The Woodlands is a special-purpose district and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area.

[7] The area that is now The Woodlands was used by the Akokisa and Bidai peoples, who relied on the fresh water of Spring Creek.

[9] The Woodlands was conceived after the oil industry investor George P. Mitchell attended a symposium by the Rouse Company subsidiary American City Corporation and developer of Columbia, Maryland, on how to develop new towns using the HUD Title VII program.

Bill Schadewald of the Houston Business Journal said that Mitchell wanted the development to "entice city slickers looking for far-flung suburban quality of life".

[12] The Woodlands Corporation was acquired on July 31, 1997, by a partnership between Morgan Stanley and Crescent Real Estate Equities.

In the middle part of the 2000s, some residents organized to prevent any annexation, as had happened to the Kingwood development almost a decade before.

[25] In a referendum on November 2, 2021, residents voted against incorporation by a wide margin, keeping The Woodlands as a township for the foreseeable future.

The terrain is essentially flat, with the exception of topographic variations ranging from 125 to 175 feet above sea level between Spring Creek and Flintridge Drive.

Each village features varying amenities including parks, hike and bike trails, golfing, commercial centers, and a range of residential properties from single family to estates.

[29] The Town Center includes shopping and eating facilities, corporate offices, and a waterway modeled after the San Antonio River Walk.

[30] The Research Forest district includes a Park and Ride facility and The Woodlands Township Town Hall.

[31] The Woodlands has a humid subtropical climate, typical to the Southeast Texas region and Greater Houston.

[65] By 2006 the numbers of middle and upper class Hispanics and Latinos, including Mexican nationals, increased.

Some of them moved to The Woodlands to escape increased crime and political tensions from the Mexican presidential election and find better schools for their children.

[76] Circa 2012 Covenant United Methodist Church began its worship services at Timber Creek Elementary School, and by 2016 bought 5 acres (2.0 ha) of land near the entrance of Village of Creekside Park for a permanent 700-seat facility.

Congregation Beth Shalom, established circa 1984 led by Rabbi Edwin C. Goldberg, has about 175 families,[80] and is affiliated with Reform Judaism.

[83] It is a branch of the worldwide Chabad Lubavitch movement, offering traditional-style services to contemporary Jewish families.

[84] Chabad of The Woodlands inaugurated and sponsors the annual Hanukkah on Market Street celebration,[85] and established the first Jewish preschool in the area.

The Rice University Baker Institute director, Tony Payán, stated that uncertainty regarding the Trump Administration's attitudes towards immigration and the decline in value of the Mexican peso were factors.

In January 2012, Anadarko announced the imminent construction of a sister tower on site, 31 stories high, of which ten will be for parking.

The building is at the corner of Woodloch Forest Dr and Lake Robbins Dr. With its completed sister tower, Hackett Tower is the tallest building in Montgomery County and between Houston and Dallas.Chicago Bridge & Iron's (CB&I) worldwide administrative office was in The Woodlands.

[93] In 2018 McDermott International, which acquired CB&I, announced that it would sell the headquarters facility in The Woodlands to Howard Hughes Corporation.

[101] Even though The Woodlands is not a city nor a traditional township government, it still provides limited municipal government services such as trash pickup, parks and recreation, covenant enforcement, fire and rescue services, streetscaping, economic development, and enhanced law enforcement and security patrols.

[104] Children from the Creekside Park Village[103] in Harris County attend the Tomball Independent School District.

In 2023 TISD had plans to move middle school grades of the Creekside Village area to Tomball, but parents protested.

[107] The district shifted and decided instead to move the fifth grade to an addition at Creekside Park Junior High School.

The directors of The Woodlands Township had asked that TISD not move the middle school students to Tomball.

[108] By 2015, many private preparatory schools began campus expansions as The Woodlands had an increase in population and corporate office relocations.

[114] The headquarters of the Lone Star College System are located in The Woodlands and in unincorporated Montgomery County, Texas.

The cast and crew were largely composed of local residents, and the film was part of a larger effort to generate interest in using The Woodlands and Houston as shooting locations for major motion pictures.