Highlands, Texas
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1916 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Northeast Harris census division. It lies in ZIP code area 77562. It lies near Bluff Gully. The Survey maps it on the Highlands quadrangle. 8,612 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 36 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresHighlands grew from 7,522 to 8,612 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 7,522 | |
| 2020 | 8,612 | +1,090 (+14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 17 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1916 USGS Burnett Bay quadrangle1:24000
- 1920 USGS Burnett Bay quadrangle1:31680
- 1920 USGS Highlands quadrangle1:31680, 3 printings
- 1944 USGS Burnett Bay quadrangle1:31680
- 1950 USGS Houston quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS Highlands quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS Houston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1967 USGS Highlands quadrangle1:24000
- 1975 USGS Houston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1982 USGS Highlands quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1992 USGS Houston quadrangle1:100000
- 1995 USGS Highlands quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
1 since 2011Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Highlands in 2011, burning about 5 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Livingston Area | LIVINGSTON - 831 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
8 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Highlands: 6 producers, 2 past producers. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Sulfur, Barium-Barite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baytown Sulfur Plant | Sulfur | Producer | ||
| Wallisvill Road Barite Plant | Barium-Barite | Producer | ||
| Highlands Dredge & Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Mantooth Dredge & Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Rightway Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | Gravel, Sand | |
| Rightway Sand Co | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| San Jacinto Excavation Corp | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Sheldon Sand Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Highlands in 7 storm reports between 1995 and 2024: 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 2 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2015 | Tornado (EF0) | Highlands | $200,000 | An EF-0 tornado began in the Rio Villa subdivision along the San Jacinto River where|several homes received minor roof damage. The tornado damage ended near Evangeline street in Barrett where there was mainly tree and power line damage. The estimated peak wind was 75 mph. |
| March 1995 | Tornado (F0) | Highlands | $20,000 | Sheriff reported tornado near Highlands near the San Jacinto River. Damaged roofs and downed telephone poles. |
| December 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Highlands | $15,000 | Numerous trees and powerlines blown down. Structural damage mainly to roofs. |
| March 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Highlands | - | Wind gust occurred at a mesonet station. |
| April 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Highlands | - | Trees and powerlines were downed. |
| May 2006 | Funnel Cloud | Highlands | - | Sighted just north of Interstate 10. |
| July 2007 | Funnel Cloud | Highlands | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gilbert Landing | 1.3 miles | 17 | |
| McNair | 2.1 miles | 17 | |
| Four Corners | 2.2 miles | 17 | |
| Lynchburg | 2.2 miles | 17 | |
| Mantu | 2.3 miles | 17 | |
| Coady | 3.2 miles | 17 | |
| San Jacinto Place | 3.7 miles | 15 | |
| Lynchburg Landing | 3.8 miles | 17 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Highlands | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q979148 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1337750. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.











