On March 23, 2011, Carr was traded to the Houston Dynamo in exchange for Dominic Oduro. He made his Dynamo debut on August 17, 2011, coming on as a substitute in a 1–1 draw with the New England Revolution. During the game, Carr wore a protective helmet for the first time, something he would do throughout the rest of his career. On September 14, he came off the bench and scored in the 86th minute to give Houston a 2–2 draw with the Columbus Crew. He ended the regular season with 1 goal from 9 appearances, 4 of them being starts. In Houston's opening game of the playoffs, Carr scored to help the Dynamo to a 2–1 win over the Philadelphia Union. Carr would start the second leg of the Conference Semifinals as Houston beat the Union 1–0 to advance. He got the start in the Conference Finals as well, helping the Dynamo beat Sporting Kansas City 2–0 to advance to MLS Cup 2011, where Carr and the Dynamo would lose to the Los Angeles Galaxy 1–0.