Understanding Houston recently updated its Civic Engagement topic with the latest available data on how Greater Houston residents connect with one another, participate in civic life, vote, volunteer, and give. Here are five findings that stand out.
Civic engagement is how people take part in the life of their community. It takes many forms. It can mean voting in an election, volunteering at a neighborhood organization, donating to a cause, contacting an elected official, or simply building relationships with the people around us. Taken together, these activities help shape how connected people are to their communities and how they participate in improving them.
The latest data from Understanding Houston paints a complicated picture of civic engagement across Houston’s three-county region of Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery counties. Voter registration remains high, early voting has become the norm, and thousands of nonprofit organizations serve communities across the region.
The findings also reveal opportunities to strengthen participation and connection. Fewer Greater Houston residents are volunteering or donating to charity than several years ago, voter turnout continues to lag the nation, and only a tiny fraction of residents contact their elected officials. The greater Houston region also has fewer civic and social organizations per capita than Texas and the nation. Together, these findings show where Houston can build on its civic strengths and where there is room for broader engagement in areas that have seen uneven participation or decline.
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Five Findings from the Latest Data
We collected and analyzed the most recent data on our three-county region from the Texas Secretary of State, the Current Population Survey, County Health Rankings, and IRS tax filings to help Houstonians understand Greater Houston’s civic engagement landscape. Here are five key insights from the latest data that tell the story.
1. Houston voter registration is high, but voter turnout tells a different story.
Voter registration is one of the region’s clearest strengths.
In Fort Bend County, 92% of eligible citizens are registered to vote, as are 91% in Montgomery County and 90% in Harris County. Each of Houston’s three largest counties has a higher registration rate than both Texas and the nation.
Registering, however, does not necessarily translate into voting.
In the 2024 presidential election, 65% of registered voters in Fort Bend County cast a ballot, compared with 58% in Harris County and 68% in Montgomery County. Voting rates in each county declined from the unusually high participation seen in 2020, falling nine percentage points in Fort Bend, eight in Harris, and six in Montgomery in 2024.
That gap between registration and participation is an important distinction. Houston has been relatively successful at getting eligible residents registered. The data show there is still substantial room for more registered voters to actually cast a ballot.
Explore voter registration and turnout data across Houston’s three-county region on Understanding Houston.
2. Early voting in Houston is firmly established as the way many voters cast their ballots.
How Houstonians vote has also changed.
For every November election since at least 2008, more than half of all votes in Houston’s three-county region were cast during the early-voting period. Between 2008 and 2024, early voting in presidential elections increased 8 percentage points in Fort Bend, 17 points in Harris, and 16 points in Montgomery counties. Early voting reached a high during the 2020 election before returning to lower levels in 2024. Despite this dip, 80% of Houston-area voters still cast their ballots early during the 2024 presidential election. Houstonians and Texans remain more likely to vote early than the average American.
Research cited by Understanding Houston indicates that early voting can increase turnout, particularly among women and working-age voters, by providing more time and flexibility to vote.
However, despite the popularity of early voting in Houston, the data shows that a significant share of eligible voters does not participate at all.
See how early voting in Houston has changed over time.
3. Civic engagement between elections, such as contacting public officials, is much less common.
Voting is only one statistic that demonstrates how residents participate in civic life. Another is communicating directly with the people elected to represent them. On that measure, participation is relatively rare in Houston.
In 2017, nearly 7% of Houston-area residents contacted a public official at least once during the year. By 2023, the latest year of available data, that share had fallen to fewer than 4%, compared with 5% of Texans and 8% of Americans.
Why does contacting a public official matter? Civic participation does not end after an election. Contacting public officials gives residents a way to communicate their priorities and perspectives on policies affecting their communities.
This drop in contacting officials adds another dimension to Houston’s registration-turnout gap. While voter registration in the region is high, participation in the other ways residents can make their voices heard tends to be low.
Explore the underlying feelings of connection and trust that support participation in civic life.
4. Houston volunteer rates and charitable giving have dropped.
Some of the largest changes in the updated civic engagement data are happening outside the voting booth.
In 2023, about 22% of adults in the Houston metro area reported volunteering during the previous year. That is below both the volunteer rates overall in Texas, at 27%, and the nation, at 28%. More notably, Houston’s volunteer rate has fallen nine percentage points since 2017, when nearly one-third of Houston-area adults reported volunteering. For comparison, state and national volunteering rates declined by only one or two percentage points during the same period.
There is an encouraging detail within those numbers: among Houston-area residents who do volunteer, about two-thirds reported volunteering at least once a month in 2023. The frequency of volunteering also began to tick back up that year after declines in 2019 and 2021.
Charitable giving has fallen as well.
In 2017, 51% of Houston-area residents reported donating at least $25 to a charitable organization. By 2023, that share had fallen to 37%, a decline of nearly 15 percentage points. During the same period, the Texas giving rate fell six percentage points and the national rate four points. In 2017, Houstonians were more likely to report donating than Texans overall. By 2023, that relationship had reversed.
The amount reported in charitable deductions has also declined. Residents of Houston’s three-county region reported nearly $5.3 billion in charitable giving in the 2023 tax year, down from $8.1 billion in 2017 (adjusted for inflation). That decline requires some context: 2017 was the year Hurricane Harvey hit the region (along with three other national major disaster declarations), and a 2018 change in federal tax law also affected incentives to itemize charitable donations.
More recent data from Giving USA shows that while individual giving remains the largest source of U.S. charitable donations, at $394.2 billion in 2025, other sources are growing faster, like bequests which rose 17% in one year alone. As funding sources shift, our region and communities nationwide must pay attention not only to dollars donated, but also to participation in giving back. These trends underscore the growing importance of community foundations as connectors and conveners, bringing donors, residents, nonprofits, and civic institutions into conversation.
Still, the broader participation measures tell a notable story. Fewer Houston-area residents report volunteering or making charitable donations than they did several years ago, and these declines have been steeper locally than nationally.
Dig into the latest data on charitable giving and volunteering in Houston.
5. Houston has thousands of nonprofits, but social connections show strain.
Houston’s civic infrastructure is substantial.
Nearly 25,600 public charities serve the three-county region, including approximately 18,800 in Harris County, 4,000 in Fort Bend County, and 2,700 in Montgomery County. This count includes organizations with IRS tax status 501(c)3, but excludes private foundations, hospitals, and universities. This is a robust number, but when population is taken into account, the region has fewer public charities per 10,000 residents than Texas and the nation.
A similar pattern emerges when looking more broadly at civic and social organizations, including civic, political, religious, sports, and professional organizations. In 2023, there were 4.8 such organizations per 10,000 residents in Fort Bend County and 5.5 in both Harris and Montgomery counties, compared with 7.3 in Texas and 9.1 nationally.
Other measures offer another window into how connected Houstonians feel.
In 2022, about one-third of Houston-area adults reported feeling lonely at least some of the time, a level similar to Texas and the nation. About three in 10 residents also reported not always getting the social and emotional support they need: 29% in Fort Bend County, 30% in Harris County, and 27% in Montgomery County. These levels were similar to Texas overall but higher than the national rate of 24%.
These measures do not capture all the ways people build community. But together, they provide important context for understanding the conditions in which civic participation occurs.
Explore the latest data on social connectedness in Houston.
2026 U.S. Midterm Election in Greater Houston: Preliminary Findings
Americans went to the polls this week for the General Midterm Elections. While ballots are still being certified as official, there is significant preliminary data that show voters went to the polls at significantly higher rates than typical for midterm elections in the greater Houston region.
The number of registered voters continues to climb, typically a result of population growth. More than 3.8 million people in Houston’s three-county region were registered to vote during the 2026 midterms, which is about 10% higher than in the last midterm elections in 2022. The greatest increases were in Montgomery County (19% increase) and Fort Bend County (13%), with an 8% increase in Harris County.
Houston-area voters continue to take advantage of the early voting period.
Preliminary data shows that the percentage of votes cast during the two-week early period reached a peak in 2026 compared to the last four midterm elections. Early voting was most popular among residents in Fort Bend County (81%), but 78% of voters in Harris and 74% of voters in Montgomery counties also voted early. These rates are higher by six percentage points in the suburban counties and nine points higher in Harris County compared to the 2022 midterms.
Finally, preliminary data show big increases in local voter turnout compared to the 2022 Midterms.
A majority of registered voters in each county cast a ballot in the 2026 midterms, the highest showing since the 2018 midterm elections. In this week’s midterm elections, voter turnout exceeded 57% in Fort Bend, 50% in Harris, and 53% in Montgomery counties. These turnout rates were higher than in 2022 by 8–9 percentage points in Fort Bend and Harris counties, but relatively lower in Montgomery County at 3%.
The official voter page on Understanding Houston will be updated as data from the U.S. Midterm Elections is finalized and made official.
Civic Engagement Beyond the Polls
Civic engagement grows when people understand their community, feel connected to it, and see a role for themselves in shaping its future. Whether you lead a nonprofit, want to share philanthropic values with younger generations, or seek to make informed giving decisions, the following actions offer practical ways to get involved.
- Turn data into community conversations. Use Understanding Houston to make issues affecting Greater Houston easier to understand and discuss.
- Community leaders: Pair regional data with resident perspectives to explain the issue your organization addresses. Give prospective funders a concrete next step.
- Funders: Use regional data to inform your giving priorities and funding decisions.
- Not a data expert? Subscribe to Understanding Houston’s newsletter for timely data presented in a clear, concise format.
- Build connections through shared experiences.
- Community leaders: Create opportunities for people to participate together and stay involved beyond a grant recommendation. Include donor advised fund holders in these experiences, recognizing the growing role of donor advised funds in charitable giving.
- Funders: Talk with loved ones about how you want to contribute your time, treasure, talent, and ties. Treat giving as more than a transaction—it is a way to show up for your community.
- Stay updated on the latest philanthropic news in Greater Houston by subscribing to Greater Houston Community Foundation’s Insights newsletter.
- Involve younger generations early.
- Community leaders: Help families involve children and grandchildren in charitable decisions, nonprofit visits, volunteering, and conversations about Greater Houston. Connect succession planning with civic participation rather than treating them as separate efforts.
- Funders: Connect your giving legacy to your community’s future. Share why giving back matters to your family, and look beyond finances by asking, “What do you want Greater Houston to look like in 30 years?”
What the Data Tell Us About Civic Engagement in Houston
There is no single measure that tells us whether a community is civically engaged. Voting, volunteering, giving, contacting elected officials, joining organizations, and maintaining strong social connections capture different dimensions of civic life.
Looking across those measures reveals a region with considerable civic capacity alongside meaningful participation gaps. The latest data suggest that one of Houston’s civic challenges is not simply whether opportunities to participate exist. It is how broadly residents are connected to and participating in civic life.
Understanding patterns in our region’s civic engagement level extends well beyond Election Day. It includes the relationships people build, the organizations they support, the communities they serve, and the ways they make their voices heard.
Explore Understanding Houston’s updated Civic Engagement topic to dig into the data on voter and non-electoral participation, philanthropy and volunteering, and social connectedness across Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties.