Montgomery County, Texas

Montgomery County is a county in Texas, United States, about 40 miles north of downtown Houston along Interstate 45. It had a population of 620,443 at the 2020 census, an estimated 781,194 by 2025, and covers 1,042 square miles (2,700 km2) centred near 30°17′56″N 95°30′11″W.

Conroe is the county seat; its postal code is 77301. The county holds 14 incorporated cities and one special-purpose township, The Woodlands, plus a string of unincorporated communities and census-designated places along its southern edge, and it runs on Central time. Its FIPS code is 48339.

Towns & Villages in Montgomery County

Montgomery County has 23 named places worth tracking: 14 incorporated cities, one special-purpose township that functions like a city but legally isn’t one, and eight unincorporated communities or census-designated places (CDPs) with no city government of their own. Texas has no civil townships, so this table skips that column.

Two names cause real confusion. Twenty-four other U.S. counties are also called Montgomery — Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Alabama and Tennessee among them — so this page always pairs the county name with Texas. Inside the county, Pinehurst is a second source of mix-ups: Wikipedia treats it as a disambiguation page because Texas has a second, unrelated Pinehurst in Orange County, near Beaumont. And The Woodlands is routinely called a city in casual writing; legally it is a special-purpose township, not an incorporated municipality (see below).

ZIP Codes

• 77301, 77302, 77303, 77304, 77305, 77306 — Conroe (also serves Cut and Shoot and River Plantation)
• 77380, 77381, 77382, 77384, 77385, 77386, 77387, 77393 — The Woodlands (also serves Shenandoah and Oak Ridge North)
• 77316, 77356 — Montgomery
• 77354, 77355, 77353 — Magnolia (also serves Stagecoach and Decker Prairie)
• 77318, 77378 — Willis
• 77357 — New Caney (also serves Roman Forest and Woodbranch)
• 77365 — Porter (also serves Imperial Oaks)
• 77372 — Splendora (also serves Patton Village)
• 77362 — Pinehurst

Tamina has no ZIP of its own and is served by carrier routes out of the Conroe and Willis post offices; Woodloch, similarly small, draws its mail service from the surrounding Conroe ZIPs rather than a dedicated code.

Geography

Montgomery County sits in the Piney Woods, its terrain a mix of pine forest and rolling prairie draining toward the San Jacinto River, which crosses the county’s east side and floods Tamina, Woodloch and River Plantation during major storms. Lake Conroe, an 21,000-acre reservoir on the West Fork San Jacinto, covers much of the county’s northwest corner and is its largest body of water. Water makes up roughly 90 square miles of the county’s total area, mostly Lake Conroe and the San Jacinto’s tributaries.

Walker County borders to the north, San Jacinto County to the northeast, Liberty County to the east, Harris County to the south, Waller County to the southwest and Grimes County to the west. Of these, Walker County, Liberty County and Harris County have their own pages on this site; San Jacinto, Waller and Grimes counties do not yet.

Demographics

The county had a population of 620,443 at the 2020 census, up from roughly 456,000 in 2010, and the Census Bureau’s latest estimate puts it near 781,194. The Woodlands, at 114,436 residents, and Conroe, at 89,956, are the two largest communities. Median household income runs about $97,266, well above the Texas figure of roughly $75,000. Land-based population density works out to about 595 people per square mile, though most of that population clusters along the I-45 corridor between Conroe and The Woodlands, leaving the county’s north and west largely rural.

Economy & Local Life

The Woodlands anchors the county’s corporate economy: Chevron Phillips Chemical, Occidental Petroleum and Baker Hughes all run major offices or headquarters functions there, alongside Woodforest National Bank, which is headquartered in the township. Conroe’s largest employers, per the city’s 2016 profile, are Conroe Independent School District (about 7,200 workers), Montgomery County government (about 2,166), Conroe Regional Medical Center (about 1,226) and the City of Conroe (about 529). Lone Star College-Montgomery, in Conroe, and a Sam Houston State University teaching site in The Woodlands cover higher education. The Montgomery County Fair & Rodeo, held each spring in Conroe, is the county’s largest annual event.

History

The Congress of the Republic of Texas created Montgomery County on December 14, 1837, naming it for the town of Montgomery, which itself likely honors Major Lemuel P. Montgomery, killed at the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend. The county’s defining 20th-century event came in 1931, when wildcatter George W. Strake discovered the Conroe Oil Field, one of the largest oil strikes in U.S. history at the time. The boom briefly gave Conroe more millionaires per capita than any other American city and reshaped the county’s economy for a generation. Population growth resumed sharply in the late 20th century: the county grew 55% between 2000 and 2010 and 36% between 2010 and 2020, driven largely by The Woodlands’ expansion as a Houston suburb.

Getting There

Interstate 45 runs north-south through the county’s spine, linking Willis, Conroe and The Woodlands to Houston; Interstate 69/US 59 cuts through the southeast corner past New Caney, Porter and Splendora; State Highway 249, a toll road, serves Magnolia and the county’s southwest.

• Houston — 40 miles south
• Huntsville — 30 miles north
• Cleveland — 25 miles east
• Tomball — 15 miles southwest

The nearest commercial airport is George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Harris County, about 25 miles south of Conroe; Lone Star Executive Airport in Conroe handles general aviation only. There is no Amtrak station in the county; the nearest is Houston’s station on the Sunset Limited route.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Montgomery County, Texas?
It sits about 40 miles north of downtown Houston, bordered by Walker, San Jacinto, Liberty, Harris, Waller and Grimes counties.

What is the population of Montgomery County?
It had a population of 620,443 at the 2020 census, estimated at 781,194 as of 2025.

How big is Montgomery County?
It covers 1,042 square miles (2,700 km2) of land, plus about 90 square miles of water, mostly Lake Conroe.

What is the county seat of Montgomery County?
Conroe is the county seat, with a postal code of 77301.

How many towns and cities are in Montgomery County?
Fourteen incorporated cities, one special-purpose township (The Woodlands), and several unincorporated communities and CDPs.

What ZIP codes are in Montgomery County?
Its main ZIP codes run from 77301 through 77393, with Conroe, The Woodlands, Willis, Montgomery, Magnolia, New Caney, Porter and Splendora each acting as a post office town.

Is The Woodlands a city?
No. It is a special-purpose township created by the Texas Legislature in 1993; residents voted against incorporating as a city as recently as November 2021.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Texas.