I'll allow a truce. :) I was hanging out with Rice sociologist Dr. Michael Emerson this morning so the topic is near and dear to my heart! FWIW they're all very close right now, and the biggest surprise is that Houston is so diverse--it has undergone the most rapid transformation of any large city in America in the last 3 decades, which means it's on track for rapidly outpacing the others in ethnic diversity (there were few Hispanics and Asians here when I was born, and now there are huge numbers).
Houston has the advantages of affordable property, more jobs for a wider range of backgrounds and few limits to development. It seems natural that new immigrants not specifically involved in the software industry would choose Houston over Silicon Valley. Especially if they already know they can take the humidity.
The cost of housing alone. An equivalent to my large house in a leafy suburb of Houston is absolutely unaffordable to me now I live in the Bay Area. Personally I prefer my overall lifestyle and standard of living here, but it's bloody pricey!
Prices (in SF, anyway) have also increased dramatically since I left the area in 2009. I got paid more and paid less for rent when I moved to NYC, which didn't make sense to me, either.
