For great schools, excellent houses, exponential growth, safe living and all the clubs and activities you could ever want: Kingwood is the place to be. While it sounds a little more like a camp than a community, mainly due to the “too good to be true” alarms going off in your head, rest assured that Kingwood only gets better close-up.
One of Houston’s beautiful master-planned communities, Kingwood was developed by the same creative geniuses who painstakingly developed the Clear Lake area, the Friendswood Development Company, paired with King Ranch, a major investor in the area, to create Kingwood— a combination of both their names (I guess Friend Ranch can sound a little sinister…), according to the Texas State Association (TSHA).
Source: Barrington Kingwood
Development began in the 60’s and Kingwood officially opened in 1970. Since then, the population has risen steadily. In fact, the TSHA also tells us that the population was just 50 in 1986, and grew to almost 20,000 in the next 4 years. That number had nearly doubled by 1992. It has since come to be the largest master-planned community within Harris County.
According to City Data, as of 2011, the average income for a family in Kingwood was nearly $90k per year, and the average age of area residents is about 37 years old—with over 60% of households considered ‘family’ households and nearly 65% of those families with two spouses contributing to household income. The diversity of the area isn’t really reflective of Houston’s racial, ethnic and wealth diversity, with much more than 75% of residents identifying as white, few foreign born residents, and even fewer residents in the area below the poverty level.
There are over 100 clubs and organizations in the Oakhurst community alone, and Kingwood’s slogan is the “Livable Forest,” with a generous allocation (nearly 75 miles!) of greenbelt trails. This gives the suburb a more arboreal quality and integrates the neighborhoods with the landscape more naturally, giving Kingwood its one-of-a-kind aesthetic.
But, Kingwood’s aesthetic isn’t the only draw for the community. Kingwood is home to one of the largest private country clubs in the world, featuring six ‘championship’ golf courses, over 20 tennis courts, five pools, a couple pro shops and several dining options. There are also semi-private clubs in the area as the community seems to accommodate a range of price tags with homes starting from the low $100k reaching to well over $1 millon, but the average house is worth around $250k as of 2010.
As Kingwood grows, so, too, grows its economy. Business has been steadily increasing and almost all daily shopping can be done within the area—even go see a doctor without leaving the Kingwood community! And considering how widespread Houston is, having amenities like that consolidated in the area is exceptional.
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