Texas is surviving the recession better than most states and "Houston is arguably America’s most enthusiastically cosmopolitan city, a place where the future has already arrived," according to a special report on the state in last month’s Economist. It also says Houston is on track replace Chicago as the 3rd largest city in the US by the next census. The statistics aren’t all cheery, however; the education level of Texas’ workforce ranks 41st in the nation and the state has the third-highest poverty rate in the country.
