hottest 'hoods

Houston's 'livable forest' neighbor tops Heights as hottest neighborhood on the market in 2023

King's Harbor is a big Kingwood draw.

Kings Harbor/Facebook

The best place to buy a house is not always in the most sought-after neighborhood. So where are current and future residents looking to own? Luckily for Houston homebuyers, we have names of the most and least popular neighborhoods in the region.

The master-planned neighborhood of Kingwood is the most popular neighborhood in the city, according to a new study by indoor air quality experts HouseFresh. The study looked at daily views on home listings in 100 of the most populous American cities on Zillow, as well as the number of days a home was listed on the market.

Kingwood is known for its heavily forested land, parks, and community centers, which allowed for the conceptualization of its “Livable Forest” nickname. The neighborhood is so large, spanning over 14,000 acres, that it's split up further into smaller "villages." Active home listings in the area received over 12,600 views per day on Zillow.

Other popular neighborhoods in the city include:

No. 2 – Greater Heights
No. 3 – Greater Uptown Houston
No. 4 – Washington Avenue Coalition - Memorial Park
No. 5 – Alief

In the running for the least popular neighborhood in Houston, with only 49 views per day on Zillow, are homes in the inconspicuously named Pecan Park community. Potential buyers avoid this area since a majority of the homes are rentals, which is a stark contrast to the 75 percent of Kingswood residents who own their properties.

Though the name suggests there would be ample green space in the area, Pecan Park is bordered by two interstate highways, I-610 and I-45, which doesn’t leave much room for greenery. The 16-acre Ingrando Park is the only park in the area.

The top five least popular Houston neighborhoods are:

No. 1 – Pecan Park
No. 2 – Kashmere Gardens
No. 3 – Clinton Park Tri-Community
No. 4 – Denver Harbor - Port Houston
No. 5 – IAH - Airport Area

It should be no surprise that IAH - Airport Area also earned a spot on the top five least popular neighborhoods. In addition to noise pollution concerns, the study found that available homes on Zillow in IAH only received 210 daily views.

The full report can be found on housefresh.com.

Houston real estate reports homes for sale homebuying houston neighborhoods

best in texas

2 Houston suburbs named top-10 best Texas cities to move to

The City of Sugar Land, Texas – City Government/Facebook

The asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Sugar Land was $1,450 in June, and two-bedroom units were $1,870.

Several Houston neighbors have been deemed the best Texas cities to move to, with two local suburbs – Sugar Land and League City – coming in among the top 10.

Advisors at ConsumerAffairs, a customer review and news platform, ranked the 50 most populated Texas cities across five main categories – affordability, safety, economy, health care and education, and quality of life – to determine which were the best places to move to. Each city was given a score out of 100 possible points.

Four out of the top five best places to move to in Texas are located in Dallas-Fort Worth: Allen (No .1), Frisco (No. 2), Plano (No. 3), and McKinney (No. 4). Leander, a suburb outside Austin, rounded out the top five.

Of all five categories considered, Sugar Land ranked highest – No. 4 – in the category of "health care and education." The city came in No. 5 for safety, No. 17 for economy, and No. 21 for quality of life. Its lowest ranking was No. 29, for affordability.

Sugar Land has been booming in recent years, and earlier in 2025 it was ranked the No. 3 best place to live in the U.S.. According to Livability.com's report, Sugar Land is well known as "one of the more affluent and rapidly growing master-planned communities in Texas" whose 90s-era population boom has only continued to grow.

Most recently, the City of Sugar Land acquired the 40-acre Imperial Sugar refinery complex for $50 million. The city is planning on redeveloping and renovating the land and its buildings, which include the iconic Char House.

In ConsumerAffairs separate ranking of the best places to live in the South, Sugar Land ranked 6th on the list.

Elsewhere in Houston
League City ranked right behind Sugar Land, and it topped the list with the best healthcare and education in Texas, and it is the 7th safest city in the state.

This suburb, located about 30 miles southeast of Houston, has earned its own reputation as the 7th fastest-growing, affordable city in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Pearland landed just outside the top 10 as the 11th best Texas city to move to with the second-best healthcare and education statewide.

Elsewhere across the Houston metro, three more suburbs made the list: Missouri City (No. 19), Conroe (No. 27), and Pasadena (No. 44). Surprisingly, The Woodlands was nowhere to be found in the rankings.

Despite many of its suburbs ranking highly on the list, Houston proper ranked at the bottom as the 50th best place in Texas to move to.

The top 10 best Texas cities to move to are:

No. 1 – Allen
No. 2 – Frisco
No. 3 – Plano
No. 4 – McKinney
No. 5 – Leander
No. 6 – Mansfield
No. 7 – Sugar Land
No. 8 – League City
No. 9 – Round Rock
No. 10 – Richardson

real estate suburbs consumeraffairs lists rankings houston sugar land league city

hottest 'hoods

Houston's 'livable forest' neighbor tops Heights as hottest neighborhood on the market in 2023

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best in texas

2 Houston suburbs named top-10 best Texas cities to move to