Head to Houston

Houston ranks near the top of list of Best Cities for Engineering Jobs

According to a new ranking, Houston is the No. 2 Best City for Engineering Jobs in the U.S.

Although oil prices may have dropped this year, the "Energy Capital of the World" is still a hot spot for engineers.

Houston was just named No. 2 on a new list of the 10 Best Cities for Engineering Jobs compiled by Austin-based Sparefoot, coming in right behind Atlanta at No. 1.

Dallas (No. 6) and Austin (No. 8) were also in the Top 10.

The list was compiled based on several factors, including job availability (based on data from employment website Indeed.com), median salary, median home price and median annual rent, as well as the percentage share of job listings, salary as percentage of home prices and rent as a percentage of salary.

Houston was found to have the highest number of engineering job listings at 14 percent. But Bayou City came in at No. 6 out of the 10 cities when it comes to median salary. The average annual salary for engineers working in Houston is $102,000, whereas engineers in San Jose (No. 7 ) have an average salary of $128,000, which is the highest on the list.

Houston does, however, feature both the lowest median home price — $141,400 — and median annual rent — $10,728 — of any of the cities.

Apparently Texas is known for being quite affordable as Dallas features the second lowest median home price at $150,000 and Austin features the fourth lowest at $192,000. The median annual salary for engineers in Dallas is $92,000 — the third lowest on the list — and Austin's is the lowest at $85,000.

According to the list, the institutions that employ the most engineers in the Houston area are Shell, ExxonMobil, Hewlett-Packard, Chevron, Halliburton, KBR, Quanta Services and NASA.

In February, Forbes ranked Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown at No. 6 on their list of the Best Cities for Engineers. According to the business magazine, nearly 22 out of every 1,000 employees in the city are engineers and they found Houston's median engineering salary to be $122,970.

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closing the gaps

Texas no longer leads U.S. for racial progress, new report says

Photo by Jerry Kavan on Unsplash

WalletHub's report is released annually ahead of MLK Day.

Texas has been overtaken as the No. 1 state that has made the most racial progress, according to a new study.

The Lone Star State led the nation in 2025, but now ranks in third place behind Georgia (No. 1) and Mississippi (No. 2). It also ranked No. 5 nationally in the list of states with the most racial integration.

WalletHub's "States That Have Made the Most Racial Progress" study is released annually ahead of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The report compares all 50 states and the District of Columbia across 22 relevant metrics divided into two main rankings: racial integration (which the study defines as "the current integration levels of white people and Black people") and racial progress (defined as "the levels of racial progress achieved over time").

The report's author clarifies that the study focuses only on the racial integration between Black people and white people "in light of racial tensions in recent years that sparked the Black Lives Matter movement."

"We released this report ahead of the holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who played a prominent role in the Civil Rights Movement to end segregation and discrimination against Black people," the report says.

The study further divided each ranking into four main categories measuring the gaps between white people and Black people over time; spanning employment and wealth, education, social and civic engagement, and health. Texas performed the best in education and health, ranking No. 4 nationally in both categories, and it ranked in sixth place for its social and civic engagement. The state ranked 16th in the category for employment and wealth.

According to WalletHub, Texas has "done a lot" to reduce gaps in health outcomes for white and Black residents, such as reducing gaps in health insurance coverage, and reducing the share of Black Texans suffering from "poor health" and diabetes. It also notes that Texas "made the second-most progress when it comes to obesity," but it did not acknowledge the racial bias in body mass index (BMI) that has been increasingly flagged in recent years.

The report further praises Texas for reducing the gap in business ownership between white and Black Texans, and for its improvement in reducing discrimination in the parole system. WalletHub does not offer data behind the parole claim.

"It’s encouraging to look at the data and see that some states have made significant strides toward racial equality over the past few decades," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo regarding the overall report. "This change demonstrates that state-level policies and residents’ attitudes regarding equality have grown considerably better."

Though racial disparity gaps are closing between white and Black people, racial profiling and discrimination is still a major issue affecting Black people and other people of color across the country.

In 2023, a senate bill banned public Texas universities from having diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices and programs, prompting warnings of discrimination against Black, Hispanic, and other marginalized students, including those with disabilities.

The top 10 states with the most racial progress in 2026 are:

No. 1 – Georgia
No. 2 – Mississippi
No. 3 – Texas
No. 4 – North Carolina
No. 5 – Maryland
No. 6 – Florida
No. 7 – New Jersey
No. 8 – Massachusetts
No. 9 – Louisiana
No. 10 – New Mexico

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