Houston in the Media
“Houston is arguably America’s most enthusiastically cosmopolitan city, a place where the future has already arrived.”
-The Economist, 2009
Best Cities for Jobs
(Forbes.com – April 14, 2009)
Houston ranked #2 in the nation on the Forbes list for Best Big Cities for Jobs. The metro area didn’t see any single sector of employment rise dramatically in 2008, but modest growth across many categories, including natural resources, mining and construction, education and health services, and wholesale, prevented losses. Manufacturing jobs in the Houston area actually increased 2.3 percent, a surprising anomaly compared with most of the data available on job growth in America’s largest cities.
Best Cities for Young Professionals
(Forbes.com – July 9, 2008)
Forbes ranked Houston the #3 city for young professionals, citing its high concentration of the nation’s best geospace engineering firms, oil and gas operations companies, and oceanic exploration companies.
Forbes Ranks Houston 9th in Best Bargain Cities List
(Forbes.com – May 13, 2009)
To determine which U.S. cities are the best bargains, Forbes looked at the country's 50 largest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas and metropolitan divisions--geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget used by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics.
We assigned points to metro regions across four data sets: Average salary for workers with a bachelor's degree or higher, from PayScale.com; annual unemployment statistics, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics; cost of living, from Moody's Economy.com; and the Housing Opportunity Index, from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo, which measures the amount of homes sold in a given area that would be affordable to a family earning the local median income based on standard mortgage underwriting criteria. Read more
A multitude of live music venues from intimate to outdoor stadium capacity offer fans a chance to catch everything from classical, country, hip hop, salsa to the latest touring acts.
Best Places to Live, Work and Play
(Kiplinger’s Personal Finance – July 2008)
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance called Houston the “Comeback Kid” on this list of the best cities to live, work and play, citing its mixture of energy, aerospace, technology and medical careers available for residents as well as the city’s myriad museums and restaurants. The Houston metro area leads the nation in job growth, and its cost of living stands well below the national average, the magazine said. Houston topped Provo, Utah; Des Moines, Iowa; Sacramento, California; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Austin, Texas; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Boise, Idaho; Omaha, Nebraska; and Raleigh, North Carolina.
Best U.S. City to Earn a Living
(Forbes.com – August 18, 2008)
This ranking heralded Houston’s dynamic business environment, low unemployment and high wages relative to cost of living. Forbes.com called Houston the American business hub for oil and commodities. Houston topped Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Dallas, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, and Minneapolis.
Public art graces many public green spaces and throughout Houston.
Best City for Your Job
(BusinessWeek – June 12, 2008)
Houston is the best city in the country for workers to find a good job and a high standard of living, according to BusinessWeek. Houston scored high for careers in the oil and gas industry, as well as those in management, medicine, mechanical and civil engineering, finance, marketing, law and information technology. The magazine reported that job seekers in all sorts of careers have started streaming into Houston, where the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent in April, the lowest level in eight years, and where the job growth rate was 2.8 percent.
Best City to Buy a Home
(Forbes.com – July 14, 2008)
Houston held the top position on the Best Cities to Buy a Home list produced by Forbes.com. The city’s booming energy industry and a growing entrepreneurial tech scene contributed to the ranking. Home prices are on the rise by 6.6 percent, and vacant homes have disappeared by 11.3 percent in the last two years, the Web site said. Houston topped Atlanta, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Charlotte, Dallas, San Antonio, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Austin.
A vibrant nightlife scene is found throughout Houston including downtown, midtown, uptown, and in Rice Village.
Best City for Recent College Grads
(Forbes.com – June 26, 2008)
The list of Best Cities for Recent College Grads belongs to Texas, with Houston nabbing the first spot, followed by Dallas and Austin. Houston’s average starting salary of $44,100, for those with bachelor’s degrees is the second-highest in the nation, and the oil, technology and banking are booming, according to Forbes.com. Houston topped San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Atlanta, Seattle, Denver, Austin and Dallas.
