Hometown Glory

The Economist credits Texas for powering economy past recession

Houston ranked No. 2 behind Austin.

Photo by Jack Opatrany/Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau
Dallas ranked seventh on the The Economist's list.
Austin tops The Economist's list of new job growth.

Ed Schipul/Flickr

Did you know that the name Texas originally came from the word "jobs" in the language of the Caddo, an Eastern Texas tribe of Native Americans?

No? That's because it's not true. (Fun fact: The original Caddo word "taysha" meant friends or allies.) But based on new jobs figures compiled by The Economist, maybe the state should change its name.

It's been five years since the United States officially slid into recession in December 2007, and the newest metropolitan employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that most cities have yet to reach pre-recession jobs levels. After all, the 10th-best city for growth between December 2007 and October 2012 is New Orleans, which has the slightly dubious accomplishment of breaking even on jobs during that time frame.

Of the nine American metropolitan areas (with more than half a million jobs) that recorded job growth that surpassed pre-recession levels, four are in Texas.

Austin's amazing growth leads the pack, with Texas' capital boasting nearly 8 percent more employment than in 2007, or 55,400 additional jobs. On the other hand, Houston came in second in percentage change since 2007, with around 5 percent growth, but the city is the unchallenged leader in raw jobs numbers, with 128,000 more jobs now than before the recession. San Antonio came in fourth, and Dallas rounded out the Texas foursome in seventh place.

But as The Economist writes, even those numbers don't tell the whole story on Texas' strong jobs performance.

The second thing that stands out is Texas. The focus on just the very top of the league table for large metro areas actually understates the performance of the Lone Star State. Looking at all metropolitan areas, eight of the top 20 and 17 of the top 50 metros, in terms of percentage employment growth, are in Texas.

Although the booming energy sector and more stringent mortgage policies in Texas are included as factors of Texas' remarkable, virtually recession-proof run, the author also points to Texas' strong population growth over the past five years as a main source of new jobs.

But one could just as easily argue that the strong economy of the Lone Star State has been a cause, rather than an effect, of people from around the country and beyond making Texas their home.

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Texas shocks as America's No. 3 least safe state in 2026 report

Photo by Hiroshi Kimura on Unsplash

Texas ranks as the 48th "safest" state — out of 50.

While no state is invulnerable, some do more to protect their residents than others. And a new study has declared Texas one of the five least safe states in America.

WalletHub's "Safest States in America (2026)" report examined all 50 states for their emergency preparedness and for residents' personal and residential, financial, workplace, and road safety. Factors that weighed into the rankings include specific crime rates per capita, the share of the population that is uninsured, road quality ratings, workplace injury statistics, and more.

Texas ranked at the bottom of the list as the 48th "safest" state — or the third least safe state. It's joined by several other Southern states, like Mississippi (No. 50), Louisiana (No. 49), Florida (No. 47), and Arkansas (No. 46).

According to WalletHub, Texas specifically ranks third to last in the nationwide "emergency preparedness" category, which was determined based on the prevalence of climate disasters causing $1 billion or more in damages from 1980-2024, and the loss amount resulting from those disasters.

The Lone Star State also ranked 40th (or 10th worst) across three safety categories: personal and residential safety, financial safety, and road safety. The report additionally found that Texas has the highest rate of uninsured residents nationally.

Texas' "workplace safety" was the state's highest-ranking category, landing 30th nationally.

Additional rankings that determined Texas' overall safety include:

No. 30 – Assaults per capita
No. 32 – Fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 full-time workers
No. 32 – Sex offenders per capita
No. 35 – Murders and non-negligent manslaughters per capita
No. 36 – Fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel
No. 41 – Loss amounts from climate disasters per capita

According to the report, the five safest states in America are all located in the Northeast. Vermont leads as the country's safest state in 2026, followed by Massachusetts (No. 2), Maine (No. 3), New Hampshire (No. 4), and Connecticut (No. 5).

Though every state has varying levels of safety, WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo asserted that the safest places in the U.S. categorically invest in protecting their residents. Top-ranking states have low crime rates and diligently maintain their road infrastructure, and other states that prioritize their residents' safety have "strong economies and job markets that prevent people from falling into dangerous financial situations."

"[The safest states in America] have high levels of occupational safety and disaster preparedness, too," Lupo said. "In addition, states are made safer by efforts that individual residents take, such as forming a neighborhood watch or working in firefighting and EMT jobs at high rates."

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