3 affordable Houston neighbors rank among America's 10 safest cities

HIGH PRAISE FOR THE 'BURBS

League City, Sugar Land, and Pearland were just crowned among the top 10 safest and most affordable cities to live in the U.S. Photo via Getty Images

Crime may be a concern for some Houstonians, but life is a little more relaxed just beyond the city limits.

Three Houston-area suburbs – League City, Sugar Land, and Pearland – were just crowned among the top 10 safest and most affordable cities to live in the U.S., as declared in a new report by GoBankingRates.

The study, "50 Safest and Most Affordable US Cities To Live In," ranked the largest U.S. cities by population based on their cost of living and crime rate averages. Crime rates were determined based on the number of crimes per 1,000 city residents from the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer in 2022, the year with the most recent available data.

League City proudly landed in the No. 4 spot nationally, thanks to its low property and violent crime rates as well as a high median household income. Sugar Land and Pearland weren't too far behind in the top 10, ranking No. 6 and No. 7, respectively. The report emphasized these suburbs all offer "vibrant cultural scenes" and strong job markets for adults, along with great schools and abundant recreational activities for families to enjoy.

A League City household makes a median income of $117,316 annually, with an average mortgage cost of $2,216 per month, the report found. The total monthly cost of living in the family friendly city adds up to $4,157.

There were a total of 1,497 property crimes reported in the city in 2022, and 126 total violent crimes. For context, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population in League City spans more than 116,000 residents in 2023. That means the city's rate for violent crimes is 1.08 per 1,000 residents, and the property crime rate is 12.85 per 1,000 residents, according to the findings.

Sugar Land's median household income is much higher than League City's, at $132,247 per year. However, so were the average mortgage costs ($2,715 per month) and total monthly cost of living ($4,852).

There were 1,745 property crimes and 97 violent crimes reported in Sugar Land in 2022. That would place Sugar Land's property crime rate at 16.16 per 1,000 city residents, and 0.90 violent crimes per 1,000 residents.

Here's how the report breaks down Pearland's cost of living and crime rate statistics:

  • Median household income: $111,123
  • Household average mortgage cost: $2,257
  • Total monthly cost of living: $4,352
  • Property crimes (reported in 2022): 2,152
  • Property crime per 1,000 residents: 17.09
  • Violent crimes (reported in 2022): 117
  • Violent crime per 1,000 residents: .93

Large Texas cities, such as Houston proper, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio, were all noticeably absent in the ranking. This is likely because – as most Texans are aware – bigger cities often have higher crime rates and higher costs of living than their outlying suburbs.

"Choosing a family-friendly place to live is a significant decision that involves a balancing act between safety and affordability in any big city," the report said. "Whether you’re a young professional, a growing family or a retiree, finding real estate where you feel comfortable — both physically and financially — is crucial for a high quality of life."

Other Texas cities that were ranked in the top 25 safest and most affordable places to live include El Paso (No. 11), McKinney (No. 15), Frisco (No. 16), Laredo (No. 18), Grand Prairie (No. 21), Plano (No. 22), Carrollton (No. 23), and McAllen (No. 24).

The top 10 safest and most affordable U.S. cities to live in are:

  • No. 1 – Elgin, Illinois
  • No. 2 – Cary, North Carolina
  • No. 3 – Gilbert, Arizona
  • No. 4 – League City, Texas
  • No. 5 – Rochester, Minnesota
  • No. 6 – Sugar Land, Texas
  • No. 7 – Pearland, Texas
  • No. 8 – Meridian, Idaho
  • No. 9 – Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
  • No. 10 – Olathe, Kansas
The full report and its methodology can be found on gobankingrates.com

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

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Rice University's top innovation exec leaving for new role at UVA

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Paul Cherukuri, Rice University's top innovation executive, responsible for some of Rice’s major innovative projects like the Rice BioTech LaunchPad and Rice Nexus, will leave the university next month to accept a position at the University of Virginia.

Cherukuri, Rice’s first vice president for innovation and chief innovation officer, will become the University of Virginia’s Donna and Richard Tadler University Professor of Entrepreneurship and the school's first chief innovation officer, according to a release from Rice. Cherukuri, who has served for more than 10 years at Rice, plans to depart his current position on Sept. 30.

Adrian Trömel, associate vice president for innovation strategy and investments at Rice, will serve as interim vice president for innovation and chief innovation officer after Cherukuri departs, and as the university starts an international search for his replacement.

“We appointed Paul to build an ambitious and high-functioning innovation operation, and he has succeeded remarkably in short order,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches said in the release. “In every area, from technology translation and startup creation to commercialization and entrepreneurship training, he has led the effort to vastly improve our structure, operations and relationships. He has contributed immensely both to our strategies and their implementation across numerous areas, and we’ll miss him greatly.”

Cherukuri is a physicist, chemist and medical technology entrepreneur, and has been a member of DesRoches’ leadership team since 2022. Cherukuri served as executive director of Rice’s Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering from 2016 to 2022, where he helped in the development of interdisciplinary translational research partnerships with federal and corporate agencies. His work helped earn nearly $37 million in funding for accelerating the development of new technologies into commercial products. In the energy transition field, Cherukuri led a $12.5 million partnership with Woodside Energy to transform greenhouse gases into advanced nanomaterials for next-generation batteries and transistors.

Initiatives the Rice Biotech Launch Pad, an accelerator focused on expediting the translation of the university’s health and medical technology; RBL LLC, a biotech venture studio in the Texas Medical Center’s Helix Park dedicated to commercializing lifesaving medical technologies from the Launch Pad; and Rice Nexus, an AI-focused "innovation factory" at the Ion; were all launched under Cherukuri’s leadership. With his work at the Ion, Cherukuri also led the announcement of a partnership with North America’s largest climate tech incubator, Greentown Labs.

“I am proud of the relentless innovative spirit we have built for Rice in Houston and around the world,” Cherukuri said in the release. “I look forward to bringing new energy and vision to UVA’s efforts in this critical space for our country, its success and future.”

UH scientists develop new flood scale for Houston weather resource

Weather Warning

One of the selling points of Houston's Space City Weather (SCW) blog and app has always been its hype-free forecasts. Meteorologists Matt Lanza and Eric Berger inform and soothe the 5 million annual visitors to the site in search of information about the latest weather events around Houston — without hyperbole.

But when severe weather alerts happen, how can SCW reach people in the Greater Houston area in such a way that they know it is time to take action and seek shelter? And when they do, will people understand the best actions to take?

To communicate information with the proper sense of urgency, SCW partnered with University of Houston Professor of Psychology Steven Paul Woods and doctoral student Natalie C. Ridgely to test out the effectiveness of messaging and a new flood scale.



“My lab does work on how people access, understand, and use health information, so I thought we could adapt some of that ongoing work and our expertise in psychological science to answer questions about weather communication, and help keep Houstonians informed and safe,” said Woods.

Woods, Ridgely, and their team recruited 100 Gulf Coast residents for a study and then presented them with weather forecasts that ranged in severity. One group reviewed the previous flood scale model used by Space City Weather that Lanza and Berger felt wasn't conveying enough urgency and information, and another reviewed a new enhanced scale that focused on predictive consumer behavior.

By framing the flood scale in terms of what people should expect to do (fuel vehicles, identify safety routes, etc.), they noticed users were more likely to actually perform preparations.

"People in the weather-protective cue group did a better job of planning for the storms,” said Woods. “We were able to improve flood-protective plans for the people who were at greatest risk of being unprepared.”

SCW has already implemented the new scale on its site as Houston moves further into Atlantic hurricane season. This change will hopefully fulfill SCW's goal of giving residents access to clear information to help them make safety decisions regarding the weather. Each entry on the 1-5 scale offers a simple checklist of safety behaviors, from encouraging the monitoring of emergency frequencies to preparing to move to higher ground. It's simple, but in disastrous situations, sometimes people need to be reminded clearly of simple tasks.

“Frankly, it feels great to be able to expand the Space City Weather Flood Scale to help people take action,” said Lanza.

“One of my biggest concerns about the scale was that we came up with it ourselves, which is fine in a vacuum. But as a scientist, I wanted us to make sure we were pushing out something that was adding value to storm prep, not adding confusion. Does it pass the test of being meaningful and scientifically sound? And who better to help solidify that than an expert in psychology?”

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A version of this article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Fast-growing Houston tech firm leads dozens of local companies on Inc. 5000

growth report

Dozens of Houston-area businesses appear in this year’s Inc. 5000 ranking of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S., with a security software provider capturing the region’s No. 1 spot on the list.

Landing at No. 29 nationally and No. 1 in the software category, the top-ranked Houston-area private company is Houston-based Action1. The company recorded median revenue growth of 7,188 percent from 2021 to 2024, according to the Inc. 5000.

It’s the first appearance on the Inc. 5000 list for Action1, founded in 2018.

Action1 produces patch management software. A patch, or fix, quickly repairs software to resolve functionality problems, improve security or add features, according to TechTarget.

“Modern organizations understand that proactive patch management is essential to staying ahead of today’s rapidly evolving threat landscape,” Mike Walters, co-founder and president of Action1, said in a news release. “Our continued hypergrowth reflects the increased demand for enterprise cybersecurity innovation. You can’t be just powerful and secure — you must also be simple to deploy and scale and cost-effective.”

Below are the Houston-area businesses that earned a ranking among the top 1,000 companies, including their industries and their three-year growth rate. To see the other Houston-area companies in the Inc. 5000, visit inc.com/inc5000/2025.

  • No. 29 Houston-based Action1, software (7,188 percent)
  • No. 49 Spring-based Bogey Bros Golf, retail (5,540 percent)
  • No. 84 Houston-based Turtlebox Audio, consumer products (3,818 percent)
  • No. 87 The Woodlands-based Allied Wealth, financial services (3,796 percent)
  • No. 319 Houston-based Strategic Office Support, business products and services (1,228 percent)
  • No. 324 Houston-based Novo Communications, security (1,212 percent)
  • No. 363 Houston-based OptiSigns, software (1,101 percent)
  • No. 385 Houston-based Cart.com, business products and services (1,053 percent)
  • No. 421 Houston-based Sydecar, financial services (962 percent)
  • No. 471 The Woodlands-based Acuity Technology Partners, IT services (869 percent)
  • No. 577 Stafford-based Dahnani Private Equity Group, real estate (718 percent)
  • No. 706 Houston-based Why Not Natural, consumer products (585 percent)
  • No. 709 Stafford-based Signarama Sugar Land, manufacturing (584 percent)
  • No. 744 Houston-based FINBOA, software (557 percent)
  • No. 747 Houston-based Amundson Group, human resources (557 percent)
  • No. 793 Houston-based Field Industries, manufacturing (533 percent)
  • No. 957 Friendswood-based Good Ranchers, food and beverage (448 percent)
  • No. 999 Houston-based ARIA Signs & Design, business products and services (428 percent)
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