Houston is faring much better than other metros areas following the recession, and part of the reason can be found in the booming energy sector, according to The Atlantic.

Patrick Jankowski, an economist and vice president of research at the Greater Houston Partnership, told The Atlantic that the energy sector's older workforce may have buoyed the city through the worst of the recession.

"Houston's energy demographics 'helped to moderate industry job losses,' leading to fewer job losses overall," The Atlantic wrote.

Area companies were worried about letting skilled workers go during the recession due to a dearth of skilled labor. As a result, the Houston region lost one out of 22 jobs during the most recent financial crisis.

To put that into perspective, the region lost one out of seven jobs during the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo.

Houston's rise to the top isn't all about jobs and energy.

The Bayou City skirted a more severe housing bubble that crippled other large metros areas. The area avoided a bubble by tightening lending and scaling back development in the early years of the crisis, according to The Atlantic.

Houston also might have learned from past experiences.

Instead of relying solely on the energy industry, the Bayou City has diversified its economy over the past few decades, allowing it to be better prepared than some cities for a financial crisis, according to a 2012 economic report.

So when the economy started to recover, Houston was in a prime spot to rebound faster than most cities, and it has shown steady improvement since.

Of course, it probably didn't hurt that the domestic energy production has surged since the economic collapse, pumping more money into Houston's energy hub.