Economy of Houston
The economy of 'Houston' is based primarily on the energy industry, particularly oil. However, health care, biomedical research, and aerospace also constitute large sectors. In 2021, the gross domestic product of the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area was 537 U.S. dollars billion, the fourth-largest of any metro area in the United States. The Houston metropolitan area comprises the largest concentration of petrochemical manufacturing in the world, including for synthetic rubber, insecticides, and fertilizers. It is the world's leading center for oilfield equipment construction, with the city of Houston home to more than 3,000 energy-related businesses, including many of the top oil and gas exploration and production firms and petroleum pipeline operators., 23 companies on the Fortune 500 list have their headquarters in, or around, Houston.
The Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area ranked 33rd among the nation's 361 MSAs on per capita personal income at US$36,852 - 11.5 percent higher than the national figure of US$33,050. In 2012, Houston was ranked #1 by Forbes for paycheck worth, and, in late May 2013, it was identified as America's top city for job creation.
Real estate and corporate location
Houston is a major corporate center. The city and surrounding metropolitan region is home to 23 Fortune 500 companies, as well as other multinationals and domestic companies. Of the world's 100 largest non-U.S.-based corporations, as of 2007 more than half had operations in Houston. In 2006, the Houston metropolitan area ranked first in Texas and third in the U.S. within the category of "Best Places for Business and Careers" by Forbes. The 2011 Fortune 500 list shows 23 firms headquartered in the 10-county Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown Metropolitan Statistical Area. Only New York City has more Fortune 500 headquarters within city limits.Finance
and financial services are vital to the region., forty foreign governments maintained trade and commercial offices here and the city had 23 active foreign chambers of commerce and trade associations., twenty-two foreign banks representing 12 nations operated in Houston and provided financial assistance to the international community. In 1997, Houston had offices of 84 subsidiaries of Japanese companies.Information technology
, Houston had more than 1,900 computer-related companies. Since its inception in 1999, Houston Technology Center has become the center of technology entrepreneurship in Houston. The center has helped more than 150 emerging technology companies raise more than $400 million in capital and create about 1,000 new jobs. Information technology developed in Houston affects many entities, including the region's traffic and emergency response efforts at , a centralized transportation management and regional emergency management center., Houston, with a customer base of more than 3 million, was AT&T's largest service city. The city's telecommunications infrastructure completed more than 70 million Houston telephone connections daily. The Texas Public Utilities Commission has certified more than 400 additional local exchange carriers to provide service statewide or specifically within Houston. More than 1,600 interexchange carriers have registered with the commission to provide long-distance service.
Higher education
The University of Houston System's annual impact on the Houston-area's economy equates to that of a major corporation: $1.1 billion in new funds attracted annually to the Houston area, $3.13 billion in total economic benefit, and 24,000 local jobs generated. This is in addition to the 12,500 new graduates the UH System produces every year who enter the workforce in Houston and throughout Texas. These degree-holders tend to stay in Houston. After five years, 80.5 percent of graduates are still living and working in the region.Health care and biomedical
The Texas Medical Center is the city's healthcare and biotechnology focal point with $3.5 billion committed to research grants from 2000 through 2004, more than 43 member institutions, 5.2 million patient visits in 2004. , more than 65,000 health care professionals worked there every day, treating more than five million patients from all over the world every year. The UT Research Park, a joint venture between The University of Texas M.D. Anderson and the UT Health Science Center at Houston, is located in the Medical Center. When fully developed, the UT Research Park will be made up of nearly 2 million square feet of research, lab, office and support space for private companies and not-for-profit research institutions. The venture will be focused on biotechnology and life sciences research. Baylor College of Medicine is home to the Human Genome Sequencing Center, one of only five in the nation.According to U.S. News & World Report, as of 2006 many hospitals in Houston consistently rank among the nation's top healthcare institutions.
Manufacturing and industry
Houston is home to more than 10,700 manufacturing establishments. The city ranked as a Gold Medal World-Class Community for Manufacturing for four consecutive years by Industry Week magazine. The Houston-Gulf Coast region has nearly 40 percent of the U.S. capacity for base petrochemicals, ensuring rapid access to major resin producers and resin technologies.Houston is projected to experience a 2.7 percent increase in manufacturing employment by 2012. Metals manufacturing is a $12.0 billion industry in Houston, with nearly 2,100 establishments employing more than 67,000 workers in the region. Approximately 250 establishments employ more than 20,000 people in Houston's electronics manufacturing industries., Hewlett-Packard employed more people in its Houston operations than any other HP facility in the world.
Energy
Houston is known as a world capital of the oil and gas industry with over 5000 energy firms doing business in the region. Historically, Houston has had several growth spurts related to the oil industry. The discovery of oil near Houston in 1901 led to its first growth spurt — by the 1920s, Houston had grown to almost 140,000 people. The city is a leading domestic and international center for virtually every segment of the oil and gas industry - exploration, production, transmission, marketing, service, supply, offshore drilling, and technology. Houston dominates U.S. oil and gas exploration and production. The city remains unrivaled as a center for the American energy industry. In January 2005, the Houston Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas accounted for: 31% of all U.S. jobs in oil and gas extraction, and 14% of all U.S. jobs in support activities for mining. Houston is headquarters for 17 energy-related Fortune 500 companies and is home to more than 3,600 energy-related establishments. Houston is home to 13 of the nation's 20 largest natural gas transmission companies, 600 exploration and production firms and more than 170 pipeline operators.The Offshore Technology Conference held yearly in Houston presents the latest exploration and development technology in the energy industry to more than 50,000 attendees.
Houston is a member of the World Energy Cities Partnership, a collaboration between 13 energy focused cities around the world.
, mining, which includes mostly oil and gas exploration and production in Houston, accounted for 11 percent the region's gross area product —down from 21 percent as recently as 1985. The reduced role of oil and gas in Houston's GAP reflected the rapid growth of other sectors—such as engineering services, health services, and manufacturing., however, oil and gas exploration and production increased in reaction to high energy prices and a reduced worldwide surplus oil production capacity.
Members of the oil and gas industry are representatives of most of the boards of Houston's arts bodies, charities, and museums. The energy companies spent funds in order to make Houston a more attractive community for their employees to live in.
Petrochemicals
Houston is one of the world's largest manufacturing centers for petrochemicals, and the $15 billion petrochemical complex at the Houston Ship Channel is the largest in the country. Supporting the industry is a complex of several thousand miles of pipeline connecting 200 chemical plants, refinery, salt domes and fractionation plants along the Texas Gulf Coast, which allows transfer of feedstocks, fuel and chemical products among plants, storage terminals and transportation facilities. Houston has more than 400 chemical manufacturing establishments with more than 35,000 employees. Houston has two of four largest U.S. refineries. ExxonMobil’s complex in Baytown is one of the oldest in the area and one of the largest of its kind in the world, more than 235 establishments in the Houston metro area manufactured plastic and rubber products. Houston dominates the U.S. production of three major resins: polyethylene ; polyvinyl chloride and polypropylene.