How well do you know Houston?
This is a preview of our Texas 2036 newsletter where we ask how well you know Houston, the Bayou City. To receive this weekly look at our work, sign up here.
All things Houston: How the city is shaping Texas
With more than 7.5 million residents — that’s one of every four Texans — the Houston metro area reflects Texas’ dynamic spirit where good ideas can come to life faster and result in an economy that is a magnet to the world.
Houston might sometimes feel distinct from the rest of Texas, but it’s deeply intertwined with our state’s identity. With over a third of our state’s economy driven by this dynamic city, what happens in Houston impacts the entire state.
That makes Houston’s successes and challenges important to know as we think about the direction we want Texas as a whole to take.
How Houston is transforming education
In June 2023, the state took control of Houston ISD and installed Supt. Mike Miles and a new, nine-member board of trustees — an action triggered by multiple factors, including HISD’s Wheatley High School not meeting state standards for seven years in a row.
The transformation underway at HISD has at its foundation a commitment to improving student outcomes and instructional quality.
This month, Houston ISD proactively released academic ratings for the district, and released A-F scores for all its campuses, allowing everyone to track the progress made in the first year of the state’s takeover.
Here are a few takeaways:
- 194 campuses improved their score from 2023 to 2024 vs. 53 campuses which received declining scores.
- 149 schools improved by one or more letter grades.
- Two campuses, Dogan Elementary and Hobby Elementary, registered the biggest jump in their grade (41 points). The Hobby campus improved from an F to an A while Dogan improved from an F to a B.
Did you know? The Houston area has many opportunities for its growing population to earn a postsecondary degree:
🎓 Nearly 435,000 Houston area students were enrolled in postsecondary programs across 33 higher education academic institutions in fall 2023, according to the Greater Houston Partnership.
🎓 With a dozen community colleges — including the Houston Community College System, the Lone Star College System and San Jacinto College — in greater Houston, attendance at these two-year schools accounted for almost half (46.7%) of the total higher education enrollment.
🎓 Houston also benefits from three area Tier I research universities: Rice University, the University of Houston and Texas A&M University.
Clutch City: Economic powerhouse to the nation
Houston’s economy, by the numbers:
- The Houston metro area’s economy ($633.1 billion in GDP) would be the nation’s 14th largest — behind Massachusetts ($691.5 billion) and Virginia ($663.1 billion) but ahead of Michigan ($622.6 billion)
- Houston non-farm payroll employment hit 3.4 million in June — that’s almost a million more jobs than in San Francisco and Oakland combined!
- Houston exports topped $175 billion in 2023, making Houston the No. 1 city in the U.S. for shipping and trade.
As the global energy capital, Houston is home to:
- Almost 5,000 energy-related firms, including 44 of the world’s 100 largest oil and gas companies.
This concentration of energy expertise is crucial not only for Texas but also for national and global energy security.
Houston is also a hub for business HQs, boasting the following:
- 24 Fortune 500 headquarters
- 8 Fortune Global 500 headquarters
Did you know? Houston is NOT the state’s biggest metro area. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex holds the top spot with 8.1 million residents.
Texas Medical Center: An economic dynamo in the heart of the city
Source: Texas Medical Center
The Texas Medical Center, the largest medical complex in the world, leads in cutting-edge health care and research, healing patients and attracting talent and investment globally.
This key asset for the state of Texas does the following:
- Employs over 106,000 who generate a gross domestic product of $25 billion.
- Encompasses more than 1,300 acres (2.1-square-mile) makes it the 8th largest business district in the U.S.
- Currently has $3 billion in construction projects underway.
- Serves as home to the world’s largest cancer hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and to the nation’s largest children’s hospital, Texas Children’s Hospital.
Who’s moving to Houston? A tale of two cities
Houston remains a growing metro area but that growth differs in the urban core vs. the suburbs.
Harris County, where the city of Houston is located, grew by 100,333 since 2020. That growth was caused by two factors:
- Migration from outside the U.S. (+93,864)
- Natural increase (+97,733 births over deaths).
Fort Bend and Montgomery counties were second and third in growth, adding 87,669 and 86,063, respectively, since 2020.
The growth driver, though, for these suburban counties was migration from within the U.S. Montgomery County added 75,568 residents this way while Fort Bend County added 64,327.
- Harris County LOST 88,500 residents to other areas of the country.
Houston, a multilingual city
Houston is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse cities in the U.S. The top five languages spoken in Houston are: English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and Arabic.
Rising to meet a most pressing challenge — storms and flooding
Houston is vulnerable to extreme weather events, especially hurricanes and flooding. Over the past few decades, billions of dollars have been spent on recovery and mitigation efforts in the Houston area.
Some examples:
- Hurricane Ike (2008): Ike caused approximately $30 billion in damages, primarily due to a 13-foot storm surge and high winds, as it tracked up the Houston Ship Channel.
- Hurricane Harvey (2017): One of the most costly natural disasters in U.S. history, the estimated economic impact on Houston and the surrounding region from Harvey’s torrential rains was about $125 billion.
- Hurricane Beryl (2024): A relatively weak Category 1 storm, Beryl’s biggest impact was in the fallen trees that knocked out power to 2.2 million homes and businesses.
One priority for the region is the Coastal Barrier, popularly known as the Ike Dike. Building this barrier to protect vulnerable communities from storm surge could save tens of billions of dollars in future disaster recovery efforts.
The region would also benefit from a resilience agenda next year aimed at fixing aging systems that often fail under weather extremes and securing funding to begin addressing the billions needed for flood mitigation projects.
Flooding? There’s a plan for that.
The Texas Water Development Board has released the 2024 State Flood Plan, an unprecedented and comprehensive plan to reduce flood risk and take a broad look at flood hazards across the state.
Space City is blasting off again!
Source: Office of the Texas Governor
In 2023, state Rep. Greg Bonnen (R-Friendswood) and state Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston) passed House Bill 3447 establishing the Texas Space Commission, which will strengthen Texas’ proven aerospace leadership.
The legislation included $200 million to establish cutting-edge research facilities at Johnson Space Center’s Exploration Park to support human spaceflight research and invigorate the commercial space industry.
Check out Texas 2036’s support for making a Texas-sized impact in space.
Houston: The Capital of Texas?
Did you know that Houston was Texas’ capital for a brief span? Republic of Texas President Sam Houston made Houston the capital of the new country for two-and-a-half years, beginning in April 1837.
That changed in October 1839 when Houston’s successor, Mirabeau Lamar, moved the government to Waterloo, which was renamed Austin. Despite some later efforts, Austin has remained the seat of government ever since.
David Leebron: Partnering for the future of Houston and Texas
Texas 2036 President and CEO David Leebron spoke this week at the Greater Houston Partnership Board meeting about the exciting opportunities in Houston to employ data and research to improve the lives of all Texans.
“It has been 20 years since I first arrived in Houston. Over these two decades, I have seen firsthand the enormous contributions Houston makes to our state, our country and the world,” Leebron said.
“And as we look ahead, I’m more convinced than ever that Houston has the potential to lead in ways that extend opportunity to all — providing the skilled workforce, energy resources, infrastructure and technological innovation that will shape our state’s future.”
🌇 David isn’t the only member of our leadership team based out of Houston. Dr. Holly Heard, our VP for data and analytics, also calls Houston home.
The stars shine bright… deep in the heart of Houston!
Houston is a cultural goldmine, with the following celebrities calling the 713 home:
- Beyoncé Knowles, world-conquering musician and queen of the Beyhive
- Megan Thee Stallion, rapper and originator of Hot Girl Summer
- Travis Scott, Astroworld rapper
- Lyle “That’s right, he’s from Klein” Lovett, singer-songwriter
- James “Fear the Beard” Harden, basketball player
- Wes Anderson, movie director, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums
- Renée “You had me at hello” Zellweger, movie actress, known for starring roles in Jerry Maguire and Bridget Jones’s Diary
- Jim Parsons, TV actor, played Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory
- Dennis Quaid, movie actor, known for starring roles in The Big Easy and Great Balls of Fire!
- Brent Spiner, TV/movie actor, played Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation
Tell us what you like about Houston… Is it the food? Or the job market? Or the friendliness?
