high income households

Houston suburb has top-20 highest rate of new wealthy residents in U.S.

Wealthy earners might be attracted to this far-flung Houston suburb because of beautiful Lake Conroe.

Photo courtesy of Visit Houston

A new income study has revealed Houston's wealthiest aren't settling down in Pearland anymore — they've set their sights on Conroe, instead.

Conroe had one of the highest growth rates of new wealthy residents nationwide in SmartAsset's new analysis, "Cities Adding the Most High-Income Households – 2026 Study."

Based on U.S. Census income data, SmartAsset's experts ranked 357 U.S. cities with at least 100,000 residents based on the growth in high-income households as a percentage of total households between 2023 and 2024. The report defines high-income households as those earning an income of at least $200,000.

Conroe had the fifth-highest growth in wealthy households in Texas from 2023-2024, and it ranked No. 20 nationwide.

The report's findings show Conroe had 3,034 high-income households in 2023. By the following year, the suburb had a near 60-percent growth rate in wealthy earners, bringing the total number of high-income households to 5,220.

A total 11.5 percent of all Conroe households made at least $200,000 in income in 2024. For added context, the median household income for a Conroe household during that same year was $80,411.

The rise in wealthy newcomers might not be as much of a surprise to locals: Conroe was among the most desirable suburbs to move to in 2025, and it was ranked in a top-25 best city for renters in America.

According to the report, an influx of affluent households can have a significant impact on a city's local economy, most commonly through contributing "more dollars to the local and state tax bases, and to surrounding businesses."

"At the same time, this relative economic strength may sway entities to cater more to the preferences of these households to earn their patronage," the report said. "Quick growth in high income households may accelerate tax collection and business prosperity, just as their departure may cause some concern for local politicians, business owners, and neighbors."

In SmartAsset's 2025 report, Pearland was the Houston-area city that added the most wealthy new residents, but that figure has since plummeted. Pearland ranked No. 236 in this year's rankings with a mere 4.2 percent growth rate in high-income households from 2023-2024.

Texas cities with the biggest growth in high-income households
The East Texas city of Beaumont, located about 90 miles from Houston, had the biggest growth rate of high-earners in Texas from 2023-2024, and it ranked No. 6 nationally.

Two more Houston-area cities ranked in the top 100: Atascocita (No. 66) and League City (No. 77). Atascocita had a 30.4 percent growth rate in high earners from 2023-2024, adding up to 6,512 wealthy households. League City had 11,404 high-income households in 2024, an increase of 27.2 percent from the year before.

Other Texas cities that ranked among the national top 100 include:

No. 8 – Odessa
No. 14 – Laredo
No. 18 – College Station
No. 28 – Waco
No. 31 – Mesquite
No. 56 – Arlington
No. 59 – Amarillo
No. 69 – McKinney
No. 72 – McAllen
No. 90 – Irving
No. 94 – Brownsville

houston suburbs conroe smartasset wealthy suburbs affluent households

SUDDEN SHUTTERS

GameStop to close 11 Houston-area stores amid nationwide cuts

GameStop/ Facebook

Long lines for video game releases are a rarity these days.

For GameStop, it’s a blood bath right out of Mortal Kombat. The Grapevine-based video game chain is expected to shed 470 locations nationwide, including 11 in the greater Houston area.

The closures were revealed in the company's newest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that said it would close "a significant number of additional stores in fiscal 2025" ending on January 31. In its last fiscal year, GameStop shuttered 590 locations.

In addition to braving the overall “retail apocalypse,” the retailer faces the same conditions that largely decimated CD and video stores. Video games are now available for digital download in seconds and no longer require a trip to a physical store.

“As a part of our profitability initiative, we are reducing our global store base, which includes closing stores that are not meeting performance standards or stores at the end of their lease terms with the intent of transferring sales to other nearby locations,” the company wrote in its annual report. “ If we are unsuccessful in marketing to customers of the stores that we plan to close or in transferring sales to nearby stores, our results of operations could be negatively impacted.”

The current digital squeeze isn’t the first time GameStop has been thrown for a loop by contemporary internet culture. In 2021, the retailer famously became a meme stock, buoyed by users of Reddit's r/wallstreetbets. The skyrocketing increase in its stock price, followed by short selling, caused major financial consequences for hedge funds and other investors.

Since then, the stock price has been more stable but has decreased approximately 21 percent over the last year. After CEO Ryan Cohen bought 500,000 shares in the company on January 21, the price has slightly rebounded.

GameStop has not issued a formal list of the closures, and a request for more information was not returned at press time. But Ohio’s WKYC Studios put together a list of all the U.S. stores that are on the chopping block, verified through GameStop’s online store locator. The Texas closings are as follows:

Allen – The Village at Allen, 170 E. Stacy Rd
Arlington – Little School Road Shops, 1245 N. Little School Rd
Austin – Ben White Payload Center, 500 E. Ben White Blvd
Balch Springs – Lake June Plaza, 12209 Lake June Rd
Boerne – Menger Crossing, 1375 S. Main St
Cedar Park – Lakeline Plaza, 11066 Pecan Park Blvd
Conroe – Conroe Center, 1231 N. Loop 336 W
Corpus Christi – Padre Island Drive, 1805 S. Padre Island Dr
Corsicana – Corsicana Marketplace, 3811 W. Highway 31
Dallas – Glen Oaks Crossing, 4787 Vista Wood Blvd
El Paso – Alameda Town Center, 9411 Alameda Ave
El Paso – Fountains at Farah, 8889 Gateway West Blvd
Fort Worth – Clifford Retail, 301 Clifford Center Dr
Garland – Ridgewood Village, 2930 S. First St
Houston – Beechnut Street Houston, 10100 Beechnut St
Houston – Bellaire Gessner Center, 8880 Bellaire Blvd
Houston – Market at Uvalde, 13706 East Fwy
Houston – Market Square, 13341 Westheimer Rd
Houston – Oxford Plaza, 10407 North Fwy
Houston – Royal Oaks, 11807 Westheimer Rd
Houston – Wayside Shopping Center, 900 S. Wayside Dr
Huntsville – Ravenwood Village, 245 Interstate 45 N
Irving – MacArthur Park, 7601 N. MacArthur Blvd
Lake Jackson – Lake Jackson Shopping Center, 121 Highway 332 W
La Marque – LaMarque Crossing, 6408 Interstate 45
Laredo – Laredo Crossing Shopping Center, 4415 S. Zapata Hwy
Leon Valley – 5601 Bandera Rd
Lubbock – 7th St Lubbock, 1803 Seventh St
Magnolia – Westwood Village, 33020 FM 2978 Rd
Mansfield – Mansfield Crossing, 1301 E. Debbie Ln
Marble Falls – Highland Lakes, 2400 US Highway 281
McKinney – Lake Forest Crossing, 4100 S. Lake Forest Dr
Mesquite – Town East Mall, 2050 Town East Mall
Mission – Shary Plaza, 808 S. Shary Rd
Palmhurst – Palmhurst Shopping Center, 4416 N. Conway Ave
Paris – Paris Corners, 3842 Lamar Ave
Saginaw – Cross Pointe Shopping Center, 1453 N. Saginaw Blvd
San Antonio – Alamo Quarry Market, E. 255 Basse Rd
San Antonio – Blanco Road, 7117 Blanco Rd
San Antonio – Huebner Oaks Center, 11745 W. I-10
San Antonio – Northwoods Phase III, 1742 N. Loop 1604 E
San Antonio – Walzem Plaza, 5366 Walzem Rd
Stephenville – Stephenville Shopping Center, 2811 W. Washington St
Sulphur Springs – Sulphur Springs Corners, 1707 S. Broadway St
Terrell – Terrell Corner, 1888 W. Moore Ave
Tyler – State Highway 64 Tyler, 3842 State Highway 64 W
Watauga – Watauga Town Crossing, 8004 Denton Hwy

video games retail closings