As of 2011[update], West University Place has the state's fifth highest concentration of households with incomes $150,000 or greater.

"[8] In the 1920s, Lillian "Lilly" Nicholson, a Rice University English major, lived with a friend whose father was a city planner.

The city planner asked Nicholson and her friend to name the streets of West University Place.

Nicholson took names from her English literature book and gave them to the streets in West University Place.

Cydney Mackey, a family friend of Nicholson, said in a Houston Chronicle article, "Aunt Lilly had always said she wanted to be an architect, unknown for women in that era, and this was her way of making a small but lasting mark on our city's landscape.

Don Stowers of the Houston Post said that West University Place changed from an "aging middle-class neighborhood" consisting of mid-20th century bungalows and cottages to an increasingly wealthy community of "dare we say, young urban professionals in their austere red-brick Georgians.

[10]On October 22, 2018 24/7 Wall Street, which collaborates with USA Today, ranked West University Place the "best city to live in".

[14] The city's boundaries are Kirby Drive to the east, Union Pacific St. Louis Southwestern Railway railroad track to the west, Bellaire Boulevard/West Holcombe Boulevard to the south, and Bissonnet and Law Streets to the north.

The Harris County Flood Control District, in 1954, widened and deepened the ditch and added a concrete bottom and siding.

[8] In 2018, Mimi Swartz of Texas Monthly described it as "an orderly quarter where older brick bungalows and modest two-story colonials reside in peace alongside grand—but not too grand—new construction.

[16] The original housing stock of West University Place consisted of mid-20th century bungalows and cottages.

People living in the area were fond of restoration of older houses, and it includes some of West U's more expensive homes.

As of 2018[update] many residents include lawyers and employees of the nearby institutions Rice University and the Texas Medical Center; that year Swartz described the community as "a prosperous place" that nevertheless is not "as flashy as wealthy neighborhoods like River Oaks or Memorial".

[39] West University Baptist Church was established in 1928 by Nannie David; at the time the charter indicated 18 members.

[40] Beginning circa 2007 there was an attempt to swap land with the city government, but some residents protested as they feared eminent domain.

[54] West University Place's sewage treatment plant and animal pound are located on a lot in Houston.

"[15] There was a plan to sell the West University maintenance facility, but city council suspended the proposed sale in 2014.

[64] Harris County Precinct One, headed by Allen Rosen as of 2019, serves West University Place.

[67] West University Place is in Texas's 7th congressional district; as of 2019 Lizzie Pannill Fletcher is the representative.

[71] The first West University Place Recreation Center, formerly the Southwest YMCA, included a gymnasium, a swimming pool, and lighted sports fields.

[71] In 2008 residents approved a bond to build a new $8.8 million recreation center at a plot of land bounded by Bellaire Boulevard, Community, and Westpoint.

Russ Schulze, the chairperson of the Parks and Recreation department of West University Place, said that the city wants to construct a recreation center "for our residents, not something that will compete with nearby fitness centers or the Weekley YMCA, or to merely attract what residents outside West University want.

"[74] Current policy denies admission to the pool or other facilities to non-residents unless physically accompanied by a resident at all times [1].

The park has a playground, a picnic area, two tennis courts, a parkour course, a concrete walking path, and a pavilion.

[71] On May 11, 2009, the West University Place city council approved the design of the new Colonial Park pool,[79] which was completed in 2011.

[81] Whitt Johnson Park, at 6540 Wakeforest Street, has a playground, a gazebo, a picnic area, and a lighted basketball court.

"[95] West University Elementary School, by the 1990s, became what Fleck described as "the prototype of how the increasingly minority district could maintain the allegiance of affluent whites" and "a selling point for parents moving into the area.

In 2010 two parents, Adrienne Vanderbloemen and Christi Young, started a blog that supported the idea of sending one's child to Pershing Middle School.

As World War II continued the library was moved into the Reed and Yancey Realtors field office.

[112] West University Place is a member city of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO).