Texas suburbs. Your opinion? (Houston, Dallas: best suburbs, restaurants, zip code)

[tstone]

Dallas still has empty land scattered around skewing the #s, but what you describe is what most of DFW is-- a huge area with dozens and dozens of suburbs with empty land in between them. Even most of inner city Dallas looks a compressed suburb, very similar to Houston IMO except cleaner-looking but more creepy at night.

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by tstone

Dallas still has empty land scattered around skewing the #s, but what you describe is what most of DFW is-- a huge area with dozens and dozens of suburbs with empty land in between them. Even most of inner city Dallas looks a compressed suburb, very similar to Houston IMO except cleaner-looking but more creepy at night.

Are there Outside Suburbs in Houston that are similar in Density to Houston itself??

I can only think of the inner burbs

West University- 7,068.6/sq mi in 2000
Stafford- 5,231.2/sq mi in 2000
Bellaire- 4,319/sq mi in 2000

but these are all tiny cities surrounded by Houston itself.

I was looking for big cities in the metro with Densities higher than the city itself. Big like Arlington, Plano, Garland with 100's of thousands of people

[tstone]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

Are there Outside Suburbs in Houston that are similar in Density to Houston itself??

Doubt it. You can't really look at it like that because the city limits cover 600+ sq miles.
Houston as a whole is at 3897, also because of empty land (cattle & oil fields).

However if you look at it this way-


if Clear Lake City was its own town it would be 5441.
Alief -6797. (I understand sections of Alief run near 20000.)

Those parts of Houston proper are just as far from the city core as some suburb towns (~20 miles).

In the city core, The Heights falls between Clear Lake and Alief, 6366. Someone on the Houston forum separated the inner loop as a whole and came up around 5000 I believe, which is still less than Clear Lake Houston proper.

Really just all depends on how you want to divide & conquer. IMO the Texas inner cities are still suburban in nature.

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by tstone

Doubt it. You can't really look at it like that because the city limits cover 600+ sq miles.
Houston as a whole is at 3897, also because of empty land (cattle & oil fields).

However if you look at it this way-


if Clear Lake City was its own town it would be 5441.
Alief -6797. (I understand sections of Alief run near 20000.)

Those parts of Houston proper are just as far from the city core as some suburb towns (~20 miles).

In the city core, The Heights falls between Clear Lake and Alief, 6366. Someone on the Houston forum separated the inner loop as a whole and came up around 5000 I believe, which is still less than Clear Lake Houston proper.

Really just all depends on how you want to divide & conquer. IMO the Texas inner cities are still suburban in nature.

I don't think the city limits make a difference. Dallas County is 900 sq miles and there are cities outside of it with Higher densities than Dallas itself.

Extending Dallas to 600 sq miles you will still have Plano outside of the limits in Collin County being more dense.

so what does that have to do with Houston's limits.

what I asked was are there any outer burbs with densities matching the inner city like Dallas. The city size don't mean a thing up there. People move where they want to move and it seems like the suburbs are very attractive up there.

[ClarenceBodiker]

The 'burbs are mostly tract housing from one side of their city limits to the other. They are not more dense than Dallas. Dallas has much denser areas than the suburbs, and tons of undeveloped land to lower the overall density.

Didn't we just have this same discussion two days ago in the HoustonvsDallas thread? If you're arguing that Garland and Plano are more dense than Dallas, then you might as well say that Dallas is more dense than Houston -- which it is not.

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by ClarenceBodiker

The 'burbs are mostly tract housing from one side of their city limits to the other. They are not more dense than Dallas. Dallas has much denser areas than the suburbs, and tons of undeveloped land to lower the overall density.

Didn't we just have this same discussion two days ago in the HoustonvsDallas thread? If you're arguing that Garland and Plano are more dense than Dallas, then you might as well say that Dallas is more dense than Houston -- which it is not.

nope, the argument a couple of days ago were about Dallas and Houston. This one I am asking if there are any burbs around Houston with sizeable populations like Plano (over 100K) and densities matching the city.

I am looking at Houston and its burbs not directly comparing Houston and Dallas like was done the other day

[ClarenceBodiker]

I realize that. I'm referring to the post below where you said there are 'burbs that are more dense than Dallas. That is simply not true at all for the same reasons that Dallas is not more dense than Houston, even if the numbers say it is.


With that said, Dallas's suburbs are obnoxiously large. I don't dislike the suburbs like some do, but I wish they were quite a bit smaller in landsize and population. Last time I checked, I believe something like 8 of the top 20 cities in population in Texas were in the metroplex.

Originally Posted by HtownLove

that doesn't make sense, Plano along with Arlington and Garland are more dense than Dallas or Fort Worth.


Arlington- 3,871.8/sq mi in 2010
Plano - 3,820.2/sq mi in 2010
Garland- 3,778/sq mi in 2010
Dallas- 3,697.44/sq mi in 2010

Richardson- 3,649.1/sq mi in 2009
Allen- 3,219.5/sq mi in 2010
Mesquite- 3,216/sq m in 2010
Irving- 3,194.8/sq mi in 2010
Carrollton 3,004.6/sq mi in 2010
Fort Worth- 2,403.7/sq in 2010


those burbs are taking over the metroplex

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by ClarenceBodiker

I realize that. I'm referring to the post below where you said there are 'burbs that are more dense than Dallas. That is simply not true at all for the same reasons that Dallas is not more dense than Houston, even if the numbers say it is.


With that said, Dallas's suburbs are obnoxiously large. I don't dislike the suburbs like some do, but I wish they were quite a bit smaller in landsize and population. Last time I checked, I believe something like 8 of the top 20 cities in population in Texas were in the metroplex.

ok. I understand your point now.

You are right. I should have specified and asked which seem to be as dense on paper as the central city.

I am interested in building patterns.

Areas like Katy and Cypress have hundreds of thousands of people but the density is crazy low. The houses are as large as palaces and the lots like football fields

there is nothing approaching Plano anywhere in GH.

The closest we will probably see soon might be The Woodlands.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

I don't think the city limits make a difference. Dallas County is 900 sq miles and there are cities outside of it with Higher densities than Dallas itself.

What I was trying to say was 600, 300, 900, whatever large # of sq miles is too large of an area to take an average altogether. Which is why I broke it down by zip code in my post above. It gives a better picture of each piece of the whole area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratified_sampling

But even looking at the whole of Houston, really only Montrose has "urban density". The rest of the city basically has "suburban density," and the rest of the state follows suit as well.

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by tstone

What I was trying to say was 600, 300, 900, whatever large # of sq miles is too large of an area to take an average altogether. Which is why I broke it down by zip code in my post above. It gives a better picture of each piece of the whole area.

Stratified sampling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But even looking at the whole of Houston, really only Montrose has "urban density". The rest of the city basically has "suburban density," and the rest of the state follows suit as well.

nah zip codes won't get me what I am seeking. No Houston zip code has over 100K people.