Hometown Glory

Don't mess with Texas: Houston ranks No. 2 for global trade, followed by fiveother Texas cities

Houston ranked No. 2 in the list of the Top 50 Cities for Global Trade.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington took spot No. 11.
Courtesy photo
El Paso ranked No. 26.
Photo via https://m.wikitravel.org/en/El_Paso
Austin was awarded "Most Likely to Succeed," ranking No. 31.
Ed Schipul/Flickr

Six Texas cities led by Houston rank in the Top 50 Cities for Global Trade, according to a special report in Global Trade Magazine.

New York City may have taken the No. 1 spot for $85.1 billion worth of business, but despite having just one-third the population size, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan statistical area ranked second on the Top 50 list, which is based on 2010 data culled from the International Trade Administration along with some editor-designated superlatives.

Houston boasted $80.6 billion exports by volume in 2010; mostly chemicals (30 percent), petroleum and coal products (29 percent) and machinery (16 percent), mostly headed to Mexico, Canada and China. Much of the thanks is due to the booming oil industry, but the article notes that "its consistent ranking as a top city not only for doing business, but also in which to work and live, must lend to its success."

Houston boasted $80.6 billion exports by volume in 2010.

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington — "a logistic dream," at the crossroads of rail lines and interstate highways — took spot No. 11 on the list, with $22.5 billion worth of trade in computer and electronic products, transportation equipment and machinery to, chiefly, Mexico, Canada and China.

Touted for its stone's-throw proximity to Mexico, El Paso took spot No. 26 in the ranking. The West Texas town does $7.9 billion in business (of $10.3 billion total) with its southern neighbor, exporting computer and electronic products, electrical equipment and primary metal manufacturing.

Austin-Round Rock, though only ranked No. 31, won the superlative for "Most Likely to Succeed."

Austin-Round Rock, though only ranked No. 31, won the superlative for "Most Likely to Succeed," thanks to its "low-tax structure, key incentives and record for growth" — plus a technology sector that "competes with Silicon Valley's." The state capital did $8.9 billion in business chiefly with Taiwan, China and Mexico in 2011, exporting computer and electronic products, paper and transportation equipment.

San Antonio also made the list (at No. 37 overall for $6.4 billion in trade with Mexico, Canada and Brazil — and Boeing and Lockheed Martin in its port), as did Laredo (at No. 44 for $5.4 billion in business with Mexico, Canada and the Netherlands), home of the nation's largest inland port.

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income analysis

Texas families need to make this much money for one parent to stay home

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

As the cost of raising a child balloons in major cities like Houston, many families are weighing the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas — not just Houston — that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support a stay-at-home partner and a child, the report found. If two parents worked in the household, necessitating some additional costs like childcare and transportation, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in Houston, however, is somewhat more affordable. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $21,868 to raise a child in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts, where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report acknowledges ways families are working to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family