Houston Crime A National Focus

Crime hotspots hit home: Two of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country are in Houston

Houston has a remarkably low crime rate considering its population size, but how safe are the individual neighborhoods? Some are highly susceptible to violent crime — defined as murder, forcible rape, armed robbery and aggravated assault —according to NeighborhoodScout.com.

Two local neighborhoods made that website's "Top 25 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods in America" list, which was ranked according to the crime rate per 1,000 residents and based on 2011 census tracts and population data from the U.S. Census Bureau as well as violent crime statistics from the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice and thousands of local law enforcement agencies.

Ranking No. 15 on the list is Houston's Sauer St./McGowen St. census tract, which is bordered by I-45 to the north, Elgin to the south, U.S. 59 to the west and the Columbia Tap Trail to the east. The violent crime rate is 75.89 per 1,000 residents — far greater than the city average of 9.78. Residents have a one in 13 annual chance of becoming a victim (compare that to a chance of one in 102 in Houston overall).

At No. 6 is the Scott St./Wilmington St. tract, a sector of Sunnyside hemmed in by Reed Road to the north and Sims Bayou to the south, Scott Street to the west and Cullen Boulevard to the east, that contains several schools — Worthing High School, Pro-Vision and Carnegie Vanguard High School (which moved to the corner of Taft Street and West Gray in 2012). There, the rate of violent crimes is a staggering 91.27 per 1,000 residents. Chances of becoming a victim are one in 11 per year.

Both Houston spots are among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. The Sauer St./McGowen St. tract has one of the highest concentrations of studio apartments and other small living spaces in the United States. The Scott St./Wilmington St. tract has more single mother households than 99.8 percent of all U.S. neighborhoods.

Three Detroit neighborhoods topped the list, followed by one Chicago census tract and Washington Heights in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Shotgun shacks in the Third Ward

Photo by WhisperToMe Wikipedia

Shotgun shacks in the Third Ward

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income analysis

Texas families need to make this much money for one parent to stay home

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

As the cost of raising a child balloons in major cities like Houston, many families are weighing the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas — not just Houston — that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support a stay-at-home partner and a child, the report found. If two parents worked in the household, necessitating some additional costs like childcare and transportation, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in Houston, however, is somewhat more affordable. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $21,868 to raise a child in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts, where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report acknowledges ways families are working to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family