Houston has been undergoing a population shift as residents transition to suburban Harris County and other surrounding counties. Areas like Cypress have continued to grow, as have suburban communities like Meridiana in Brazoria County and the nearby town of La Porte, which is planning the opening of a new master planned community.

All this growth in the suburbs has been part of a shift away from the metro area, according to the latest city census data that notes Houston has fallen behind Dallas in population growth after years of being in the top spot.

Houston’s urban population downturn has been one of the biggest reasons that home sales have declined for the first time since Hurricane Harvey struck in September 2017. This was reported on by the Houston Chronicle in their coverage of data from the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR), which indicated that homes in the metro area were taking longer to sell and apartments were taking longer to rent. Homes priced between $500,000 and $750,000 did see a growth of seven percent, though, according to the HAR data. 

Surrounding Harris County also saw its population shrink, according to the same report by HAR. However, the decline was primarily in urban parts of the county. In the same way that Cypress and La Porte experienced growth, surrounding counties like Fort Bend, Montgomery, Galveston, and Brazoria, all saw their population grow.

The Houston Chronicle’s previous coverage of rankings from the site Niche pointed to these counties as home to some of Houston’s most popular suburban cities, including Sugar Land, Pearland, Katy, and Conroe. 

Suburbs Take Into Account Future Floods

New homes being constructed

As they’ve continued to grow, these suburbs have had to take into consideration their building codes. The memory of Hurricane Harvey is still fresh in the memory of Houstonians, and the flooding was a driving reason behind recent changes to the city’s building codes. 

Though these cities are looking to expand the amount of housing within their borders, doing so safely remains a top priority. As just one example, the Houston Chronicle reported that, throughout Fort Bend County, there’s ongoing demand by citizens for preventative measures against flooding. City planners are looking to expand residential areas while taking into consideration the impact that a hard rain, such as those brought by Harvey, could have on the area. Attempts to protect against flood damage will be part of all future expansions in these cities.

However, even if there’s some struggle in the battle to build more housing, there are plenty of positives to the growth happening in these areas. Industrial and economic growth have supercharged local economies, with manufacturing plants, warehouses, and ongoing commercial growth luring residents to these areas. Amazon recently hired 400 new employees in Katy, according to Patch, while Community Impact documented the commercial success in Cypress as large firms like Hewlett Packard continued to employ a significant number of locals. 

Taken all together, Houston’s suburbs may be struggling slightly as they look for safe areas to build new residential properties, but they’ll continue to grow as homebuyers move away from the busy center of Houston and towards economically thriving suburban neighborhoods.