Where Should You Live When Starting at KPMG’s Houston Office?

Starting at KPMG in Houston? Compare Lower Heights, Greater Heights, Montrose, River Oaks, commute times, rents, social life, car needs, and Grant Bynum’s recommended apartment tour.

KPMG’s Houston office is at 811 Main Street, Suite 4500, in Downtown Houston. It is a central location with strong access to the city’s core neighborhoods. For a recent graduate, however, Grant generally would not make Downtown the default housing choice. In his experience, most recent grads prefer to commute from nearby neighborhoods with a stronger social environment.

Grant’s first areas to consider are Lower Heights, Greater Heights, Montrose, and River Oaks. Downtown can still be a fifth option for someone who strongly values walking to work, but it is not where Grant sees the largest concentration of recent grads.

Grant’s ranking is: 1) Lower Heights, 2) Greater Heights, 3) Montrose, 4) River Oaks.

Lower Heights is Grant’s top choice because it combines proximity to Downtown with strong nightlife and a large recent-grad presence. Greater Heights is also one of Grant’s strongest recommendations, especially around 19th and 20th Streets. Montrose is a terrific lifestyle option but generally more expensive. River Oaks is the most upscale of the four and usually farther from KPMG.

Grant uses 30 minutes or less as a good general Houston commute target. Lower Heights is typically the easiest of his top social choices for getting into Downtown and can often be around 15 minutes or less in favorable traffic. Greater Heights can be closer to 30 minutes depending on the exact property and time of day. Montrose is close to Downtown and generally practical. River Oaks can be roughly 30 minutes and sometimes longer when traffic is heavy.

Start with Lower Heights and Greater Heights. They offer the best overall combination of commute, social life, value, and recent-grad concentration in Grant’s experience.

Grant’s current working ranges for a nice one-bedroom are approximately: Lower Heights $1,700–$2,000; Greater Heights $1,600–$1,900; Montrose $1,800–$2,200; River Oaks $1,800–$2,200. These are planning ranges, not guaranteed quotes, and live pricing should be reconfirmed before a renter applies.

Grant strongly recommends that a KPMG recent grad have a car. Houston does have public transportation, including METRORail. The Red Line runs along Main Street through Downtown and connects to the Museum District and Texas Medical Center. Even so, Grant says HomeBase receives very few renter requests focused on rail access and does not view Houston as an easy car-free city for most recent grads.

Grant would prioritize social programming, secure parking, a strong gym, and useful coworking space. He gives less weight to oversized resident lounges, sky lounges, and package rooms when those features do not translate into actual resident interaction.

Grant uses Midtown as his clearest example of an area that can look convenient on a map but is no longer one of his first recent-grad recommendations. In his experience, Midtown’s popularity with recent grads declined materially around 2020. He also warns that a short mileage distance can still become a 30- to 45-minute Houston drive in traffic.

Grant’s ideal KPMG Houston tour is about five apartments across three primary neighborhoods: 1 apartment in Montrose, 2 apartments in Lower Heights, and 2 apartments in Greater Heights. If the renter wants a sixth stop, Grant would consider River Oaks or Downtown. He also recommends lunch in one favorite area and dinner or nightlife in another to test the neighborhood outside the leasing office.

HomeBase starts with neighborhood guidance, then builds a shortlist of roughly 10–15 apartments, reviews current pricing and rent specials, points renters to the Best Houston Apartments YouTube channel, schedules tours, and helps compare final choices. Renters can also use the HomeBase AI assistant for area explanations and apartment recommendations, supplemented by the human team.

Grant has three rules before signing a lease: choose a social neighborhood where you can meet other recent grads; choose a genuinely social apartment community; and do not settle for a property unless you get the feeling, “Wow, this is it.” For Grant, the apartment decision is about much more than the commute. A recent graduate is moving to Houston, starting a career, and rebuilding a social network at the same time.