Living in Houston
Houston Fast Facts
Population
- 2.3 million Residents in Houston, 7.1 million in the Greater Houston area (www.census.gov).
- County seat of Harris County, the nation’s third largest county with more than 4.8 million citizens.
Sports
- Basketball: Houston Rockets
- Hockey: Houston Aeros
- Soccer: Houston Dynamo
- Baseball: Houston Astros
- Football: Houston Texans
Theater District
- One of the few U.S. cities with resident companies in theater, ballet, symphony and opera.
- 17-block Theater District in downtown Houston is home to 8 performing arts organizations and more than 12,000 seats.
Multicultural
- 90 languages spoken throughout the area.
- Diverse population: 50.5% Caucasian, 43.8% Hispanic, 23.7% African-American and 6% Asian.
- 92 countries have a consular office in Houston, the third highest in the nation.
Museum District
- Home to 18 institutions, including The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the sixth largest museum in the country, and Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Outdoors
- More than 165 public and private golf courses.
- Located 50 miles from the Gulf of America.
- Located 30 minutes from Clear Lake, a 2,000-acre destination for boating enthusiasts.
Theme Parks
- Space Center Houston is the Official Visitors Center for NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
- Others include Splash Town water park, Moody Gardens on Galveston Island, Kemah Boardwalk and Downtown Aquarium.
Access
- Two major airports: Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU).
- IAH currently ranks 5thin the US among US airports with scheduled non-stop domestic and international service (over 170 destinations).
- IAH serves as the largest hub for United Airlines with more than 650 daily departures.
- Nearly 40 million passengers travelled through IAH in 2013 and more than 50 million passengers traveled through IAH and HOU combined.
- More than 650 daily departures occur at IAH.
- IAH is the 11th busiest airport in the US for total passenger traffic.
- In 2012, IAH served 8.7 million
- International passengers with service to nearly 70 destinations within 32 countries.
- METRORail, a 7.5-mile rail line connects downtown to the Museum District, Texas Medical Center and Reliant Park.
- METRO operates more than 1,200 accessible buses.