About Houston

Houston ( (listen); HEW-stən) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in 2020. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the seat and largest city of Harris County and the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, which is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the second-most populous in Texas after Dallas–Fort Worth. Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle.Comprising a land area of 640.4 square miles (1,659 km2), Houston is the ninth-most expansive city in the United States (including consolidated city-counties). It is the largest city in the United States by total area whose government is not consolidated with a county, parish, or borough. Though primarily in Harris County, small portions of the city extend into Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, bordering other principal communities of Greater Houston such as Sugar Land and The Woodlands. The city of Houston was founded by land investors on August 30, 1836, at the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou (a point now known as Allen's Landing) and incorporated as a city on June 5, 1837. The city is named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had won Texas's independence from Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto 25 miles (40 km) east of Allen's Landing. After briefly serving as the capital of the Texas Republic in the late 1830s, Houston grew steadily into a regional trading center for the remainder of the 19th century.The arrival of the 20th century brought a convergence of economic factors that fueled rapid growth in Houston, including a burgeoning port and railroad industry, the decline of Galveston as Texas's primary port following a devastating 1900 hurricane, the subsequent construction of the Houston Ship Channel, and the Texas oil boom. In the mid-20th century, Houston's economy diversified, as it became home to the Texas Medical Center—the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions—and NASA's Johnson Space Center, home to the Mission Control Center. Since the late 19th century Houston's economy has had a broad industrial base, in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics, and transportation.

Things To Do in Houston

starstarstarstarstar

4.7 (8455)

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

starstarstarstarstar

4.8 (21632)

Houston Museum of Natural Science

starstarstarstarstar

4.1 (18810)

Downtown Aquarium

starstarstarstarstar

4.7 (2987)

Houston Arboretum & Nature Center

starstarstarstarstar

4.7 (4590)

Buffalo Bayou Park

starstarstarstarstar

4.6 (32815)

Houston Zoo

starstarstarstarstar

4.7 (23305)

Hermann Park

starstarstarstarstar

4.7 (953)

Waterwall

starstarstarstarstar

4.5 (931)

Art Car Museum

starstarstarstarstar

4.6 (1656)

Holocaust Museum Houston

starstarstarstarstar

4.5 (719)

Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens

starstarstarstarstar

4.7 (17900)

Discovery Green

starstarstarstarstar

4.7 (3008)

The Menil Collection

starstarstarstarstar

4.7 (6650)

Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park

starstarstarstarstar

4.5 (2426)

Market Square Park

starstarstarstarstar

4.6 (36224)

Space Center Houston

starstarstarstarstar

4.5 (1517)

Sam Houston Park

starstarstarstarstar

4.8 (1080)

Cockrell Butterfly Center

starstarstarstarstar

4.3 (1854)

The Health Museum

starstarstarstarstar

4.8 (1112)

National Museum of Funeral History