Shepherd, Texas.
Typical home $186,830 (-6.2% in a year). Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$432 (+79%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $12,327 -6%
- $199,157$186,830 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $10,015 -5%
- $196,845$186,830 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.
- Shepherd$981
- Texas$1,556
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in Shepherd, TX fell 6.2% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Shepherd, San Jacinto County, Texas
Shepherd is a city of 2,105 people in San Jacinto County. Unemployment in San Jacinto County was 5.6% in August 2026, and the county had 0.9% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in San Jacinto County work in schools and health care, then construction.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Shepherd is a small city in San Jacinto County, in the piney woods of East Texas. Winters are mild and rarely bring any snow, summers are hot, and the year is a wet one. Few adults here have a four-year degree, and the typical home is valued well below what many Texas buyers expect to pay.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, in the building trades, in professional and business services, and in transport, warehouses and utilities. Across San Jacinto County, the largest workplaces include Shepherd ISD, Brookshire Brothers and McClain's Supermarket. Jobs in the county grew a little last year, though unemployment there is higher than many people would like, and the typical commute is a long one.
Things to do. For time outdoors, Sam Houston National Forest is a protected area a longer drive away, and Lake Livingston, a large reservoir, lies in the same direction. Lake Livingston State Park, also a longer drive away, is another protected area on the water. Families looking for something livelier can head to Grand Texas Theme Park, an amusement park, though that is a longer drive as well.
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- 802households
- 7%of adults have a degree
- 17%below the poverty line
- 36 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What people in San Jacinto County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. San Jacinto County had 2,490 jobs in 2025, 0.9% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 61° and lows near 39°; warmest in August, with highs near 92° and lows near 71°. About 56 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Cleveland weather station, 10 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in San Jacinto County
- Shepherd ISDSchool district281FTE
- Coldspring-oakhurst CisdSchool district269FTE
- Brookshire BrothersGrocery stores52
- McClain's SupermarketGrocery stores36
- Yokogawa Corporation of America (Coldspring)Measuring instruments, industrial process control-type, manufacturing35
- ENT - Lone Star Power Station 1x0Power plant construction25
- Sam Houston Electric CooperativeDistribution of electric power24
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 5 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 172 people in all across the county; Shepherd has none of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. 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
- TornadoesVery high
- LightningVery high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- HurricanesRelatively moderate
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Shepherd’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 San Jacinto County and the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX metro.
Shepherd home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Shepherd$186,830
- Texas$296,424
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Shepherd 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.
- Shepherd21.61%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Shepherd63
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Shepherd5
Zip codes with a Shepherd address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Shepherd — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.