Waiting on Texas

New poll shows Houstonians are super optimistic about Houston, but not the U.S.

In Italian they call it campanilismo: the love of the sound of one's own clock tower, loyalty to one's town, region or even neighborhood over state or country. And it seems like Houstonians have a case of it.

The new KUHF-KHOU poll shows locals think Houston is doing better than Texas and the United States.

The survey questioned 500 Houston voters. Sixty five percent of them said Houston is moving in the right direction, with only 20 percent saying is was headed in the wrong direction.

These positive numbers far outpace Houstonians' opinion on whether Texas is heading in the right direction, with just over 45 percent believing it is. Thirty-five percent said Texas is heading in the wrong direction, with a high percentage of responders (almost a fifth) saying they weren't sure — we'll take that as an "Ask me after the election."

The pessimism was even more apparent when asked about the direction of the country, with an almost even split saying the United States is headed in the right or wrong direction— 43 percent and 42 percent, respectively.

Rice University's Robert M. Stein, who directed the survey, said the unusually high numbers for Houston have data to back them up.

"Some of this is borne out — unemployment, foreclosures, housing values, migration — all of these conditions are much better in Houston and Harris County than they are in the state and, for that matter, in the nation," he told KUHF. "So maybe what we're seeing here are voters who can see the reality. They're seeing people come here for jobs. They're seeing individual home values, if not appreciating, not declining rapidly. What they're seeing is very few foreclosures like you've seen in states like Nevada or the midwest."

Houston's economic resilience has been noted over and over again. Can you blame us for noticing it?

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room for improvement

Houston has work to do on ranking of America's fittest cities for 2026

Photo by Gabin Vallet on Unsplash

About 74 percent of Houstonians have exercised in the past month.

Houstonians are more fit than they used to be, but the city still needs to hit the gym. The Bayou City ranks in the middle of the pack in a ranking of America's fittest cities.

This year’s American Fitness Index puts Houston at No. 44 among the country’s 100 most populated cities, up from 49th place last year. Houston ranks 26th in the personal health category and a disappointing 64th in the community and environment category.

The index shows 74 percent of Houston residents had exercised in the previous month, 57 percent had met aerobic activity guidelines, and 33 percent had met aerobic and strength activity guidelines. The first two of those numbers are below the 100-city averages.

The Elevance Health Foundation and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) produce the annual index, which they say combines measures of personal health behavior, chronic disease outcomes, community infrastructure, and environmental factors “to provide a comprehensive picture of how well cities promote fitness and well-being.”

Arlington, Virginia, tops the index, followed by Washington, D.C.; Minneapolis; Seattle; and Denver. The Dallas suburb of Plano takes the top Texas spot at No. 12 nationally.

“The cities that consistently rank at the top aren’t succeeding because of one program or one investment,” Stella Volpe, past president of ACSM and chair of the Fitness Index Advisory Board, says in a press release. “They’ve built systems that support healthier living over time. They are the ones creating environments where physical activity can easily become a part of everyday routines.”

One thing helping Houston is its strong network of parks. In May, Houston landed at No. 10 in Texas and 69th in the U.S. in the annual ParkScore Index. That was down slightly from 2025.

Every year, land conservation nonprofit The Trust for Public Land rates park systems in the 100 biggest American cities on accessibility, equity, acreage, investment, and amenities.

Among other Texas cities appearing in the American Fitness index are:

No. 28 Austin, down from No. 21 last year.
No. 43 Dallas, up from 46th last year.
No. 69 Fort Worth, up from 80th last year.
No. 80 San Antonio, up from No. 94 last year.

“Where you live increasingly determines how healthy you are,” Volpe says. “The healthiest cities don’t just encourage exercise — they make movement part of daily life through infrastructure, transportation, and community design.”

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