City of Houston Gains
US Cities
US Cities Adding Residents
Percent of Pandemic Jobs
Cost of Living
Average Price
Average Tax Burdens
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economy

Economy at a Glance – June 2024

This issue of Glance examines city of Houston population growth, the health of the local housing market, highlights of the latest Kinder Houston Area Survey, and the near-term outlook for the U.S. economy.

Published on 06/05/2024

Key Takeaways

Here are the facts to know about the Houston region this month

1 June Takeaway #1

Unlike many U.S. cities, Houston has added population in recent years.

2 June Takeaway #2

Metro Houston area leads the nation in new and existing home sales.

3 June Takeaway #3

Across every demographic and income level, more Houstonians are excited about the future than worried.

CITY POPULATION UPDATE

The City of Houston is growing again. After struggling to retain population after Hurricane Harvey and losing population during the COVID-19 pandemic, the city added more than 23,000 residents over the past two years.

City of Houston Gains
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Houston is bucking the trend that plagues many of its peers. Of the nation’s 100 most populous cities, 43 lost population between ’21 and ’23. For some, the population losses were significant.

US Cities
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Though Houston’s most recent gains were modest, they’re sustainable, unlike those of the Fracking Boom (’11-’14) when the city averaged 40,000 new residents per year. Houston’s gains also rank among the largest of the nation’s 19,000 towns and cities.

US Cities Adding Residents
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The cities enjoying the most robust growth have several characteristics in common. First, they’re in metro areas that quickly recovered their pandemic job losses.  Employment in these regions is at an all-time high.

Percent of Pandemic Jobs
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The nation’s fastest growing cities are also in metros where the cost of living is substantially lower than cities that are losing population. The data in the following chart comes from the Council for Community and Economic Research’s quarterly Cost of Living Index, which examines housing, utility, food, health care, and transportation costs in 264 metro areas. The index does not factor in local taxes.

Cost of Living
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The nation’s fastest growing cities are also in metro areas where housing tends to be more affordable.

Average Price
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Cities with the largest gains also tend to have lower state tax burdens. Conversely, the cities with shrinking populations tend to have higher tax burdens.

Average Tax Burdens
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Other factors come into play as well. For instance, except for Seattle, the nation’s fastest growing cities tend to be in the sunbelt.

Where Houston Ranks

The City of Houston’s population now exceeds 2.3 million, ranking it as the nation’s fourth most populous city. Five of the nation’s most populous cities are now in Texas. San Antonio is the nation’s seventh most populous and could overtake No. 6 Philadelphia by the end of the decade.

Note: The geographic area referred to in this publication as “Houston,” "Houston Area” and “Metro Houston” is the ten-county Census designated metropolitan statistical area of Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX. The ten counties are: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, San Jacinto, and Waller.

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