Midtown Houston is just south of downtown Houston, Texas, bordered by the Montrose area and U.S. Highway 59.

Historically, Midtown was the second residential neighborhood created in Houston, following the settling of Allen's Landing. The area experienced explosive growth through the 1940s, but declined beginning in the 1980s, becoming the only district in Texas to experience negative growth from 1980 to 1990. Despite the decline in growth, this part of Houston was a magnet for the Vietnamese-American community; a majority of French Indochinese refugees have established businesses, known today as Little Saigon. On both Travis and Milam Streets during this era, it was a mirror image of Saigon in the 1970s.

Since the late 1990s, the Vietnamese businesses have been declining due to higher rents and street construction due to redevelopment; the designation of Midtown as a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone in the mid 1990s would be the root cause. Like the neighboring Montrose where redevelopment movements drive up land values, existing residents are either forced out of the community and/or forced to assimilate with yuppies. Most of the Vietnamese-owned businesses were relocated to the Bellaire Boulevard corridor west of Sharpstown in the wake of gentrification. Midtown again experienced significant growth as a renewed area for retail, commercial and residential zones.

Houston's MetroRail Red Line runs directly through Midtown along Main Street.