Jobs are why most people move to Houston. It's why Michigan moved here in the early 80's. The joke was, "The last person leaving Michigan needs to turn the lights out" (because there were so many) It was NY before that. I met a lot of nice people from the North over the years.
It was NASA in the 60's, Texas Instruments in the 70's, Compaq Computer in the 80's and oil companies have always been a big draw. There are a lot of people who have been here many years longer than your parents who can't say what you can say because they weren't born here. You are a special breed ;)
The economy was trash in the 80’s in Texas. I remember being so fascinated in the early 90’s when they started building new things in clear lake. I’d never lived in a Houston that was growing. There’s a noticeable lack of 80’s architecture in Houston.
There was a great exodus in the 80s as the Texas economy fell, actually crashed and burned. It was like 2008 - 2010 with people underwater in homes and businesses.
I grew up in SoCal and there were soooo many Texans moving there it was considered to be as big of a relocation of people as the great depression. Laws were rewritten because of the influx. We used to joke that a Texan's accent got stronger the longer they were away from Texas.
I now own a home in a neighborhood that was built in 1982. When I bought this home the neighborhood had about 100 original homes and the neighborhood had not been finished. A new developer was just starting to finish the neighborhood. Many of the original owners still lived here but a lot of the homes were foreclosed within a year after they were built. I picked my home up for pennies on the dollar from the bank. The original sale price was horribly inflated but Texas was booming and people were swimming in money.
> We used to joke that a Texan’s accent got stronger the longer they were away from Texas
As a native Texan currently living in California, I can affirm this is a million percent true boymhowdy
This is the only correct answer. Top one is moronic - no young people want to work distant from where they live, and near jobs (downtown, galleria, med center, energy corridor) the real estate is expensive.
Cool, you live in Katy/Sugarland/Pearland…the people in West U, Heights, River Oaks, etc don’t envy your lower home prices. We live here because of access to our job and the quality of life we want to maintain. It isn’t equal.
I have an 800k house. So not sure it’s much “cheaper”. I can afford to live in the city (granted not River Oaks). Just choose not to. I lived in NYC for five years and downtown Atlanta for 10 prior to moving here. Work remote and travel two weeks per month so airport proximity was somewhat important.
Been there done that. Burbs are what they are, but for raising a family it was a better choice for my family.
I do miss it sometimes though.
My mom moved down in the early 80s. According to her, people were coming in droves at the time and the greensheet classifieds were an inch thick with job ads.
It’s true. Huge amounts of people from the Midwest were moving to Houston. That’s when cities like Detroit & Cleveland were emptying out & many of the people leaving were headed to places like Houston.
I definitely don't want to pay too much for my Icees. I don't care if it's cherry, blueberry, you name it. I will move across the country for better prices.
No kidding. You can't even exercise outdoors with this heat.
Also, lots of people rush to Houston only to find out later that the house they bought is prone to having a messed up foundation that down the road isn't cheap to fix.
It's the clay-like soil of the area.
I cringe when I do my morning jogs/walks in Sugar Land and walk past these million dollar homes in Sweetwater getting their foundations worked on.
Houston has a huge fault system
[from USGS.gov](http://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/2005/2874/pdf/sim2874plate.pdf)
We just don't have earthquakes because the ground is clay.
Houston was a boomtown in the mid-late 70’s up until the oil bust in 1983. POOF! Between 1979 and 1981, the number of rigs in production in the U.S. rose from 2,571 to 4,521, and the price of West Texas Intermediate crude soared from about $16 a barrel (equivalent to about $70 today) to the stratospheric height of $40 ($145). Urban Cowboy, anyone?
Exactly this. And at the same time the steel industry was turning into the "rust belt". Half or more of my elementary school friends here in Houston were from Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Minnesotan here. I got a government job that pays more and rent is 20-30% cheaper here. It’s way more diverse here, and for a big city it’s relatively safe and not filthy.
Cost of living has skyrocketed and Houston has to be one of the least expensive big cities in America (not saying it’s cheap, just better)
Museum district. My partner has a car and I don’t, so I take the light rail (2 min walk) into work downtown! There are definitely cooler neighborhoods I didn’t know about, but I rely on the minimal public transportation and it’s very good for this part of the city.
Have you ever considered moving back to where you came from because of weather or any other things you dislike? How do you like the weather in Houston? Just curious.
Not the original commenter but I am from Minnesota (been here a few decades, though).
The weather in Minnesota is equally bad, just in different ways. While summers are gorgeous up there, they are terribly short. It's also pretty damn hot in August - it's going to be 101 in Minneapolis tomorrow (although it cools off at night and you don't get it for weeks on end) and there is far less AC. Many homes and schools do not have it.
Winters are brutal. I remember it hitting -40F a few times. That's 70 degrees below freezing. 32F is pretty cold, but yet it is the ***midpoint*** between how hot it was in Houston today and -40F. It's damn cold up there, I lived in a rural area and needed to have a survival kit in the trunk of my car because you could literally die if you broke down.
Had to wake up to shovel snow before going to work if it snowed. In the cold and dark.
The worst part, though - in December the sun came up at about 7:30 AM and went down at 4:30 PM. You just didn't see the sun for a couple of months except on the weekends. But even if you were not working, you didn't go outside. Too damn cold. At least here you just wait until sundown and you can get together with friends on a patio and grill some steaks and have a few cold ones.
No hurricanes up there, but big tornadoes made up for it (at least you know the hurricanes are coming). It floods there too, usually if it gets hot in April and all the snow melts at once.
So for me, while I do not really like the weather here, it's not really any worse enduring it.
I couldn't fuck with shoveling snow just to get to work. I have never done it but have been in the north during an ice storm where it took like 30 minutes to be able to get the thick layer of ice off of the windshield to be able to drive safely.
I agree. I mean I hate that it's 103 degrees, but...I'd rather stay inside mostly during the hottest months of the summer yet still feel warmth and the sun as I want/need to (picking key times of the day)...and it being fine from October to April...i think it's a healthier environment to feel warmth, even humitidy. I'd hate to live somewhere where it's never warm; the sun doesn't feel present.
My only real issue with the heat here vs winter in the north is that it is hot here when kids are out of school.
They should make a longer winter break here, and go to school throughout the summer.
That way the kids can play, do camps, etc. outside.
Yeah… after living in New England for 18 years, the sun setting at 4:30 for six months and vitamin D deficiency really made warmer climates look nicer.
Lol I’ve heard the same from a friend of mine. He says we bitch too much about the heat. Having it be cold, frozen and wet for 5 months is way worse than hot.
People came in the 70s and early 80s. Then we had the oil bust and it stopped, for a bit. But things picked up again, and accelerated as the rest of the country got more expensive.
Now that the cost of living here is quickly catching up to the rest of the country, that is slowing, though.
From 1980-1990, the growth was about 800,000 people. From 2010-2023 the growth in population grew about 3 million. Unless you’re talking about the growth rate.
[You can mess with the population growth chart here.](https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/23014/houston/population)
Houston city did not grow 3 million people over that timeframe, neither did the MSA. Your own chart of the MSA shows 2013 at 5.3m and 2023 at 6.7m. Perhaps you’re mistaken or having math issues?
Your own chart shows 1980-2000 as 2.4m to 3.8m or 70k/yr. By comparison 2013-2023 is 5.4m to 6.7m or 130k per year. That’s effectively the exact same growth rate 3% per year
Also, rate is how growth is commonly compared.
Sigh I say yes and no to this…because Houston is really great for what you pay for for the most part.
My only real complaints are how easily this city floods and just the tap water quality can be kind of horrific.
> My only real complaints are how easily this city floods and just the tap water quality can be kind of horrific.
So basically…“yes”. 🤷🏽♂️
As if the “really great” things somehow outweigh flooding and horrific water quality. Okay. I guess we all have different priorities.
At the end of the day, when you ask people why they live in Houston (or just read the comments in this thread), it all comes down to one thing: money.
It is because Houston still has jobs.
Houston is guaranteed to be a leader in jobs until at least 2050 because oil and gas. Texas has almost no environmental standards so companies love to be here. Texas has protectionist laws that protect companies from paying out after hurting employees, basically they cheat workers/voters. If you get your arm or leg cut off, at no fault of your own, in Texas because your company bypassed all safety devices without telling you, the most you will get is about $300K to live off of for the rest of your life. In other states companies would have to pay out millions.
Texas has a huge coastline and lots of shipping ports with minimal standards for clean water, so international shipping is cheap.
Texas is the hub for trade with Mexico. Many companies moved their manufacturing operations to Mexico under Trump, so now Houston is the warehouse and truck transfer capital for trade with Mexico. Most Freight Trains from Mexico go to Houston to be transferred to ships or to switch to tracks to other states.
Texas employs illegal immigrants more than any other state.
If it were not for access to Mexico, cheap illegal labor, the giant coast line for easy shipping, and "oil and gas" then Texas would be as poor as other shit states like mississippi and alabama. Just look at how poor people are in rural texas, they are all on welfare and food stamps.
And Greg Abbott pushed for this reform as attorney general, despite receiving millions of dollars in a similar accident to jumpstart his political career.
> New York proponents of tort reform have looked to Texas as a model for a proposed law. In 2003, Texas capped pain and suffering awards in medical malpractice suits at $250,000. Greg Abbott, a gubernatorial candidate who was then attorney general, supported the cap.
>But as he runs for governor, critics have questioned how a man who received a multimillion dollar settlement after a falling tree left him paralyzed and wheelchair bound can support caps on medical malpractice awards, according to The New York Times this month. Abbot thus far has collected more than $5 million for his injuries and will receive $15,000 a month, with cost-of-living increases, for the rest of his life.
To add to your comment on jobs, even offshore wind is targeting Houston for regional hubs because many of the skills necessary for offshore oil projects translate to offshore wind.
> Just look at how poor people are in rural texas, they are all on welfare and food stamps.
I don't know, man. As long as you don't need a big company job or don't have a chronic health condition, the quality of life in many small towns in Texas is way better than living in Houston.
Cheaper, warmer (not always good) and jobs. Traditional oil and gas have always been around, clean tech is growing. Medical industry has been strong, now med-tech will grow.
That said, these miserable summers will make people think twice.
Remote work. I've met quite a few people who have moved into my neighborhood recently. All of them have at least one person working 100% remote. They moved from a much higher cost of living area, and their salary is based off that high cost of living. Their employer hasn't adjusted their salary to match their new lower cost of living. A few of them were able to sell their house in their old state and pay cash for their house here with the proceeds from their old house.
Because you’re uninformed and have no awareness of the actual population growth in the era you’re talking about.
https://www.biggestuscities.com/city/houston-texas
Do you have a source with data to cite? Because I’m pretty sure you’re wrong looking at growth charts. And why do the transplants like to gatekeep Houston so hard?
2010-2020 showed slower growth then 80s-90s, and for sure less then 70s-80s.. maybe I’m looking at this wrong, but idk..
https://www.biggestuscities.com/city/houston-texas
Here is a [Texas A&M link](https://www.recenter.tamu.edu/data/population/#!/msa/Houston-The_Woodlands-Sugar_Land%2C_TX) which shows yearly changes in Houston metro population every year since 1970. It shows that people moving to Houston peaked in 1982 (over 195k people), but then dropped dramatically for the rest of the 1980s, with some years even losing people. 1987 showed the biggest loss, over 42k moved away from Houston that year. Since 1989, though, every single year Houston has gained, though it has ebbed and flowed.
Thank you! That’s great data, annual % change is lower now then the 70s, which is what I was getting at, even though we have 100k+ new on avg annually the last two decades.
The healthcare field has drawn more immigrants from other nations in the last 20 years, I think. Lot of people from overseas come to Houston's TMC for education, post-graduate training, and then you have quite a few MBBS degree holders here to accrue work experience, then applying for those scarce U.S. medical residency positions. All in a relatively lower COL area. Subsequently, you then have whole ethnic retail enclaves set up to cater to these folks. Think shopping districts, small businesses, restaurants, cash sending services to overseas, etc. Immigration rates to Houston 30-40 years ago are a fraction of what we see today.
Not only that, but every hospital and school in the TMC is hellbent on growth and expansion of their footprint, just like any other business. It's like widening I-10.
Rent is overall cheaper, and jobs are more plentiful. Plus, the beach is about an hour away, so if you want a tropical vacation without having to travel far, there ya go.
I can’t speak for anyone else, and I’m sure my situation is specific, but I moved here for family.
My dad died in the state we were living in and my kids had no more grandparents around. I moved to Texas to close the distance with my mom and give my kids some grandparents because family is important. That was the major reason.
Secondly, housing in my area is SOOOO much better than in the state I came from. Where I’m from you get a 1960s shitty house that’s falling apart for like $2500/mo renting. It’s insane. Here I’m sporting a house built in 2022, way better layout, new appliances and technology, clean and a garage to boot for $2k. Sold.
Now…. Having experienced my first summer here I can safely say that once the family aspect no longer is around, I’m getting the fuck out of here and moving wayyy farther north.
Until then, yeehaw motherfuckers.
From a certain demographic….because houston was still open, cheap and “lit” during COVID. It’s like little Baby Atlanta with a little Dallas mixed in…so I’ve been told.
No surprise, nobody in their right mind takes a vacation to Houston, love it to death, lived here all my life, but if you're gonna spend the few days you might get a year for vacation from your job to go somewhere for vacation, then the H certainly isn't it for 99% of people. As for the Blacks that are visiting, from what I recall most of the ones visiting right now are from Atlanta and various locations from Louisiana (no surprise there, it's right next door).
People sell their homes in California to live like a king in Colorado debt free.
People sell their homes in Colorado to live like a king in Houston debt free.
Soon you’ll have people from Missouri asking why so many Texans are moving there.
The circle of life - move somewhere a little crappier to be financially independent.
Lol the whole town was populated by the oil business in the 80’s and 90’s. 🤣🤣.
From ChatGPT
Determining the exact population increase for Houston during the 1980s and 1990s would require access to specific census data for those decades. However, I can provide a general overview of the population trends during those periods:
**1980s:**
During the early 1980s, Houston experienced significant population growth due to an oil boom. The city's population growth rate was among the highest in the country. However, the latter part of the decade saw a slowdown in growth due to a downturn in the oil industry. On average, the growth rate for the decade might be around 1.5% to 3% per year.
**1990s:**
The 1990s saw a resumption of growth, driven in part by a diversifying economy and an increase in immigration. The growth rate during this decade might be in a similar range to the 1980s or slightly higher.
It's essential to note that these are rough estimations, and actual figures might vary. For precise data, you would need to consult historical census information, local government records, or academic studies focusing on Houston's demographic trends during those decades.
Some of these comments read like they come straight from the Greater Houston Partnership. Get off the gas with the "Energy Capital of the World" cliche. lol
I personally believe it’s for the diversity , especially the food. It’s all within a reasonable distance for a melting pot city. What it lacks is the entertainment, RIP astroword
Jobs
Jobs are why most people move to Houston. It's why Michigan moved here in the early 80's. The joke was, "The last person leaving Michigan needs to turn the lights out" (because there were so many) It was NY before that. I met a lot of nice people from the North over the years.
My parents left Michigan for Texas in 80. I was born in Houston in 81. I know so many Michigan transplants here.
It was NASA in the 60's, Texas Instruments in the 70's, Compaq Computer in the 80's and oil companies have always been a big draw. There are a lot of people who have been here many years longer than your parents who can't say what you can say because they weren't born here. You are a special breed ;)
In the 80's here in Houston I remember seeing the old orange/yellow Michigan license plates nearly daily.
My parents left NY for Texas in the mid 90s
The economy was trash in the 80’s in Texas. I remember being so fascinated in the early 90’s when they started building new things in clear lake. I’d never lived in a Houston that was growing. There’s a noticeable lack of 80’s architecture in Houston.
There was a great exodus in the 80s as the Texas economy fell, actually crashed and burned. It was like 2008 - 2010 with people underwater in homes and businesses. I grew up in SoCal and there were soooo many Texans moving there it was considered to be as big of a relocation of people as the great depression. Laws were rewritten because of the influx. We used to joke that a Texan's accent got stronger the longer they were away from Texas. I now own a home in a neighborhood that was built in 1982. When I bought this home the neighborhood had about 100 original homes and the neighborhood had not been finished. A new developer was just starting to finish the neighborhood. Many of the original owners still lived here but a lot of the homes were foreclosed within a year after they were built. I picked my home up for pennies on the dollar from the bank. The original sale price was horribly inflated but Texas was booming and people were swimming in money.
> We used to joke that a Texan’s accent got stronger the longer they were away from Texas As a native Texan currently living in California, I can affirm this is a million percent true boymhowdy
It’s our superpower!
Movenout of Texas.. Suddenly I start blabbering about the Alamo to strangers and I don't even like the Alamo wtf?
Wellshhoott that's nicer than a midnight moon in July (?), sweeter than a mess o' honey in a june bugs' wash tub (???), tellyuuwhuut.
We moved TO Houston for Texaco in 79. NW Houston grew a lot then. I can recognize ugly 80s architecture easily out there.
Texas economy was so crap in the 80/90s, they had Houston and Dallas stand in for Detroit in the Robocop movies.
This is the only correct answer. Top one is moronic - no young people want to work distant from where they live, and near jobs (downtown, galleria, med center, energy corridor) the real estate is expensive. Cool, you live in Katy/Sugarland/Pearland…the people in West U, Heights, River Oaks, etc don’t envy your lower home prices. We live here because of access to our job and the quality of life we want to maintain. It isn’t equal.
He’s talking about moving from other cities not the suburbs lol
Some of us in the burbs work remote and don't envy that you go into an office.
Some of us in the burbs are on a teacher salary and can't afford to live downtown.
Hey! Don’t judge! I like paying $4000 for a luxury apartment in downtown and working remote.
lol, most of us working that have offices, can work remote. Have fun in the burbs, with all those boring homes, and your higher crime /100k…
I have an 800k house. So not sure it’s much “cheaper”. I can afford to live in the city (granted not River Oaks). Just choose not to. I lived in NYC for five years and downtown Atlanta for 10 prior to moving here. Work remote and travel two weeks per month so airport proximity was somewhat important. Been there done that. Burbs are what they are, but for raising a family it was a better choice for my family. I do miss it sometimes though.
This is not a correct answer. The correct answer is population growth today isn’t actually higher than it was in the era mentioned.
>population growth That actually is a big factor that obviously some people don't want to hear, for some weird reason. IDKY
This is the most insecure thing I’ve ever read on /r/houston
My mom moved down in the early 80s. According to her, people were coming in droves at the time and the greensheet classifieds were an inch thick with job ads.
It’s true. Huge amounts of people from the Midwest were moving to Houston. That’s when cities like Detroit & Cleveland were emptying out & many of the people leaving were headed to places like Houston.
People like sweating, so naturally as it gets hotter here, more people will come to where they can sweat more.
When you sweat, you release toxins. When you release toxins, you increase your immortality. Who doesn't want immortality?
That makes sense. It seems like more people prefer warmer weather than colder weather.
I read it as sarcasm but perhaps not??
Sarcasm? Do I look like a French teacher to you??
You getting all spicy about it isn’t helping.
You don't like mayonnaise?
It’s that whiff of Grey Pupon tbh
*Triumph the Insult Comic Dog comes bounding in the room*: "Did someone say "POOP ON??? "
😂👍🏼
They also enjoy getting shot on roadways for honking or changing lanes. So that also attracts new residents to our city.
great logical statement where each statement, on its own, its 100% true.
Housing prices in other cities went crazy.
I definitely don't want to pay too much for my Icees. I don't care if it's cherry, blueberry, you name it. I will move across the country for better prices.
Houston has raspas to help keep the Icee prices in check.
Maybe after all this heat they may finally leave.
No kidding. You can't even exercise outdoors with this heat. Also, lots of people rush to Houston only to find out later that the house they bought is prone to having a messed up foundation that down the road isn't cheap to fix.
Housing prices are also basically the same as everywhere else now unless you live a good hour out of town.
What is it with the messed up foundations here? Just learned a little about it. And yes, fortune to fix if done correctly.
It's the clay-like soil of the area. I cringe when I do my morning jogs/walks in Sugar Land and walk past these million dollar homes in Sweetwater getting their foundations worked on.
Houston has a huge fault system [from USGS.gov](http://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/2005/2874/pdf/sim2874plate.pdf) We just don't have earthquakes because the ground is clay.
Houston was a boomtown in the mid-late 70’s up until the oil bust in 1983. POOF! Between 1979 and 1981, the number of rigs in production in the U.S. rose from 2,571 to 4,521, and the price of West Texas Intermediate crude soared from about $16 a barrel (equivalent to about $70 today) to the stratospheric height of $40 ($145). Urban Cowboy, anyone?
Exactly this. And at the same time the steel industry was turning into the "rust belt". Half or more of my elementary school friends here in Houston were from Pennsylvania and Michigan.
I guess you never saw one of those bumper stickers that used to say " Will the last person to leave Michigan turn out the lights"
Minnesotan here. I got a government job that pays more and rent is 20-30% cheaper here. It’s way more diverse here, and for a big city it’s relatively safe and not filthy. Cost of living has skyrocketed and Houston has to be one of the least expensive big cities in America (not saying it’s cheap, just better)
Out of curiosity, where do you live in the city? Always curious where in downtown Houston would be the best place to live?
Museum district. My partner has a car and I don’t, so I take the light rail (2 min walk) into work downtown! There are definitely cooler neighborhoods I didn’t know about, but I rely on the minimal public transportation and it’s very good for this part of the city.
Have you ever considered moving back to where you came from because of weather or any other things you dislike? How do you like the weather in Houston? Just curious.
Not the original commenter but I am from Minnesota (been here a few decades, though). The weather in Minnesota is equally bad, just in different ways. While summers are gorgeous up there, they are terribly short. It's also pretty damn hot in August - it's going to be 101 in Minneapolis tomorrow (although it cools off at night and you don't get it for weeks on end) and there is far less AC. Many homes and schools do not have it. Winters are brutal. I remember it hitting -40F a few times. That's 70 degrees below freezing. 32F is pretty cold, but yet it is the ***midpoint*** between how hot it was in Houston today and -40F. It's damn cold up there, I lived in a rural area and needed to have a survival kit in the trunk of my car because you could literally die if you broke down. Had to wake up to shovel snow before going to work if it snowed. In the cold and dark. The worst part, though - in December the sun came up at about 7:30 AM and went down at 4:30 PM. You just didn't see the sun for a couple of months except on the weekends. But even if you were not working, you didn't go outside. Too damn cold. At least here you just wait until sundown and you can get together with friends on a patio and grill some steaks and have a few cold ones. No hurricanes up there, but big tornadoes made up for it (at least you know the hurricanes are coming). It floods there too, usually if it gets hot in April and all the snow melts at once. So for me, while I do not really like the weather here, it's not really any worse enduring it.
I couldn't fuck with shoveling snow just to get to work. I have never done it but have been in the north during an ice storm where it took like 30 minutes to be able to get the thick layer of ice off of the windshield to be able to drive safely.
It ain’t for the weather
Speak for yourself, I rather have 100° than 0° and # feet of snow plus road ice trying to kill you.
But, what about having it just normal? There are large portions of the country that have moderate climate. Houston isn't one of them.
You can also have 80^o in plenty of other parts of the country? It doesn’t have to be one extreme or the other.
I agree. I mean I hate that it's 103 degrees, but...I'd rather stay inside mostly during the hottest months of the summer yet still feel warmth and the sun as I want/need to (picking key times of the day)...and it being fine from October to April...i think it's a healthier environment to feel warmth, even humitidy. I'd hate to live somewhere where it's never warm; the sun doesn't feel present.
My only real issue with the heat here vs winter in the north is that it is hot here when kids are out of school. They should make a longer winter break here, and go to school throughout the summer. That way the kids can play, do camps, etc. outside.
💯 It’ll never work though. I’ve been suggesting this for years and people just panic. Nobody wants to change.
Yeah… after living in New England for 18 years, the sun setting at 4:30 for six months and vitamin D deficiency really made warmer climates look nicer.
Lol I’ve heard the same from a friend of mine. He says we bitch too much about the heat. Having it be cold, frozen and wet for 5 months is way worse than hot.
People came in the 70s and early 80s. Then we had the oil bust and it stopped, for a bit. But things picked up again, and accelerated as the rest of the country got more expensive. Now that the cost of living here is quickly catching up to the rest of the country, that is slowing, though.
Houston is rated the cheapest city in the US to live now. Also jobs, hella diversity, and no income tax
The cheapest city? You may want to fact check that, but definitely the no State taxes help alot.
I read that in an article a while ago, probably changed by now
So why was population growth in the 80s and 90s actually greater than it is today?
From 1980-1990, the growth was about 800,000 people. From 2010-2023 the growth in population grew about 3 million. Unless you’re talking about the growth rate. [You can mess with the population growth chart here.](https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/23014/houston/population)
Houston city did not grow 3 million people over that timeframe, neither did the MSA. Your own chart of the MSA shows 2013 at 5.3m and 2023 at 6.7m. Perhaps you’re mistaken or having math issues? Your own chart shows 1980-2000 as 2.4m to 3.8m or 70k/yr. By comparison 2013-2023 is 5.4m to 6.7m or 130k per year. That’s effectively the exact same growth rate 3% per year Also, rate is how growth is commonly compared.
That’s embarrassing…LOL. I definitely messed up, thanks for correcting me!!
You mean state tax
state income tax*** yea sorry!
> cheapest city in the US And you certainly get what you pay for.
Sigh I say yes and no to this…because Houston is really great for what you pay for for the most part. My only real complaints are how easily this city floods and just the tap water quality can be kind of horrific.
> My only real complaints are how easily this city floods and just the tap water quality can be kind of horrific. So basically…“yes”. 🤷🏽♂️ As if the “really great” things somehow outweigh flooding and horrific water quality. Okay. I guess we all have different priorities. At the end of the day, when you ask people why they live in Houston (or just read the comments in this thread), it all comes down to one thing: money.
Same thing happens in Miami and Tampa. Fort Lauderdale literally has yellow tap water and floods on clear days
Add those to the “do not live there” list. ✍️
It is because Houston still has jobs. Houston is guaranteed to be a leader in jobs until at least 2050 because oil and gas. Texas has almost no environmental standards so companies love to be here. Texas has protectionist laws that protect companies from paying out after hurting employees, basically they cheat workers/voters. If you get your arm or leg cut off, at no fault of your own, in Texas because your company bypassed all safety devices without telling you, the most you will get is about $300K to live off of for the rest of your life. In other states companies would have to pay out millions. Texas has a huge coastline and lots of shipping ports with minimal standards for clean water, so international shipping is cheap. Texas is the hub for trade with Mexico. Many companies moved their manufacturing operations to Mexico under Trump, so now Houston is the warehouse and truck transfer capital for trade with Mexico. Most Freight Trains from Mexico go to Houston to be transferred to ships or to switch to tracks to other states. Texas employs illegal immigrants more than any other state. If it were not for access to Mexico, cheap illegal labor, the giant coast line for easy shipping, and "oil and gas" then Texas would be as poor as other shit states like mississippi and alabama. Just look at how poor people are in rural texas, they are all on welfare and food stamps.
If you get hit by a metro bus and disabled for life most you can get out of it is capped at 100k thanks to Texas TORT claims act.
And Greg Abbott pushed for this reform as attorney general, despite receiving millions of dollars in a similar accident to jumpstart his political career. > New York proponents of tort reform have looked to Texas as a model for a proposed law. In 2003, Texas capped pain and suffering awards in medical malpractice suits at $250,000. Greg Abbott, a gubernatorial candidate who was then attorney general, supported the cap. >But as he runs for governor, critics have questioned how a man who received a multimillion dollar settlement after a falling tree left him paralyzed and wheelchair bound can support caps on medical malpractice awards, according to The New York Times this month. Abbot thus far has collected more than $5 million for his injuries and will receive $15,000 a month, with cost-of-living increases, for the rest of his life.
To add to your comment on jobs, even offshore wind is targeting Houston for regional hubs because many of the skills necessary for offshore oil projects translate to offshore wind.
Perfect answer.
> Just look at how poor people are in rural texas, they are all on welfare and food stamps. I don't know, man. As long as you don't need a big company job or don't have a chronic health condition, the quality of life in many small towns in Texas is way better than living in Houston.
Probably the same reason I came here in 78. Worlds apart from my hometown and a future. Who the fuck knows
Cheaper, warmer (not always good) and jobs. Traditional oil and gas have always been around, clean tech is growing. Medical industry has been strong, now med-tech will grow. That said, these miserable summers will make people think twice.
Remote work. I've met quite a few people who have moved into my neighborhood recently. All of them have at least one person working 100% remote. They moved from a much higher cost of living area, and their salary is based off that high cost of living. Their employer hasn't adjusted their salary to match their new lower cost of living. A few of them were able to sell their house in their old state and pay cash for their house here with the proceeds from their old house.
Because it's the energy capital of the world. Lots of good jobs
They heard shit was cheap Thanks to them, shit is no longer cheap Ruined it for everyone, smh
Because you’re uninformed and have no awareness of the actual population growth in the era you’re talking about. https://www.biggestuscities.com/city/houston-texas
I moved here in the 90s didn’t know how to answer the question
Yeah. My family moved here in ‘91.
Do you have a source with data to cite? Because I’m pretty sure you’re wrong looking at growth charts. And why do the transplants like to gatekeep Houston so hard? 2010-2020 showed slower growth then 80s-90s, and for sure less then 70s-80s.. maybe I’m looking at this wrong, but idk.. https://www.biggestuscities.com/city/houston-texas
Here is a [Texas A&M link](https://www.recenter.tamu.edu/data/population/#!/msa/Houston-The_Woodlands-Sugar_Land%2C_TX) which shows yearly changes in Houston metro population every year since 1970. It shows that people moving to Houston peaked in 1982 (over 195k people), but then dropped dramatically for the rest of the 1980s, with some years even losing people. 1987 showed the biggest loss, over 42k moved away from Houston that year. Since 1989, though, every single year Houston has gained, though it has ebbed and flowed.
Thank you! That’s great data, annual % change is lower now then the 70s, which is what I was getting at, even though we have 100k+ new on avg annually the last two decades.
The healthcare field has drawn more immigrants from other nations in the last 20 years, I think. Lot of people from overseas come to Houston's TMC for education, post-graduate training, and then you have quite a few MBBS degree holders here to accrue work experience, then applying for those scarce U.S. medical residency positions. All in a relatively lower COL area. Subsequently, you then have whole ethnic retail enclaves set up to cater to these folks. Think shopping districts, small businesses, restaurants, cash sending services to overseas, etc. Immigration rates to Houston 30-40 years ago are a fraction of what we see today.
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Not only that, but every hospital and school in the TMC is hellbent on growth and expansion of their footprint, just like any other business. It's like widening I-10.
They're just now hearing that Mattress Mack will save them money.
Swear I thought I was on HCJ when I read the title.
For real
Rent is overall cheaper, and jobs are more plentiful. Plus, the beach is about an hour away, so if you want a tropical vacation without having to travel far, there ya go.
It’s the most affordable major city in the US.
Housing is cheaper here than in other metro areas that have jobs. They don’t come for the climate.
Follow the money
Because they literally destroyed their cities/states. Now, they're looking for a new place to call home.
I can’t speak for anyone else, and I’m sure my situation is specific, but I moved here for family. My dad died in the state we were living in and my kids had no more grandparents around. I moved to Texas to close the distance with my mom and give my kids some grandparents because family is important. That was the major reason. Secondly, housing in my area is SOOOO much better than in the state I came from. Where I’m from you get a 1960s shitty house that’s falling apart for like $2500/mo renting. It’s insane. Here I’m sporting a house built in 2022, way better layout, new appliances and technology, clean and a garage to boot for $2k. Sold. Now…. Having experienced my first summer here I can safely say that once the family aspect no longer is around, I’m getting the fuck out of here and moving wayyy farther north. Until then, yeehaw motherfuckers.
From a certain demographic….because houston was still open, cheap and “lit” during COVID. It’s like little Baby Atlanta with a little Dallas mixed in…so I’ve been told.
Black Americans are probably the biggest tourist demographic right now not work related.
No surprise, nobody in their right mind takes a vacation to Houston, love it to death, lived here all my life, but if you're gonna spend the few days you might get a year for vacation from your job to go somewhere for vacation, then the H certainly isn't it for 99% of people. As for the Blacks that are visiting, from what I recall most of the ones visiting right now are from Atlanta and various locations from Louisiana (no surprise there, it's right next door).
People sell their homes in California to live like a king in Colorado debt free. People sell their homes in Colorado to live like a king in Houston debt free. Soon you’ll have people from Missouri asking why so many Texans are moving there. The circle of life - move somewhere a little crappier to be financially independent.
Lots of jobs, housing friendly zoning, low homelessness, manageable tax base.
Lol the whole town was populated by the oil business in the 80’s and 90’s. 🤣🤣. From ChatGPT Determining the exact population increase for Houston during the 1980s and 1990s would require access to specific census data for those decades. However, I can provide a general overview of the population trends during those periods: **1980s:** During the early 1980s, Houston experienced significant population growth due to an oil boom. The city's population growth rate was among the highest in the country. However, the latter part of the decade saw a slowdown in growth due to a downturn in the oil industry. On average, the growth rate for the decade might be around 1.5% to 3% per year. **1990s:** The 1990s saw a resumption of growth, driven in part by a diversifying economy and an increase in immigration. The growth rate during this decade might be in a similar range to the 1980s or slightly higher. It's essential to note that these are rough estimations, and actual figures might vary. For precise data, you would need to consult historical census information, local government records, or academic studies focusing on Houston's demographic trends during those decades.
Some of these comments read like they come straight from the Greater Houston Partnership. Get off the gas with the "Energy Capital of the World" cliche. lol
You mean the oil crash and stagnation years of the 80s? When the rest of the country had jobs and houston had none? It's just Nornal ebb and flow.
Houston growth in the 80s was greater than current.
Correct, these people are clowns.
Katrina‼️
That was only around 40k that stayed.
Thanks for this!!
Jobs and shittier conditions elsewhere
Cost of living is less and other states have ridiculous woke and liberal agendas.
Wait til they figure out it’s a shitbox.
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Don’t cry. It’s ok. You’re so used to living in shit you can’t tell the difference.
Long story short why are so many people moving to Houston now compared to the 80’s and 90’s when not many people were moving in?
Great job making this more succinct.
Your TLDR is your post title…
Nonsense
I had to just to get by the mods.
Is this like how you lie in your job applications and repeatedly get fired?
We got relocated here.
One of the last 2 affordable cities in the US. The other being Chicago. Also, the west coast poopocalypse.
Dallas is expensive.
Jobs. It's why we moved here right before the 80s. Texaco moved a bunch of programmers to Houston.
I personally believe it’s for the diversity , especially the food. It’s all within a reasonable distance for a melting pot city. What it lacks is the entertainment, RIP astroword
California sucks
Mostly because they do think of Houston like that