City comparison · 2,444 km apart · two countries, two currencies

Ottawa vs Houston: which should you move to?

Ottawa or Houston? Housing, rent, crime, climate, income, taxes and transit, side by side, from each city's own published figures. Written for someone deciding where to live, not for a ranking.

Parliament Hill from the Ottawa River
Ontario · Canada

Ottawa

Photograph: Parliament Hill from the Ottawa River · Matti Blume · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Downtown from Buffalo Bayou Park
Texas · United States

Houston

Photograph: Downtown from Buffalo Bayou Park · Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
The short answer

The two housing bills are in different currencies, and held against local pay they run against the prices. Ottawa's composite benchmark is 6.2 times local median household income and HAR's Greater Houston single-family median, a regional figure, about 5.1 times the City of Houston's, yet mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $3,350 CAD a month in Ottawa, roughly 39% of the city's 2020 median, and about $2,578 USD in Houston, roughly 48% of its 2024 median. The gap is a 7.03% mortgage rate against 4.34%, a property tax of 1.33% against 0.83% and insurance of $450 USD a month against $145 CAD, which is how Texas collects what it does not take in income tax. Houston has the larger job market, the lower unemployment rate on its own measure and far more flights. Homicide favors Ottawa by a wide margin, 21 in 2025 at 1.59 per 100,000 against 270 at about 11.3. The Januaries are 22 degrees apart: Ottawa's -10.0 C is the coldest of the fifteen cities this site compares and Houston's is 12.1 C. Choose Ottawa for coverage that comes with residency, French schooling and a mild summer. Choose Houston for the job market, the flights and a winter without snow.

Ottawa prices are in CAD and Houston prices are in USD. The tables leave them in their own currency and compare ratios and rates instead; a conversion would be stale by the time you read it.

Population
MeasureOttawaHoustonAdvantage
City population1,188,114 (2025)2,397,315 (2025)Not directly comparable
Metro population1,700,014 (2025)7,904,627 (2025)Not directly comparable
Five-year growth
Growth is pressure on rents and roads as much as it is opportunity, so it is reported without a winner.
8.9% (2016-2021)4.2% (2020-2025)Not directly comparable
01: Housing

What a home costs in each

The figures the two cities' rent-versus-buy and mortgage calculators run on, read from the same tables.

Housing costs
MeasureOttawaHoustonAdvantage
Benchmark home price
MLS® HPI or equivalent benchmark. Lower is treated as the advantage, which is the buyer's view rather than the owner's.
$634,000 (July 2026)$330,000 (August 2026)Not directly comparable
Detached house benchmark
Houston publishes a single house index rather than a composite, so the two rows repeat.
$725,000$330,000Not directly comparable
Apartment or condominium benchmark$385,500Not publishedNot directly comparable
Two-bedroom rent$1,916/mo (average, October 2025)$1,327/mo (median, September 2026)Not directly comparable
One-bedroom rent$1,593/mo$1,120/moNot directly comparable
Two-bedroom rent against median income
A year of two-bedroom rent as a share of the median household income below. A household paying the median rent out of the median income is a fiction, but it is the same fiction in both columns and it crosses currencies.
22.5% of a year's income24.7% of a year's incomeOttawa
Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down
25 years in Ottawa against 30 in Houston, each compounding the way its own country's lenders do. The rates are not a spread you can shop: they are what each market charges.
$2,762/mo at 4.34%$1,762/mo at 7.03%Not directly comparable
Price to household income
Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not.
6.2×5.1×Houston
Property tax on the benchmark home
The effective rate on market value, which is what the two rates have in common and what the Advantage column is decided on; the bills are in each city's own dollars.
$5,262/yr (0.83%, 2026)$4,392/yr (1.331%, 2025)Ottawa
Transfer tax on the benchmark home
Compared as a share of the price. Where the seller pays it, it is a cost of leaving rather than arriving.
$9,155 (buyer pays)NoneHouston
Rent control
A cap protects a sitting tenant and does nothing for the next lease, so neither column is simply better.
2.1% guideline (2026)Forbidden by state lawNot directly comparable

Ottawa: About 0.83% of market value. Ottawa levies roughly 1.26%, but against a Current Value Assessment frozen at 1 January 2016 values, because Ontario has deferred every reassessment since. The average urban home is assessed at $415,000 and pays about $5,246 in 2026, which on the $634,000 composite benchmark is 0.83%. Ottawa's municipal taxes on a representative detached house were the lowest of Ontario's ten largest cities in 2025. Houston: About 1.33% of value for a homesteaded owner, worked out on the $330,000 Greater Houston median single-family sale price. A house in the City of Houston and Houston ISD, in Harris County, is taxed by eight units for 2025, which add to 2.12522 per $100 before any exemption. Each takes its own homestead exemption off the appraised value first: Houston ISD the state's $140,000 and a further 20% of its own, Houston City College 17%, and Harris County, the Flood Control District, the Port of Houston Authority, the Hospital District, the Department of Education and the City 20% each. So Harris County levies 0.38096 per $100 on $264,000 after a $66,000 exemption, $1,006; Harris County Flood Control District levies 0.04966 per $100 on $264,000 after a $66,000 exemption, $131; Port of Houston Authority levies 0.0059 per $100 on $264,000 after a $66,000 exemption, $16; Harris County Hospital District levies 0.18761 per $100 on $264,000 after a $66,000 exemption, $495; Harris County Department of Education levies 0.004798 per $100 on $264,000 after a $66,000 exemption, $13; City of Houston levies 0.51919 per $100 on $264,000 after a $66,000 exemption, $1,371; Houston ISD levies 0.8783 per $100 on $124,000 after a $206,000 exemption, $1,089; Houston City College levies 0.098802 per $100 on $273,900 after a $56,100 exemption, $271. The eight come to $4,391 a year, 1.33% of the price. Without a homestead, as a landlord or a buyer who never files, the same house owes $7,013. The median is the region's, and a typical home inside the city is cheaper: on $261,740, Zillow's August 2026 value for a typical City of Houston home, the same eight units come to $3,228, 1.23%, lower because the school district's flat exemption is a larger share of a cheaper house. These are the 2025 rates, the bills due by 31 January 2026. When these figures were retrieved the Harris County Tax Office's table already listed 2026 rates for the county, the Flood Control District, the Hospital District and the Port, but not yet for the City, Houston ISD or the college, so the calculators stay on 2025 until all eight are published.

02: Crime and safety

How safe each city is, by the numbers it publishes

Police-reported figures for the most recent year each force or statistics agency has released. Rates describe a whole city or metro area, and the spread between neighbourhoods inside one city is usually wider than the gap between the two cities.

Crime
MeasureOttawaHoustonAdvantage
Crime Severity Index
Statistics Canada's weighted index for the metropolitan area, where 100 is Canada in 2006. American cities have no equivalent series.
50.6 (2025)Not publishedNot directly comparable
Violent crime per 100,000
Canada counts every violent Criminal Code incident; the FBI counts four offences. The Canadian figure is always the larger one for that reason alone.
814 (2025)890 (2025)Not directly comparable
Property crime per 100,0002,835 (2025)3,854 (2025)Not directly comparable
Homicides
Counts, not rates, and a single year in a small city moves a long way on chance alone. What each figure covers is under the table.
21 (2025)270 (2025)Not directly comparable
Ottawa

The Ontario-part CSI rose from 46.85 in 2021 to 54.20 in 2023, held at 54.12 in 2024 and fell 6% to 50.61 in 2025 (table 35-10-0026-01). The violent crime rate has kept climbing, from 744 per 100k in 2021 to 814 in 2025, while property crime peaked in 2024 at 2,957 per 100k and eased to 2,835 in 2025.

What the rates cover: Total violent Criminal Code violations, rate per 100,000, Ottawa-Gatineau CMA Ontario part, table 35-10-0177-01 (10,745 incidents).

Homicides: Ottawa-Gatineau CMA Ontario part, table 35-10-0177-01; rate 1.59 per 100,000. 2024 was 27 (2.10 per 100k), the highest of the last five years.

Houston

On the FBI's definitions, violent offenses in Houston went from 28,850 in 2021 to 26,383 in 2022, 25,517 in 2023, 26,758 in 2024 and 21,345 in 2025, a 20% drop in the last year and 26% in four, and property offenses from 97,068 to a peak of 105,522 in 2022, then 104,829, 100,302 and 92,382, 12% below the peak. Motor vehicle theft rose from 15,694 in 2021 to 20,085 in 2023 and fell to 12,516 in 2025. In 2025 the CDE shows aggravated assaults down 19% (18,341 to 14,839), robberies down 24% (6,359 to 4,859), rapes down 20% (1,729 to 1,377) and murders down 18% (329 to 270). HPD's own year-end counts show the same direction: homicides down from 331 to 272, robberies from 6,438 to 4,987 and aggravated assaults from 18,590 to 15,378 (Major Cities Chiefs Association survey, as reported by the Houston Chronicle). The 2025 CDE counts were read on 30 September 2026 from a feed last refreshed on 15 September and can still be revised.

What the rates cover: Computed: 21,345 violent offenses (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) in the FBI Crime Data Explorer's summarized data for the Houston Police Department (ORI TXHPD0000) in calendar 2025, divided by the 2,397,315 Vintage 2025 city population. On the CDE's own agency population of 2,413,559 the rate is 884. HPD's year-end figures as reported to the Major Cities Chiefs Association and quoted by the Houston Chronicle run slightly higher than the CDE's: 272 homicides, 4,987 robberies and 15,378 aggravated assaults, against 270, 4,859 and 14,839. The Chronicle did not give HPD's rape count, so HPD's own total on the FBI definition could not be rebuilt.

Homicides: 270 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2025 in the FBI CDE, against 329 in 2024, about 11.3 per 100,000 on the city population. HPD's own year-end count, obtained by the Houston Chronicle through an open records request, was 272 against 331 in 2024, a 17% drop; nothing fetched explains the gap of two cases in each year between the two series. The high point in the CDE series since 2021 is 474, in 2021.

03: Climate

Winters, summers and what the weather can do to a house

Climate normals
MeasureOttawaHoustonAdvantage
January mean-10.0 °C12.1 °CNot directly comparable
July mean21.2 °C29.5 °CNot directly comparable
Precipitation a year930 mm1,317 mmNot directly comparable
Snowfall a year232 cm0 cmNot directly comparable
Sunshine a year2,084 hours2,578 hoursHouston
Ottawa

Environment and Climate Change Canada 1991-2020 normals at Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier Int'l A (climate ID 6106000). Annual mean 6.5 C, rainfall 757.2 mm. Sunshine hours are from the 1981-2010 normals at Ottawa CDA (climate ID 6105976) because the 1991-2020 airport table does not publish sunshine totals.

Hazards: Cold winters with regular snowstorms and freezing rain, spring flooding along the Ottawa River (2017 and 2019), summer heat and humidity, occasional severe thunderstorms and tornadoes (September 2018, the May 2022 derecho), and wildfire smoke episodes such as June 2023.

Houston

NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport (station USW00012960), inside the city about 23 miles north of downtown and the station where the National Weather Service keeps Houston's official record: January mean 53.8F, July mean 85.1F, annual mean 70.5F, 51.84 in of precipitation, 0.1 in of snow. August is the warmest month by a tenth of a degree at 85.2F, with a mean high of 94.9F; July's mean high is 94.5F and January's mean low is 43.7F. June (6.00 in) and October (5.46 in) are the wettest months and February (2.97 in) the driest, and rain is spread through the year with no dry season. The normals count 111.3 days a year at 90F or above, 7.0 at 100F or above and 10.1 nights at or below freezing. William P. Hobby Airport (USW00012918), about 7 miles southeast of downtown and nearer the Gulf, averages 55.0F in January and 84.8F in July with 55.62 in of rain, 2.9 days at 100F or above and 4.2 nights at or below freezing; its normals give no snowfall. Converted here to 12.1 C, 29.5 C, 1,317 mm and 0.3 cm. That precipitation is the most of any Texas city this site compares, 344 mm more than Dallas's at Love Field. Sunshine hours are the older 1961-1990 NCDC means (2,578 hours, 59% of possible, and 90 clear days), since the 1991-2020 normals do not include sunshine.

Hazards: Flooding is the defining hazard, from hurricanes, tropical storms and stalled rain alike. Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Port Aransas as a category 4 storm on 25 August 2017 and then stalled inland, and over four days 26 to 47 in (660 to 1,204 mm) of rain fell across Harris County, a maximum of 47.4 in at Clear Creek and I-45 and an average of 33.7 in (856 mm) over the county's 1,777 square miles, about 1 trillion gallons. The Harris County Flood Control District counted 154,170 homes flooded in the county, 68% of them outside the 100-year floodplain and 64% without flood insurance, 60,049 people rescued by government crews and 36 flood deaths in the county; statewide Harvey killed 68 people directly, the most from a landfalling hurricane in Texas since 1919. Bush Intercontinental recorded 31.26 in (794 mm) from 25 to 29 August, including 16.07 in (408 mm) on the 27th, the wettest day in its record since 1969, and Hobby 37.01 in (940 mm). NOAA puts Harvey's cost at $125 billion ($160 billion in 2024 dollars, second only to Katrina on its list). Harvey came after others: Tropical Storm Allison in June 2001 ($8.5 billion, 43 deaths), Hurricane Ike in September 2008 ($30.0 billion, 112 deaths), the Tax Day flood of 17 and 18 April 2016 ($2.7 billion, 8 deaths, with 9.92 in at Bush Intercontinental on the 18th) and Tropical Storm Imelda in September 2019 ($5.0 billion, 5 deaths). Wind and the power grid are the second hazard. On 16 May 2024 a derecho cut power to more than 900,000 customers in the Houston area and killed 8 people, and on 8 July 2024 Hurricane Beryl came ashore near Matagorda as a category 1 storm with 80 kt (92 mph) winds and crossed the western side of the metro, gusting to 72 kt (83 mph) at Bush Intercontinental and dropping 14.88 in (378 mm) at a gauge in western Houston. More than 2.2 million customers in the region lost power that afternoon (the National Hurricane Center cites media reports of 2.7 million across southeastern Texas), many of them for days in July heat. The NHC counted 11 direct deaths in Texas and 34 indirect ones, 14 of them from heat as the power stayed off, and NOAA puts the damage at $7.2 billion. Heat is the constant. The normals give only 7.0 days a year at or above 100F (37.8 C), far fewer than Dallas's 22.4, but 111.3 at or above 90F. Bush Intercontinental's record is 46 days of 100F in 2011, including 24 in a row from 1 to 24 August, and 45 in 2023, and its highest reading is 109F (42.8 C), on 4 September 2000, 27 August 2011 and 24 and 27 August 2023; 2026 had 9 such days through 21 September. Cold is rare and badly handled. Winter Storm Uri brought 1.0 in (2.5 cm) of snow to Bush Intercontinental on 15 February 2021 and a low of 13F (-10.6 C) on the 16th, above the station's record of 7F (-13.9 C) on 23 December 1989. ERCOT cut power across the state grid from 15 to 18 February and about 4.5 million customers lost it at the worst; Texas counted 246 deaths from the storm, 43 of them in Harris County, more than in any other county. On 20 and 21 January 2025 a Gulf Coast snowstorm left 1.4 in (3.6 cm) at the airport and a low of 20F (-6.7 C) on the 22nd.

04: Income, jobs and taxes

What people earn and what the government takes

Income and taxes
MeasureOttawaHoustonAdvantage
Median household income$102,000 CAD (2020)$64,361 USD (2024)Not directly comparable
Unemployment rate
Statistics Canada and the Bureau of Labor Statistics define unemployment slightly differently; the Canadian measure runs about a point higher on the same labour market.
6.8% (July 2026)5.1% (July 2026)Not directly comparable
Sales tax13%8.25%Houston
Top marginal income tax
Federal plus provincial or state. The American figure leaves out payroll taxes and the cost of health insurance, both of which a Canadian household covers through the tax it pays here.
53.53%37%Houston
Income tax on $100,000, single filer
Computed from each jurisdiction's brackets at a single filer's $100,000 and rounded to the dollar, so a gap of a dollar is rounding rather than tax. Two cities in one province or state are shown as Even, because there the two cells describe the same tax and whatever separates them is method.
$21,930 CAD$13,449 USDNot directly comparable
Ottawa

The federal government is the anchor employer: 130,628 of 279,707 federal public servants were based in the National Capital Region at March 31, 2025, and Budget 2025 announced about 28,000 more public service job cuts by 2029. Regional unemployment ran from 6.4% in mid 2025 to 7.3% in late 2025 before easing to 6.8% in July 2026.

Main sectors: Federal public administration, Technology (Kanata North, Shopify, telecom and defence), Health care and hospitals, Post-secondary education, Tourism and national institutions.

Property tax is set by the City of Ottawa; not verified here.

Houston

BLS counted 3,495,300 nonfarm jobs in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands MSA in August 2026 (not seasonally adjusted, preliminary), up 44,700 or 1.3% on the year. Construction grew fastest (+5.5%, to 269,000), then professional and business services (+2.6%, to 581,300) and government (+1.9%), with education and health services and leisure and hospitality both up 1.3%, while information (-5.9%), financial activities (-1.2%), mining and logging (-0.5%, to 73,300) and manufacturing (-0.2%, to 240,400) shrank. Trade, transportation and utilities is the largest sector at 695,600 jobs, unchanged on the year. The seasonally adjusted series (SMS48264200000000001) was 3,510,100 in August 2026, 1.2% above August 2025. The Greater Houston Partnership counts 27 Fortune 500 headquarters in the region on the 2026 list, tied with Chicago for second among US metros behind New York and ahead of Dallas-Fort Worth's 24, with a 28th due when Expand Energy moves to Spring; ExxonMobil (No. 9) and Chevron (No. 21) lead them. Port Houston calls the Houston Ship Channel complex the nation's largest port for waterborne tonnage (309.5 million tons in 2023, USACE) and the fifth-ranked US container port by TEUs.

Main sectors: Energy: oil and gas producers, refiners, pipelines and oilfield services (ExxonMobil, Chevron, Phillips 66, ConocoPhillips, Enterprise Products Partners, Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Cheniere Energy), Trade, transportation and utilities, the metro's largest sector (the Port of Houston, the nation's largest port by waterborne tonnage; Sysco; United Airlines at Bush Intercontinental; CenterPoint Energy, NRG Energy), Professional and business services, including engineering and construction (KBR, Quanta Services, Comfort Systems USA, Waste Management), Health care and life sciences (the Texas Medical Center, Memorial Hermann, Houston Methodist, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas Children's Hospital), Petrochemicals and advanced manufacturing along the Houston Ship Channel (Westlake, NOV).

Property tax is the local levy that matters. Tax Foundation puts Texas's effective property tax rate on owner-occupied homes at 1.40%, and school districts must exempt $140,000 of a homestead's value from their tax. The City of Houston's own rate for tax year 2025 is 51.919 cents per $100 of taxable value, left unchanged by an 11-3 council vote on 15 October 2025 although the city controller warned it would open a $53 million gap in the $7 billion fiscal 2026 budget; the budget committee chair, who voted against, said there was still room under both the state's and the city's own revenue caps. On 10 June 2026 the council passed a $7.5 billion budget for fiscal 2027 by 15 to 1, closing a projected deficit of more than $200 million with no increase in the property tax rate and a new $5 monthly solid waste fee on residential water bills. The rate for tax year 2026 had not been published in anything fetched. The county, school district, METRO and other levies on the same bill belong to the housing layer.

05: Getting around

Whether you need a car

Transit
MeasureOttawaHoustonAdvantage
SystemOC Transpo (buses, O-Train Lines 1, 2 and 4, Para Transpo); STO serves GatineauMETRO buses (more than 80 local routes plus Park & Ride commuter buses on the HOV and HOT lanes), three METRORail light rail lines on 22.7 miles of track (the Red Line, opened in 2004, and the Green and Purple lines, opened in 2015), the Silver Line bus rapid transit in Uptown, METRO curb2curb on-demand service and METROLift paratransit, across a service area of about 1,300 square milesNot directly comparable
Commute by public transit11.2% (2021)3.4% (2024)Ottawa
Walk or cycle to work8.5% (2021)2.9% (2024)Ottawa
AirportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport, YOW, 4.9 million passengers in 2025, up 6% on 2024 (Ottawa International Airport Authority, 2025 results)George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), about 23 miles north of downtown and a hub for United Airlines, handled 48,131,213 passengers in 2025, 0.6% fewer than the 48.4 million of 2024 (FAA figures as cited by Wikipedia; Houston Airports gave no per-airport total for 2025 in anything fetched), and a record 12.4 million international passengers, 2.5% more than in 2024. William P. Hobby Airport (HOU), about 7 miles southeast of downtown and an operating base for Southwest Airlines, handled 13,943,759, 4.5% fewer than 2024's 14.6 million; it kept Skytrax's 5-star rating for a fifth year, the only one in North America. Houston Airports puts the two together at 62 million passengers in 2025, below the record 63.1 million of 2024, and a record 562,809 metric tons of air cargo.Not directly comparable
Ottawa

70.6 million O-Train and bus trips in 2025, up 3.9% on 2024 (OC Transpo report to Transit Committee, February 12, 2026). Ridership fell in early 2026: 11.5 million trips in January-February versus 12.4 million a year earlier.

Houston

METRO carried 77,996,900 unlinked trips in 2025, 63,315,900 of them by bus and 12,651,100 on light rail, and about 251,800 a weekday in the second quarter of 2026, 37,700 of them on light rail (APTA ridership reports, as cited by Wikipedia; APTA's PDFs refused the fetcher). METRO's own count for fiscal 2025 is 76.3 million boardings on bus and METRORail, 23.3 million riders on its HOV and HOT lanes and 1.9 million METROLift trips. The authority serves the City of Houston, much of unincorporated Harris County and 14 smaller cities, and is paid for by a 1% sales tax that voters created in 1978. Expansion has stalled: voters approved the METRONext plan in November 2019, including 16 miles of light rail extensions and 75 miles of bus rapid transit, but in June 2024 METRO indefinitely postponed the University Line, once the plan's cornerstone, and in February 2025 it adopted METRONow, which puts safety, cleanliness and reliability of the existing service first.

06: Daily life

Health care, schools and what each city is like

Ottawa

Health care

Care is publicly funded through OHIP after a residency waiting period for newcomers, with prescription drugs, dental and vision outside the public plan for most working-age adults. The main hospitals are The Ottawa Hospital (Civic and General campuses), CHEO for children, the Queensway Carleton and Montfort; a replacement Civic campus was promised for 2028 but construction on the hospital itself had not begun as of 2026, and finding a family doctor is the hardest part of access, with the Ontario College of Family Physicians projecting 4.4 million Ontarians without one by 2026.

Education

The University of Ottawa (bilingual) and Carleton University are the large universities, with Algonquin College and La Cite for applied programs. Publicly funded schools run through four boards: the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, the Ottawa Catholic School Board, and French-language public and Catholic boards, so French immersion and full French schooling are both widely available.

Living there

Ottawa is a government town that behaves like a mid-sized city: quiet downtown evenings, a large share of households with two stable incomes, and a weekend life built around the Rideau Canal, the Gatineau Park hills across the river and the river pathways. Winters are long and cold, with roughly 232 cm of snow in a normal year, and summers are warm and humid. The O-Train light rail has had reliability problems since it opened in 2019, and the bus network has been cut back, so most households still drive.

Houston

Health care

Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, and Texas is one of the ten states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (KFF, August 2026). It had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024: 16.7%, or 5,152,427 of 30,799,312 people, against 8.2% nationally and 12.0% in Georgia, the next highest, on the ACS 2024 1-year estimates. The City of Houston's rate was 23.3% (553,576 of 2,370,907), Harris County's 20.8% and the metro's 18.4%. The Texas Medical Center, south of downtown, calls itself the largest medical complex in the world: by its own count 10,000 patient beds, more than 120,000 employees, 10 million patient encounters and 750,000 emergency visits a year, and among its members the world's largest children's hospital and largest cancer hospital (Texas Children's and MD Anderson). Harris Health's Ben Taub Hospital in the medical center, licensed for 402 beds, is the county's public Level I trauma center and treats more than 80,000 emergency patients a year; in May 2024 Harris Health broke ground on a $1.6 billion, 12-story hospital on its Lyndon B. Johnson campus in northeast Houston, due to open in late 2028 as the first Level I trauma center in the county outside the medical center. This file did not verify a wait time figure for primary or specialist care.

Education

Houston ISD, the largest school district in Texas, has been run by a state-appointed board and superintendent, Mike Miles, since the Texas Education Agency took it over in 2023. It counted 168,810 students on its official snapshot of 31 October 2025, down 4.5% from 176,727 a year earlier, and just over 155,600 on 4 September 2026, nearly 10,000 fewer than in September 2025, and it is cutting staff and campus budgets as a result (Houston Chronicle). The Texas Tribune counts 21,000 students lost since the takeover began, a faster decline than any of its urban peers, and about $190 million in state funding with them. Under Miles the number of F-rated campuses fell from 56 to five, but voters rejected a $4.4 billion bond in 2024, the largest Texas school bond ever to fail, and in August 2026 Miles said the official end of the takeover may come at the end of the 2026-27 year. The University of Houston (48,950 students in fall 2025) and Rice University (8,880 in fall 2024) are both inside the city, and Houston Community College renamed itself Houston City College in 2025.

Living there

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country and the energy capital of its fifth-largest metro, which added 126,720 people in 2024-25, more than any other. It spreads into four counties with 22.7 miles of light rail near the core, and 68.7% of its workers drive alone, though its 3.4% transit share is the highest of the Texas cities this site compares. Water is its hazard: Harvey flooded 154,170 homes in Harris County in 2017, most of them outside the mapped floodplain, and Beryl left more than two million customers without power in July heat in 2024. Summer is long and humid rather than extreme, with far fewer 100F days than Dallas but 111 days a year at 90F or above and 1,317 mm of rain. Texas takes no income tax, 23.3% of the city's residents have no health insurance, and the Texas Medical Center, the largest in the world by its own count, sits a few miles south of downtown. The open questions are fiscal and civic: the council held the property tax rate flat in October 2025 against its controller's warning and passed a fiscal 2027 budget that closes a deficit of more than $200 million without raising it, METRO has shelved the University Line that was once the cornerstone of its expansion plan, and Houston ISD, under state control since 2023, began 2026-27 with nearly 10,000 fewer students than the year before.

07: The trade-offs

Where each city wins, and where it loses

Ottawa's figures are in Canadian dollars and Houston's in US dollars, and the cheaper home against local pay is the dearer one to hold. Ottawa's composite benchmark, a blend of houses, townhouses and apartments, was $634,000 CAD in July 2026. The Houston price is the Houston Association of REALTORS' median sale price of single-family houses across Greater Houston, $330,000 USD in August 2026, 1.5% below a year earlier, a regional figure because HAR's city breakdown could not be read; Zillow's all-homes index for the City of Houston is $261,740. The headlines are 6.2 times Ottawa's 2020 median household income of $102,000 CAD and about 5.1 times Houston's 2024 median of $64,361 USD. At 20% down, Ottawa's mortgage at 4.34% is $2,762 CAD a month over 25 years, and Houston's $264,000 loan at Freddie Mac's 7.03% of 24 September 2026 about $1,762 USD over 30. Property tax is 0.83% of market value in Ottawa, $5,262 CAD a year, against $4,391 USD in Houston, an effective 1.33% with a homestead and $7,013 without. With insurance at $145 CAD and $450 USD a month, the owners carry about $3,350 CAD and $2,578 USD, roughly 39% and 48% of local median income. A two-bedroom averaged $1,916 CAD in October 2025 and a median one $1,327 USD in September 2026. Ontario caps increases at 2.1% for 2026 in units first occupied before 15 November 2018; Texas forbids rent control.

Homicide is the one count that crosses the border intact, and it favors Ottawa by a wide margin, though Ottawa's covers the Ontario part of its metro and Houston's the city of 2,397,315. The Ontario part of Ottawa-Gatineau recorded 21 homicides in 2025, 1.59 per 100,000, against 27 in 2024; Houston recorded 270 in the FBI's file, about 11.3 per 100,000, and 272 on HPD's own year-end count, against 329 in 2024. The other rates are different instruments. Statistics Canada put the Crime Severity Index for the Ontario part at 50.61 in 2025, below the national 75.0; American cities have no equivalent. Ottawa's violent rate of 813.79 per 100,000 counts every violent Criminal Code violation, common assault and uttering threats included. Houston's 890 is 21,345 FBI-definition offenses of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, divided by the Census estimate. Property crime, 2,834.59 per 100,000 against 3,854, is defined differently too. The directions differ: Ottawa's violent rate has increased every year since 2021, from 744 per 100,000, while Houston's violent offenses dropped 20% in 2025 and 26% in four years. The Houston counts, read on 30 September 2026, can still be revised.

The two Januaries are 22 degrees apart. Ottawa's mean of -10.0 C at the airport is the coldest of the fifteen cities this site compares, and Houston's is 12.1 C at Bush Intercontinental. July is 21.2 C in Ottawa and 29.5 C in Houston, where the normals count 111.3 days a year at or above 90F and 7.0 at or above 37.8 C (100F). Houston gets 1,317 mm of precipitation a year against 929.8 mm, and Ottawa takes 231.9 cm of its share as snow against 0.3 cm. Ottawa's hazards are freezing rain, spring flooding along the Ottawa River in 2017 and 2019, the September 2018 tornadoes, the May 2022 derecho and wildfire smoke. Houston's are water and wind. Harvey stalled over Harris County in August 2017 and flooded 154,170 homes there, 68% of them outside the 100-year floodplain; a derecho cut power to more than 900,000 customers in May 2024, and Beryl to more than 2.2 million in the region that July. Cold is rare and badly handled: Winter Storm Uri brought 13F (-10.6 C) in February 2021 while ERCOT cut power across the state grid, and Texas counted 43 of the storm's deaths in Harris County. An owner's utility premium over a renter is budgeted at $155 CAD a month in Ottawa, mostly heat from October to April, and $150 USD in Houston, mostly cooling.

The labor markets differ in condition, size and measure. The Houston metro's unemployment rate was 5.1% in July 2026, not seasonally adjusted, because BLS publishes no adjusted rate for it, on 3,495,300 nonfarm jobs in August, 1.3% more than a year earlier. Ottawa-Gatineau's rate was 6.8% the same month, seasonally adjusted and above Canada's 6.4%; the two are not directly comparable, though the gap is wide. Ottawa's anchor employer is the federal public service, with 130,628 of 279,707 federal public servants based in the National Capital Region at 31 March 2025, and Budget 2025 announced about 28,000 more positions to go by 2029. Houston's are energy, from producers and refiners to oilfield services, the Port of Houston, engineering and the Texas Medical Center, and the region counts 27 Fortune 500 headquarters on the 2026 list. Median household income was $102,000 CAD in Ottawa in 2020 and $64,361 USD in Houston in 2024. Ontario levies a provincial income tax, so $100,000 pays about $21,930 CAD, including the $750 Ontario Health Premium and before CPP and EI, with a top combined rate of 53.53% and 13% HST. Texas levies none, so the same salary pays $13,449 USD in federal tax for 2025; the top rate is the federal 37% and sales tax is 8.25%. Property tax carries the load instead, 1.33% on the Houston regional median against 0.83% on Ottawa's benchmark.

Houston's transit carries more trips and Ottawa's a far larger share of commuters. In the 2021 census 11.2% of Ottawa commuters took transit and 8.5% walked or cycled, counted in May 2021 with remote work at its height, so the share now is unknown rather than low. In Houston in 2024, 3.4% took transit, 2.9% walked or cycled and 68.7% drove alone. OC Transpo carried 70.6 million trips in 2025 on buses and O-Train Lines 1, 2 and 4, though the O-Train has had reliability problems since it opened in 2019 and January and February 2026 slipped to 11.5 million trips from 12.4 million a year earlier. METRO carried 77,996,900 across a service area of about 1,300 square miles, 12,651,100 of them on three light rail lines on 22.7 miles of track, and Park & Ride commuter buses run on the HOV and HOT lanes. Its expansion has stalled: in June 2024 it indefinitely postponed the University Line, once the cornerstone of the plan voters approved in 2019. Flying is Houston's by a wide margin: Bush Intercontinental, a United hub, handled 48,131,213 passengers in 2025 and Hobby 13,943,759, against 4.9 million at Ottawa.

Health care is where the border shows most. In Ottawa, OHIP pays for physician and hospital care with nothing due at the point of use after a residency wait for newcomers, though prescriptions, dental and vision mostly fall outside it. The bottleneck is a family doctor: the Ontario College of Family Physicians projected 4.4 million Ontarians without one by 2026, and the replacement Civic campus, promised for 2028, had not begun construction. In Houston care is bought through an employer or marketplace plan, Medicare or Medicaid, and Texas is one of ten states that have not expanded Medicaid. It had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024, 16.7%, and the City of Houston's was 23.3%. The Texas Medical Center counts 10,000 patient beds and more than 120,000 employees by its own figures, with MD Anderson and Texas Children's among its members, and Harris Health's Ben Taub is the county's public Level I trauma center. This site verified no wait time for either city. Ottawa has four publicly funded school boards, English and French, public and Catholic, so French immersion and full French schooling are ordinary choices. Houston ISD, the largest district in Texas, has been run by a state-appointed board since 2023 and began 2026-27 with just over 155,600 students, nearly 10,000 fewer than a year before.

What people underestimate is that the home at the lower multiple of local pay, about 5.1 times in Houston against 6.2 in Ottawa, costs the larger share to hold, 48% against 39%, and that each cause carries a date. The rate is one. Ottawa's 4.34% is fixed for a five-year term and then renews at whatever the rate is then, while the Houston 7.03% holds for thirty years; it sits about a third of a point above the August rate this site's Florida cities were written at, and at 6.67% the Houston carry would be about $2,514. The tax is the other. Ottawa levies about 1.26% against assessments frozen at 1 January 2016, which is why the bill works out to 0.83% of what a buyer pays today, and none of this site's sources dates the next reassessment. The Houston $4,391 is the 2025 tax year across eight units; the county, the Flood Control District and the Hospital District had already listed higher 2026 rates by 30 September 2026, while the City's has been held at 0.51919 per $100 since 2023. It assumes a filed homestead, after which the appraised value can rise no more than 10% a year, holds only inside Houston ISD and leaves out the municipal utility districts common in newer subdivisions. Getting in differs too: an Ottawa buyer owes $9,155 CAD in Ontario land transfer tax on the benchmark, and a Texas buyer owes none.

Ottawa

Better here

  • There were 21 homicides in 2025 across the Ontario part of the metro, 1.59 per 100,000, against 270 in Houston at about 11.3.
  • Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $3,350 CAD a month on the July 2026 benchmark, roughly 39% of the city's 2020 median household income, against about 48% in Houston.
  • OHIP covers physician and hospital care whoever employs you, where 23.3% of Houston residents had no health insurance in 2024.
  • Transit carried 11.2% of commuters in the 2021 census and 8.5% walked or cycled, against 3.4% and 2.9% in Houston in 2024.
  • Property tax works out to 0.83% of market value for 2026, $5,262 CAD a year on the benchmark, against an effective 1.33% on the Houston regional median for the 2025 tax year.
  • July averages 21.2 C on the 1991-2020 normals, against 29.5 C at Bush Intercontinental, where the same normals count 111.3 days a year at or above 90F.

Worse here

  • Regional unemployment was 6.8% in July 2026 against 5.1% around Houston on an unadjusted basis, and Budget 2025 announced about 28,000 more federal public service cuts by 2029.
  • January averages -10.0 C on a 231.9 cm snow normal, the coldest January mean of the fifteen cities this site compares, against 12.1 C and 0.3 cm in Houston.
  • Income tax on $100,000 is about $21,930 CAD for 2025 against $13,449 USD of federal tax in Houston, sales tax is 13% HST against 8.25%, and the top combined rate is 53.53% against 37%.
  • A buyer owes $9,155 in Ontario land transfer tax on the July 2026 benchmark, where Texas has no transfer tax.
  • 4.4 million Ontarians were projected to be without a family doctor by 2026, and the replacement Civic campus promised for 2028 had not begun construction.
  • Ottawa's airport handled 4.9 million passengers in 2025, against 48,131,213 at Bush Intercontinental and 13,943,759 at Hobby.

Choose Ottawa if

  • you want health coverage that comes with residency and survives a layoff
  • you would take a -10.0 C January over a humid summer with 111 days a year at 90F or more
  • you are raising children and want French schooling to be an ordinary option
  • you want a home that costs about 39% of local median income to hold rather than about 48%

The Ottawa guide · Neighbourhoods · Ottawa rent vs buy · Ottawa mortgage calculator

Houston

Better here

  • The metro had 3,495,300 nonfarm jobs in August 2026, 1.3% more than a year earlier, and the region counts 27 Fortune 500 headquarters on the 2026 list.
  • Texas levies no income tax, so $100,000 pays $13,449 USD in federal tax for 2025 and $13,170 for 2026, against about $21,930 CAD in Ottawa.
  • January averages 12.1 C with 0.3 cm of snow a year on the 1991-2020 normals, against -10.0 C and 231.9 cm in Ottawa.
  • HAR's regional single-family median of $330,000 USD is about 5.1 times the city's median household income, against 6.2 times for Ottawa's benchmark, and the buyer pays no transfer tax.
  • Bush Intercontinental handled 48,131,213 passengers in 2025 and Hobby another 13,943,759, against 4.9 million at Ottawa.
  • Violent offenses on the FBI's definitions dropped 20% in 2025 to 21,345 and 26% over four years, while Ottawa's police-reported violent rate has increased every year since 2021.

Worse here

  • There were 270 homicides in 2025, about 11.3 per 100,000, against 21 and 1.59 in the Ontario part of the Ottawa metro.
  • Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,578 USD a month on the August 2026 regional median, roughly 48% of the city's 2024 median household income against 39% in Ottawa.
  • Property tax on the regional median is $4,391 a year for the 2025 tax year with a homestead, an effective 1.33%, and $7,013 without one, before any municipal utility district, against 0.83% of market value in Ottawa.
  • Texas had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024, 16.7%, the City of Houston's was 23.3%, and in August 2026 Texas was one of ten states that have not expanded Medicaid.
  • Harvey flooded 154,170 homes in Harris County in 2017, 68% of them outside the 100-year floodplain, and Beryl left more than 2.2 million customers in the region without power in July 2024.
  • Home insurance is budgeted at $450 a month against $145 CAD in Ottawa, and it covers no flooding, which takes a separate policy.

Choose Houston if

  • you work in energy, engineering, the port or the Texas Medical Center rather than in a public service facing cuts
  • you want a 12.1 C January instead of -10.0 C and can plan a summer around 111 days at 90F or more
  • you fly often enough that a United hub and a second airport change how you travel
  • you have employer health insurance you trust and would rather pay property tax on a house than provincial income tax on a salary

The Houston guide · Neighborhoods · Houston rent vs buy · Houston mortgage calculator

08: Questions people ask

Ottawa or Houston, in short

Is Ottawa or Houston cheaper to live in?

Ottawa to own, once each bill is held against its own city's pay, because the currencies do not convert here. The Houston home is the lower multiple of income: HAR's $330,000 USD Greater Houston single-family median, a regional figure, is about 5.1 times the City of Houston's 2024 median household income of $64,361 USD, and Ottawa's $634,000 CAD composite benchmark 6.2 times the city's 2020 median of $102,000 CAD. But an Ottawa owner pays about $3,350 CAD a month on mortgage, property tax and insurance, roughly 39% of that income, and a Houston owner about $2,578 USD, roughly 48%, because the mortgage rate is 7.03% against 4.34%, the property tax 1.33% against 0.83% and the insurance $450 USD a month against $145 CAD. Renting is close: a two-bedroom averaged $1,916 CAD in October 2025 in Ottawa and a median one was $1,327 USD in Houston in September 2026, about 23% and 25% of each city's median household income. Houston takes less income tax, $13,449 USD on $100,000 for 2025 against about $21,930 CAD, and less sales tax, 8.25% against 13%, and an Ottawa buyer funds $9,155 CAD of land transfer tax at closing.

Is Ottawa or Houston safer?

Ottawa on homicide, the one count that crosses the border, though it is a count for the Ontario part of the metro against one for the City of Houston. Ottawa's recorded 21 homicides in 2025, 1.59 per 100,000, against 27 in 2024; Houston recorded 270 in the FBI's file, about 11.3 per 100,000, and 272 on its police department's own count, against 329 in 2024. The other rates are different instruments. Ottawa's violent rate of 813.79 per 100,000 counts every violent Criminal Code violation, including common assault, while Houston's 890 is murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault from the FBI's counts, divided by the Census estimate and still open to revision. Property crime, 2,834.59 per 100,000 against 3,854, is defined differently as well. Statistics Canada put Ottawa's Crime Severity Index at 50.61 in 2025 against a national 75.0; American cities have no equivalent. Ottawa's violent rate has increased every year since 2021; Houston's violent offenses dropped 20% in 2025.

Which has the better climate, Ottawa or Houston?

Houston in winter and Ottawa in summer, and the winters are 22 degrees apart. January averages 12.1 C in Houston with 0.3 cm of snow a year, against -10.0 C and 231.9 cm in Ottawa, the coldest January mean of the fifteen cities this site compares, and an Ottawa owner heats from October to April. July averages 21.2 C in Ottawa against 29.5 C at Bush Intercontinental, where the normals count 111.3 days a year at or above 90F and 7.0 at or above 37.8 C (100F). Houston is the wetter city, 1,317 mm a year against 929.8 mm. Ottawa's hazards are freezing rain, Ottawa River flooding as in 2017 and 2019, the May 2022 derecho and wildfire smoke; Houston's are floods like Harvey's in 2017, hurricanes like Beryl, which left more than 2.2 million customers in the region without power in July 2024, and the rare hard freeze, like February 2021, when ERCOT cut power across the state grid.

What happens to my health care if I move from Ottawa to Houston?

Coverage stops coming with residency and starts coming with a job or a purchase. In Ottawa, OHIP pays for physician and hospital care with nothing due at the point of use after a residency wait for newcomers, and an employer plan matters for prescriptions, dental and vision; the problem is access, with 4.4 million Ontarians projected to be without a family doctor by 2026. In Houston you need an employer or marketplace plan, Medicare or Medicaid, with the premium, deductible and copay that come with it. Texas is one of the ten states that have not expanded Medicaid and had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024, 16.7%; the City of Houston's was 23.3%. The Texas Medical Center, south of downtown, counts 10,000 patient beds by its own figures, with MD Anderson and Texas Children's among its members, and Harris Health's Ben Taub is the county's public Level I trauma center. This site verified no wait time figure for either city.

Sources

Where the figures come from

Housing figures are the ones behind each city's calculators, dated on those pages. The rest are listed here with the date they were retrieved. See the methodology for how facts, estimates and opinion are kept apart.

  1. Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population: Ottawa, City (CSD) and Ottawa-Gatineau (Ontario part) · Statistics Canada · retrieved
    Supports: population.city (2021 count), Five-year growth, Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
  2. Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population: Ottawa-Gatineau (CMA) · Statistics Canada · retrieved
    Supports: population.metro (2021 count), population.growthPct5y (CMA)
  3. Population estimates, July 1, by census subdivision, 2021 boundaries (table 17-10-0155-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved
    Supports: City population
  4. Population estimates, July 1, by census metropolitan area and census agglomeration, 2021 boundaries (table 17-10-0148-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved
    Supports: Metro population
  5. Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, Canada, provinces, territories and Census Metropolitan Areas (table 35-10-0026-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved
    Supports: Crime Severity Index, Crime trend
  6. Police-reported Crime Severity Index and crime rate, by census metropolitan area, 2025 · Statistics Canada, The Daily · retrieved
    Supports: Crime Severity Index, crime.propertyRatePer100k (all-crime rate context)
  7. Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, Canada, provinces, territories, CMAs (table 35-10-0177-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved
    Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
  8. Ottawa crime rate increases in 2025, remains above Ontario average · Yahoo News Canada (Ottawa Police Service KPI report to the Police Services Board, January 26, 2026) · retrieved
    Supports: crime.index (OPS city CSI 55.8)
  9. Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020, Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier Int'l A · Environment and Climate Change Canada · retrieved
    Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
  10. Canadian Climate Normals 1981-2010, Ottawa CDA · Environment and Climate Change Canada · retrieved
    Supports: Sunshine hours
  11. Labour force characteristics by census metropolitan area, three-month moving average, seasonally adjusted (table 14-10-0459-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved
    Supports: Unemployment rate, Labour market
  12. Labour Force Survey, July 2026 · Statistics Canada, The Daily · retrieved
    Supports: economy.unemploymentPct (Canada and Ontario comparison)
  13. Federal government to cut another 28,000 public service jobs by 2029 · CTV News Ottawa · retrieved
    Supports: Labour market
  14. Federal Government Jobs in Ottawa: 2026 Hiring Guide (citing Public Service Commission counts at March 31, 2025) · Via Ottawa · retrieved
    Supports: economy.note (NCR public servant count)
  15. 2025 and 2026 Combined Federal and Ontario Tax Rates Including Surtaxes · TaxTips.ca · retrieved
    Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
  16. Ontario Health Premium · TaxTips.ca · retrieved
    Supports: Income tax on $100,000
  17. 2025 Non-Refundable Personal Tax Credits, Base Amounts · TaxTips.ca · retrieved
    Supports: Income tax on $100,000
  18. Recap: February 12, 2026 Transit Committee · OC Transpo · retrieved
    Supports: Transit ridership
  19. OC Transpo sees drop in ridership to start 2026 · CTV News Ottawa · retrieved
    Supports: transit.ridershipNote (early 2026)
  20. A transformational year: Ottawa Airport Authority reports 2025 results · Ottawa International Airport Authority · retrieved
    Supports: Airport passengers
  21. More Than Four Million Ontarians Will Be Without a Family Doctor by 2026 · Ontario College of Family Physicians · retrieved
    Supports: Health care
  22. New Ottawa Civic hospital opening likely delayed by years, says project consultant · CBC News · retrieved
    Supports: Health care
  23. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in Texas: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: City population, Five-year growth, Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Character
  24. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places of 50,000 or More (all states, SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: City population, Character
  25. Annual Resident Population Estimates and Components of Change for Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas and Their Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (CBSA-EST2025-ALLDATA) · US Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth, Character
  26. Crime Data Explorer summarized agency data, Houston Police Department (TXHPD0000): violent crime, property crime, homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson, 2021-2025 · FBI · retrieved
    Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
  27. Houston homicides drop 17% in 2025, as experts say multiple factors drive national trend · Houston Chronicle · retrieved
    Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
  28. Crime continues downward surge in 2025 in Houston and nationwide (Major Cities Chiefs Association year-end survey) · Houston Chronicle · retrieved
    Supports: Violent crime rate, Crime trend
  29. US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00012960 Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved
    Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall, Climate normals, Climate hazards, Character, January 53.8F, July 85.1F and August 85.2F from the monthly series, and annual mean 70.5F, precipitation 51.84 in, snowfall 0.1 in and the counts of days at 90F and 100F and nights at freezing from dataset=normals-annualseasonal-1991-2020 for the same station
  30. US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00012918 Houston William P. Hobby Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved
    Supports: Climate normals
  31. Global Historical Climatology Network daily summaries, Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport (USW00012960), 1969-2026 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards, 31.26 in from 25 to 29 August 2017 and 16.07 in on 27 August 2017, 9.92 in on 18 April 2016, 46 days at or above 100F in 2011 and 24 in a row from 1 to 24 August 2011, 45 in 2023, 9 in 2026 through 21 September, 109F on 4 September 2000, 27 August 2011 and 24 and 27 August 2023, 1.0 in of snow on 15 February 2021 and 13F on 16 February 2021, 7F on 23 December 1989, 1.4 in of snow on 20 and 21 January 2025 and 20F on 22 January 2025
  32. Global Historical Climatology Network daily summaries, Houston William P. Hobby Airport (USW00012918), 1930-2026 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards, 37.01 in from 25 to 29 August 2017
  33. Average Annual Sunshine in US Cities · Current Results (NCDC Comparative Climatic Data, 1961-1990) · retrieved
    Supports: Sunshine hours, Climate normals
  34. Weather and Climate Billion-Dollar Disasters to affect the U.S. from 1980-2024 (events list) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  35. Hurricane Harvey & Its Impacts on Southeast Texas (August 25-29, 2017) · National Weather Service, Houston/Galveston · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  36. Immediate Flood Report, Final Report: Hurricane Harvey, 2017 · Harris County Flood Control District · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards, Character
  37. National Hurricane Center Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Beryl (AL022024) · NOAA National Hurricane Center · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  38. Houston power outages: Hurricane Beryl plunges 2.2 million into the dark · Houston Public Media · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards, Character
  39. Public Utility Commission releases investigative report on CenterPoint's response to Hurricane Beryl · The Texas Tribune · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  40. February 2021 Winter Storm-Related Deaths, Texas (mortality surveillance report) · Texas Department of State Health Services · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  41. The Timeline and Events of the February 2021 Texas Electric Grid Blackouts · The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  42. ACS 2024 1-year tables B08301 and B19013 for Houston city and the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved
    Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share, Character
  43. ACS 2024 1-year table B27001 (health insurance coverage) for the 50 states, DC, the US, Harris County, Houston city and the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved
    Supports: Health care, Character
  44. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX MSA (LAUMT482642000000003), Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, and the US rate (LNU04000000), not seasonally adjusted · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved
    Supports: Unemployment rate
  45. Current Employment Statistics, Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX MSA: total nonfarm (SMU48264200000000001, SMS48264200000000001) and supersectors (SMU4826420xx00000001) · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved
    Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
  46. Fortune 500 Companies (Houston ranks second among US metro areas in Fortune 500 headquarters) · Greater Houston Partnership · retrieved
    Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
  47. 27 Houston companies make Fortune 500 for 2026, led by energy giants · CultureMap Houston (InnovationMap) · retrieved
    Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
  48. Port Houston Statistics · Port Houston · retrieved
    Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
  49. City Sales and Use Tax (city rate table) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: Sales tax
  50. Transit Sales and Use Tax (Houston MTA, effective October 1, 1978) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: Sales tax, Transit ridership
  51. Texas Tax Rates & Rankings · Tax Foundation · retrieved
    Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000, Tax notes, Character
  52. 2025 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved
    Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
  53. 2026 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved
    Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
  54. Property Tax Exemptions · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: Tax notes
  55. Houston won't raise property tax rate despite budget concerns · The Bond Buyer · retrieved
    Supports: Tax notes, Character
  56. City of Houston passes Whitmire's $7.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2027 · Houston Public Media · retrieved
    Supports: Tax notes, Character
  57. About METRO · Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) · retrieved
    Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership
  58. Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (citing the APTA Transit Ridership Reports, Q4 2025 and Q2 2026, through Template:American transit ridership) · Wikipedia · retrieved
    Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership, Character
  59. Houston Airports closes 2025 with strong international growth, record cargo performance · Houston Airports · retrieved
    Supports: Airport passengers
  60. Houston Airports earns global honors as record travel powers momentum · Houston Airports · retrieved
    Supports: Airport passengers
  61. Houston Airports shatters passenger record with 63.1 million travelers in 2024 · Houston Airports · retrieved
    Supports: Airport passengers
  62. George Bush Intercontinental Airport (2025 passenger totals from the FAA, location, United Airlines hub) · Wikipedia · retrieved
    Supports: Airport passengers, Climate normals
  63. William P. Hobby Airport (2025 passenger totals from the FAA, location, Southwest Airlines) · Wikipedia · retrieved
    Supports: Airport passengers, Climate normals
  64. Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions · KFF · retrieved
    Supports: Health care
  65. About Us (TMC at a Glance) · Texas Medical Center · retrieved
    Supports: Health care, Character
  66. Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital · Harris Health · retrieved
    Supports: Health care
  67. Harris Health System Breaks Ground on Northeast Houston Hospital · Harris Health · retrieved
    Supports: Health care
  68. HISD cuts staff, campus budgets after enrollment drops nearly 10,000 from last September · Houston Chronicle · retrieved
    Supports: Education, Character
  69. HISD reports about 168,800 students enrolled in 2025-26 school year, a loss of 4.5% · Houston Chronicle · retrieved
    Supports: Education
  70. Mike Miles expects HISD's state takeover to end after this school year · Houston Chronicle · retrieved
    Supports: Education
  71. High costs, dwindling enrollment: Is Houston ISD's playbook under takeover sustainable? · The Texas Tribune · retrieved
    Supports: Education, Character
  72. University of Houston (fall 2025 enrollment) · Wikipedia · retrieved
    Supports: Education
  73. Rice University (fall 2024 enrollment) · Wikipedia · retrieved
    Supports: Education
  74. Houston City College (formerly Houston Community College, 1971-2025) · Wikipedia · retrieved
    Supports: Education
  75. MLS® Home Price Index: Ottawa Real Estate Board, July 2026 · Canadian Real Estate Association / Ottawa Real Estate Board · retrieved
    Supports: Composite MLS® HPI benchmark of $634,000 in July 2026, down 0.5% year over year, Single-family benchmark of $725,000, up 0.7% year over year, Townhouse and row benchmark of $542,500, down 5.1% year over year, Apartment benchmark of $385,500, down 5.2% year over year, 1,325 sales and 4,678 active listings in July 2026
  76. Rental Market Survey: Ottawa, average rent by bedroom type, October 2025 · Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation · retrieved
    Supports: Ottawa average purpose-built rents of $1,332 studio, $1,593 one-bedroom, $1,916 two-bedroom and $2,090 three-bedroom-plus, An overall average of $1,743 across 89,170 purpose-built units, Year-over-year increases of 3.4% on one- and two-bedroom units and 3.9% overall, Average rent of $2,320 in buildings completed in 2000 or later against $1,529 in buildings from before 1960
  77. Rental Market Statistics Summary: Ottawa (CV), October 2025 · Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation · retrieved
    Supports: City of Ottawa purpose-built vacancy rate of 2.9% across 86,550 units, City of Ottawa average rent of $1,741 and median rent of $1,675
  78. 2026 Tax Policy and Other Revenue Matters · City of Ottawa, Revenue Services · retrieved
    Supports: Ontario's last province-wide reassessment was completed in 2016 and municipalities rely on 2016 assessment values for the 2026 tax year, The average urban Ottawa home is assessed at $415,000, A 2026 net municipal increase of $184 on that home: $166 from the 3.75% budget increase and $18 from the multi-residential ratio change, The 2026 budget was approved on 10 December 2025 with a 3.75% overall municipal tax increase, Ottawa's 2025 average municipal taxes on a representative two-storey detached house were $5,490, the lowest of Ontario's ten largest municipalities
  79. Education property tax rates · Government of Ontario · retrieved
    Supports: The residential education tax rate of 0.153% of assessed value, unchanged since 2020
  80. Premium information for homeowner and small rental loans · Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation · retrieved
    Supports: Mortgage default insurance premium rates by loan-to-value
  81. Regulations amending the Insurable Housing Loan Regulations and the Eligible Mortgage Loan Regulations (SOR/2025-55) · Canada Gazette, Part II · retrieved
    Supports: The $1.5 million insured price cap, 30-year amortization for first-time buyers and new builds
  82. Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages · Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions · retrieved
    Supports: The qualifying rate of the contract rate plus two points, or 5.25%
  83. Interest rates charged for new and existing lending by chartered banks · Bank of Canada · retrieved
    Supports: The default mortgage rate of 4.34%, uninsured five-year-plus fixed, funds advanced May 2026
  84. Calculating Land Transfer Tax · Ontario Ministry of Finance · retrieved
    Supports: Provincial transfer tax brackets, The conditional 2.5% band
  85. Municipal Land Transfer Tax rates and fees · City of Toronto · retrieved
    Supports: Toronto municipal transfer tax brackets, First-time buyer rebate
  86. Residential rent increases · Government of Ontario · retrieved
    Supports: 2026 rent increase guideline of 2.1%, The 2018 occupancy exemption
  87. Retail Sales Tax · Government of Ontario · retrieved
    Supports: 8% retail sales tax on insurance premiums
  88. HAR.com reports more choices and steady prices in Houston's August housing market · My Neighborhood News, republishing the Houston Association of REALTORS' August 2026 release · retrieved
    Supports: 7,100 single-family sales in Greater Houston in August 2026, down 11.5% from August 2025, A median single-family sale price of $330,000, down 1.5% or $5,000 from August 2025, and an average of $426,760, up 1.2%, A median of $330,000 for existing single-family homes, down 2.9%, 38,947 active single-family listings and a 5.3-month supply, 405 townhouse and condominium sales, unchanged, at a median of $195,000, down 7.1%, and an 8.8-month supply
  89. Greater Houston area home sales on the decline · Community Impact · retrieved
    Supports: From the August 2026 monthly housing update of the Houston Association of Realtors, published 16 September 2026, Single-family sales down 11.5% and the median single-family price down $5,000 to $330,000
  90. Monthly update: home sales, August 2026 · Greater Houston Partnership · retrieved
    Supports: 59,843 single-family sales in the region year to date through August 2026, according to the Houston Association of Realtors, A 12-month average of the median MLS sale price of roughly $331,000 in August 2026, down about one percent on a year earlier
  91. Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: A typical home value of $261,740 for the city of Houston (region 39051) in August 2026, $267,880 in August 2025, so a fall of 2.3% over the year
  92. Zillow Home Value Index, single-family and condominium series, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: A typical single-family value of $267,956 in the city of Houston in August 2026, against $274,277 a year earlier, down 2.3%, A typical condominium value of $131,763 in the same month, against $140,224, down 6.0%, from the condominium file at https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zhvi/City_zhvi_uc_condo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv
  93. Houston Rent Report, October 2026 · Apartment List · retrieved
    Supports: A median rent of $1,120 for a one-bedroom and $1,327 for a two-bedroom in the city of Houston, and $1,269 across all bedroom sizes, Rents flat over September and down 2.3% over the past 12 months, A metro-wide median of $1,335, 5.0% above the city's
  94. Apartments for rent in Houston, TX: average rent · Apartment List · retrieved
    Supports: Average listed rents of $1,299 and up for a studio, $1,309 and up for one bedroom, $1,630 and up for two, and $2,102 and up for three or more
  95. FY 2026 fair market rents, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX HUD Metro FMR Area · United States Department of Housing and Urban Development · retrieved
    Supports: FY 2026 fair market rents of $1,323 for one bedroom, $1,573 for two and $2,116 for three, as gross rents including utilities
  96. Zillow Observed Rent Index, all homes plus multifamily, smoothed, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: An observed rent index of $1,542 for the city of Houston in August 2026, against $1,544 a year earlier, down 0.13%
  97. Jurisdictions: homestead exemptions and tax rates · Harris Central Appraisal District · retrieved
    Supports: 2025 rates per $100: Harris County 0.380960, Harris County Flood Control District 0.049660, Harris County Port of Houston Authority 0.005900, Harris County Hospital District 0.187610, Harris County Department of Education 0.004798, City of Houston 0.519190, Houston ISD 0.878300, Houston City College 0.098802, Homestead exemptions of 20% for every one of those units except Houston City College, which grants 17%, and a flat $140,000 plus 20% for Houston ISD, No 2026 rate yet for any of the eight, from the table's data at https://hcad.org/actions/hcad-module/default/jurisdictions, More than 400 active utility districts in the appraisal district's list, at a median 2025 rate of about 0.54 per $100
  98. Tax rates · Harris County Tax Office · retrieved
    Supports: The same 2025 adopted rates with their maintenance and operations and debt parts: Harris County 0.33696 and 0.044, the Flood Control District 0.03826 and 0.0114, the Hospital District 0.17876 and 0.00885, the City of Houston 0.40326 and 0.11593, Houston ISD 0.7116 and 0.1667, and the Port's whole rate as debt, The City of Houston's rate at 0.51919 for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 tax years, 2026 rates already listed for Harris County (0.4175), the Flood Control District (0.05266), the Hospital District (0.19528) and the Port (0.00603), and none yet for the City, Houston ISD or the college
  99. FY2027 adopted budget: General Fund revenues · City of Houston Finance Department · retrieved
    Supports: Taxable values within the City set by the Harris, Montgomery or Fort Bend central appraisal district, A City tax rate of 51.919 cents per $100 for tax year 2025, and an estimate of the same for 2026, Proposition 1 of November 2004 capping the annual increase in total property tax revenue at the lower of inflation plus population growth or 4.5%, and Proposition H of November 2006 raising the limit by $90 million, Tax bills sent by the Harris County Tax Office around mid-November and due by 31 January
  100. FY2027 adopted budget: letter from the Mayor · City of Houston · retrieved
    Supports: Houston has operated for more than a decade under two revenue caps, which forced a nearly 20% reduction in the tax rate
  101. FY2026 adopted budget: letter from the Mayor · City of Houston · retrieved
    Supports: No other large Texas city is burdened by both a locally imposed revenue cap and the state cap or must fund solid waste operations without dedicated revenues
  102. Development regulations · City of Houston Planning and Development Department · retrieved
    Supports: The City of Houston does not have zoning, and its codes do not address land use, Development governed by ordinance codes on how property can be subdivided, chiefly Chapter 42, within the city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction
  103. Deed restrictions · City of Houston Legal Department · retrieved
    Supports: The City's authority to enforce residential deed restrictions under Chapter 212 of the Local Government Code and sections 10-551 through 10-555 of the City Code
  104. Harris County's flooding history · Harris County Flood Control District · retrieved
    Supports: A major flood somewhere in Harris County about every two years, mostly in areas developed before current regulations, More flood insurance funds paid in Harris County than in any other community in the National Flood Insurance Program
  105. Hurricane Harvey frequently asked questions · Harris County Flood Control District · retrieved
    Supports: Flooding outside the FEMA mapped floodplain, from ponding and overland sheet flow when rainfall overwhelms street drainage, The mapped floodplain is only an estimate of where flooding is predicted to occur from a bayou or creek, The City of Houston as one of the local floodplain administrators for the National Flood Insurance Program
  106. Home, flood, wind: which policies do you need? · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved
    Supports: Most home policies do not cover floods; a flood policy covers damage from rising water
  107. Drainage utility charge FAQs · City of Houston, Rebuild Houston · retrieved
    Supports: A residential rate of $0.032 per square foot of impervious surface a year behind a curb and gutter and $0.026 on an open ditch, $48.00 a year, $4.00 a month, on 1,500 square feet behind a curb and gutter
  108. Valuing property: limitation on residence homestead value increases · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: A residence homestead's appraised value may not rise more than 10% a year once the owner has qualified in the preceding and current year
  109. Property tax protests and appeals · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: A protest deadline of 15 May or 30 days after the appraisal district mails the notice of appraised value, whichever is later
  110. Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 24 September 2026 · Freddie Mac · retrieved
    Supports: A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 7.03%, up from 6.95% the week before and 6.30% a year earlier
  111. Texas homeowners insurance market overview · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved
    Supports: A statewide average homeowners premium of $3,489 a year for 2025, from the Texas Statistical Plan for Residential Risks, Paid homeowners losses in 2024 of $4.93 billion from hail and $2.21 billion from wind
  112. How much is homeowners insurance in Houston, TX? · Insure.com · retrieved
    Supports: An average Houston premium of $5,391 a year for $300,000 of dwelling cover, $100,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, updated 27 May 2026, Standard home insurance policies generally exclude flood damage
  113. Texas homeowners insurance · NerdWallet · retrieved
    Supports: An average Houston premium of $9,095 a year and a Texas average of $5,910, for $500,000 of dwelling cover, updated 20 February 2026
  114. Renters insurance in Texas · NerdWallet · retrieved
    Supports: An average Houston renters premium of $167 a year for $30,000 of personal property
  115. Monthly homeowners' association and condominium fee, tables B25142 and B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Houston city · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved
    Supports: A median monthly association fee of $144 among Houston owner-occupied units that pay one, 176,568 of 385,594 owner-occupied units, or 45.8%, paying such a fee, and 31,837 paying $500 or more a month
  116. Homebuyer Assistance Program · City of Houston Housing and Community Development Department · retrieved
    Supports: Up to $75,000 for income-qualified first-time homebuyers, or buyers who have not owned a home in the last three years, at or below 80% of area median income, The home must pay taxes to the City of Houston, A no-interest forgivable loan secured by a lien, fulfilled if the buyer lives in the home for eight years, with a portion repaid on a sale or move before then, No maximum home price, and less than $50,000 in liquid assets
  117. 2025 Gazetteer files: places, Texas · United States Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: A land area of 640.819 square miles and a water area of 31.222 square miles for Houston city
  118. About Houston: education · City of Houston · retrieved
    Supports: Houston ISD serves 312 square miles with 288 schools
  119. Local schools · City of Houston Mayor's Office of Education · retrieved
    Supports: Public school districts in the Houston area including Aldine, Alief, Cypress-Fairbanks, Fort Bend, Houston, Humble, Katy, Klein, Spring and Spring Branch, and North Forest annexed by Houston ISD in 2013
  120. 2025 was a year of transformation and change for HCC · Houston City College · retrieved
    Supports: The college publishing under the name Houston City College