How Houston Is Becoming America’s Next Dense City

[wanderer34]

It's still a possibility that Houston can still surpass Chicago for the #3 spot for America's largest cities, behind only NY and LA, as it only a difference of 362,161 people between both Houston and Chicago. Chicago is declining about 15 every year while Houston a slightly declined about 0.07% since 2020, and may grow again due to the high growth that TX is currently experiencing.

Also, Houston has 640 sq. mi. and spans up to three counties (Fort Bend, Harris, and Montgomery), while Chicago actually spans up to two (Cook and DuPage) and is 227 sq. mi. so essentially Houston has three times the land that Chicago currently has, and with the land that Houston has, it's much easier to place a lot of people in Houston, which still has open land in some places, than in a city like Chicago, which is very dense in many locations throughout the city.

Finally, Houston has the second most Fortune 500 companies in the US. While Metro Houston may not have beaten Chicagoland in the total number of Fortune 500 companies, and Houston sprawls around much more than Chicago, the fact that Houston can have the ability to create different CBDs in and around the area may not create a NY or a Chicago level density, but it will be similar to LA, with it's different nodes scattered around the city.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by wanderer34

Finally, Houston has the second most Fortune 500 companies in the US. While Metro Houston may not have beaten Chicagoland in the total number of Fortune 500 companies, and Houston sprawls around much more than Chicago, the fact that Houston can have the ability to create different CBDs in and around the area may not create a NY or a Chicago level density, but it will be similar to LA, with it's different nodes scattered around the city.

Houston may be spatially similar to Los Angeles regarding job dispersal into multiple centers, but Houston is radically less dense than LA and I don't see it ever coming close. As noted on the previous page of this thread, the weighted population density of the Los Angeles MSA is 12,169 persons per square mile. The weighted density of the Houston MSA is 4,606 persons per square mile.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by wanderer34

Also, Houston has 640 sq. mi., while Chicago is 227 sq. mi., so essentially Houston has three times the land that Chicago currently has,

And that's the rub right there, isn't it?

Of course Houston is gonna surpass Chicago in city proper population at some point. The only surprising thing is that it hasn't done so already with its 3x land area.

If Chicago had been allowed to annex itself out to Houston's size, it'd be a city of around 4.6M people today.


From an old thread I made:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

if chicago had been allowed to annex itself out to Houston's size (~640 sq. miles), it might look something like this:




the yellow townships + the city of Chicago on the map of cook county above represent ~638 sq. miles and contain a total of 4,586,684 people.