A brand new examine analyzing prime U.S. locales for the tech business has ranked Houston the No. 9 finest tech hub within the South.
The report by industrial actual property platform CommercialCafe examined the highest 20 Southern metros throughout 9 metrics, resembling the expansion charges of tech institutions and employment, median tech earnings, a high quality of life index, and extra.
Like different Texas metros, the examine attributes Houston’s tech powerhouse standing to its rising presence of main tech corporations. Nevertheless, Houston leads the nation with the best variety of patents granted between 2020 and 2024.
“The second-largest metro by inhabitants within the South, Houston led the area with a formidable 8,691 tech patent grants within the final 5 years,” the report mentioned. “As soon as synonymous with oil, Houston is more and more making its mark as a cleantech hub — and patents replicate this shift.”
Houston additionally skilled a formidable 14 % progress in tech institutions, with almost 500 new tech corporations shifting to the metro. A powerful 32 % job progress price additionally accompanied this modification, with over 30,500 tech jobs added between 2019 and 2023.
This is how Houston stacked up throughout the remaining 5 rankings:
- No. 11 – Tech institution density
- No. 15 – Median tech earnings
- No. 19 – Median tech earnings progress
- No. 20 – Tech job density
- No. 20 – High quality of life index
In a separate 2024 report, Houston was the No. 22 finest tech metropolis nationwide, exhibiting that town is actually making efforts to enhance its friendliness towards the tech business in 2025.
Different prime Texas tech hubs within the South
The one different Texas metros to earn spots within the report had been Austin (No. 1) and Dallas-Fort Price (No. 4). Most notably, CommercialCafe says Austin noticed a 25 % enhance in tech firm density from 2019 to 2023, which is the third-highest progress price out of all 20 metros.
“Furthermore, the metro’s tech scene thrives on a various vary of segments, together with AI and inexperienced vitality (bolstered by the College of Texas), in addition to globally acknowledged occasions like [South by Southwest],” the report says. “Thus, with tech corporations accounting for greater than half of all workplace leasing exercise in 2024, Austin stays a magnet for innovation, expertise and funding.”
Dallas, however, has a far better variety in terms of its tech sector and its thriving financial alternatives.
“To not be outdone, Dallas-Fort Price moved up from sixth to fourth on this yr’s rankings, pushed by a 25.9 % progress in tech firm presence — the second-highest enhance among the many prime 20 metros,” the report mentioned. “As an example, corporations like iRely (which relocated to Irving, Texas) and Diversified (now in Plano, Texas) have joined homegrown successes, resembling StackPath and Bestow.”
The highest 10 finest tech metros within the South are:
- No. 1 – Washington, D.C.
- No. 2 – Austin, Texas
- No. 3 – Raleigh, North Carolina
- No. 4 – Dallas-Fort Price, Texas
- No. 5 – Huntsville, Alabama
- No. 6 – Baltimore, Maryland
- No. 7 – Durham, North Carolina
- No. 8 – Atlanta, Georgia
- No. 9 – Houston, Texas
- No. 10 – Charlotte, North Carolina
