Bayou City bragging rights

Houston named a top 10 big city for ethnic diversity by new study

Houston aerial skyline with traffic on the highway

A new study ranks Houston as the country’s 10th most ethnically diverse large city.

Art Wager/Getty Images

Houston prides itself on its diversity — and rightfully so. A new study ranks Houston as the country’s 10th most ethnically diverse large city.

Among 501 U.S. cities, Houston also ranks 28th overall and first in Texas, according to the study, released February 11 by personal finance website WalletHub.

To come up its ranking, WalletHub measured three key indicators of ethnic diversity: language, ethnicity and race, and birthplace. Houston ranks 25th for language diversity, 36th for ethnic and racial diversity, and 244th for birthplace diversity.

This finding differs from a study by Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research that found Houston was the most ethnically and racially diverse metro area in the U.S. as of 2010. Why the disparity? The WalletHub study looked at data for the city of Houston, while the Kinder Institute study examined data for the entire Houston metro area.

The new finding also differs from a broader WalletHub study published in April 2019. In that study, Houston was crowned the most diverse city in the U.S., based on socioeconomic, cultural, economic, household, and religious diversity. Ethnic diversity is only one component of that ranking.

“Houston is the most diverse city in the United States. But diversity alone is not enough — we must always strive to be more inclusive,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted in December 2019. “As your mayor, I know that diversity and inclusivity are what makes us strong. And I will always work to build one complete Houston.”

However you slice it, Houston leads the pack in Texas for ethnic and racial diversity. Here’s how other major cities in the Lone Star State fare in the new WalletHub study:

Arlington, No. 38
Plano, No. 46
Dallas, No. 47
Fort Worth, No. 62
Austin, No. 73
San Antonio, No. 136

While Austin and cities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area don’t rank particularly high in the WalletHub study, Austin and DFW do show up on a recent list of the country’s most racially diverse metro areas.

DFW held the No. 11 spot in the Bloomberg news service’s 2018 ranking of racial diversity among the 100 largest U.S. metros, while Austin stood at No. 19. Houston bested both of those areas, though, landing at No. 5.

Austin and Dallas didn’t perform as well in a racial and ethnic index compiled by U.S. News & World Report.

The index shows the racial and ethnic diversity of Dallas actually slipped 3.4 percent from 2010 to 2018, with Austin’s diversity declining by 0.10 percent. The decrease was 2.6 percent in San Antonio and 1.2 percent in Houston, the index shows.

The diversity picture was brighter in other Texas cities included in the U.S. New & World Report index, which measured racial and ethnic diversity in U.S. cities with at least 300,000 residents. Arlington saw its racial and ethnic diversity rise 3.6 percent from 2010 to 2018, with Fort Worth at 1.8 percent.

rankings lists wallethub

zoom zoom

Classic car dealer rolls into Houston with massive Katy facility

Courtesy of Streetside Classics

Streetside's Katy location will be similar to its store in Fort Worth.

Classic car enthusiasts will soon have a new place to shop for vintage rides. Streetside Classics, a vintage car dealer with six locations nationwide, will open its seventh in Katy later this year.

Located at at 500 Commerce Pkwy, the 56,000-square-foot showroom will have enough space for more than 250 cars. The facility will house classic muscle cars such as Mustangs, Cudas, and Corvettes as well as classic trucks, SUVs, and other vehicles from the early 1900’s to contemporary exotics.

"When we started Streetside, we committed to a customer-first philosophy in an industry that desperately needed it," said Donna Mueller, co-founder and chairwoman of Streetside Classics, in a statement. "We’re excited to expand to a seventh location in a vibrant and fast-growing market like Houston. We hope to be a hub for the growing enthusiast community by hosting car shows, welcoming car clubs, and always being a place where you can come see that car your dad had.”

One way Streetside caters to buyers is with in-house lifts that allow shoppers to inspect a vehicle more thoroughly than simply opening the hood. In addition, the dealer offers financing, shipping, warranties, and a “low-pressure environment” to make buying and owning a classic car as easy as possible.

Ahead of the opening, Streetside is already accepting applications for consignment cars. Interested parties will find more information at the company’s website.

Mueller founded Streetside Classics in Charlotte, NC in 2008. Since then, the company has grown to six locations, including an outpost in Fort Worth. It sells more than 3,000 cars per year with revenues of over $1 billion annually, according to press materials.