Find Out More About the Northwest Houston, The Woodlands and Houston Inner Loop Area Economy & Job Market 

Northwest Houston 

Regardless of how the economy is doing elsewhere, the Northwest Houston economy continues to boom. Since the development of the Champions Golf Course subdivision, and following the opening in the late 1960s of Bush Intercontinental Airport, which anchors the metropolitan area’s northwest corridor, Northwest Houston has experienced unprecedented job and population growth. With the population boom came a robust increase in demand for retail stores and services, most of which developed along the much traveled FM 1960. The Northwest Houston market continues to be very prolific, producing a large percentage of Houston’s overall new construction activity. 

During the ten year period between 1990 and 2000, the Northwest Houston population grew from over 1 million people to over 1.4 million residents, and by 2006, the population is projected to grow to over 1.5 million. Households have increased form 377,000 to over 490,000, with a projection of over 536,000 by 2006. And household income is a healthy $61,225. Hewlett Packard is clearly one of the area’s leaders in employment, and the strong demand for industrial growth is partly due to HP’s success and the growth of HP’s suppliers. Employers with 1,000 or more employees include Baker Hughes, Continental Airlines, Cooper Industries, Dresser Industries and Hewlett-Packards. 

The Woodlands 

On 25,000 acres of forestland 27 miles north of downtown Houston is the nationally - renowned master-planned community - The Woodlands, Texas. Developed by The Woodlands Operating Company, L.P., The Woodlands opened in October, 1974, and has grown steadily to become one of the region's most desired places to live and work. The projected population of 120,000 will enjoy a framework combining residency, industry, churches, schools, public facilities, shopping, recreation and the forest in a convenient and aesthetically-pleasing community. The Woodlands has received the Urban Land Institute's Award for Excellence, an international real estate award for planning, development, financial status and environmental planning of The Woodlands. And what better place to locate, or relocate, a business than The Woodlands, where people welcome business growth and new enterprises.  

The Woodlands is one of the fastest growing areas of the greater Houston metropolis. Over one million people live within a 20-mile radius of South Montgomery County
A new, million-square-foot regional shopping center, The Woodlands Mall, features four anchor stores - Dillard's, Foley's, Sears and Mervyn's - plus more than 120 other retailers. Residents can also shop at the adjacent Pinecroft Center along I-45.
One of the region's most creative economic ventures, The Woodlands Research Forest is a community of scientists, engineers and business people whose common goal is to apply scientific discoveries to commercial uses, and through those applications aid business growth. Currently the site for several top university and medical school research laboratories, the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), and a variety of technical and bio-medical companies, The Research Forest is quickly becoming one of the Sunbelt's preeminent research and development centers.  

The Woodlands has always been considered throughout the state and country to be a place with good schools and great golf courses but not necessarily a center of business. However, from its beginnings, the plan has been for The Woodlands to be a center for economic development and growth within the business sector. Through Mitchell's early strategies, implemented by The Woodlands Operating Company, over the past 30 years, the community has grown to offer businesses all the benefits of a small community with the business strength and sophistication of a large metropolitan area, and becoming one of the most vibrant business environments in the country. Almost 1,000 major international corporations have chosen to operate their businesses here. Over the past five to seven years we have seen major companies like Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, CB&I, Hewitt Associates, Lexicon Genetics, The Pantellos Group, Grant Prideco and UBS Payne Webber, among others, not just open regional offices, but establish their corporate headquarters in The Woodlands. Because of this growth, a support system of professional service providers have grown or established their businesses around this vibrant environment. For example, several law firms, including Winstead Sechrest & Minick, Andrews & Kurth and Jones Walker, and accounting firms like Mann, Frankfort, Stein & Lipp Advisors, all with international reach and sophisticated capabilities, now call The Woodlands home. Regional banking powerhouses, Woodforest National Bank and Southwest Bank of Texas, have established The Woodlands as their centers for regional banking growth. An array of other sophisticated professional firms providing services like engineering, corporate strategic planning, management of employee benefit programs, and the development of marketing strategies are among the many business-to-business service providers serving The Woodlands and calling the community home. In short, The Woodlands is a center for sound, responsible and growth, which has developed an infrastructure of businesses of all types to support the local economy. 

Inner Loop 

Houston has not evolved into Texas' biggest City (and the largest in the South) by accident. Known as the Bayou City for its waterway system, Houston thrives because it is a great place to work and a great place to live.
For business and fun, for living and visiting, Houston is one of the dynamic frontiers on the world stage. With its proximity to the Southern Hemisphere and having the infrastructure to accommodate the growing needs of numerous global interests, Houston has become an international destination and one of the world's great cities.
As a major corporate center, Houston is home to 18 Fortune 500 companies.
For three consecutive years, Houston has ranked first in the nation in new business growth, according to American Business Information. The most recent survey shows that more than 31,000 new local businesses were started in Houston. Los Angeles was a distant second with 16,780.
The Port of Houston, one of the region's greatest assets, ranks as the nation's largest port in international tonnage and second in total tonnage.
Houston's infrastructure is also strengthened by three airports, which form the sixth-largest airport system in the world, and a massive trucking and rail system that links the southern, south central, mid-western and western United States. More than 600 trucking firms operate in Houston, and two major rail systems operate 14 mainline tracks radiating from Houston.
Houston's employment base has become increasingly diverse. In 1981, the economic base was dominated by energy-related businesses with nearly 85 percent of all jobs in those sectors. Today nearly half of all jobs are in non-energy fields, such as business services, technology, aerospace, medicine and manufacturing.
Houston offers a richly-diverse pool of highly-skilled, multilingual, multicultural workers. Nearly 25 percent of all adults have completed four years of college, surpassing the national average, while the median age is three years younger than the national average. More than 90 languages are spoken in Houston. 

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