Neighborhood Guide
The Woodlands, TX Neighborhood Guide: Villages, Counties, Covenants and the Township
Updated September 2026
Bottom line: The Woodlands is a master-planned community about 27 miles north of downtown Houston, founded in 1974 and governed by a township instead of a city. Its median sale price was $735,000 as of September 2026.
What is The Woodlands?
A master-planned community about 27 miles north of downtown Houston, founded in 1974 by the oilman and developer George P. Mitchell, according to The Woodlands Township. The 2020 Census counted 114,436 residents in The Woodlands census-designated place, an area the Census Bureau draws for its statistics. The Township's own count today is more than 120,000 residents and over 2,100 businesses, with 150 parks and 220 miles of hike and bike trails.
There is no city government. The Woodlands Township, a special-purpose district with an elected board of directors, provides some local services, and the counties and a set of municipal utility districts provide the rest. A municipal utility district, or MUD, is a local district that pays for water, sewer and drainage with its water and sewer fees and a property tax on the homes it serves. Voters turned down incorporating The Woodlands as a city on November 2, 2021.
Which villages and counties make up The Woodlands?
The Township's page on county services puts the Villages of Alden Bridge, Cochran's Crossing, College Park, Grogan's Mill, Indian Springs, Panther Creek, Research Forest, Sterling Ridge and Town Center in Montgomery County. The Village of Creekside Park is the only part of The Woodlands in Harris County, so its county services, its school district and its tax bill all differ from the rest of the community.
The developer's tax sheet names smaller areas too, among them East Shore, Windsor Hills, May Valley and Windsor Lakes. Windsor Lakes is part of the City of Conroe. The Township also shares authority over three Grogan's Forest neighborhoods, Cantwell Forest, Avalon Oaks and Dulcimer Woods, with the City of Shenandoah, and a homeowner there applies to Shenandoah for some improvements.
What does a Woodlands property tax bill include?
For tax year 2025, a home in one of the Montgomery County villages paid Montgomery County, the county hospital district, Lone Star College, Conroe ISD and The Woodlands Township. Those five came to $1.6513 per $100 of value, and the home's own utility district rate went on top: totals ran from about $1.69 in Grogan's Mill sections served by MUD 36 to about $1.89 in the part of College Park served by MUD 39.
Creekside Park's bill is built from different units. Harris County, its flood control, hospital, port and education districts, an emergency services district, Tomball ISD and Harris-Montgomery Counties MUD 386 took the place of the Montgomery County units and Conroe ISD, and the 2025 total came to about $2.44 per $100. The Township's own rate is the same in both counties: $0.1714 for 2025, and $0.1694 adopted for 2026.
Does The Woodlands have an HOA fee?
Not one that covers the whole community. Three community associations administered the covenants for decades, and on January 1, 2010 The Woodlands Township became their successor. The Township's 2010 letter on the covenant lien says it levied a property tax in lieu of the associations' assessments and had no plan to levy an assessment under the covenants.
Some sections still charge dues of their own. The developer's tax sheet lists an East Shore association fee of $1,800 to $3,000 a year, a Windsor Hills fee of $275 a month, and a Town Center Owners Association fee of $0.12 per $100 of value on top of the Township tax. A Woodlands listing that says "no HOA" can be accurate while the house is still bound by the Township's covenants.
What do the Woodlands covenants control?
Most changes to the outside of a house and its lot. The covenants require prior written approval for the placement, construction, alteration or repair of a structure or improvement on a lot with a house on it, and each neighborhood's criteria add their own rules. Under the Township's Residential Development Standards, an application that is not acted on within 45 days is automatically disapproved.
As a special-purpose district, the Township adopts no ordinances and runs no traditional building department, so the covenants and standards do that work. The standards also say current owners are responsible for any existing violation, whoever made it, which is why a buyer asks what was built on a lot and whether it was approved.
Which school district serves a Woodlands address?
The Conroe Independent School District, Conroe ISD, except in two areas. The footnotes on the developer's tax sheet put Creekside Park in Tomball ISD and May Valley in Magnolia ISD, with every other area of The Woodlands in Conroe ISD.
The school district is also the largest single rate on the bill. Conroe ISD's was $0.9496 per $100 for the 2025 tax year and $0.9471 for 2026, and Tomball ISD's was $1.0629 for 2025. Campus attendance zones are the district's to set, and this guide does not map them; confirm the campuses for a particular address with the district.
Who handles police, fire and the roads in The Woodlands?
The counties, with help from the Township. The Township's own page says law enforcement is a county responsibility: the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office patrols the Montgomery County villages and the Harris County Constable's Office, Precinct 4, serves Creekside Park, and the Township pays for additional deputies and patrols from both. Road and bridge maintenance belongs to the county commissioners' precincts.
Fire and emergency medical calls go to The Woodlands Fire Department, a Township department with eight stations. The Township says it has been rated Public Protection Class 1 by the Insurance Services Office since May 1, 2014, and asks homeowners to act on the change where it applies to their insurance policies.
Has The Woodlands flooded?
Parts of it have. In the spring 2016 storms, 25 properties in The Woodlands took floodwater, among them a church and a high school, and the heaviest rain fell on Creekside Park, where Kuykendahl and Gosling roads closed near Spring Creek on May 28. After Hurricane Harvey in 2017, residents estimated that about 200 homes had flooded in Timarron and 100 in Timarron Lakes, two neighborhoods along Spring Creek.
First Street Foundation's flood model, shown on Redfin, puts 6% of properties in The Woodlands at risk of severe flooding over the next 30 years. That is an average over the whole community, and flood risk is decided lot by lot: by the ground the house sits on, its flood zone and its own history.
What is the Woodlands housing market doing?
As of September 2026, the median Woodlands sale was $735,000, homes sold after a median 59 days on the market, and buyers paid 98.3 percent of the asking price. Redfin's village medians for June through August 2026 ran from $363,575 in College Park to $818,605 in Creekside Park, so a community-wide figure says little about any one street.
What will this guide not tell you about one address?
Which utility district, flood zone and school campuses a particular lot has, what its neighborhood criteria allow, and whether anything on it was built without approval. Those answers come from the lot's own records: its appraisal district account, which lists every unit that taxes it, the Township's permit records, which its online permitting portal lets residents search, and the current flood map for the parcel.
One subject at a time
What else should you know about The Woodlands?
Is The Woodlands a City? The Township, the 2021 Vote and Which Addresses Pay City Tax
No. The Woodlands is governed by The Woodlands Township, a special-purpose district, and voters turned down incorporation on November 2, 2021. Most addresses pay no city tax; Windsor Lakes pays Conroe's and part of Grogan's Forest pays Shenandoah's.
The Woodlands Covenants and Design Review: What Needs Township Approval Before You Buy, Build or Repaint
Every lot in The Woodlands is bound by covenants the Township enforces. Most exterior changes need written approval first, an application not acted on within 45 days is disapproved, and a buyer takes on any violation already there.
Flooding in The Woodlands: Spring Creek, Creekside Park, Hurricane Harvey and the 2026 Draft Flood Maps
Spring Creek flooded homes in The Woodlands in the spring 2016 storms and again in Hurricane Harvey in 2017, most heavily around Creekside Park. First Street's model puts 6% of Woodlands properties at severe flood risk over 30 years.
The Woodlands Property Tax Rates by Village and Utility District: 2025 Totals and the 2026 Rates Already Set
For tax year 2025, a home in a Montgomery County village of The Woodlands paid between about $1.69 and $1.89 per $100 of value, depending on its utility district. Creekside Park, in Harris County and Tomball ISD, paid about $2.44.
Questions & answers
The Woodlands questions, answered
What is The Woodlands, Texas?
The Woodlands is a master-planned community about 27 miles north of downtown Houston, founded in 1974 by the developer George P. Mitchell. It is governed by The Woodlands Township, a special-purpose district, instead of a city. Most of it lies in Montgomery County, and the Village of Creekside Park lies in Harris County.
The Township's own figures put the community at more than 120,000 residents and over 2,100 businesses, with 150 parks and 220 miles of hike and bike trails. It is organized into villages, among them Alden Bridge, Cochran's Crossing, College Park, Grogan's Mill, Indian Springs, Panther Creek, Sterling Ridge and Creekside Park, and the Township also serves Town Center and Research Forest. Voters turned down incorporating it as a city in November 2021.
Who runs The Woodlands if it is not a city?
The Woodlands Township, a special-purpose district with a publicly elected board of directors, runs the fire department, parks and recreation, contracted trash and recycling service and the covenants, and it is funded by property and sales taxes. Law enforcement and road maintenance stay with Montgomery and Harris counties, and utility districts handle water, sewer and drainage.
The Township pays for extra deputies and patrols from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and the Harris County Constable's Office, Precinct 4, on top of what the counties provide. Water and sewer come from municipal utility districts: Woodlands Water manages ten of them in The Woodlands, and Harris-Montgomery Counties MUD 386 serves Creekside Park. The Township says it took its current role in 2010, when it gathered services that homeowner associations and special-purpose districts had delivered before. For the 2021 vote and the annexation agreements, read this site's answer to whether The Woodlands is a city.
How many people live in The Woodlands?
The 2020 Census counted 114,436 people in The Woodlands census-designated place, the area the Census Bureau draws for its statistics. The Woodlands Township's own account today is more than 120,000 residents. The census place takes in Creekside Park, the village in Harris County, as well as the Montgomery County villages.
The two figures measure different things. The census count is from April 2020 and follows the Census Bureau's boundary; the Township's figure is its own current description of the community. Neither is a count of homes for sale or households. For a figure about the housing market, such as how many homes sold in a year, use the market figures on this site.
What are the villages in The Woodlands?
The Woodlands Township lists Alden Bridge, Cochran's Crossing, College Park, Grogan's Mill, Indian Springs, Panther Creek and Sterling Ridge among the areas it serves in Montgomery County, along with Town Center and Research Forest. Creekside Park is the village in Harris County, the only part of The Woodlands there.
Villages differ in age, price and tax rate. Redfin's village medians for June through August 2026 ran from $363,575 in College Park to $818,605 in Creekside Park. Each village is served by one or more municipal utility districts, and the district a lot sits in changes its tax rate. The developer's tax sheet also names smaller areas, among them East Shore, Windsor Hills, May Valley and Windsor Lakes. Redfin's figures for every village are in this site's summary of how home prices compare by village.
Which part of The Woodlands is in Harris County?
The Village of Creekside Park is the only part of The Woodlands in Harris County, according to The Woodlands Township. Every other village is in Montgomery County. A Creekside Park home pays Harris County's taxes, is served by Tomball ISD and Harris-Montgomery Counties MUD 386, and is patrolled by the Harris County Constable's Office, Precinct 4.
The county line changes the tax bill most. For tax year 2025, a Creekside Park home paid about $2.44 per $100 of value in all, against about $1.69 to $1.89 in the Montgomery County villages. The Township's own tax, $0.1714 per $100 for 2025, is the same on both sides of the line, and the covenants apply in Creekside Park as they do elsewhere. Each Harris County unit is listed line by line with the tax rates for each village and utility district.
Which school districts serve The Woodlands?
Conroe ISD serves every part of The Woodlands except Creekside Park, which is in Tomball ISD, and May Valley, which is in Magnolia ISD, according to the footnotes on the developer's 2025 tax sheet. Campus attendance zones are set by each district, so confirm the schools for a particular address with the district itself.
The school district is the biggest single line on a Woodlands tax bill. Conroe ISD's rate was $0.9496 per $100 for the 2025 tax year, and its board adopted $0.9471 for 2026 on August 18, 2026. Tomball ISD's rate was $1.0629 for 2025, according to the Harris County Tax Office. A mailing address or ZIP code does not settle the district; the parcel's appraisal district account lists the district that taxes it.
Do homes in The Woodlands pay HOA dues?
Not to a community-wide association. When The Woodlands Township took over the covenants on January 1, 2010, it levied a property tax in lieu of the old associations' assessments and said it had no plan to levy an assessment under the covenants. Some sections still charge their own dues, such as East Shore, Windsor Hills and Town Center.
The developer's tax sheet lists an East Shore association fee of $1,800 to $3,000 a year, a Windsor Hills fee of $275 a month, and a Town Center Owners Association fee of $0.12 per $100 of value. Gated sections may carry fees the sheet does not list, so ask the seller for any association's documents. Every lot is still bound by the Township's covenants whether or not a section association exists. Approvals, the 45-day rule and short-term rentals are covered in what the Township's covenants require.
Who provides police and fire service in The Woodlands?
Law enforcement is a county responsibility. The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office patrols the Montgomery County villages, the Harris County Constable's Office, Precinct 4, serves Creekside Park, and the Township pays for additional deputies and patrols from both. Fire and emergency medical calls go to The Woodlands Fire Department, a Township department with eight stations.
The Township's page on law enforcement also names the Montgomery County Constable's Office, Precinct 3, and the Texas Department of Public Safety's highway patrol among the agencies that work in the community. The fire department's own page says the Township has been rated Public Protection Class 1 by the Insurance Services Office since May 1, 2014, and it asks homeowners to tell their insurers about the rating.
Are any Woodlands neighborhoods inside a city?
Yes, two. Windsor Lakes is part of the City of Conroe and pays Conroe's city tax instead of a utility district tax and the Township tax, according to the developer's tax sheet. Part of Grogan's Forest in College Park pays the City of Shenandoah's tax, and three Grogan's Forest neighborhoods answer to Shenandoah as well as the Township for improvements.
The developer's sheet, which carries rates set in 2024, gives Conroe's city tax as $0.4272 per $100 and Shenandoah's as $0.1421, with an emergency services district tax, ESD 4, of $0.0986 in that part of Grogan's Forest. The Township names Cantwell Forest, Avalon Oaks and Dulcimer Woods as the neighborhoods under dual authority with Shenandoah. Everywhere else in The Woodlands, no city levies a property tax. The page on the Township sets out which Woodlands addresses pay a city tax.
Is there a bus from The Woodlands to Houston?
Yes. The Woodlands Township offers weekday commuter buses to Houston and a free Town Center Trolley, according to the Township's own services page. The Woodlands sits about 27 miles north of downtown Houston, so the commuter bus is one way to make that trip on a working day without driving it.
Routes, stops, fares and schedules change, and this page does not list them, so check the Township's transportation pages before planning a commute around the bus. Drive times depend on the village, the hour and the route. Time the trip at the hour you would actually make it before you buy.