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Not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Houston.
So the question arises, do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?
Today, we'll use science and data to determine which Houston 'burbs need a little tender loving care - the sore thumbs of the Houston area if you will. Realistically, you can't expect all the suburbs to live up to Houston proper, although Bellaire certainly tries.
Of course, not all suburbs of Houston are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones..
We examined the 28 biggest suburbs of Houston to find out the worst places to live. And while you won't necessarily find them on the worst places to live in Texas lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Houston in terms of quality of life.
Here are the 10 worst suburbs around Houston for 2022:
What's the worst suburb of Houston? Arcola ranks as the worst suburb of Houston for 2022 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Houston that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don't blame the messenger.
Or, if you're thinking of moving to elsewhere in Texas check out the best places in Texas overall or the worst.
And remember, there are some good places to live around Houston too.
Editor's Note: If you see a slight difference between the worst in state rankings and this suburb ranking, it's because of the methodology. We needed a way to include more places, so we eliminated crime and commute times as criteria for this analysis.
For more Texas reading, check out:
The 10 Worst Houston Suburbs To Live For 2022
We'll get the ball rolling with Arcola, the absolute worst place to live around Houston according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Arcola beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 10th worst in the Houston area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 3rd worst when it comes to home values.
But hey, at least it's cheap to live there. But there's a reason for that... it's Arcola.
You won't feel bad about not having a great income for the area, there aren't a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.
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Population: 2,541
Rank Last Year: 4 (Up 3)
Median Income: $60,707 (10th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 11.3% (highest)
Median Home Value: $123,000 (3rd lowest)
More on Arcola: Data
Welcome to Galena Park. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 9.4 miles to Houston. Income levels here are the 2nd lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $47,849 a year, which doesn't go a long ways even on a shoestring budget.
But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.
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Back up the highway we go for the third worst Houston suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see South Houston on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that's an understatement.
In terms of numbers, it's in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school drop out rate is poor compared to other Houston suburbs.
But at least there are nice parks to bring the kids during the day.
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If you live in Baytown, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 6th lowest Houston suburb when it comes to residents making money.
Not only that, but this is the 4th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Houston. Remember, we looked at 28 cities for this study.
Baytown is about 25.4 miles to downtown.
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Humble has the distinction of being a Houston suburb. Which means that's about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Humble has the 5th lowest home values in the metro Houston area, where the median price is $131,400. To put that into perspective, in Bellaire, the median income is $250,001, which is the best in the area.
Humble has an unemployment rate of 6.49% which ranks 10th worst.
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Pasadena has 152,537 residents that probably know it's a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you've ever been there, you don't need to look at the data.)
Incomes are towards the bottom and the poverty rate sits at 18.110069669367952%.
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Ah, Webster. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Houston.
It's the place with the 7th most out of work residents in the Houston metro area (6.99%).
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Alvin is a city about 26.2 miles from Houston, but Houston probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.
You'd be hard pressed to find a worse place to live. Alvin has the 13th most uninsured people, 7th worst incomes, and has the 24th highest unemployment rate (3.14%) in the entire Houston metro area.
Homes only cost $157,700 for a reason. That's cheap for Houston standards.
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If you absolutely have to live near Houston, then Richmond might be a place for you to consider as it's only the 9th worst Houston suburb.
About 3.29% of residents are out of work.
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Rounding out the ten worst Houston suburbs to call home is Tomball.
Located 25.9 miles outside the city, Tomballs is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 2highest unemployment rate (3.7%), and poverty is far above the area average.
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Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Houston for 2022
To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2016-2020, this is the criteria we used:
- High unemployment rate
- Low median household incomes
- Low population density (no things to do)
- Low home values
- A lot of high school drop outs
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
FYI: We defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of Houston.
Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 28 suburbs to evaluate around Houston.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 28 in each category, where 1 was the "worst".
Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality of life index.
And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index the "Worst Suburb near Houston." We're lookin' at you, Arcola. You can download the data here.
Read on below to learn more about what it's like to live in the worst of the worst. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the suburbs ranked from worst to best.
Summary: The areas around Houston where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2022
Well there you have it -- the worst of the 'burbs surrounding Houston with Arcola casting itself ahead of the pack.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Houston aren't all bad. Bellaire takes the cake as the best place to live around Houston.
- Bellaire
- West University Place
- Meadows Place
For more Texas reading, check out:
- Best Places To Retire In Texas
- Richest Cities In Texas
- Safest Places In Texas
- Worst Places To Live In Texas
Detailed List Of The Worst Houston Suburbs
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcola | 2,541 |
| 2 | Galena Park | 10,848 |
| 3 | South Houston | 17,522 |
| 4 | Baytown | 76,089 |
| 5 | Humble | 15,819 |
| 6 | Pasadena | 152,537 |
| 7 | Webster | 11,229 |
| 8 | Alvin | 26,592 |
| 9 | Richmond | 12,592 |
| 10 | Tomball | 11,689 |
| 11 | La Porte | 35,340 |
| 12 | Stafford | 16,904 |
| 13 | Deer Park | 33,599 |
| 14 | Katy | 20,296 |
| 15 | Manvel | 11,432 |
| 16 | Iowa Colony | 5,305 |
| 17 | Kemah | 2,114 |
| 18 | Nassau Bay | 4,009 |
| 19 | Seabrook | 13,849 |
| 20 | Friendswood | 39,893 |
| 21 | El Lago | 2,805 |
| 22 | Pearland | 125,817 |
| 23 | Shenandoah | 2,955 |
| 24 | Sugar Land | 118,563 |
| 25 | Oak Ridge North | 3,163 |
| 26 | Meadows Place | 4,899 |
| 27 | West University Place | 15,589 |
| 28 | Bellaire | 18,862 |
