HOUSTON? We have a Problem

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by IcedCowboyCoffee

Comparisons between Dallas and Houston using their counties really need to be controlled for Harris's size.

A comparison of this stat using each MSA's combined counties (which I suspect that particular comparison did) would be more reflective than zeroing in on a county that represents 32% of its local population and comparing it with a county that represents 63% of its own.
Either that or comparing Harris against a combined Dallas+Tarrant to get an equivalent land area and population size.

Amazing how percentages are great when talking about population growth or some positive statistic but somehow unfair when the statistic is not so positive. Adjusting for Harris County's greater population just means there are more uninsured people in Harris County than in Dallas County AND there more insured people as well.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by mhays

For those who are merely stating that Houston is like other cities, I agree.

I also think it's possible that Houston has more healthcare jobs than other cities in proportional terms, but we're awaiting evidence of that.

Again, no one is measuring Houston against other cities. It was a comment about healthcare's impact on local economic diversity. Not a dick measuring contest who's medical sector is bigger, has more NIH funding or has less uninsured.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by mhays

For those who are merely stating that Houston is like other cities, I agree.

I also think it's possible that Houston has more healthcare jobs than other cities in proportional terms, but we're awaiting evidence of that.

For what it's worth, I found this at some credit builder website called Self.inc. They have Houston as the large metro with the 10th fewest healthcare workers per capita. Interestingly, Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles and yes, even San Francisco, have fewer per capita than Houston. But not by much.

Large Metros With the Fewest Healthcare Workers Per Capita



https://www.self.inc/blog/healthcare-workers-by-city

[IcedCowboyCoffee]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

Amazing how percentages are great when talking about population growth or some positive statistic but somehow unfair when the statistic is not so positive. Adjusting for Harris County's greater population just means there are more uninsured people in Harris County than in Dallas County AND there more insured people as well.

We're talking about something which is heavily influenced by distribution of wealth and income levels.

Both Dallas and Houston experienced the same flight to the suburbs away from their downtowns during the same time period.
So if you cast a net centered over Dallas, then cast a net twice as big centered over Houston, of course you're going to catch more of that flight from inner Houston compared to that from inner Dallas. That's going to influence how these numbers come out because insured rates are so influenced by wealth.

Shrink Harris's borders to an area the size of Dallas County's to compare, but using Harris County's lines to compare against Dallas County's lines, for anything really, is as arbitrary as if I had picked a 10 sq mile area over Dallas to compare against a 5 sq mile area over Houston. The county lines don't really signify much once both regions have grown beyond them.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by IcedCowboyCoffee

We're talking about something which is heavily influenced by distribution of wealth and income levels.

OK, I averaged the 11 counties in Dallas-Fort Worth and the 9 counties in Greater Houston and... the winner is...

D-FW 14.8%
Houston 17.2%

Difference of 2.4% D-FW less than Houston Metro whereas the difference between Harris and Dallas counties was 1.4% Harris less than Dallas.

[DCReid]

"Houston is known as the Energy Capital of the World, with about 40% of its economy directly or indirectly tied to oil and gas. " (From Nov 2023 Houston Chronicle article quoted from the Bisnow article on Chevron relocation HQ to Houston.

[bilbao58]

It's also known as "The Blob that ate Southeast Texas."

[Trae]

Originally Posted by DCReid

While all metros have med facilities to serve their population, some metros have more prominent med centers that have national and international scope. TMC is one, as is Cleveland's Clinic and Rochester's Mayo Clinic. So if much of the local economy struggled, such as being overly concentrated in an industry, these centers can buttress the metro. That being said, they cannot reverse the fortunes of the metro, as Cleveland is struggling despite its excellent Cleveland Clinic. Another weakness of Houston and Cleveland, is despite their excellent medical centers, both cities are struggling to attract the biotech industries that could go well with the med ecosystems. Boston, SF, San Diego, DC and the Research Triangle of NC have done a much better job attracting the biotech and pharmas to complement their med ecosystems.

TMC3 will fix some of that biotech funding. Houston is having and will have an easier time attracting those dollars than Cleveland

[mhays]

That's the hope. But literally every significant metro has had grand plans to attract biotech, often with heavy funding.

Much of that steam went away in the past 20 years when it became evident that biotech wasn't the cash cow that regular "tech" is, and that this universal pursuit meant fewer wins for everybody. Maybe it'll be easier in the next round.

PS, great hospitals don't really coincide with massive research dollars.

[SIGSEGV]

Right, Houston probably faces headwinds here due to the lack of a major research university (Rice is wonderful but too small, UH is maybe getting there?). (Yes, there are hospitals and medical schools that do tons of research, but I don't know how many non-medical bio PhD's they produce)

[Shawn]

Houston needs itself a serious research university that understands the benefits of uni research-to-market collabs if it means business about biotech. I know, I know, easier said than done. But one of the biggest reasons Boston has such a lead in biotech is MIT. Half of Kendall Square is MIT-incubated.

A whole bunch of this is thanks to MIT investments/grads - and Harvard, Tufts, and BU to lesser extents:

source

You can't really even tell where MIT ends and commercial Kendall begins.

[Trae]

But Massachusetts lifts up the Boston area because that's basically all MA has as far as major cities. The State of Texas isn't going to put that much focus on Houston like MA does with Mass, but even then every major university in Texas has their most major medical schools in Houston: University of Texas, Baylor, Texas A&M, University of Houston, etc.

I think the TMC can be both underrated and overrated at the same time. It's a unique area that not many cities in the country have but has been lacking in research dollars, but that has changed. I do think it is funny people thought Houston just put all their hospitals in one area so the rest of the metro lacked coverage. Every corner of the Houston metro area has several medical centers serving them.