City safety & data profile

South HoustonTX

South Houston, TX is a 18K-resident city in Harris County with a median household income of $53,497.

Harris County, Texas. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for South Houston, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. South Houston has a population larger than 36% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, and a median home value of $189,300.

Data updated 2026-09-03

18K
Population (place)
Bottom 37%
By size
$53,497
Median income (place)
$189,300
Median home (place)
26.1%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on South Houston

South Houston posts a median household income higher than 13% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks.

Bottom 14%
by median income, US cities

Where South Houston income ranks nationally

Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)

$53,497 Bottom 13% higher than 13% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

South Houston $0 $260,000 every profiled place, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year

Largest cities in TX

Population among 244 TX places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.

residents

What this shows Houston is the largest TX city on this list; Southlake leads median income.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

Highest median incomes in TX

Median household income among the same 244-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.

median

What this shows Southlake posts the highest place-level median income in TX; Houston is largest by headcount.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

The quick read

Reading South Houston, TX beyond the headline numbers

South Houston sits inside Harris County, Texas, at roughly 29.66°N, -95.24°W. Population 17,544, $53,497 median household income. Median home value $189,300, median rent $1,212. Poverty rate 26.1%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

26.1% of South Houston, TX residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.

The median home in South Houston costs roughly 3.5 times median household income, below the midpoint for reporting cities, so ownership remains reachable on a typical local wage.

Only 2.4% of South Houston workers report working from home, the lowest quarter of reporting cities -- an economy still built around showing up somewhere.

Among the CDC measures on this page, lack of health insurance departs furthest from its peer median: 39.8% in South Houston, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

Public transit carries 0% of South Houston workers, a smaller share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.

South Houston's median age is 31.2 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for South Houston from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.

Population (place)
17,544
South Houston · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$53,497
-40% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$189,300
-54% vs avg
Median Age (place)
31.2
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (Harris County): South Houston's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.

20132024
Population
4.8M+16%
Median Income
$74,983+41%
Median Home Value
$276,600+111%
Poverty Rate
16.3%-12%
Unemployment
6.7%-22%

Economics

Economics indicators for South Houston, TX
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$1,212/mo
Poverty Rate
26.1% +110% vs avg
Unemployment 8.3%
Bachelor's Degree+ 10.3%
Work From Home 2.4%
Public Transit 0%

Population

White 17.4%
African American 3.1%
Asian 0.9%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Obesity
41.5%
Short Sleep Duration
41%
Lack of Health Insurance
39.8%
Physical Inactivity
37.7%
High Blood Pressure
33%
Frequent Mental Distress
17.8%
Diabetes
17%
Frequent Physical Distress
17%
Binge Drinking
16.3%
Current Smoking
14.9%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 41.6%
Annual Checkup 69.6%

Other Measures

Current Asthma
8.7%
Coronary Heart Disease
6.5%
Stroke
3.7%

What alerts and safety updates affect South Houston?

No area-tagged alerts are on record for South Houston right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet TX-SOUTH-HOUSTON · South Houston

South Houston: no area-tagged alerts on record — state hubs carry the live CAP stream.

  • FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
  • LEAD-NONE Feed idle
  • DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed

Counts reflect published articles tagged to South Houston; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Texas state hubs · Methodology

Read with this city profile

Frequently Asked Questions 5

What is the population of South Houston, TX?
South Houston, TX has a population of 17,544 people, located in Harris County, Texas.
What is the median household income in South Houston?
The median household income in South Houston, TX is $53,497 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 26.1%.
What is the median home value in South Houston?
The median home value in South Houston, TX is $189,300. Median rent is $1,212/month.
What are the top health concerns in South Houston?
The top health indicators in South Houston include Obesity (41.5%), Short Sleep Duration (41%), Lack of Health Insurance (39.8%). Data from CDC PLACES.
What is the median age in South Houston?
The median age in South Houston, TX is 31.2 years. 10.3% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for South Houston, both outside Texas so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside TX (26.1% here).

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside TX ($53,497 here).

Compare South Houston with another city

Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.

Quick picks:

Nearby Cities 8

Using South Houston's profile

Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.

  • Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the South Houston area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
  • Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
  • Compare South Houston against Texas peers on any ranking lens. Explore Texas

Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.

Data Sources

All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Harris County) where that is the smallest published unit.

Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.