Manufacturing Overview

In ’17, manufacturing accounted for $82.6 billion, or 16.9 percent, of the Houston MSA’s gross domestic product, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Nondurable goods represented 69.3 percent of the manufacturing total.

In ’17, Houston’s nondurable goods manufacturing GDP ranked first among U.S. metros. The region’s total manufacturing GDP ranked second, behind Los Angeles and ahead of Chicago.

Manufacturing employment in the Houston MSA average 219,160 in ’17 with total wages of $4.773 billion. Fabricated metals product manufacturing accounted for 21.9 percent of total manufacturing employment; machinery manufacturing, 19.0 percent; and chemical manufacturing, 17.5 percent.

Between ’12 and ’17, manufacturing employment in the Houston region declined by 9.8 percent from 243,011 workers to 219,160, respectively. Also during this period, total wages decreased slightly by 1.8 percent from $4.878 billion to $4.791 billion. 

Patrick Jankowski, CERP
Senior Vice President, Research
713-844-3616
pjankowski@houston.org

Melissa Verhoef, PhD
Analyst, Research
713-844-3653
mverhoef@houston.org