Despite some concerns about the economy, many of those who closely watch Texas say we're in a strong position, especially when compared to the rest of the nation.
Texas added nearly 47,000 jobs in the month of March 2026 alone, the state Workforce Commission said last week.
And though Austin and Dallas have slowed down from their intense growth of just a few years ago, Fort Worth has been in an era of rapid expansion lately, for the first time surpassing a million in population and now has passed Austin as the fourth largest city in the state.
But the greater Houston area's growth is unprecedented, especially it's wide-open suburbs, even though a new Kinder survey indicates the economy is the biggest concern for residents.
The economy is the biggest concern across the nation after years of up-and-down inflation that began during President Joe Biden's administration, but the Houston Metro economy remains strong.
"We have the fastest-growing metro economy in the region," the Greater Houston Partnership's Manager of Economic Research Colin Baker says, and Southeast Texas as a whole continues its longtime growth.
"We lead the nation in population growth, we also saw the pace of job creation last year that's about ten times higher than the national pace," Baker added.
The Houston area added more than 16,000 jobs during March, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.
One of the most productive aspects of the Houston-area economy is its industrial base, which doesn't appear to have suffered nearly as much as other cities.
"We continue to lead in terms of manufacturing output," Baker says, "and we're seeing a lot more of that manufacturing output in advanced manufacturing projects."
Texas itself is a leader in advanced manufacturing too, with new partnerships springing up, such as the South Texas Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (STAMP) which recently launched a regional "economic engine" designed to "accelerate advanced manufacturing growth and workforce readiness" for jobs of the future, accenting the state's penchant for looking at the future