Austin Among Nation's Most Prosperous Cities: Study

AUSTIN, TX — Austin is among the nation's most prosperous large cities in the U.S., according to a new study.

The RENTcafé study ranked 303 cities by looking at six indicators of prosperity between 2000 and 2016. Researchers studied 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.

When ranking only the largest U.S. cities by prosperity, Washington, D.C. came in first, while Austin landed at No. 15 with a 38 percent population growth and a 52 percent boost in home values between 2000 and 2016. Although home values grew by 52 percent, incomes only rose by 2 percent during the same period of time. The city also saw poverty and unemployment rates increase by 16 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

The study aimed to determine which is the most prosperous city of them all. Texas fared well on the list, claiming four spots on the top 20: Brownsville, El Paso, Fort Worth and Pearland. Odessa took 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 in the Top 20. The Midland-Odessa area had some of the lowest unemployment rates in Texas for years, putting busy metropolises such as Los Angeles, Seattle or even New York City to shame in the rankings.

Another interesting finding is that 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.

For an interactive map to see the top 20 most prosperous cities and the improvements they have shown in each of the six prosperity indicators from 2000 to 2016 click here.

>>> Uppermost image via Shutterstock, graphic above courtesy of RENTcafé