In fact, we scored behind only San Francisco and Boston.
But it took no measure of a few factors we think should have been accounted for.
First, there’s a problem with Forbes’s blithe, old-fashioned assertion that a multitude of young unmarried people equates to a lively nightlife. They didn’t take into account the astounding fact that somehow, despite years of abstinence-only education, great multitudes of young Houstonians somehow still figure out how to make babies. Even without getting hitched first!
But then again, this being Forbes, they probably calculated the costs of babysitters and 24-hour-daycare centers and factored in to Houston’s thriving nocturnal economy.
Or maybe they were crass and chauvinistic enough to believe that a high number of single mothers equals a bustling strip club scene.
Second, (and Forbes did mention this) Houston’s elite young professionals are over-concentrated in a few industries, such as engineering, medicine, and oil and gas exploration and well, engineering, medicine, and oil and gas exploration. On the other hand, we are not drawing in enough fresh talent in other fields of endeavor, like professional baseball players .
Nevertheless, even though it’s hard to get too exited about a poll that has us ranked only six notches above freakin’ Detroit, well-done Houston.
-- John Nova Lomax