welcome home

3 booming Houston 'burbs dominate top 10 list of most 'house rich' cities in U.S.

Sugar Land residents boast the No. 3 'house-rich' home rank in the U.S.

Photo via Martha Turner Sotheby's

With high interest rates and home prices making daily headlines, houses in Texas' current real estate market may seem out of reach for many potential homebuyers.

But that isn't the case in the Houston area. A new study has revealed three H-town suburbs were ranked the most "house rich" cities in the United States: Sugar Land (No. 3), Pearland (No. 5), and League City (No. 7).

To define the term "house rich," home services provider All Star Home examined data from the U.S. Census Bureau regarding the median value of owner-occupied homes and the median household income across the 25 most populous American cities. A home-value-to-income ratio was established for each city based on the Census data, and rankings were determined based on whether a city had a low home-value-to-income ratio and high homeownership rate.

Sugar Landhas a homeownership rate of 80.90 percent, which is an impressive number in comparison to Houston's own homeownership rate of 42.50 percent. The census data estimates Sugar Land's median home value at $397,000, the greatest out of the three suburbs, and the median household income is $132,766. The report determined Sugar Land's home-value-to-income ratio is 2.78, which is also the highest out of the three total Houston 'burbs.

The homeownership rate in Pearland isn't too far behind Sugar Land's, at 76.60 percent, with home values estimated at a median $334,800. The census data places the median household income in Pearland at $103,496, which means the city's home-value-to-income ratio is 2.52.

League City'shomeownership rate of 74.40 percent is much closer to Pearland's than Sugar Land's. The median value of a home in League City is $350,300, and the median household income is estimated at $104,867. The city's home-value-to-income ratio is 2.44.

The top 10 most house rich American cities are:

No. 1 – Davie, North Carolina
No. 2 – Buckeye, Arizona
No. 3 – Sugar Land, Texas
No. 4 – Fishers, Indiana
No. 5 – Pearland, Texas
No. 6 – Lee's Summit, Missouri
No. 7 – League City, Texas
No. 8 – Rio Rancho, New Mexico
No. 9 – Boise, Idaho
No. 10 – Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

In a separate analysis of the 25 most populous American cities, Houston ranked No. 12.

The study found 42.50 percent of all housing in Houston is owner-occupied. The median value of a home in the city is $200,700, according to the report, which also pegs the median household income at an estimated $56,019 per year. Using those financial factors, All Star Home determined Houston has a home-value-to-income ratio of 3.58.

With Houston's median household income, affording a starter home in the city might not be as unattainable as potential homebuyers might think.

Texas cities dominated the top five in the major cities category of the report. El Paso took the No. 1 spot, leading over all other major American cities with the highest homeownership rate (59.80 percent) and a home-value-to-income ratio of 2.68. Fort Worth (No. 4) and San Antonio (No. 5) rounded out the top five, following behind Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (No. 2) and Indianapolis, Indiana (No. 3). Dallas also ranked outside the top 10, falling behind Houston into No. 15.

The top 10 most house-rich major cities in the U.S. are:

No. 1 – El Paso, Texas
No. 2 – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
No. 3 – Indianapolis, Indiana
No. 4 – Fort Worth, Texas
No. 5 – San Antonio, Texas
No. 6 – Jacksonville, Florida
No. 7 – Columbus, Ohio
No. 8 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
No. 9 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 10 – Phoenix, Arizona

All Star Home also analyzed the most house rich states in America, but Texas appeared at the bottom of the study's category for the least house rich states, ranking No. 21.

The full report can be found on allstarhome.com.

reports real estate houston sugar land pearland league city

No Cap

Houston ranked No. 3 destination for Gen Zers on the move for 2023

Photo by Alexander Londoño on Unsplash

undefined

As Gen Z enters adulthood, many are flocking to the nation's biggest cultural hubs like New York City, Los Angeles, and now Houston, which had the third-highest inflow of Gen Zers in 2023.

H-Town's new reputation as a Gen Z hotspot was unveiled in a recent report by American home improvement brand This Old House, which analyzed migration trends across multiple generations using 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Houston saw an influx of 22,868 Gen Z residents last year to become the generations third most popular city. That's up from ranking as the No. 11 most popular city in 2022. Houston gained fewer than 7,600 new Gen Z residents during that time in comparison to 2023's migration trend.

Houston started gaining traction as an up-and-coming destination for Gen Zers last year, when the "experience-hungry generation" was on the hunt for an affordable place to live with vast opportunities for entertainment, education, or employment.

Real estate marketplace Zillow seems to agree on a statewide scale, declaring Texas as the No. 1 destination for Gen Zers on the move in 2024.

While Houston saw big gains in its Gen Z population last year, many other big cities saw a mass exodus.

"El Paso, Texas, has lost the most residents from this generation, with a drop of 5,607, a sharp turn from 2022 when the city saw an increase," the report said. "Other cities, including Plano, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; McKinney, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas, are seeing similar declines."

The report also surprisingly revealed that Houston is also one of the top destinations for millennials and Gen X, whereas both New York City and Los Angeles lost more residents among those two generations in comparison.

Houston ranked as the No. 1 city for Gen Xers and No. 4 for millennials based on their respective migration trends in 2023. Houston gained 6,312 new Gen X residents last year – the most nationwide – and the fourth-highest amount of millennials (5,301 new residents).

"Gen X, baby boomers, and the Silent Generation are also moving away from major cities, particularly New York City and Washington, D.C.," the report said. "They’re heading to some of the same cities as Gen Z, including Houston and Jacksonville, Florida."

The top 10 cities that gained the most Gen Z residents in 2023 are:

No. 1 – New York City, New York
No. 2 – Los Angeles, California
No. 3 – Houston, Texas
No. 4 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
No. 5 – Chicago, Illinois
No. 6 – San Diego, California
No. 7 – Seattle, Washington
No. 8 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 9 – Dallas, Texas
No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota