The 10 Worst Houston Suburbs

The 10 Worst Houston Suburbs To Live For 2025

We’ll get the ball rolling with Galena Park, the absolute worst place to live around Houston according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Galena Park beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 3rd worst in the Houston area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 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 Galena Park.

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.

Welcome to Humble. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 16.1 miles to Houston. Income levels here are the 2nd lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $52,927 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

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 dropout rate is poor compared to other Houston suburbs.

But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.

If you live in Baytown, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 4th lowest Houston suburb for median household incomes.

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 27 cities for this study.

Baytown is about 25.4 miles to downtown.

Pasadena has the distinction of being a Houston suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Pasadena has the 3rd lowest home values in the metro Houston area, where the median price is $215,501. The median income is $250,001.

Pasadena has an unemployment rate of 8.7% which ranks 5th worst.

Arcola has 2,050 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 12.585365853658535%.

Ah, Alvin. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Houston.

It’s the place with the 19th most out of work residents in the Houston metro area (4.42%).

Richmond is a city about 26.3 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. Richmond has the 5th most uninsured people, 8th worst incomes, and has the 10th highest unemployment rate (5.79%) in the entire Houston metro area.

Homes only cost $383,773 for a reason. That’s cheap for Houston standards.

If you absolutely have to live near Houston, then Webster might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Houston suburb.

About 4.45% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst Houston suburbs to call home is La Porte.

Located 21.7 miles outside the city, La Portes is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 16th highest unemployment rate (4.79%), and poverty is far above the area average.