Brookings: Houston Fastest-Growing US Metro Economy

November 30, 2012

A new study from the Brookings Institution finds Houston's economy is growing at a faster pace than that of any other U.S. metro area. But it also shows Houston has yet to recover completely from the recent recession.

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The Brookings Global MetroMonitor ranks the world’s three hundred largest metropolitan economies. This year, Houston jumped to 40th place, up from 99th last year.

Emilia Istrate co-authored the report.

“Houston has very healthy job growth. In fact, it’s closer to the job growth rates registered in some Chinese or Turkish metro areas — so, developing countries — than U.S. or developed metro areas.”

But Houston is lagging in terms of GDP per capita, which the study uses to gauge the average standard of living. Istrate says that, while Houston’s average income has yet to recover to pre-2008 levels, it is close to doing so.

Only six U.S. metro areas are outperforming the country on both average income and employment growth.

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