$236,721−$86,500
11$410,314$221,330$163,134$257,464−$94,330
12$418,520$215,566$176,587$279,036−$102,449
13$426,890$209,383$190,614$301,476−$110,863
14$435,428$202,751$205,245$324,825−$119,579
15$444,137$195,637$220,519$349,124−$128,605
16$453,019$188,007$236,472$374,418−$137,946
17$462,080$179,823$253,146$400,754−$147,608
18$471,321$171,044$270,584$428,180−$157,597
19$480,748$161,629$288,832$456,749−$167,917
20$490,363$151,529$307,941$486,513−$178,572
21$500,170$140,696$327,963$517,530−$189,567
22$510,173$129,077$348,955$549,859−$200,903
23$520,377$116,614$370,979$583,562−$212,583
24$530,784$103,246$394,099$618,704−$224,605
25$541,400$88,908$418,384$655,355−$236,970
26$552,228$73,528$443,910$693,585−$249,676
27$563,273$57,031$470,755$733,472−$262,717
28$574,538$39,337$499,005$775,094−$276,089
29$586,029$20,358$528,751$818,534−$289,783
30$597,749$0$560,091$863,881−$303,790
After 30 years
Renting stays ahead for the whole 30 years
On these numbers the money invested elsewhere stays ahead of the equity.

Renting stays ahead for the whole 30 years. Owning costs $3,003 a month in the first year against $2,114 to rent.

Owning, month one$3,003
Renting, month one$2,114
Cash needed up front$67,630
Mortgage payment$1,762
Owner net worth, year 30$560,091
Renter net worth, year 30$863,881
Owning: money not recovered$1,044,126
Renting: rent paid$1,039,113
  • The rate is fixed for the life of the loan, so there is no renewal to model, but nothing here credits you for refinancing into a lower one either.
  • Neither household is credited with tax on their investments, and the buyer's gain on a principal residence is tax-free while the renter's portfolio may not be.

An estimate from published figures, not a lender quote.

Questions people actually ask

Is it worth buying in Houston right now?

It depends more on the house than on the market, and on which market you mean. The Houston Association of REALTORS' median single-family sale price for Greater Houston, the whole region its MLS covers, was $330,000 in August 2026, down 1.5% on the year, while Zillow's model of a typical home value inside the city itself, which counts every home rather than the ones that sold, is $261,740, down 2.3%. On rents, Apartment List has the city's median rent down 2.3% on the year and Zillow's observed rent index down 0.13%. At 7.03% on a 30-year loan, the mortgage on the median house with 20% down is $1,762 a month before tax and insurance, against a three-bedroom rent of about $2,100. The property tax and the insurance are what make the owner's month so much heavier here: about $366 a month in tax even after the homestead exemptions, and a premium before any flood policy.

How long do you have to stay for buying to beat renting in Houston?

Longer than the low closing costs suggest, because the cost of selling is where a Texas sale takes its money. Getting in is cheap: no transfer tax, no tax on the loan, and a buyer's share of the title company's charges that comes to roughly $1,630 with the inspection and the county clerk's recording. Getting out costs about 6.3%: around 5.5% of commission, and the owner's title policy the seller customarily buys for the buyer, $1,916 at this price on the state's promulgated rates. On a $330,000 house that is about $20,790. On the defaults below owning never catches renting at all: the renter is ahead in every one of the 30 years the model runs. The friction alone is a shorter and different answer: at a 2% appreciation assumption those two ends take about 3.5 years to earn back, almost all of it the cost of selling. Change the price, the rent or the appreciation rate and the calculator moves the crossover with them.

Does Texas have rent control?

No, and Houston cannot adopt it in any ordinary year. Section 214.902 of the Local Government Code lets a Texas city establish rent control only if its council finds a housing emergency caused by a disaster and the governor approves the ordinance. Nothing caps an increase at renewal, and no statute sets a notice period for one: a month-to-month tenancy can be ended, and so repriced, on a month's notice unless the lease says otherwise. The one limit is on retaliation, which forbids a rent increase within six months of a tenant's good-faith repair request. Rents here are down 2.3% on one of the two indexes this page cites and down 0.13% on the other, which is a market condition rather than a protection. If you are renting long-term, set the rent-growth input above the 2% default and see what it does to the answer.

What are the closing costs on a Houston home?

For a buyer, low, and for the same reason as anywhere in Texas: there is no transfer tax to pay, and since 2016 the state constitution forbids one. A title company, not an attorney, closes the sale, and the title premiums are promulgated by the Texas Department of Insurance, so every insurer charges the same. The owner's policy on a $330,000 house is $1,916 and the seller customarily pays it, though the state's contract leaves it to a checkbox. The buyer pays the lender's policy, $100 when it is issued with the owner's, plus its endorsements; half the title company's escrow fee; the county clerk's recording; an inspection; and either a new survey or the seller's affidavit that the old one still holds. Then the lender's own charges and the escrow account for taxes and insurance, which in Texas is large because the tax is. The $1,630 default above covers the title, recording and inspection costs and leaves the lender's out, because those vary by lender rather than by state.

How much do you need for a down payment in Houston?

Legally, nothing sets a floor: this is a lender's decision rather than a rule. Conventional loans start at 3% down and FHA at 3.5%. On a $330,000 house, 3% is $9,900 and 20% is $66,000. What the low end costs you is private mortgage insurance: at 3% down, about $232 a month until the balance reaches 78% of the price, which takes 12.6 years and about $35,000. At 5% down it is $175 a month and $24,900. There is also help. The Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation and the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs both pair a 30-year loan with up to 5% of the loan toward the down payment, and the City of Houston's own Homebuyer Assistance Program offers first-time buyers at or below 80% of area median income up to $75,000 as a no-interest forgivable loan, on a home inside the city limits that pays City taxes, with no maximum price, provided they live in it for eight years.

Why does this page use 1.33% property tax when the Houston tax rate is 2.12522 per $100?

Because the rate per $100 is charged on a value the exemptions have already cut, and each taxing unit cuts it differently. A house in the City of Houston and Houston ISD, in Harris County, is taxed by eight units: Harris County 0.38096, Harris County Flood Control District 0.04966, Port of Houston Authority 0.0059, Harris County Hospital District 0.18761, Harris County Department of Education 0.004798, City of Houston 0.51919, Houston ISD 0.8783, Houston City College 0.098802, per $100 of taxable value for 2025. Houston ISD first takes off the state's general homestead exemption of $140,000, a flat amount, so it takes a larger share off a cheaper house, and then a further 20% of the value of its own. Houston City College takes off 17%, and the county, the Flood Control District, the Port, the Hospital District, the Department of Education and the City 20% each. On a homesteaded house at $330,000 the eight lines add up to about $4,391 a year, which is 1.33% of the value. Without the exemptions, which is what a landlord pays and what a buyer who never files pays, the same house would owe about $7,013. The seller's tax bill is not a guide to yours. A homestead's taxable value may rise no more than 10% a year while the same owner holds it, and the cap lapses on a sale, so a long-tenured owner can be taxed on far less than the appraisal district's market value while you are taxed on all of it from your first year. The exemptions are not automatic either: you apply to the appraisal district, and you can claim a prorated exemption for the year you buy only if the seller did not have one.

Does this calculator favor renting or buying?

Neither, by construction. Both households start with exactly the same cash. Whichever of them has the cheaper month invests the difference. Most calculators credit only the renter with that, which quietly tilts every result toward renting. The buyer's net worth is also shown after the cost of selling, so it is money they could actually walk away with rather than a paper figure. Private mortgage insurance is charged to the owner month by month and then removed the month the lender is legally required to drop it, rather than being averaged away.

What is the calculator not accounting for?

Federal tax, mainly, and it cuts both ways. Mortgage interest and property tax are deductible if you itemize, and whether itemizing beats the standard deduction depends on the household: first-year interest on the median loan is about $18,500 and property tax about $4,391. A principal residence's gain is excluded up to $250,000 single or $500,000 married under section 121, and the renter's portfolio is not. None of that is modeled, and none of it is advice. Four Houston things it also cannot price: flood insurance, which a homeowners policy does not include and which is priced on the address; the appraisal district's value, which you can protest every spring and which the 10% cap holds down from the second year of the exemption; the rate itself, which each of the eight units sets every autumn; and the school district, since Houston ISD serves 312 square miles of a city with 641 square miles of land, and the rest is in other districts with their own rates. None of this includes a municipal utility district. The Harris Central Appraisal District lists more than 400 of them, levying a median of about 0.54 per $100 in 2025, which on a newer subdivision can be a large share of the whole bill. The typical older address inside the city pays none, but a newer one on the city's edges or in its extraterritorial jurisdiction often does, and the appraisal district's record of which units tax the address is the first thing to check.

Which figures here are estimates

The prices, rents, tax rates, exemptions and title premiums above come from published sources, each one listed below with the period it describes. These do not, or not for the city alone:

  • The benchmark price, which is the Houston Association of REALTORS' median for Greater Houston rather than for the city alone, because the city's own figure could not be retrieved
  • The three-bedroom rent, at $2,100 a month: Apartment List publishes one- and two-bedroom medians only, and $2,100 sits at its three-bedroom listing average and HUD's fair market rent for the metro
  • The condominium fee, at $350 a month: the Census Bureau publishes a median association fee of $144 for Houston owners who pay one, a median dominated by deed-restricted subdivisions
  • Home insurance at $450 a month, between the published Houston averages of $5,391 and $9,095 a year and above the state's $3,489, with no flood policy in it
  • The buyer's half of the title company's escrow fee, at $600, which the state does not set
  • The county clerk's recording fees, at $130, which are the state's estimate rather than Harris County's own schedule
  • The utilities and City fees an owner pays over a renter, at $150 a month
  • Maintenance at 1% of the home's value a year
  • Every forward-looking rate: appreciation, rent growth, cost inflation and the return on the invested difference
  • The private mortgage insurance rate, which is priced per borrower by credit score rather than published as a schedule

If you want the payment side on its own, with the biweekly plan, prepayments and the month mortgage insurance stops, the mortgage calculator covers it in more detail. To work out where rather than whether, start with the neighborhood guides.

Sources

  1. HAR.com reports more choices and steady prices in Houston's August housing market · My Neighborhood News, republishing the Houston Association of REALTORS' August 2026 release · retrieved
    Supports: 7,100 single-family sales in Greater Houston in August 2026, down 11.5% from August 2025, A median single-family sale price of $330,000, down 1.5% or $5,000 from August 2025, and an average of $426,760, up 1.2%, A median of $330,000 for existing single-family homes, down 2.9%, 38,947 active single-family listings and a 5.3-month supply, 405 townhouse and condominium sales, unchanged, at a median of $195,000, down 7.1%, and an 8.8-month supply
  2. Greater Houston area home sales on the decline · Community Impact · retrieved
    Supports: From the August 2026 monthly housing update of the Houston Association of Realtors, published 16 September 2026, Single-family sales down 11.5% and the median single-family price down $5,000 to $330,000
  3. Monthly update: home sales, August 2026 · Greater Houston Partnership · retrieved
    Supports: 59,843 single-family sales in the region year to date through August 2026, according to the Houston Association of Realtors, A 12-month average of the median MLS sale price of roughly $331,000 in August 2026, down about one percent on a year earlier
  4. Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: A typical home value of $261,740 for the city of Houston (region 39051) in August 2026, $267,880 in August 2025, so a fall of 2.3% over the year
  5. Zillow Home Value Index, single-family and condominium series, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: A typical single-family value of $267,956 in the city of Houston in August 2026, against $274,277 a year earlier, down 2.3%, A typical condominium value of $131,763 in the same month, against $140,224, down 6.0%, from the condominium file at https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zhvi/City_zhvi_uc_condo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv
  6. Houston Rent Report, October 2026 · Apartment List · retrieved
    Supports: A median rent of $1,120 for a one-bedroom and $1,327 for a two-bedroom in the city of Houston, and $1,269 across all bedroom sizes, Rents flat over September and down 2.3% over the past 12 months, A metro-wide median of $1,335, 5.0% above the city's
  7. Apartments for rent in Houston, TX: average rent · Apartment List · retrieved
    Supports: Average listed rents of $1,299 and up for a studio, $1,309 and up for one bedroom, $1,630 and up for two, and $2,102 and up for three or more
  8. FY 2026 fair market rents, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX HUD Metro FMR Area · United States Department of Housing and Urban Development · retrieved
    Supports: FY 2026 fair market rents of $1,323 for one bedroom, $1,573 for two and $2,116 for three, as gross rents including utilities
  9. Zillow Observed Rent Index, all homes plus multifamily, smoothed, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: An observed rent index of $1,542 for the city of Houston in August 2026, against $1,544 a year earlier, down 0.13%
  10. Jurisdictions: homestead exemptions and tax rates · Harris Central Appraisal District · retrieved
    Supports: 2025 rates per $100: Harris County 0.380960, Harris County Flood Control District 0.049660, Harris County Port of Houston Authority 0.005900, Harris County Hospital District 0.187610, Harris County Department of Education 0.004798, City of Houston 0.519190, Houston ISD 0.878300, Houston City College 0.098802, Homestead exemptions of 20% for every one of those units except Houston City College, which grants 17%, and a flat $140,000 plus 20% for Houston ISD, No 2026 rate yet for any of the eight, from the table's data at https://hcad.org/actions/hcad-module/default/jurisdictions, More than 400 active utility districts in the appraisal district's list, at a median 2025 rate of about 0.54 per $100
  11. Tax rates · Harris County Tax Office · retrieved
    Supports: The same 2025 adopted rates with their maintenance and operations and debt parts: Harris County 0.33696 and 0.044, the Flood Control District 0.03826 and 0.0114, the Hospital District 0.17876 and 0.00885, the City of Houston 0.40326 and 0.11593, Houston ISD 0.7116 and 0.1667, and the Port's whole rate as debt, The City of Houston's rate at 0.51919 for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 tax years, 2026 rates already listed for Harris County (0.4175), the Flood Control District (0.05266), the Hospital District (0.19528) and the Port (0.00603), and none yet for the City, Houston ISD or the college
  12. FY2027 adopted budget: General Fund revenues · City of Houston Finance Department · retrieved
    Supports: Taxable values within the City set by the Harris, Montgomery or Fort Bend central appraisal district, A City tax rate of 51.919 cents per $100 for tax year 2025, and an estimate of the same for 2026, Proposition 1 of November 2004 capping the annual increase in total property tax revenue at the lower of inflation plus population growth or 4.5%, and Proposition H of November 2006 raising the limit by $90 million, Tax bills sent by the Harris County Tax Office around mid-November and due by 31 January
  13. FY2027 adopted budget: letter from the Mayor · City of Houston · retrieved
    Supports: Houston has operated for more than a decade under two revenue caps, which forced a nearly 20% reduction in the tax rate
  14. FY2026 adopted budget: letter from the Mayor · City of Houston · retrieved
    Supports: No other large Texas city is burdened by both a locally imposed revenue cap and the state cap or must fund solid waste operations without dedicated revenues
  15. Development regulations · City of Houston Planning and Development Department · retrieved
    Supports: The City of Houston does not have zoning, and its codes do not address land use, Development governed by ordinance codes on how property can be subdivided, chiefly Chapter 42, within the city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction
  16. Deed restrictions · City of Houston Legal Department · retrieved
    Supports: The City's authority to enforce residential deed restrictions under Chapter 212 of the Local Government Code and sections 10-551 through 10-555 of the City Code
  17. Harris County's flooding history · Harris County Flood Control District · retrieved
    Supports: A major flood somewhere in Harris County about every two years, mostly in areas developed before current regulations, More flood insurance funds paid in Harris County than in any other community in the National Flood Insurance Program
  18. Hurricane Harvey frequently asked questions · Harris County Flood Control District · retrieved
    Supports: Flooding outside the FEMA mapped floodplain, from ponding and overland sheet flow when rainfall overwhelms street drainage, The mapped floodplain is only an estimate of where flooding is predicted to occur from a bayou or creek, The City of Houston as one of the local floodplain administrators for the National Flood Insurance Program
  19. Hurricane Harvey and its impacts on Southeast Texas, 25 to 29 August 2017 · National Weather Service, Houston/Galveston · retrieved
    Supports: Landfall near Port Aransas on 25 August 2017 as a category 4 hurricane, Rainfall of between 4.62 and 56 inches across the area, the highest near Friendswood
  20. Home, flood, wind: which policies do you need? · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved
    Supports: Most home policies do not cover floods; a flood policy covers damage from rising water
  21. Drainage utility charge FAQs · City of Houston, Rebuild Houston · retrieved
    Supports: A residential rate of $0.032 per square foot of impervious surface a year behind a curb and gutter and $0.026 on an open ditch, $48.00 a year, $4.00 a month, on 1,500 square feet behind a curb and gutter
  22. Property tax exemptions · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: A school district residence homestead exemption of $140,000 under Tax Code section 11.13(b), Local option homestead exemptions of up to 20% of appraised value, and not less than $5,000, under section 11.13(n), A prorated exemption in the year of purchase only if the previous owner did not have one
  23. Valuing property: limitation on residence homestead value increases · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: A residence homestead's appraised value may not rise more than 10% a year once the owner has qualified in the preceding and current year
  24. Property tax protests and appeals · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: A protest deadline of 15 May or 30 days after the appraisal district mails the notice of appraised value, whichever is later
  25. Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 24 September 2026 · Freddie Mac · retrieved
    Supports: A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 7.03%, up from 6.95% the week before and 6.30% a year earlier
  26. Texas homeowners insurance market overview · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved
    Supports: A statewide average homeowners premium of $3,489 a year for 2025, from the Texas Statistical Plan for Residential Risks, Paid homeowners losses in 2024 of $4.93 billion from hail and $2.21 billion from wind
  27. How much is homeowners insurance in Houston, TX? · Insure.com · retrieved
    Supports: An average Houston premium of $5,391 a year for $300,000 of dwelling cover, $100,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, updated 27 May 2026, Standard home insurance policies generally exclude flood damage
  28. Texas homeowners insurance · NerdWallet · retrieved
    Supports: An average Houston premium of $9,095 a year and a Texas average of $5,910, for $500,000 of dwelling cover, updated 20 February 2026
  29. Renters insurance in Texas · NerdWallet · retrieved
    Supports: An average Houston renters premium of $167 a year for $30,000 of personal property
  30. Monthly homeowners' association and condominium fee, tables B25142 and B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Houston city · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved
    Supports: A median monthly association fee of $144 among Houston owner-occupied units that pay one, 176,568 of 385,594 owner-occupied units, or 45.8%, paying such a fee, and 31,837 paying $500 or more a month
  31. Homebuyer Assistance Program · City of Houston Housing and Community Development Department · retrieved
    Supports: Up to $75,000 for income-qualified first-time homebuyers, or buyers who have not owned a home in the last three years, at or below 80% of area median income, The home must pay taxes to the City of Houston, A no-interest forgivable loan secured by a lien, fulfilled if the buyer lives in the home for eight years, with a portion repaid on a sale or move before then, No maximum home price, and less than $50,000 in liquid assets
  32. Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2025 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved
    Supports: A population of 2,397,315 for Houston on 1 July 2025, 2,347,346 of them in Harris County, 43,668 in Fort Bend, 6,301 in Montgomery and none in Waller, 17,434 in Bellaire and 15,158 in West University Place
  33. 2025 Gazetteer files: places, Texas · United States Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: A land area of 640.819 square miles and a water area of 31.222 square miles for Houston city
  34. About Houston: education · City of Houston · retrieved
    Supports: Houston ISD serves 312 square miles with 288 schools
  35. Local schools · City of Houston Mayor's Office of Education · retrieved
    Supports: Public school districts in the Houston area including Aldine, Alief, Cypress-Fairbanks, Fort Bend, Houston, Humble, Katy, Klein, Spring and Spring Branch, and North Forest annexed by Houston ISD in 2013
  36. 2025 was a year of transformation and change for HCC · Houston City College · retrieved
    Supports: The college publishing under the name Houston City College

These are estimates built from published figures, not a lender quote, a pre-approval or financial advice. Rates, premiums and state and federal rules change; confirm anything you plan to act on with a mortgage professional and read the sourcing methodology.