now boarding

New METRO plan lays groundwork for light rail system to Hobby Airport

A light rail ride could be coming to Hobby.

Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau

Transportation to and from the airport can be a headache, requiring time, patience, and focus. But METRO has big goals to make it easy with light rail to Hobby Airport.

When ABC13 asked airline passenger Leigh Pugh about the possibility of light rail to Hobby, she liked that it might be not only easy but less expensive than a rideshare or other options.

"Parking your vehicle at the airport for long periods of time can be pretty expensive," Pugh said. "And it would open up options if you don't have to do that as much."

METRO Board Chair Sanjay Ramabhadran talked to Eyewitness News about the current concept for METRORail to Hobby Airport. "Rail connectivity to Hobby and BRT [Bus Rapid Transit] connectivity to George Bush Intercontinental are priorities for the agency, absolutely," Ramabhadran said.

The general alignments include extending the Purple Line, which travels through the Third Ward, and the Green Line, which runs through the East End until they meet to travel to Hobby Airport.

However, just a one-minute walk from the end of the Purple Line at Palm Center is a potential roadblock to that plan. There are the intersections of Griggs, Long, and Mykawa, and two railroad tracks.

It's a busy intersection with long waits behind the trains. METRO is working to join at least a portion of the recently launched SH-35 expansion project, a bridge that would allow vehicle traffic. METRO hopes light rail will pass over that challenging intersection.

"The Long-Mykawa junction - you've got to be able to thread the needle for all modes. Whether it's roadway or for rail," Ramabhadran said. "So what we're doing is doing everything we can in a sequential manner so that rail to Hobby becomes a reality. The first part is, when somebody else is building SH-35, let's make sure we take advantage of that."

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Continue reading this story by Elissa Rivas on our news partner ABC13.

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