Located about 19 miles (31 km) southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a populous suburban municipality centered around the junction of Texas State Highway 6 and Interstate 69/U.S.

Since then, Sugar Land has grown rapidly alongside other edge cities around Houston, with large-scale development of master-planned communities contributing to population swells since the 1980s.

The 2020 United States Census reported that the city's population had grown more than 40% in the preceding 10 years following the annexation of the Greatwood and New Territory communities in December 2017.

As part of the Kempner-Copenhaver agreement, Copenhaver moved to the site to serve as general manager and build the company-owned town of Sugar Land.

Custom houses were built to surround two golf courses, and country clubs, swimming pools, and a private home security service were part of the amenities developed.

The master-planned communities of Greatwood and New Territory, at the time situated west of the city in what was then its extraterritorial jurisdiction, also began to be developed by the end of the 1980s.

In addition to the development of master-planned communities targeted at commuters from Houston, Sugar Land began attracting the attention of major corporations throughout the 1980s.

Voters approved the adoption of a home-rule charter, which established a mayor-council form of government, with all powers of the city vested in a council composed of a mayor and five councilmen, elected from single-member districts.

In November 1997, Sugar Land annexed the remaining municipal utility districts of the 10,000-acre (4,000 ha) First Colony master-planned community, bringing the city's population to almost 60,000.

The city helped fund the Albert and Mamie George Building, and as a result, the multi-institution teaching center was renamed as the University of Houston Sugar Land.

Sugar Land developers have built many artificial lakes connecting to Oyster Creek or the Brazos River, as part of new master-planned communities.

For example, the historic flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey was worse than it would have otherwise been due to the effect,[15] and houses and buildings in the city are sinking and having their foundations damaged.

The Chicot and Evangeline Aquifers have been the primary source of municipal water for Sugar Land, Houston, Galveston and other surrounding areas.

These sediments consist of a series of sands and clays deposited on decaying organic matter that, over time, were transformed into oil and natural gas.

This is due to this area being separated from the rest of Sugar Land by the Brazos River, as well as being served by the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District.

Other communities in this area are Canyon Gate on the Brazos and Tara Colony, the latter an older large subdivision which has a Richmond address but is actually in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Sugar Land and up for future annexation.

It is home to two master-planned communities, New Territory and Telfair, the latter of which was previously prison farm land owned by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

[39] Shri Krishna Vrundavana has a Sugar Land postal address, but is physically in the Alief super neighborhood in the Houston city limits.

[46] Schlumberger, an oil services company, moved its Houston-area offices from 5000 Gulf Freeway in Houston to a campus in Sugar Land in 1995.

Some western segments of the city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction, including the master-planned communities of New Territory, Greatwood, River Park and Telfair, are situated in District 18, represented by Republican Lois Kolkhorst.

[75] The Sugar Land Distribution Center, a TDCJ men's correctional supply warehouse, was inside the Central Unit compound.

An outdoor arts plaza is also being constructed around the concert hall, and will be incorporated with a new mixed-use development that will include two hotels, a conference center, office and ground-level retail, and an age-restricted senior living multifamily complex.

The district offers an array of restaurants, sidewalk cafes, shopping venues, a Marriott Hotel and conference center, mid-rise offices and homes, a public plaza, and Sugar Land City Hall.

[95] The southwest portion of Sugar Land and some very small areas within its extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) are in the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District (LCISD).

The film was produced by Dingoman Productions, a sketch comedy group formed by Sugar Land residents Andy Young, Derek Papa & James McEnelly who got their start attending Austin High School together.

[111] Folk musician Lead Belly's song "Midnight Special" discusses his arrest in Houston and his stay at the Sugar Land Prison (now the Beauford H. Jester pre-release Center) in 1925.

Bruce Springsteen recorded but did not release a song called "Sugar Land", about the economic crisis facing American agriculture in the 1980s.

On Thursdays, the Houston Chronicle offers a localized segment covering the Sugar Land area under its "Fort Bend" section.

The city is not a participant in the Houston area's METRO transit authority; Sugar Land's merchants do not collect the sales tax that partially funds that agency.

Construction will start soon south of its current terminus at Interstate 69/US 59, which is expected to extend the highway east to Alvin in Brazoria County.