Census-designated place · Harris County, Texas

Highlands, Texas

Highlands is a census-designated place in Harris County, Texas, part of the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metro area. It has 6,335 residents. Highlands, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 11 out of 100 (very low), ranking #13,899 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Texas it ranks #705 of 1,016 cities and towns. It ranks best on average weekly wage (high), public transit commuters (high) and new business applications (high). It ranks worst on uninsured residents (under 65) (high), public libraries (low) and property crime rate (high).

11Very low

Quality-of-life score: #13,899 of 15,651 cities and towns
Texas: #705 of 1,016 in TX
Population: 6,335 (2020-2024)
Land area: 5 mi²
Density: 1,297.8 /mi²
FIPS code: 4833836

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety9#14,264/15,637
Economy32#10,690/15,631
Housing29#10,613/14,977
Health51#7,608/15,609
Healthcare37#9,885/15,650
Environment1#15,300/15,453
Education8#14,402/15,649
Infrastructure51#7,728/15,650
Community8#14,316/15,651
Leisure & amenities30#10,881/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Highlands, Texas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Harris County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Average weekly wage · high$1,759
95/100Texas $1,499United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsHarris County value
Public transit commuters · high4.9%
93/100Texas 0.9%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301High uncertainty
New business applications · high19.8 /1k
89/100Texas 17.2 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauHarris County value
Distance to an emergency room · low3.8 mi
83/100Texas 5.5 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesHarris County value
Comfortable days · high31.0%
83/100Texas 30.7%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationHarris County value
Distance to an airport · low13 mi
80/100Texas 33 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauHarris County value

Weaknesses

Uninsured residents (under 65) · high34.0%
1/100Texas 19.1%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Public libraries · low0.2 /10k
2/100Texas 0.3 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesHarris County value
Property crime rate · high2,910 /100k
2/100Texas 1,786 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationHarris County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high10.1 µg/m³
3/100Texas 8.9 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyHarris County value
Violent crime rate · high630 /100k
4/100Texas 345 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationHarris County value
Days with unhealthy air · high10.4%
4/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyHarris County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationFalling
7,720 (2015-2019) → 6,335 (2020-2024)
−18%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Home price to income ratioWorsening
1.9× (2015-2019) → 4.1× (2020-2024)
+113%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Uninsured residents (under 65)Worsening
19.7% (2015-2019) → 34.0% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
38.1% (2015-2019) → 49.9% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Poverty rateImproving
19.2% (2015-2019) → 9.8% (2020-2024)
−9.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Child poverty rateImproving
24.7% (2015-2019) → 16.3% (2020-2024)
−8.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Highlands, Texas improved on 0 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 10 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined2

Uninsured+14 points19.7% → 34.0%
Price / income+2.2×1.9× → 4.1×

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Highlands, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	25.3 min2015-2019	30.7 min2020-2024	+5.4 min	Within the margin of error	9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.7%2015-2019	11.3%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	25%
Broadband subscriptions	84.8%2015-2019	91.6%2020-2024	+6.8 points	Within the margin of error	43%
High school diploma or higher	79.1%2015-2019	79.7%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	40%
Home price to income ratio	1.9×2015-2019	4.1×2020-2024	+2.2×	Declined	3%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4032015-2019	0.4702020-2024	+0.067	Within the margin of error	11%
Median household income	$59,0522015-2019	$52,1672020-2024	−12%	Within the margin of error	3%
Poverty rate	19.2%2015-2019	9.8%2020-2024	−9.3 points	Within the margin of error	92%
Rent as share of income	27.7%2015-2019	30.0%2020-2024	+2.3 points	Within the margin of error	37%
Rent-burdened households	38.1%2015-2019	49.9%2020-2024	+12 points	Within the margin of error	20%
Unemployment rate	13.9%2015-2019	10.1%2020-2024	−3.8 points	Within the margin of error	93%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	19.7%2015-2019	34.0%2020-2024	+14 points	Declined	1%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Highlands, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Highlands, Texas in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Highlands, Texas itself moved −24.3 points in standing on average over the same 9 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

6,335 residents (±1,418)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

2,240 households (±332)

Highlands, Texas
Texas share

Under $25k11%†257
$25k–50k37%†837
$50k–75k17%†

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

2,240 households (±332)

Highlands, Texas
Texas share

Own80%1,802
Rent20%†438

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

2,386 workers (±534)

Highlands, Texas
Texas share

Drive alone75%1,792
Carpool15%†362
Public transit4.9%†117

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Harris County, the county holding most of Highlands's residents.

Harris County has 111,215 employer establishments, 227 for every 10,000 residents (0.91× the US rate of 248; 1.04× Texas's), with 2,182,164 paid employees at an average annual pay of $80,572. The Census Bureau also counts 605,074 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 111,215; 605,074 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 227; US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees: 2,182,164
Average annual pay: $80,572; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Harris County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	10,905	22.3	1.07×About typical	129,335	$64,823	25,136
Restaurants and other eating places	8,852	18.1	0.98×About typical	195,911	$23,182	4,368
Lessors of real estate	5,455	11.1	0.90×About typical	31,717	$83,945	41,015
Specialty trade contractors	4,728	9.7	0.62×Fewer than typical	93,890	$72,159	48,336
Offices of physicians	4,110	8.4	1.30×More than typical	41,464	$112,403	4,277
Limited-service restaurants	3,958	8.1	1.01×About typical	87,661	$19,853	1,311
Management, scientific and technical consulting	3,649	7.5	1.11×About typical	30,505	$125,328	18,617
Full-service restaurants	3,574	7.3	0.95×About typical	92,715	$26,713	2,033
Legal services	3,363	6.9	1.28×More than typical	26,255	$142,429	5,608
Construction of buildings	2,395	4.9	0.65×Fewer than typical	27,129	$95,725	22,613
Architectural, engineering and related services	2,369	4.8	1.39×More than typical	65,882	$123,074	4,792
Offices of dentists	2,302	4.7	1.17×About typical	14,168	$53,907	1,426

Rank places for an industry Open Harris County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 4,896,507 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

No federal contract obligations recorded here in FY2026.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Highlands is mostly in Harris County.

See federal money in Harris County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Highlands, Texas is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Harris County33100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX34

Other cities and towns in Harris County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/4833836

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends