Asian in Houston? (Sugar Land, Pearland, Bellaire: best suburbs, rental, condo)

[jenney77]

We are a biracial family (I am white, husband is chinese). From what I have read there is a large asian population in Houston. My inlaws are retiring and moving in with us (currently impossible living near boston we can barely afford a 900 square foot condo).
We are looking into houston b/c we can afford a much larger house to accomadate them. It is very important to them to live near an asian community. They speak english but are very used to having chinese movies, food and culture. They currently live in Toronto where there is a very large Hong Kong population with many services, markets, restaurants, bookstores, video rental etc to be had in Cantonese. Are there areas of houston or suburbs like this?
My husband works in the tech field and I can also work in the tech or health fields. We are not concerned about jobs but mostly about affordable housing, culture and diversity. We are used to long rides to work (anything somewhat affordable is at least 45-60 mins from work here. Most of our coworkers have a 45-90 ride to work.

[bmglab]

Like you guys, my wife and I are a biracial couple living in Houston. Having decent Cantonese food/ culture is also very important to us. We currently have family in San Francisco, HK and the Markham area (Toronto suburb). Houston does not have the variety of those places, however, there is a large Chinatown with a sizable community. A lot of the Chinese in Houston are from either Taiwan or mainland China. Very different than what your parents may be used to. When we first moved here there were not many people from HK, however that has changed and now there several Cantonese restuarants, desert places and markets. The best areas to live if you want to be near Chinatown would be in an area called the Westchase area (or new Chinatown as locals call it). The area is bound by Bellaire ave and Beltway 8. If you prefer living in a place with better school districts, affordable suburb life,etc. but still want to be close to Chinatown the best suburbs are Sugarland and Pearland. The commute from Sugarland to Chinatown is shortest at about 10 minutes. You can get by in Chinatown without English, however, not everyone speaks Cantonese like San Francisco/Toronto.

[bamba_boy]

Huge "New Chinatown" in Houston in Sharpstown running into the Alief area. On a map look for between Fondren and Dairy Ashford (very long east-west narrow strip) along Bellaire Blvd - sort of dribling off on north and south to Beachnut (which is sort of half hispanic along with the Asian). Hundreds if not thousands of Asian stores and restaurants. About 30% of residential pop.

[qt_batutie24]

sugarland is perfect for u! a nice area just about 10-15 minutes from chinatown on bellaire.

[Wysiwyg]

its mostly vietnamese here in alief chinatown but every type of asian is here. Turtlewoods subdivision maybe the closest you can get to the new park8 center. park8 currently underdevelopment is a pretty high end business and residential community in houstons chinatown. i like it here in alief. although its far from being the best houston can offer for the family oriented its great that one has all things asia near by

[VickiMBA]

Hi Jenney77,

Yes, Houston has a very large Asian population, with Texas having the 3rd largest Asian American population (after California and New York).

Many of the popular (and wonderful!) Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants, shops and businesses in Houston are concentrated on Bellaire Blvd. (and Beechnut, to an extent) between Hwy. 6 to the west and Gessner to the east, with the epicenter of activity surrounding the Hong Kong IV supermarket (Bellaire and Boone). Just a few years ago, there was still plenty of space for new residential and commercial construction in this area, but now this area is pretty densely populated by new strip centers and office buildings.

Where you should live depends on what is most important to you. Do your in-laws want to be living in the Chinatown area so they can walk to many of the stores and restaurants? If so, there are a few newer (as well as older) subdivisions to choose from, but you need to be aware that the crime rate is higher in this area (and a couple of surrounding areas, such as Sharpstown) than in other areas. The Hong Kong supermarket area, although very busy, is known to have purse-snatchings and other crimes—although you don’t hear about them much in the news.

If you would like to live close to the Chinatown area, but want a safer environment, then there are other areas, such as Westchase, Sugar Land (which has a large Asian population), and West Houston that are only a few minutes drive.

Are you looking to find a place before you move down to Houston, or will you be able to visit and check out the various neighborhoods and subdivisions to decide which area would suit you best? In either case, I would highly recommend that you work with a competent Realtor who understands your needs (i.e. what are other factors that are important to you and your family?) and your budget and can apply his/her expertise of the area to find you a suitable match.

Good luck and welcome to Houston!

[icon7]

Sugar Land has a large mostly affluent Chinese population. (engineers, doctors, IT professional, pharmacists, etc.) If you have kids, this maybe the best since the schools are very good. of the public schools in area, Sugar Land schools usually rate high nationally.

I would avoid Alief...I think the Asians that are there are mostly Vietnamese but mostly new immigrants. The crime rate is high in that area too.

It depends on your price range... Good Luck! If you have anymore questions, don't hesitate to ask.