SmartAsset was out Thursday with its 2020 edition of cities that are most recession proof, and a bunch of them are in Texas.
To find the most recession-resistant cities in the U.S., we examined nine metrics across three overarching categories: employment, housing and social assistance. Our employment category factors in current unemployment rate, change in unemployment rate during the Great Recession from 2007 through 2010 and the current labor force participation rate. Our housing category factors in housing costs as a percentage of income, change in home value during the Great Recession from 2007 through 2010 and mortgage delinquency rate. Our social assistance category factors in the percentage of the population relying on public assistance, average annual amount of assistance per household and state rainy-day funds as a percentage of state expenditures.
Key Findings
- Many Texas cities are recession-proof. The five Texas cities in our top 10 – Frisco, Plano, Denton, Austin and Lubbock – rank in the better third of the study for four metrics: change in unemployment rate during the Great Recession (from 2007 through 2010), change in home value during the Great Recession, percentage of the population relying on public assistance and state rainy-day funds.
- Bottom-ranking cities saw unemployment rates spike and home values dip during the last recession. Across the 10 worst-ranking cities in our study, the unemployment rate from 2007 through 2010 increased by an average of 8%, compared to a 5.2% average increase across all 264 cities in our study for that time period. The same 10 cities saw an average decrease of 26.9% in home values during the same period, compared to a 13.7% decrease across all cities in our study. Among those 10, unemployment spiked the most in Detroit, Michigan and home values fell the most in San Bernardino, California.
