Remote workers in Houston earn far more than commuters, data shows

by the numbers

Remote workers in Houston earn 40 percent more than their commuting counterparts, according to recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Photo via Getty Images.

In the Houston metro area, it pays to work from home.

Data published recently by the U.S. Census Bureau shows remote workers in the Houston metro earn 40 percent more than their commuting counterparts. For remote workers in the Houston area, median earnings stood at $67,500 in 2023, compared with $48,200 for other workers.

Federal data cited by Visual Capitalist indicates 11.8 percent of the Houston area’s labor pool, or nearly 460,000 people, were remote workers in 2023.

In the Dallas metro area, the difference in median earnings between remote workers and non-remote workers is even more stark. According to Census Bureau data, remote workers there earned $77,000 in 2023 — 50.7 percent more than the $51,100 for traditional workers.

Why the wide gap in pay? The Census Bureau says remote workers are more likely to be older, more likely to be white and less likely to live below the poverty line. All of these traits contribute to higher income.

Among home-based workers in the country’s five biggest metros, median earnings for remote workers were highest in the New York and Chicago areas (over $80,000) and lowest in the Houston area (under $70,000), according to the Census Bureau.

The five-metro comparison also reveals that the Houston area had the highest share (6.8 percent) of all workers, both remote and non-remote, living below the federal poverty level.

In a recent Substack post, urban planner Bill Fulton notes that remote workers in major cities typically earn 50 percent to 80 percent more than other workers do. He declares that “remote workers are far more affluent than everybody else. They are, of course, office workers, not blue-collar or service workers, and they tend to be more highly educated.”
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A growing number of independent professionals call Houston home. Photo via Pixlr

Houston clocks in as one of the fastest-growing cities for freelancers

WFH FTW

Visitors to Memorial Park on an early weekday afternoon probably have to stop and wonder where all these people are coming from. Don’t they have work to do?

Maybe they do, but on their own schedules. Fiverr, a marketplace for connecting freelancers and new clients, released its fifth annual Freelance Economic Impact Report, ranking Houston as the tenth fastest-growing city for freelancers.

According to the report, some 144,000 workers in Houston made $6.6 billion. That means the Bayou City led Texas with around $46,000 for per capita income.

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin came in as the fourth fastest-growing city for freelancers. The city's 77,262-person independent workforce earned $3.4 billion in 2021. In Dallas, which came in at No. 8, some 177, 500 workers made $7.6 billion.

Joining Houston, Austin, and Dallas in the top 10 were:

1. Orlando, Florida
2. Nashville, Tennessee
3. Miami, Florida
5. Tampa, Florida
6. Las Vegas, Nevada
7. Charlotte, North Carolina
9. Portland, Oregon

Although on the surface the report focuses on geography, it collected data that shows eight out of 10 freelancers believe they can live anywhere and work anytime. However, fewer than half reported that it was “a primary factor” in becoming freelancers, and a third said that work was “a primary influence” in their choice of location.

Most important, 70 percent of respondents said they were “highly satisfied” with working independently.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Looking back at months working from home, what did employees miss most from the workplace? Graphic via UH.edu

What do workers miss most about the office? University of Houston explains

houston voices

The commute, the water cooler talks, the in-person meetings. Have we missed these things? Or can the research enterprise, for the most part, stay virtual?

“Many people who have been working from home are experiencing a void they can’t quite name,” said Jerry Useem in The Atlantic. Maybe getting back to our old routine will do us good.

Tracy Brower in Forbes wrote, “Many of the reports of increased productivity were early in the pandemic. Some have dubbed this ‘panic productivity,’ attributing the early perception of increased productivity to the adrenaline boost people got from the sudden shifts in the nature and location of their work. Job loss was rife, and people may have been working like crazy in the hopes of staying visible, relevant and ensuring their boss thought they were still adding value even from home. But in the words of W. B. Yeats: “Things fall apart.”

Studies are showing now that we’ve hit our breaking point a year and a half into the work-from-home onset. What do we miss the most?

The commute

It can’t be the commute. Or can it? The work-from-home boom will lift productivity in the U.S. economy by five percent, mostly because of savings in commuting time, said Enda Curren in Bloomberg.

But Useem wrote specifically about commuting, and what he found was incredible: in 1994, an Italian physicist named Cesare Marchetti noted that throughout history, humans have shown a willingness to spend roughly 60 minutes a day in transit. This explains why ancient cities such as Rome never exceeded about three miles in diameter. The steam train, streetcar, subway and automobile expanded that distance. But transit times stayed the same. The one-way average for an American commute stands at about 27 minutes.” What are these 27 minutes, on average, good for?

There are people who love to drive — it gives them a sense of control regarding their day. On your morning commute, especially if you take mass transit, you can clear your head, decompress, make errand-esque phone calls or listen to audiobooks and podcasts. That’s not all we miss, though.

The office

Michael Scott on the television show, “The Office,” said he makes “20 little trips to the cooler” and recounts the “20 little scans I do of everybody to make sure everything’s running smoothly, and the 20 little conversations I have with Stanley.”

We may take considerably fewer coffee or water breaks than they are used to at the fictional Dunder Mifflin, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t healthy to stand up, stretch and make small talk with a co-worker for a short spell.

According to SparkHire.com, fostering a sense of office camaraderie helps teams to perform better, improves their ability to work as a team and boosts employee retention rates. And university environments are meant to be experienced in person. The public art on campus, the leaves in the fall, all of the sensory cues that remind us we are in a collegiate atmosphere matter.

The doppleganger

Next, lets introduce the concept of the double self: the work self and the home self. One needs to transition to the other.

Jon Jachimowicz of Harvard Business School was quoted in the Atlantic as saying: “If you respond like a manager at home, you might be sleeping on the couch that night. And if you respond like a parent at work, its weird.”

So, it behooves us to make a real, tangible transition from home life to work life. If your institution has not opened back up yet, you can do this by dressing like you would at work. It will make doing chores around the house less tempting if you’re dressed for your actual job. There are other things you can say to yourself or rituals you can perform to get ready for working from home.

These are readily supplied as you actually get back to the office or the lab. Showering, coffee stops, small talk in the elevator all signal that our day is really beginning.

The thank you note

Some researchers were deemed essential workers and never worked from home, and even started shifts that were different from their older routines. Much research work needed to occur in actual lab spaces. If this applies to you, then consider this a thank you card from your colleagues who want you to know that while some of us were zooming and plugging away on computers at our kitchen tables, we acknowledge the struggle it was for you to cover every shift, every day.

For instance, David Brammer, D. V. M. , DACLAM, of University of Houston Animal Care Operations said of his staff: “Excellence is difficult to define but unmistakable when observed. Within Animal Care Operations, I have found excellence. He went on to say that his staff encountered a variety of challenges, all while maintaining the highest standard for animal care. “By adjusting to the new normal rather than abandoning standards, focusing on the completion of tasks, working hard and staying positive, the staff of ACO successfully set an example for others to follow.”

One last thought

It definitely comes down to what your institution’s leadership has decided about back-to-work schedules, whether they be full time on-campus, at-home or hybrid. There’s something to be said for being able to adapt when in a pinch. It doesn’t necessarily mean, though, that things can’t transition back to the way they once were. Versatility, remember, is an indispensable trait.

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This article originally appeared on the University of Houston's The Big Idea. Sarah Hill, the author of this piece, is the communications manager for the UH Division of Research.

Gotta love that WFH life. Photo by Maskot/Getty

Houston plugs in as hot spot in ranking of best cities for remote workers

workin' it

If you're a remote worker living in Houston, you might just want to stay put. A new ranking puts Houston high on the list of the best cities in the U.S. for remote workers.

The Bayou City comes in at No. 11 overall in LawnStarter's new ranking for remote-work ranking.

For its list, Austin-based outdoor services provider LawnStarter examined data for 194 of the biggest U.S. cities covering 20 factors, including remote job opportunities, internet connectivity, cost of living, and availability of personal workspace.

Elsewhere in Texas, Frisco tops the list of the best cities in the U.S. for remote workers, followed by Dallas (No. 3), Arlington (No. 4), Austin (No. 6), and Plano (No. 8).

Here are LawnStarter's 20 best cities for remote workers:

  1. Frisco
  2. Naperville, Illinois
  3. Dallas
  4. Arlington
  5. Atlanta
  6. Austin
  7. Tampa, Florida
  8. Plano
  9. Raleigh, North Carolina
  10. Cincinnati
  11. Houston
  12. Nashville
  13. Cary, North Carolina
  14. Chicago
  15. Denver
  16. Salt Lake City
  17. Charlotte, North Carolina
  18. San Antonio
  19. Arlington, Virginia
  20. Seattle

Jeff Herman, editor in chief at LawnStarter, tells CultureMap that overall, the Texas' lack of an income tax and solid quality of life boosted all of the states' cities in the top 20, he says.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Some 49 percent of Houston workers are burned out at work. Getty Images

Nearly half of Houston workers complain of serious burnout, says new report

working hard

Local workers who're especially dreading that commute or cracking open the laptop in the morning aren't alone. A new study reveals that nearly half of Houston laborers are more burned out on the job.

Some 49 percent of Bayou City residents report to be burned out at work, according to employment industry website Robert Half. That's significantly higher than last year, when only 37 percent reported burnout in a similar poll.

Meanwhile, more than one in four Houston workers (28 percent) say that they will not unplug from work when taking time off this summer.

Not surprisingly, American workers are ready for a vacation. Per a press release, the research also reveals:

  • One in four workers lost or gave up paid time off in 2020
  • One in three plans to take more than three weeks of vacation time this year

Elsewhere in Texas, the burnout is real. In Dallas, 50 percent of workers report serious burnout. More than a quarter — 26 percent — of Dallasites fear they won't disconnect from the office during summer vacation.

In fun-filled Austin, 45 percent of the workforce complain of burnout. Some 32 percent of Austinites feel they can unplug from work during the summer.

Fortunately for us, the most burned-out city in the U.S. isn't in the Lone Star State. That dubious title goes to the poor city of Charlotte, North Carolina, where 55 percent of laborers are truly worn out.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Edward Henigin, CTO of Data Foundry, sums up what he thinks the future of work from home will look like. Photo by Maskot/Getty

Texas expert: What does the future of remote work look like?

guest column

Since the start of the pandemic, the idea that this event will change the way we live and work now and, in the future, has been a on the minds of everyone.

It's true that remote work has become a mainstay of day-to-day operations, and now the traditional offices are looking more and more like the office environment of the past. In a recent survey published in July 2020, it revealed that before the pandemic, only 17 percent of responding U.S. employees worked from home at a rate of five days or more per week. At the time, this survey was conducted in April, however, that share had increased to 44 percent. Even as pandemic response developed, a Gallup poll from October revealed that 33 percent of U.S. workers were still working remotely.

So, the question remains: What will the future of remote work look like for enterprises?

Changes we've seen so far

Businesses have already been finding their footing with the assistance of an array of platforms and solutions, all of which have helped them pivot quickly and successfully through the use of more digital means. Right now, we see that cloud-based collaborative applications like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Zoom (which had its daily user numbers more than quadruple by April 2020) have become the backbone of many new workplace IT strategies, offering an ability to bridge the distance and ensure seamless cooperation.

Meanwhile, to keep a growing number of endpoints and devices secure as employees use home networks and personal computers to log onto work environments, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have become key. Studies show that VPN usage increased by 124 percent in the U.S. between March 8 and March 22, 2020. This can be attributed to the technology's ability to help businesses ensure protected file sharing, data encryption, secure remote access, and more. These are all crucial elements for keeping the expanding footprint of the enterprise network safe.

Finding a balance

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing remote work transitions. Some businesses will require more on-site work while others may make a more comprehensive transition away from central office locations. As we move forward, it's likely that we'll see many organizations settle somewhere in the middle with a hybrid strategy that allows distanced operations where feasible and on-site work where needed.

Overall, it's clear that across these many different applications and use cases, the importance of digital infrastructure has increased. Regardless of what platforms or services are in use, the network and other foundational IT infrastructure have become central to success as businesses expand their bandwidth needs, incorporate data-centric solutions, and depend on reliable, speedy communications. It will be crucial moving forward that businesses not only adapt to the challenges they currently face, but plan for a flexible long-term work strategy.

Understanding how the company will need to function and what services it will need to achieve success in any given strategy will be paramount, and after an individualized vision is developed, technology action plans will need to start rolling out. For some this may mean adjusting IT equipment environments (like moving on-premises data center assets to outsourced facilities), for others this may mean expanding their networks or implementing new cloud-based connectivity.

All in all, agility and flexibility are at the core of the reimagined enterprise, and planning is the enabler of both these business virtues. Now is the time to look forward, not only for the sake of preparation, but for the sake of keeping our eyes on a brighter, stronger, and more dynamic future.

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Edward Henigin is CTO at Austin-based Data Foundry, which has a growing data center location in Northwest Houston.

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Houston universities climb the ranks on annual list of most patents issued

top 100

The University of Houston and Rice University have claimed spots on the National Academy of Inventor's Top 100 U.S. Universities Granted Utility Patents.

The list is based on data obtained from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and ranks U.S. academic institutions that are advancing innovation by the number of utility patents issued in the prior year.

Utility patents are among the world’s most valuable assets because they give inventors exclusive commercial rights to produce and use their technology. The universities ranked on the list collectively hold nearly 6,500 patents.

“In the ever-evolving innovation landscape, it is imperative that the U.S. is remaining competitive and at the forefront of today’s emerging research and technologies,” Paul R. Sanberg, president of the NAI, said in a news release. “Ensuring the security of intellectual property through patenting is a crucial component to this and allows those innovations to be effectively moved to market, where they can create valuable societal and economic impact. The Top 100 U.S. list celebrates U.S. universities and their inventive staff and faculty for their dedication in ensuring their innovations and IP are protected.”

The University of Houston System came in at No. 62 with 34 patents, and Rice University claimed the No. 68 spot with 30 patents.

Both universities climbed up the rankings this year. Last year, UH was ranked No. 63 with 27 patents. Rice climbed an impressive 26 spots this year, after ranking No. 94 with 14 patents issued in 2023.

“Granted U.S. utility patents can tremendously help in commercializing the technologies covered by such patents by attracting industry investment and commercial partners on a global level,” Neha Malik, assistant director for intellectual property management in Rice's Office of Technology Transfer, said in a release. “Advancing in this list memorializes Rice’s commitment to support research programs of Rice faculty by generating a path for the university to bring its research to the marketplace.”

Other Texas universities on the list include:

  • No. 3 University of Texas System (234 patents)
  • No. 35 The Texas A&M System (61 patents)
  • No. 73 Texas Tech University System (25 patents)
  • No. 80 Baylor University (20 patents)

The University of California (540 patents) claimed the No. 1 spot again this year, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (295 patents), which also placed second for 2024.

First large-scale affordable housing project of 3D-printed homes rises in Houston

Building Blocks

What’s being promoted as the world’s first large-scale affordable housing development built using 3D technology is taking shape in Houston.

Houston-based 3D construction company HiveASMBLD has teamed up with Houston-based Cole Klein Builders and the City of Houston on the Zuri Gardens project. Located near Hobby Airport on Martindale Road, the first 3D-printed home at Zuri Gardens is set to be completed in October.

“Zuri Gardens was born from the frustration of watching hardworking families get priced out of safe, resilient housing. We knew there had to be a better way — and with this project, we’re proving that there is,” says Vanessa Cole, co-founder of Cole Klein Builders.

“By combining visionary design, advanced construction technology, and powerful partnerships, we’re building more than just homes — we’re creating a blueprint for the future of equitable homeownership in Houston and beyond.”

The development is being created for households earning up to 120 percent of the median income in the Houston metro area. For a four-member household in the Houston area, the 120 percent limit in 2025 is $121,300, as set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The 13-acre Zuri Gardens development will feature 80 energy-efficient homes averaging 1,360 square feet. Prices will be in the mid to high $200s. The homes will qualify for up to $125,000 in down payment assistance from the City of Houston.

HiveASMBLD will print two different home designs, each with two-bedroom and two-and-a-half bathroom configurations, along with an office/flex space and a covered patio.

Zuri Gardens home model Houston Courtesy rendering

“The community we envision for Zuri Gardens is modern, safe, and one that residents will be proud to call home. When completed using HiveASMBLD’s innovative technology, this 3D-printed multifamily community will exemplify the future of residential affordable living,” says Timothy Lankau, founder and co-CEO of HiveASMBLD.

Developments like Zuri Gardens are popping up around the country.

“3D-printed homes are revolutionizing the construction industry by making home builds faster, cheaper, and more sustainable,” according to The Zebra, an Austin-based insurance marketplace. “In less than 24 hours, 3D printers can print the foundation and walls for a small home at a fraction of the cost of typical construction.”

U.S. News & World Report explains that unlike a traditional home, a 3D-printed home is printed in place, “just like you’d print a knickknack on your home 3D printer. Layer by layer, proprietary concrete blends are used to build the wall systems of the home in any type of design that a builder can imagine.”

Texas is home to several trailblazing 3D-printed projects.

In the U.S., the first 3D-printed home was built in 2018 in Austin, and the first 3D-printed multistory home was completed in 2023 in Harris County’s Spring Branch neighborhood. Meanwhile, the world’s largest neighborhood of 3D-printed homes is located in the Austin suburb of Georgetown.

Grand View Research predicts the global market for 3D-printed construction will approach $4.2 billion by 2030.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Houston tech company secures $450M NASA contract

space deal

NASA’s Johnson Space Center awarded Houston-based aerospace technology and engineering services company Barrios Technology the Mission Technical Integration Contract (MTIC).

The two-year contract is worth $450 million and will begin Oct. 1, 2025.

Barrios will provide technical and management support to some of NASA’s human spaceflight programs, which include the Orion and Gateway programs, the International Space Station (ISS) and possibly more human spaceflight initiatives.

The contract represents a continuation of Barrios’ Human Space Flight Technical Integration Contract (HSFTIC), which has been in effect since 2020.

“We are incredibly proud to have been selected by NASA to continue working side by side with them in shaping the future of human space exploration,” Kelly Page, president of Barrios Technology, said in a news release.

The contract also includes support for program, business, configuration and data management, information technology, systems engineering and integration, mission integration, safety and mission assurance, and operations according to Barrios.

Barrios will be supported by subcontractors ARES Technical Services Corp., Booz Allen Hamilton, Intuitive Machines, Summit Technologies & Solutions, and TechTrans International (TTI).

“This award is a testament to the passion, hard work, and extraordinary value that our Barrios family brings every single day,” Page added in the release. “This is not just another contract award—it is the continuation of a generational commitment to our NASA customers and their critical missions.”

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