The City of Raises: Houston No. 1 in the country for wage growth, while Dallas lags

The economy is still far from good, but at least it seems to be getting better. Especially for people who live and work in Houston.

Business Insider looked at the PayScale Index of private sector wages to see what cities around the United States were showing growth. The good news? Eighteen metro areas saw wages rise between the fourth quarter of 2010 and the fourth quarter of 2011. The better news is that no city saw wages growing faster than Houston.

 Dallas, the only other Texas city charted by PayScale, saw virtually no growth, with only a 0.1 percent increase. 

In Q4 of 2010, wages in Houston were six percent higher than they were in 2006 (the baseline figure) for an index value of 106. By 2011, they were at 108.3, a growth of 2.2 percent. Miami saw the second-highest rate of growth, with 1.8 percent and Chicago came in third with 1.7 percent. The national year-over-year change was one percent.

Dallas, the only other Texas city charted by PayScale, saw virtually no growth, with only a 0.1 percent increase.

Not only did Houston have the fastest growth — led by its energy and tech sectors, industries which have seen the most wage growth nationwide — but with an index of 108.3, it also has seen the most increase since 2006 out of the 20 metropolitan areas measured by PayScale. Seattle is the other city that's close, at 107.5.