Home to 7.44 million people, Houston, TX is the 5th-largest of the 387 US metropolitan areas. Census figures on income, housing, education and the local business mix, and what they imply for a business advertising here.
Its principal cities are Houston, Pasadena and The Woodlands.
Households here bring in a median of $82,168, in line with the national figure. The typical owner-occupied home is valued at $298,000, 10 percent below the national figure. Both figures matter for pricing and for which offers land.
Three quick reads on the people of Houston, TX. Median age 35.4, 3.5 years below the national median. A four-year degree or more: 36%, about the same as the US share. Homeownership stands at 61.2%, 4 points below the US share. A labor force of 3,806,254 carries an unemployment rate of 6.2%, 1 points above the US share.
Against the state as a whole, the median income is 5 percent higher than the Texas figure, the median home value is 5 percent higher than the Texas figure, and the number of businesses per resident is about the same as the Texas figure; see the Texas page for the full figures.
Start with the count: 162,055 establishments with payroll. Density runs 21.8 businesses for every 1,000 residents, 13 percent below the national figure. The single largest category in the table below is restaurants, with 12,942 locations. Of those, 5,766 are home-services contractors (plumbing and HVAC, electrical, roofing, concrete, specialty trades and landscaping), a 3.6% share of the business base, 1 points below the US share.
| Business type | Establishments | Per 100k residents | Share ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-storage facilities | 574 | 7.7 | 1.60× |
| Physicians' offices | 5,931 | 79.7 | 1.40× |
| Dentists | 3,400 | 45.7 | 1.29× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 2,314 | 31.1 | 1.19× |
| Legal services | 4,116 | 55.3 | 1.17× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 3,025 | 40.6 | 1.14× |
| Restaurants and other eating places | 12,942 | 173.9 | 1.08× |
| Automobile dealers | 948 | 12.7 | 1.04× |
| General freight trucking | 2,271 | 30.5 | 1.00× |
| Child day care services | 1,580 | 21.2 | 0.99× |
| Roofing contractors | 483 | 6.5 | 0.98× |
| Beauty salons | 1,516 | 20.4 | 0.93× |
| Personal care services (all) | 2,865 | 38.5 | 0.92× |
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 164 | 2.2 | 0.91× |
| General automotive repair | 1,485 | 20 | 0.90× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 1,909 | 25.6 | 0.89× |
| Electrical contractors | 1,310 | 17.6 | 0.81× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 348 | 4.7 | 0.77× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 639 | 8.6 | 0.77× |
| Landscaping services | 1,077 | 14.5 | 0.47× |
Ratio above 1.00: the trade holds a bigger share of the local business base than it does nationally; below 1.00, a smaller one.
Houston, TX is dense with self-storage operators, physicians' offices, dentists and grocery stores compared with the US pattern. Self-storage operators are the widest gap, 574 of them, 1.6 times the national share. Thinner than the national mix are landscaping services, concrete contractors, specialty trade contractors and electrical contractors. Landscaping services show the largest gap, 1,077 locations, about half of what the national mix would give. Roughly where the national mix would put them: plumbing and HVAC contractors, roofing contractors and road and paving contractors.
Per resident the densest are restaurants at 173.9 per 100,000 people, then physicians' offices and legal services. In absolute numbers restaurants lead with 12,942, followed by physicians' offices at 5,931 and legal services at 4,116. Taken as groups, the strongest relative to the US mix are medical and dental practices (1.4 times the national share) and the weakest are the home-services trades (about 74% of).
Because self-storage operators, physicians' offices and dentists are over-represented, a new entrant in those categories competes for a fixed pool of searches against many established profiles. Reviews, photos, response time and a page that answers the exact query are what move the needle; simply outbidding is expensive. For landscaping services, concrete contractors and specialty trade contractors the picture is the opposite. Fewer competing profiles means a complete listing, a fast site and a modest search budget can take a disproportionate share of the searches that exist. A median age 3.5 years below the national median tilts the audience toward people who find businesses through maps, social feeds and AI assistants as much as through classic search. A 61.2% ownership rate, under the national share, shifts part of the home-services market to landlords and management companies.
What YelloPost runs for businesses in a market shaped like Houston, TX.
Profile upkeep, posts, Q&A and photos on the listing customers see first.
Ranking for the service-and-town searches without paying per click.
A clean, fast site with one job: make the call happen.
Paid social that reaches people before they search.
YouTube campaigns fenced to the market.
Google search ads for the exact services and towns, tracked to the phone call.
Houston, TX has 7.44 million residents (US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimate), ranking 5th of 387 metropolitan areas.
The median household income in Houston, TX is $82,168 (ACS 2024 5-year), above the US median of $80,734.
The Census Bureau counts 162,055 employer establishments in Houston, TX (County Business Patterns 2023), or 21.8 businesses per 1,000 residents.
The median home value in Houston, TX is $298,000, and 61.2% of homes are owner-occupied (ACS 2024 5-year).
Measured against the US business mix (County Business Patterns 2023), self-storage operators, physicians' offices and dentists have more establishments per resident than the US average; landscaping services, concrete contractors and specialty trade contractors have fewer in Houston, TX.
Bring the trade and the towns you serve; we bring the numbers and a plan.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023. Updated 2026-09-29.