Where Houston’s artistic people live
There’s no shortage of art in the city of Houston. Nor is there a shortage of artists. But is there one community in Houston that’s home to more artists than any other spot? Yes. Kind of. While the Heights was long known as a haven for artists, the surging price of real estate there has been pushing out creative types for more than a decade. These days, if one were to paint the geography of Houston’s creative types on a canvas, the representation would look like a scatter diagram. But the paint would be a little denser in one neighborhood.
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, you’re a bit more likely to find artistic types in the 77092 ZIP code — just outside the northwest corner of the 610 loop — than any other part of the city.
Citywide, 3.7 percent of residents reported earning a bachelor’s degree in visual and performing arts. But in 77092, the rate is more than double that, with 8.7 percent of residents reporting an arts education. Sure, that’s not a majority of residents (it’s not even a plurality; 29.4 percent of residents in 77092 have undergraduate degrees in science and engineering majors). But it stands above most of the other parts of
the city. The second highest saturation is in 77023, just north of the University of Houston, where 7.5 percent of residents were art majors.
Admittedly, a degree in the arts doesn’t necessarily mean someone is a working artist. But even if many folks give up the dream of making it as a full-time Van Gogh when the bills start rolling in, this part of town has plenty of people with a creative streak, and likely a part-time passion.
And while it’s not exactly cheap to live in 77092, the ZIP Code is a bit more forgiving for those pulling in artist-sized paychecks than other “artsy” neighborhoods, such as the Heights. The real estate website Trulia reports that the average home listing price in the Heights’ 77008 ZIP code is $540,237, and the median monthly rental rate is $2,495. The rates are lower in 77092, where homes there are listed for $260,266 on average, and the median rental rate is $1,485.
Stay artsy, 77092.