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Houston's growth is largely tied to the jobs boom there. When oil begins to fall and we find other energy sources to power our cars, which is already happening, then the jobs in Houston will begin to dry up and its rapid growth will slow.
Chicago metro gained over a million people in the 1990's, I haven't seen Houston do that in a 10 year span yet. It would take Chicago shrinking and Houston growing even faster for this to happen any time soon, if at all.
Good grief. How often does this have to be explained? Houston's big energy companies are already getting into renewables and green sources. They will eventually phase out fossil fuels but it's not going to happen overnight. The same big companies will still be just as big as ever. They just won't be slinging the same product. I'm no fan of big oil whatsoever, but I'm also not blind to facts. Besides, Houston's economy is no longer solely dependent on energy.
That said, I threw away my crystal ball a long time ago. Who really knows which of these cities will be bigger in the future? This is all speculative.
Houston's population growth will slow down eventually both city and metro. Chicago will continue to have steady growth for the decades to come.
And even when Houston slows down, it's growth will still be larger and faster than Chicago's. A slow down for Houston would be from 1.2 million a decade to 600k a decade...still a lot.
Very, I don't understand why some people wish economic decline on a U.S city just because there city isn't growing as fast as others. I support and hope someday an economic recovery happens in places like Detroit, Toledo, Chicago ect. Hell even Cleveland is making a comeback now and hoping the trend continues.
Nobody can predict the future...but reports of Chicago's demise are very premature. There is a noticeable buzz in the city after a rather serious downturn. Even the Census says the city is gaining population again
Chicago's situation is very complex, much more so than Houston's. Economic, ethnic, and racial issues have played a major role in the city's history and fortunes. Things seem to be solidifying now and there is every chance in my opinion that Chicago will start to grow at a pretty sustained pace, sort of like NYC's transition. the city is getting BETTER even as it is not growing, setting the stage for sustained growth and vitality in the coming decades. I would not be a bit surprised if the city tops 3,000,000 by 2030..with sustained growth.
For sure I'm happy to be in this city right now it's an exciting time, I certainly don't wish a downward trend towards any city and impressed how far Houston has come. The interesting part about Chicago is that its like a Jake of all trades when it comes to it's driving industries. It's not a one trick pony. It has many industries to draw and growth with.
So you are telling us to ignore the official data on building permits registered with the City of Chicago, and just trust you on this one...
The worst guide is the human eye. Obviously you cannot hope to have your eyeballs on every single development plot in every metro area in the U.S., so your personal visual observations are completely useless.
Statistics are only as useful as one's ability to interpret them correctly. Much like a disingenuous politician, presenting some skewed or out of context data, you have only chosen to present data which would portray Chicago in a negative light.
It is pretty common knowledge that Chicago has the fastest growing downtown in the entire country, and that the city is growing economically and in terms of population growth. Look it up. The whole picture.
Although it is not quantifiable, there is a general sense of growth and progress in the city.
Nobody can predict the future...but reports of Chicago's demise are very premature. There is a noticeable buzz in the city after a rather serious downturn. Even the Census says the city is gaining population again
Chicago's situation is very complex, much more so than Houston's. Economic, ethnic, and racial issues have played a major role in the city's history and fortunes. Things seem to be solidifying now and there is every chance in my opinion that Chicago will start to grow at a pretty sustained pace, sort of like NYC's transition. the city is getting BETTER even as it is not growing, setting the stage for sustained growth and vitality in the coming decades. I would not be a bit surprised if the city tops 3,000,000 by 2030..with sustained growth.
Chicago's hard to judge because the population changes are all heavily dumped into certain demographics, there's nothing broad about it.
A full 80% of the population decline was minors under the age of 18 and senior citizens over the age of 65. Breaking it down further, 56% of the overall decline was black children under the age of 18, and opposite that there was a 40,000 increase in whites between the ages of 20-30. The immediate downtown area grew by 50,000, but the south and west sides lost a lot of people as the number of children in those areas took a huge dive of around 20% or more, whereas the adult population stayed pretty stable.
If you want to get to the economics of the population changes, you really have to pay attention to who's increasing and who's leaving. It's not as easy as "the city shrunk by 200,000 people". The working age population was responsible for a 1% drop in the overall population of the city.
It's why the population decreased by 7%, but the number of occupied housing units dropped by 1%.
Houston's growth is largely tied to the jobs boom there. When oil begins to fall and we find other energy sources to power our cars, which is already happening, then the jobs in Houston will begin to dry up and its rapid growth will slow.
Chicago metro gained over a million people in the 1990's, I haven't seen Houston do that in a 10 year span yet. It would take Chicago shrinking and Houston growing even faster for this to happen any time soon, if at all.
What rock were you living under in the last decade? 1.2 million people moved to the Houston metro between 2000-2009.
Location: East Central Pennsylvania/ Chicago for 6yrs.
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It all comes down to the Sunbelt states and coastal Pacific Northwest, are going to continue to grow and their cities.
But the upper Midwest and Northeast cities are not going to die? They are in restoration mode with gentrification and are having their Downtowns expanding from Philly to Chicago. More poorer class people are leaving their cities to small towns with good schools and cheaper housing? But with Young Urban Professionals moving in. Most of us hate winters. So the sunbelt has pull on that alone.
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