Texas Border Business
Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the most prosperous city of them all? We found the answer with the help of our very own magic mirror–our research team, who ranked 303 US cities by looking at six indicators of prosperity between 2000 and 2016: the magnitude of proportional changes that affected their population, median income, home values, share of inhabitants holding a higher education degree, poverty rate and unemployment rate.
Without further ado, here it is:
•Odessa takes the crown as the most prosperous city in the country by scoring high on all six indicators between 2000 and 2016, while nearby Midland secures the 10th place on our Top 20. The Midland-Odessa area had some of the lowest unemployment rates in Texas for years, putting busy metropolises like Los Angeles, Seattle or even New York City to shame in our ranking.
•Brownsville lands at No. 9 with a population growth of 30% between 2000 and 2016, and with decreases in poverty and unemployment rates of 9% and 28%, respectively. Although the city also saw its home values rise by 21%, incomes remained unchanged during the same period of time.
•Texas further cuts into the East Coast-West Coast rivalry, claiming 3 additional spots of the top 20 with Pearland, Fort Worth and El Paso.
•Only 11 out of more than 300 cities have registered improvements across all prosperity indicators between 2000 and 2016, among which Odessa, Midland, Brownsville, and Corpus Christi.
