Houston is the Sixth Largest U.S. Metro (Dallas, San Antonio: 2010, house)

[Guerilla]

New census had put us at 5.6 million people .

http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/houst...9/daily45.html

Passing up Miami.

[Midnitecruzer]

Hi Guerilla. I'm leaving San Diego and it has about 1 million. Today in the news, they said that 119,000 have packed up and left in the past 6 years. Many moved to Riverside county and commute, others sold their house and moved to Washington State, and bought a home cash, and saved the rest. And as you know, I going to Houston. Like the song says, "Amarillo by Morning" Texas is our next home.
papermaker4u

Originally Posted by Guerilla

New census had put us at 5.6 million people .

http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/houst...9/daily45.html

Passing up Miami.

[Mom2Feebs]

I'm confused, I thought we were the fourth largest city after Chicago?

[bigcitygirl]

Originally Posted by Mom2Feebs

I'm confused, I thought we were the fourth largest city after Chicago?

I thought so too...

[Guerilla]

City is different than Metro. The metro population goes beyond the city boundaries.

[Mr. Football]

City refers to actual 'city limits'....MSA or Metropolitan Statistical Area is a more accurate representation that takes into account suburbs and nearby towns, etc.

[mattscards]

Actually Houston is # 4 behind Chicago in city population. Houston has an estimated population of 2.2 million. The metro area which includes Galveston, Montgomery, Fort Bend, Chambers, Liberty Counties and others, total 5.6 million. This is good because although Houston has been touted as the 4th largest for many years, it has not been respected as a major TV market (#11 with the 2000 census).
Raising to # 6 in metro will no doubt raise the TV market rating... perhaps to #6 as well. This is a very respected market rating, which the revenue from an increased rating would mean more money for sporting events, local TV shows and radio. This might lead to more money to attract more national radio and TV personalities and maybe better players for the Astros and Texans. We will see how it all plays out, but having a higher rating can only lead to better things for Houston on a national basis.

[purtex]

Originally Posted by mattscards

it has not been respected as a major TV market (#11 with the 2000 census).
Raising to # 6 in metro will no doubt raise the TV market rating... perhaps to #6 as well. This is a very respected market rating, which the revenue from an increased rating would mean more money for sporting events, local TV shows and radio. This might lead to more money to attract more national radio and TV personalities and maybe better players for the Astros and Texans. We will see how it all plays out, but having a higher rating can only lead to better things for Houston on a national basis.

Being fourth largest city doesn't matter with television markets. Atlanta is ranked higher and they don't even have 500,000 within their city limits. Metro populations are different but even then, television markets aren't based on metro numbers either. It's based on television households and how many of those households you reach in different counties with your television stations.
Here are the latest rankings for television markets in the US. Houston has a ways to go before it even catches up with the Dallas/Ft Worth television market because they're growing by leaps and bounds too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...y_media_market

[mpope409]

What does television market have to do with the value of the city? The only reason Atlanta is regarded as big is because of all those little cities around it.

[Guerilla]

Yeah, Atlanta's is Georgia's main city. Houston shares with DFW, then you have Austin and San Antonio each close to two million in metro size. By the way, Houston has grown faster than DFW for the past two years. They will both reach 7 million soon, too.

If Houston and Dallas each continues the numerical growth they've had in the 2000-2006 period, here's when each will hit 7,000,000:

Dallas-Fort Worth has averaged 134,595 growth per year; Houston: 133,088 per year.

Houston hits 6,000,000 before 2010 census,
Houston hits 7,000,000 in 2017

Dallas-Fort Worth hits 7,000,000 in 2014.

However, In both metros, recent growth has been greater than those averages. If they each maintain the growth they experienced in 2005-2006, they will hit 7,000,000 VERY close to the same time, around the 2012-2013 time frame.