Sheldon is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) in northeastern Harris County, Texas, United States, located completely inside the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of Houston.

The Sheldon area is located along Beltway 8 and US Highway 90, approximately twelve miles (19 km) northeast of Downtown Houston.

Since the 1950s, the population growth of Sheldon has grown to extend past the statistical census-designated place (CDP) boundary originally delineated by the United States Census Bureau.

The local understanding of the area is that it corresponds to that of boundary of the Sheldon Independent School District.

Sheldon opened in the 1850s and served as a retail marketing point for agricultural goods and lumber from an area on the San Jacinto River.

The boundary is unofficially known as corresponding to that of Sheldon Independent School District, which is geographically bound by Greens Bayou on the west and the San Jacinto River on the east.

The area is also home to Sheldon Lake State Park and Environmental Learning Center, which has a variety of land and water fauna.

[18] As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,361 people, 521 households, and 458 families residing in the CDP.

There are currently four stations with a fifth station planned in Generation Park on West Lake Houston Parkway & Lockwood Dr.[25] The United States Postal Service built a post office in Sheldon in 1890 and it operated until its closure in 1953.

[27] Several large companies are located in Sheldon including LyondellBasell, Apache Industrial Services, National Oilwell Varco, Genan, and Koch.

Redemption Square in Generation Park is currently under construction with office buildings, restaurants, and hotels set to open in 2017.

[28] Other companies that are currently relocating their offices to Sheldon include Stolt-Nielsen, McCord Development, and Patterson UTI which is building is corporate campus on 365 acres.

[37] In 2015 San Jacinto College announced it purchased 57 acres in Generation Park to build the Sheldon Campus.