SOUTHWEST HOUSTON
Southwest Houston contains some of the most multicultural communities in Texas. It is home to more than 200,000 African Americans, about one quarter of the total population. They share this area with Hispanic and many Asian ethnicities. Other Black ethnicities, such as African and Caribbean immigrant’s have also put down roots in this area.
Southwest Houston contains some of the most multicultural communities in Texas. It is home to more than 200,000 African Americans, about one quarter of the total population. They share this area with Hispanic and many Asian ethnicities. Other Black ethnicities, such as African and Caribbean immigrant’s have also put down roots in this area. African American growth has slowed down in areas around Sharpstown as they are choosing to move to communities to the west, such as Alief and Mission Bend, or south along the beltway bordering Stafford and Missouri City which have a higher percentage of Blacks. This area along the Beltway has experienced significant growth in African American population and has the highest rates of home ownership in Southwest Houston. It has a mix of young and middle-aged low, lower middle and some upper middle income families trying to provide better lives for their children than they had.
The West Houston communities of Alief and Mission Bend are about 1/3 Black which includes immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean. There is a mix of singles, couples, and families with income ranges from lower middle to upper middle. Mission Bend is just west of Alief and consists of more single family homes.
Southwest Houston tends to get a bad reputation because of crime reports coming mainly from Sharpstown’s many apartment communities and also the perceptions of all of the minorities living in the area. But the area is large and, like anywhere else, it depends on the neighborhood in question.
The area commonly referred to as West Houston, mainly along the Westheimer Rd corridor and including Uptown/Galleria, is a strip of established transitioning communities. The growing numbers of African American and other ethnicities in the area are replacing some of the majority white-owned and rented housing that already exists in the area.
