Overview
- The 45th Kinder Houston Area Survey, released Monday, reports the sharpest one-year drop in ratings of local job opportunities since the early-1980s oil bust, pushing the economy to the top of residents’ concerns.
- Optimism about jobs fell from roughly 75% rating opportunities as good or excellent last year to 48% this year, and about one-quarter of residents now call the economy the region’s biggest problem.
- Financial strain is spreading across incomes as more than 1 in 5 say they are worse off than a year ago, and about 79% of households under $25,000 say a $400 emergency would be out of reach.
- Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas data show the Houston labor market shrank 0.1% from 2024 to 2025, and researchers note the region added fewer than 20,000 jobs versus more than 70,000 projected.
- Environmental worry is high, with over 70% concerned about extreme weather and majorities citing pollution risks, while the survey also charts social divides and common ground, finding near-unanimous support for universal background checks and new majority support for recreational marijuana across all three counties.