Highlands, Texas.
Typical home $220,465 (+0.2% in a year). Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$547 (+90%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $342 +0%
- $220,123$220,465 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $25,854 +13%
- $194,611$220,465 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Highlands$1,157
- Texas$1,556
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 28 years.
Typical home values in Highlands, TX rose 0.2% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Highlands, Harris County, Texas
Highlands, in Harris County, had 8,612 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $52,167 a year and half less, against $74,983 across Harris County; 10% of its people live below the poverty line. 80% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 20% are rented. Unemployment in Harris County was 5.0% in August 2026, and the county had 0.5% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Highlands is a community east of Houston in Harris County, where most homes are lived in by their owners. Incomes run below the county's, and fewer adults hold a four-year degree than is typical. Winters are mild, summers are hot, snow is rare, and the year brings a lot of rain.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in manufacturing and in the building trades. Among the larger workplaces in Highlands are ZXP Technologies, FoodTown and Plastipak-Highlands. Commutes tend to be long, and very few people work from home.
Things to do. Buffalo Bayou, a river, is a short drive away. A longer drive brings the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, along with the Houston Zoo and Lake Houston, a reservoir for time on the water.
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- 2,240households
- 11%of adults have a degree
- 10%below the poverty line
- 31 mintypical commute
- 2%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Harris County had 2,458,604 jobs in 2025, 0.5% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 63° and lows near 41°; warmest in August, with highs near 92° and lows near 74°. About 65 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Baytown weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Highlands
- ZXP TechnologiesGas, manufactured, production and distribution314
- LewisGrocery stores121
- Plastipak- HighlandsBottles, plastics, manufacturing117
- Highlands- Dry Bulk Transport103
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 655 people in all. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Hurricanesrelatively high in parts of HighlandsRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesrelatively high in parts of HighlandsRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesrelatively high in parts of HighlandsRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Highlands’ census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Harris County and the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX metro.
Highlands home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Highlands$220,465
- Texas$296,424
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Highlands listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Highlands24.48%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Highlands52
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Highlands11
Zip codes with a Highlands address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Highlands — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.