Jobs in Houston, Dallas and Austin: What the Latest Texas Workforce Commission Data Says Before You Move

If you're weighing a job move to Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth or Austin, the headline growth rates won't settle it. The newest state and federal releases point in three different directions.

The right pick depends on the kind of work you do. Here's how to read the numbers before you sign a lease.

Texas Is Still Hiring, Just More Slowly

Texas added 154,300 jobs over the year, a 1.1% growth rate (Source: Texas Workforce Commission, September 2026). That's still solid, but the state shed 11,100 positions in September alone (Source: Texas Workforce Commission, September 2026). The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held at 4.4% (Source: Texas Workforce Commission, September 2026).

The mix tells you more than the total. Professional and business services led statewide gains with 69,400 jobs, while the information sector posted the largest drop at 8,700 (Source: Texas Workforce Commission, September 2026).

Unemployment: Houston's Rate Is Falling Fastest

Here's where each metro stands (not seasonally adjusted):

Metro	September 2026	August 2026
Houston	4.6%	5.0%
Dallas-Fort Worth	4.1%	4.4%
Austin	3.7%	3.9%

September figures (Source: Texas Workforce Commission, September 2026). August figures (Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics, August 2026, not seasonally adjusted). The statewide 4.4% rate is seasonally adjusted (Source: Texas Workforce Commission, September 2026) and these metro rates are not, so don't compare them directly.

Houston's rate fell the most between the August and September readings shown in the table, though the two columns come from different agencies, so treat the month-to-month change as approximate. Its rate was 4.8% a year earlier (Source: Texas Workforce Commission via Houston Chronicle, September 2025), so September's reading beats last year's too.

There's a catch. Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast's latest jobs report showed Houston's private employers cutting jobs in September, with government hiring partly offsetting the losses, according to CW39. A falling rate doesn't automatically mean a hiring boom.

Austin remains the tightest market of the three, at 3.7% in September in the table above (Source: Texas Workforce Commission, September 2026).

Dallas: Small Percentage, Big Numbers

On percentages alone, DFW looks sluggish. TWC's metro tables show it adding 36,200 jobs over the year, or 0.8% (Source: Texas Workforce Commission, September 2026).

The federal count paints a bigger picture. BLS put DFW's over-the-year payroll gain at 43,900, first on its list of the largest metro increases in the country (Source: BLS Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment, September 2026).

No other metro added more.

The two agencies' estimates differ, and BLS's table puts the gain at 1.0% (Source: BLS Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment, September 2026). Either way, the lesson is scale.

DFW has 8,477,157 residents (Source: Census Bureau Population Estimates, 2025), compared with 2,620,945 in Austin (Source: Census Bureau Population Estimates, 2025). On a base that large, growth under 1% still means tens of thousands of new paychecks.

One caution on Austin. According to the Dallas Fed, Austin employment ticked down over the three months ending in September, so recent hiring has been softer than the unemployment rate suggests.

Matching the Metro to Your Line of Work

None of these releases publishes clean, current sector counts for each metro. Use this as a decision frame rather than a ranking.

• Healthcare: start with Houston. The Greater Houston Partnership forecast that health care would lead the region's 2026 gains with nearly 14,000 jobs (Source: Greater Houston Partnership forecast, December 2025). That figure is a December 2025 forecast, not a September result. Our Houston jobs guide has more sector detail.
• Corporate, finance or business services: start with DFW. Professional and business services lead statewide gains, and DFW posted the largest absolute job gain of the three metros. See our look at DFW corporate HQ relocations.
• Tech: Austin, with eyes open. Austin's low unemployment rate means fewer unemployed people competing for roles, but the information sector lost jobs statewide and Austin hiring has cooled recently. Our Austin tech jobs report covers where AI and semiconductor hiring is concentrated.

Unemployment Rate vs. Job Growth

These two numbers answer different questions.

The unemployment rate tells you how crowded the applicant pool is, though a low rate alone doesn't make a job easier to land. Houston's falling rate means slack is being absorbed, though each opening may still draw more applicants.

Job growth tells you how many new seats are being added, though new jobs aren't the same as open positions.

Then check what you'll pay to live there. HUD's two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is $1,497 in Houston (Source: HUD Fair Market Rents, FY2027), $1,807 in DFW (Source: HUD Fair Market Rents, FY2027) and $1,817 in Austin (Source: HUD Fair Market Rents, FY2027). Our Dallas vs Houston cost-of-living comparison goes deeper.

Re-Check the Numbers on Nov. 20

TWC's next labor market release is scheduled for Nov. 20, 2026 (Source: Texas Workforce Commission, October 16, 2026 release). Monthly metro rates move around, so confirm these figures then.

If you're job hunting now, DFW has added the most jobs in absolute terms, so it may offer more openings. Watch Houston's falling unemployment rate too, keeping in mind that Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast reported private-sector job losses there in September. Then check the Nov. 20 tables before you commit to a lease.