Friendswood is located in Galveston County on Farm Road 518, twenty-seven miles northwest of the Galveston, Texas metropolitan area.
The community was founded by a colony of English Quakers in 1895, but was not incorporated until 1960.
Some residents work in dairying or raise poultry, but the principal agricultural staples are Satsuma oranges, strawberries, figs, and rice.
With the location of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center ten miles away in 1962, many community residents began to commute there or to Houston, and Friendswood became a bedroom suburb. For a time astronaut Donald K. Slayton lived there.
From a population of 1,675 with 26 businesses in 1968, Friendswood grew to 13,585 residents and 158 businesses by 1980. It then declined to 10,719 residents by 1982. The number of businesses grew to 315 by 1988. In 1990 Friendswood had 22,814 residents.