The Market at Valley Ranch, a retail shopping center, will be coming soon to Porter. 

A closer look: The types of businesses at the center will likely include:

• Medical clinics
• Fitness centers
• Restaurants
• Child day care/education centers

• Opening date TBA
• Northwest corner of I-59 and Valley Ranch Crossing Drive in New Caney

Overall, incomes in the New Caney and Porter area increased by up to 22% from 2019-24, according to median income data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The framework: On Jan. 29, the U.S. Census Bureau released new five-year data for 2024 as part of its American Community Survey, which represents a five-year estimate of the population across the country from 2020 to 2024. This data compares with the 2019 survey results, which studied the country from 2015 to 2019.

The following ZIP codes make up Community Impact's New Caney and Porter coverage area:

• 77357, which includes New Caney
• 77365, which includes Porter

During the first week of early voting for the March primary election, Feb. 17-22, close to 7% of registered voters in Montgomery County cast their ballots, according to Montgomery County Election Central.

Breaking it down: Spread throughout six days, 31,061 total votes were cast—or 6.62% of registered voters—according to data from Montgomery County Election Central. The Democratic Party saw 8,265 total votes, and the Republican Party saw 22,794.  
As of Feb. 22, there were 468,963 registered voters within the county, according to Montgomery County Election Central.

The highest number of votes cast for the Democratic Party came Feb. 21; meanwhile, the highest vote count for the Republican Party came Feb. 20, according to the county election data. 
 

Hundreds of volunteers will hit the streets Tuesday night across Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties to begin the annual Point-in-Time survey, which catalogues the number of individuals experiencing homelessness on a single night in the three counties.

How it works: The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County and The Way Home have been conducting the annual survey since 2011. The survey provides a snapshot of sheltered and unsheltered individuals experiencing homelessness year-over-year.

Volunteers will count sheltered individuals Feb. 23 as the official "night of record," according to a Feb. 20 news release. Meanwhile, the unsheltered portion of the count will take place over three days—Feb. 24-26.

Why it matters: The count is typically a part of a federal funding process for local homelessness response systems like The Way Home.

"The count helps identify service gaps, geographic shifts and emerging needs across the region and allows the community to track trends over time using a consistent methodology."