The four largest cities in Texas continue to grow while residents are paying more for housing costs and spending more time in traffic, according to new five-year population estimates the U.S. Census Bureau released on Dec. 19.

The following information is sourced from the 2014-18 American Community Survey. Any comparisons over time were done using the 2009-13 five-year ACS.




More newcomers continue to move to the state’s four largest cities.


There are more women than men in each of the state’s major metro areas, with the exception of Austin.


Austinites have been paying significantly more in monthly housing costs compared to other large cities in Texas between both the 2009-13 and 2014-18 time periods.


Nearly half of all Houstonians spoke a language other than English at home between 2014-18. This is up from 46 percent during the 2009-13 timeframe.


The number of unmarried residents in Austin continues to rise, hitting nearly 44%.


Austin has the largest percentage of children enrolled in private school among the state’s biggest metropolitan areas.


Houstonians spend the most time on average traveling to work out of the state’s four most populated cities.