One of the U.S. industries slowly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic is the construction business. Three Texas cities have been included in the five top where the demand for construction workers is highest.

Based on an opportunity, demand, pay and cost of living, the data gathered by the Census Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that working in the construction industry in the cities of Austin, Dallas, and Houston is best.

“Just 96,000 building permits were issued in April 2020 — a five-year low,” Thomas O'Shaughnessy stated in his article in BUILDER Online. “In contrast, an average of 135,500 building permits per month were issued in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2021.”

The most ideal Texas city so far for working in the construction industry is in Dallas. They issued the most building permits of any large city in February. They have a 4:1 worker-to-permit ratio and the cost of living is below average, according to Industrial Paint and Protection Magazine.

Houston followed Dallas because they issued the second-highest number of building permits, along with a modest cost of living and higher wages than Dallas and Austin.

Austin, the third Texas city, came in No. 4 behind Minneapolis. They issued the third-highest number of building permits in February 2021. The city also has a large shortage of construction workers available making it one of the best cities to come to for a construction job.