houston facts :: how many do you know?

HOUSTONFACTSAbout the Greater Houston PartnershipThe mission of the Greater Houston Partnership is to make Houston one of the world’s best places to live, work, and build a business. The Partnership works to make Houston greater by promoting economic development, foreign trade and investment, and by advocating for efficient and effective government that supports, rather than impedes, business growth. The Partnership also convenes key stakeholders to solve the region’s most pressing issues.

The Partnership was formed in 1989 in a merger of the Greater Houston Chamber of Commerce, the Houston Economic Development Council and the Houston World Trade Association. Today, the Partnership serves the 11-county greater Houston region and represents a member roster of some 1,000 businesses and institutions. Members of the Partnership account for one-fifth of all jobs in Houston. They engage in various committees and task forces to work toward our goal of making Houston greater.

© 2016 Greater Houston Partnership

Data in Houston Facts 2016 are current as of June 2016 unless otherwise noted. Every effort was made to revise data to reflect the nine-county Houston MSA; however, in a few instances, data is reported for the former 10-county MSA.

Houston Facts is a registered trademark of the Greater Houston Partnership.

Photos courtesy of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau and Port of Houston Authority. Cover Photo by Josh Pherigo.

Houston Facts 2016 was compiled by the research team of the Greater Houston Partnership, including Josh Davis, Allegra Ellis, Patrick Jankowski, Roel Gabe Martinez, Josh Pherigo, and Jenny Philip with assistance from our interns Feyisara Onadiji and Gregory Wu. It was designed by Suzanne Morgan.

TA B L E O F C O NTE NT SINTRODUCTION 2The Houston Region: The Facts Speak for Themselves .. 2

REGION IN PERSPECTIVE 3Area 3 People 3 Economy 3

GEOGRAPHY 4

DEMOGRAPHICS 5Population 5 Income 9 Weekly Wage 9

HOUSTON ECONOMY 11Corporate Economy 13 Employment 14 International Bus

iness 14

INDUSTRIES 15Aerospace 15 Banking 15 Wholesale and Retail Trade

16 Construction and Real Estate 16 Energy 17 Engineerin

g 18 Health Care 19 Texas Medical Center 19 Manufact

uring 20

GOVERNMENT 21City of Houston 21 Counties 21 State Government 22 Un

ited States Congress 22 Council of Governments 22 Taxa

tion 23 Public Safety 23

EDUCATION 24Schools 24 Libraries 25 Colleges and Universities 25

INFRASTRUCTURE 26Public Utilities 26 Land Transportation 27 Ports 28 Air Tr

ansportation 30

COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA 31Digital 31 Broadcast 31 Print 31

ENVIRONMENT 32Water 32 Clean Air 32 City of Houston’s Green Transport

ation Initiative 33 Renewable Energy 33

LIFE IN HOUSTON 34Cost of Living 34 Weather 35 Lodging 36 Dining 36 Con

vention and Sports Facilities 37 Major Events and Conven

tions 38 Golf 38 Racing 38 Biking and Hiking 39 Arts

and Culture 39 Parks 43

HISTORY 46

I N T R O D UC T IO N

T H E H OU S TO N R EGI O N : T H E FA C T S S P E A K F O R T H E M S E LV E S

Houston Facts has presented unvarnished information about the Houston region since 1959, and its predecessor publications — under different names, but with the same objective — date to 1906. Over the decades, Houston Facts has grown well beyond its original four pages so that we could expand the range and depth of its coverage, bringing you more information about parks, museums, schools, living costs, the regional economy and a host of other topics. It has evolved into a concise almanac for the Houston region. Corporate planners, market analysts, students, relocation and site selection consultants, real estate professionals, government agencies and myriad others turn to it for authoritative information on this region.

Of course, we believe the Houston region is one of the nation’s most attractive major metropolitan areas — an outstanding place to live, work, and build a business. We’d like you to share that view. But we won’t try to persuade you. The facts need no embellishment. They speak for themselves.

HOUSTON FAC TS .THE TITLE SAYS MUCH ABOUT TH I S PU B L I C ATI ON . NO S PI N . N O FR I L L S . N O H Y P E R B O L E . J US T PAG E A F TE R PAG E OF S TR AI G HTF ORWAR D I N F OR MATI ON F R OM M OR E TH A N 300 S OU R C E S TO A N S W E R Q U E S TI O N S M OS T FR E Q U E NTLY A S K E D A B OUT TH E H OUS TO N R E G I O N .

You may find in these pages facts that alter your image of Houston. For example:• If Houston were a country, it would rank as the

26th largest economy in the world—exceeding Norway and Belgium’s GDP.

• The Houston region has no racial or ethnic majority.

• The Port of Houston ranks first in U.S. foreign tonnage.

• Living costs in the Houston region are25.9 percent below the average for major metropolitan areas.

• Parks represent 14.3 percent of the city’s land area.

2 Houston Facts | 2016

R E G IO N I N P E R S P E C T IVE

A RE A• The nine-county Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) covers 9,444 square miles – an area larger than eight states, including Vermont, New Jersey and Hawaii.

• Harris County covers 1,778 square miles – enough space to fit New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Austin and Dallas, with room still to spare.

• At 655 square miles, the city limits of Houston is larger than six European countries, ranking just below Luxembourg and above Malta.

PEO PL E• The Houston MSA had a population of 6,656,947

residents as of July 1, 2015, according to estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. If metro Houston were a state, it would have the 18th largest population in the U.S., behind Tennessee (6,600,299) and ahead of Missouri (6,083,672) and Maryland (6,006,401).

• Harris County had a population of 4,538,028 residents as of July 1, 2015, according to estimates by theU.S. Census Bureau. If Harris County were a state, it would have the 26th largest population in the U.S., behind Louisiana (4,670,724) and ahead of Kentucky (4,425,092) and Oregon (4,028,977).

• The city of Houston had a population of 2,296,224 residents as of July 1, 2015, according to estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. If the city were a state, it would rank 37th in population in the U.S., behind Nevada (2,890,845) and ahead of New Mexico (2,085,109).

• Among the nation’s metropolitan areas, the Houston MSA in 2014 ranked fourth in number of Hispanics (2,356,245), seventh in number of Blacks (1,063,017) and seventh in number of Asians (473,582), according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

EC O N O M Y• The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated the

Houston MSA GDP at $525.4 billion in 2014. If Houston were a state, it would rank 9th, after New Jersey ($549.1 billion) and ahead of North Carolina ($483.1 billion).

• If the MSA were an independent nation, it would rank as the world’s 26th largest economy, behind Belgium ($527.8 billion), but ahead of Norway ($511.6 billion).

• In 2015, the Houston Association of Realtors® Multiple Listing Service recorded closings on 89,243 properties (includes single-family homes, townhomes, condos, high rises, etc.) – an average of one every 5.9 minutes.

• In 2015, Houston MSA automobile dealers sold 376,481 new cars, trucks and SUVs – an average of one every1.4 minutes.

• In 2015, the Houston Airport System handled 55,147,650 passengers – an average of 6,295 passengers per hour around the clock.

• In 2015, the City of Houston issued building permits for construction valued at $8.2 billion – an average of $260 per second.

Greater Houston Partnership 3

GE O GR A P H Y

• The city of Houston lies in three counties: Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery. Harris County contains the bulk of the city of Houston with small portions of the city lying in Fort Bend and Montgomery counties.

• Houston is the county seat, or administrative center, of Harris County.

• Harris County contains all or part of 34 incorporated cities.

• The Houston MSA includes 124 incorporated communities.

• Metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas (MSA) are geographic delineations defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for use by federal statistical agencies in collecting, tabulating, and publishing federal statistics. These geographic delineations change over time.

2009 Delineation for the Houston region:• Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan Statistical

Area (MSA) contains 10 counties: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, San Jacinto and Waller.

2013 Delineation for the Houston region:• Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Metropolitan

Statistical Area (MSA) contains nine counties: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller.

The longer titles are shortened to “Houston MSA” in Houston Facts.

Liberty3-243 feet

Chambers0-82 feet

Fort Bend46-158 feet

Galveston0-40 feet

Brazoria0-146 feet

Harris0-310 feet

HOUSTON

Austin70-463 feet

Montgomery50-430 feet

Waller100-

350 feet

HOUSTON MSA9,444 square miles

HARRIS COUNTY 1,778 square miles

HOUSTON 655 square miles


D E M O G R A P H ICS

P OP U L AT I ON • Houston, the fourth most populous U.S. city (estimated

at 2,296,224 on July 1, 2015), is the largest city in the South and Southwest. The city of Houston had the second largest numeric increase (40,032) of any U.S. city from July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2015.

• Harris County (estimated at 4,538,028 on July 1, 2015) is the third most populous U.S. county. Among allU.S. counties, Harris County had the highest numeric population increase from July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2015— gaining 90,451 new residents.

• Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land MSA (estimated at 6,656,947 on July 1, 2015) ranks 5th in population among the nation’s metropolitan areas. The Houston MSA had the largest numeric increase (159,083) in population of any U.S. metro from July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2015, a 2.4 percent increase.

• Of the Houston MSA’s 1,498,072 foreign-born residents,1.5 percent, or 202,443, entered the U.S. since 2010.

• Top regions of birth for the Houston MSA’s foreign-born are: Latin America (63.9 percent), Asia (25.2 percent),Europe (4.6 percent), Africa (5.1 percent), Canada (0.8 percent) and Oceania (0.3 percent).

DECENNIAL CENSUS POPULATION TOTALS

Year Houston MSA Harris County City of Houston

2010 5,920,416 4,092,459 2,099,451

2000 4,693,161 3,400,578 1,953,631

1990 3,750,411 2,818,199 1,630,553

1980 3,135,806 2,409,544 1,595,138

1970 2,195,146 1,741,912 1,233,505

1960 1,594,894 1,243,158 938,219

1950 1,083,100 806,701 596,163

1940 752,937 528,961 384,514

1930 545,547 359,328 292,352

1920 348,661 186,667 138,276

1910 252,066 115,693 78,800

1900 202,438 63,786 44,633

1890 137,800 37,249 27,557

1880 112,053 27,985 16,513

1870 80,866 17,375 9,332

1860 55,317 9,070 4,845

1850 27,984 4,668 2,396

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census; Texas Almanac

5Greater Houston Partnership

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2014 American Community Survey, 1-Year Estimates

AGE DISTRIBUTIONHouston MSA

15.1%

7.4%

22.2%

7%

14.3%13.1%

11.1%

8.8%

1%

Under 5 years

25 to 34 years55 to 64 years

5 to 19 years35 to 44 years65 to 84 years

20 to 24 years45 to 54 years85 years & over

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census; Texas Almanac

HISTORIC POPULATIONHouston MSA by Decade

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

1850 27,984

1860 55,317

1870 80,866

1880 112,053137,800

202,438

252,066

348,661

545,547

752,937

1,083,100

1,594,894

2,195,146

3,135,806

3,750,411

4,693,161

5,920,416


POPULATION, AGE , HOUSEHOLDS, FOREIGN BORN By County

Geography Population*Median Age**

(In Years)

Total Households**

Average Persons Per Household

Foreign-born Estimate**

Percent Of Total Population Foreign-born

Houston MSA 6,656,947 34.0 2,255,638 3.04 1,394,068 20.9%

Austin County 29,563 41.5 10,786 2.63 2,720 9.2%

Brazoria County 346,312 35.5 109,817 2.99 41,426 12.0%

Chambers County 38,863 35.5 12,551 2.92 3,016 7.8%

Fort Bend County 716,087 35.6 198,316 3.20 163,632 22.9%

Galveston County 322,225 37.5 111,953 2.76 29,818 9.3%

Harris County 4,538,028 32.9 1,462,002 3.07 1,078,262 23.8%

Liberty County 79,654 36.7 168,279 2.87 5,834 7.3%

Montgomery County 537,559 36.6 168,279 2.96 63,219 11.8%

Waller County 48,656 30.5 13,655 2.94 6,141 12.6%

Sources: *U.S. Bureau of the Census, Population Division, 2015 Population Estimates**U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2010-2014 American Community Survey, 5-Year Estimates

HISPANIC/NON-HISPANIC POPULATIONHOUSTON MSA

White 2,452,709 37.79%

Black/African American 1,092,194 16.83%

American Indian/ Alaska Native 11,938 0.18%

Asian 471,037 7.26%

Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander 3,654 0.06%

Some Other Race 11,801 0.18%

Two or More Races 90,602 1.40%

TOTAL 4,133,935 63.70%

Race/Ethnicity Hispanic

White 1,820,687 28.05%

Black/African American 26,627 0.41%

American Indian/ Alaska Native 12,935 0.20%

Asian 2,545 0.04%

Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander 304 0.01%

Some Other Race 442,927 6.82%

Two or More Races 50,220 0.77%

TOTAL 2,356,245 36.30%


RACE AND ETHNICITYHouston MSA

Anglo Hispanic

Asian Other

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census,

2014 American Community Survey, 1-Year Estimates

Black/African American

Race/Ethnicity Non-hispanic

38%

2%

7%

36%

17%


COMPONENTS OF POPULATION CHANGE (’10 -’15)By County and Houston MSA

Geography Population 1-Jul-15

Net Domestic Migration

Net International Migration

Births DeathsTotal Population

Change (’10-’15)

Houston MSA 6,656,947 255,205 172,955 494,164 187,291 736,005

Austin County 29,563 656 173 1,769 1,407 703

Brazoria County 346,312 16,249 2,781 24,643 11,091 33,185

Chambers County 38,863 2,468 150 2,463 1,335 3,767

Fort Bend County 716,087 76,898 22,527 43,942 14,020 131,255

Galveston County 322,225 18,283 3,814 20,864 12,605 30,921

Harris County 4,538,028 81,490 134,746 357,198 124,765 444,952

Liberty County 79,654 1,882 270 5,577 3,792 4,008

Montgomery County 537,559 53,755 8,317 34,609 16,798 81,795

Waller County 48,656 3,524 177 3,099 1,478 5,419

Source: U.S. Bureau of the CensusNote: In some cases, the natural increase and the increase due to in-migration won’t sum to the change in population due to rounding errors and the Bureau’s use of

residual values in generating the estimates.

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTHouston MSA

Total Population Over Age 25 3,984,848

Bachelor’s Degree Associate DegreeGraduate or Professional Degree

19.8% 6.2%11.2%

High School Graduate or Higher

Bachelor’s Degree or Higher

Less than 9th grade

82% 31%

9.5%

High School Graduate or GED

9th to 12th Grade, No Diploma

Some College, No Degree

22.9% 8.5%21.9%



TOTAL WAGES AND SALARIESFour quarters total ending Q4/15 ($, millions)

Houston MSA $188,423.7Austin County $448.0Brazoria County $5,612.5Chambers County $723.3Fort Bend County $8,722.9Galveston County $4,736.5Harris County $158,135.6Liberty County $662.9Montgomery County $8,672.5Waller County $709.2

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages

I NC O ME Per Capita Personal Income• The nine-county Houston MSA pretax per capita

personal income (PCPI) in 2014 was $54,820 according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

• The Houston region’s PCPI was 15.1 percent above theU.S. average of $47,615 in 2014.

• PCPI increased 4.1 percent in the Houston MSA and 3.6 percent nationwide from 2013 to 2014.

Total Personal Income• Total personal income (TPI) in the nine-county Houston

MSA in 2014 was $355.79 billion, up 6.7 percentfrom 2013.

W EEK LY WA G E• Average weekly wage in the Houston MSA in the third

quarter of 2015 was $1,177 – 20.8 percent above theU.S. average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Self-employed workers were not included in the data.)


COMMUTING TO WORK - Houston MSA

Total Workers – Age 16 and Over 3,058,605Mean travel time to work 29.2 minutes

80.3%

10.7%

1.6%

0.3%

1.3%

3.4%

2.4%

Carpooled in Car, Truck or Van

Public Transportation

Drove Alone in Car, Truck or Van

WalkedBicycle

Other Means Worked at Home


OCCUPATIONSHouston MSA - Employed Persons Age 16 and Over

Total Civilian Employed Population 3,112,384

Installation, Maintenance, and Repair105,790

Transportation113,878

Material Moving73,661

Management314,792

Business and Financial Operations 164,429

Computer and Mathematical 75,134

Architecture and Engineering 95,448

Life, Physical,and Social Science36,060

Community and Social Services 38,967

Legal37,768

Education, Training, and Library 174,580

Arts, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 43,982

Health Diagnosing and Treating 111,083

Health Technologists and

Technicians55,788

Health Care Support58,767

Protective Service68,817

Food Preparation and Service 166,300

Building andGrounds Maintenance137,773

Personal Care and Service 96,206

Sales346,564

Ofice and Administrative Support 370,521Production185,490

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 6,096

Construction and Extraction234,490



H O U S TO N E C O N O M Y

As the energy capital of the world, Houston’s economic fortunes have long been exposed to the cyclical, boom- and-bust nature of its chief industry. Home to more than 4,800 energy companies, Houston derives nearly one-third of its GDP and 10 percent of its total employment from the energy sector. These strong ties mean that in boom times, Houston reaps the windfall.

Between January 2010 and December 2014, as advancementsindrilling technologyledtoanunprecedented surge in U.S. shale production, a thriving oil and gas

industry helped the Houston region create 505,000 new jobs, more than enough to replace the 156,000 jobs lost during the Great Recession. In June 2014, WTI topped off at$107.95/bbl, a record high. As energy profits soared, metro Houston’s 2014 GDP rose to an all-time high of $525.4 billion, an economic output greater than all but 25 countries in the world that year.

And then came the bust.

A global oil supply glut precipitated a collapse in crude prices starting in late 2014 that meant a difficult 2015 for the oil and gas industry. Over the course of the year, U.S. drilling permits fell 41.6 percent, the North American rig count fell 61.4 percent, and the price of crude fell 29.6 percent. The Houston energy sector eliminated 49,700 jobs from December 2014 to December 2015, about 16.6 percent of its workforce.

The widespread energy layoffs bled into real estate, where unused office space mounted as companies consolidated resources. Sublease space totaled between 8.7 and9.4 million square feet by the end of Q1/16. Eighty-three percent of the space is considered Class A space. The bulk of the sublease space can be found in the CBD, Energy Corridor, Galleria, Greenspoint and Westchase submarkets. Workforce reductions, mergers and acquisitions, cost cutting measures and downsizing will continue to dump sublease space on the market. The sublease market will likely exceed 10 million square feet by the end of ’16. The 10- year historical average is 3.8 million square feet, according to Transwestern.

POPULATION AND EMPLOYMENT FORECASTMetro Houston, Millions

3.1

6.5

3.5

7.0

3.8

7.6

4.1

8.2

4.4

8.9

4.7

9.6

2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040

Source: The Perryman Group

Employment Population


24826

Fortune 500

Fortune Global 500

Forbes Global 2000

HOUSTON-BASED COMPANIESRanked nationally and globally

Source: Fortune, Forbes

TOTAL NONFARM PAYROLL EMPLOYMENTMetro Houston, Millions

2.2

Jan ’05 Jan ’06

Jan ’07 Jan ’08 Jan ’09 Jan ’10 Jan ’11 Jan ’12

Jan ’13 Jan ’14 Jan ’15 Jan ’16

2.4

2.6

2.8

3.2

3.0

But despite the sustained downtown, Houston has fared much better than it did during the last big trough of the 1980s. Back then, oil comprised a much greater share of the local economy. Unlike the 1980s, Houston today boasts a diverse economy that has enabled the region to continue its growth despite the low crude prices.

Even with the deep cuts in energy employment, the region created 15,200 jobs in 2015. Strong population growth helped add jobs to service sectors such as retail, which added 4,300 jobs, restaurants, which added 18,900 jobs, and health care, which added 15,000 jobs. Driving that growth was a surge of new Houstonians. Between July 1, 2014 and July 1, 2015, Houston’s population grew by 160,000 people, leading all US metros. Among the new arrivals were 37,500 people born outside the U.S. and 61,800 transplants from other U.S. cities.

*Not Seasonally Adjusted Source: Texas Workforce Commission


EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRYHouston MSA 2015 Annual Average

139 4.65%

Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 55.4 1.85%

Professional and Business Services 471 15.76%

Educational Services 55.8 1.87%

Health Care and Social Assistance 312.2 10.44%

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation 31.6 1.06%

Accommodation and Food Services 269.4 9.01%

Other Services 106.8 3.57%

Government 381.4 12.76%

TOTAL 2,989 100.00%

Sum of Individual Sectors may not equal the total due to rounding. Source: Texas Workforce Commission, Employment Estimates

NOMINAL GROSS AREA PRODUCTHouston MSA, 2014

Industry Jobs (000) % of total Industry $Billions % of total

GOODS PRODUCING 565.6 18.92% ALL INDUSTRY TOTAL 525.4 100.0%

Mining and Logging 100.4 3.36% Agriculture 0.5 0.1%

Oil and Gas Extraction 52.9 1.77% Mining 101.1 19.2%

Support Activities for Mining 46.4 1.55% Construction 27.9 5.3%

Construction 218.3 7.30% Manufacturing 80.5 15.3%

Manufacturing 246.9 8.26% Durable good 28.8 5.5%

Durable Goods 165.5 5.54% Nondurable goods 51.7 9.8%

Nondurable Goods 81.5 1.52% Wholesale and retail trade* 61.6 11.7%

SERVICE PRODUCING 2,423.4 81.08% Transportation, 38.1

7.3%

Wholesale Trade 173 5.79% warehousing and utilities*

Retail Trade 299.7 10.03%Information* 10.72.0%

Transportation, Warehousing, Finance, insurance, real estate 62.7 11.9%

and UtilitiesProfessional and 64.412.3%

Information 32.2 1.08% business services

Finance and Insurance 95.9 3.21%Health care and education 23.44.5%

Leisure and hospitality 12.9 2.5%

Other services 9.8 1.9%

Government 31.8 6.1%

Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

Though continued low oil prices are expected to keep the energy industry stagnant in 2016, growth in other industries such as petrochemicals manufacturing, health care and retail could help pick up the slack. Wulfe & Co. projects 4.5 million square feet of new retail space will be completed and opened in Houston in 2016, a 33.4 percent increase over last year. Kroger, H-E-B, Walmart, Whole Foods and Aldi will dominate new construction, with 28 new stores opening among them. On-going population growth, the influence of a strong national economy, the need to catch up

with the recent single- and multi-family housing boom, and the evolution of the Grand Parkway is driving retail demand.

Though the breakneck growth Houston enjoyed in recent years is unlikely to return any time soon, the region’s increasingly diverse economy will continue to expand. Bolstered by robust population growth and the stability of its flourishing healthcare industry, Houston has never been more prepared to weather a prolonged downturn in the oil patch.

C OR P OR AT E EC ON O M YHouston, a major corporate center, ranks third amongU.S. metro areas in the number of corporate headquarters contained on the 2015 Fortune 500 list. Many other Fortune 500 firms maintain U.S. offices in Houston.• Of the world’s 100 largest non-U.S.-based corporations,

66 have a presence in Houston.• County Business Patterns shows that the Houston

MSA in 2014 had 132,729 business establishments with payroll.


Employment Size Number of Percent ofEstablishments Establishments

1,000+ 155 .12%

500-999 273 0.20%

250-499 825 0.64%

100-249 2,957 2.17%

50-99 4,881 3.58%

20-49 13,209 9.82%

10-19 17,396 12.99%

5-9 24,739 18.54%

1-4 68,654 51.94%

Source: County Business Patterns, 2014

LARGEST HOUSTON-AREA EMPLOYERS2016 - Number of Local Employees

Memorial Hermann Health System

24,000The University of Texas MD Anderson

20,000United Airlines

15,000Houston Methodist

14,985Exxon Mobil Corporation

13,000UTMB Health

12,448Kroger Company

12,000Shell Oil Company

11,892National Oilwell Varco

11,563Schlumberger Limited

10,000

Chevron

9,000Baylor College of Medicine

8,924ARAMARK Corp.

8,500Halliburton

8,000HCA

7,855Hewlett-Packard

7,500Macy's

7,000The Dow Chemical Company

7,000AT&T

6,900St. Luke's Health System

6,800Source: Greater Houston Partnership Database

E M P LOY M E N T• Total nonfarm employment in the Houston MSA stood at

2,995,100 in May 2016, up 5,100 from May 2015.• From May 2015 to May 2016, local nonfarm employment

in the Houston MSA rose 0.2 percent.

Houston MSA unemployment in February 2016 was4.8 percent, versus a national unemployment rate of4.5 percent. The rates are not seasonally adjusted.

I N T E R N AT I O N A L BU S I N E S SHouston, a global trade hub, consistently ranks among the top three U.S. cities in the number of foreign consulates.

It is the base of operations for the international oil and gas exploration and production industry and for many of the nation’s largest international engineering and construction firms.• A key center for international finance, Houston leads the

Southwest with 19 foreign banks from 9 nations.• Ninety-one nations have consular representation in the

city, ranking Houston’s consular corps third largest in the nation.

• Fourteen foreign governments maintain trade and commercial offices here, and the city has 32 active foreign chambers of commerce and trade associations.

• Consumers can search the Houston Association of Realtors® properties database (HAR.com) in English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Italianand Vietnamese. The association’s more than 5,600 multilingual realtors speak 99 languages.

• Houston has 18 sister-city relationships promoting business opportunities across five continents: Africa (1), Americas (2), Asia (7), Australia (1), and Europe (7).

• 430 Houston area companies report having offices abroad in 144 countries.

• More than 800 firms in Houston report foreign ownership.

• In 2015, at least 23 foreign-owned firms representing 12 countries invested in office expansions, new plants and expanded distribution facilities in Houston.

• In 2015, more than $500 million in capital investments were made by foreign-owned firms in Houston, creating some 1,600 new jobs.

• At least 2,800 local manufacturers engage in global commerce.

• Eleven of Houston’s 32 skyscrapers (at least 150 meters tall) are owned, co-owned, or financed by foreign investors.


IND U S T R IE S

A E R O S PA C EHome to NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC), and a diverse network of research and education organizations with ties to aerospace technology, the Houston region is a worldwide leader in the aerospace industry.

EstablishmentsHouston is home to more than 150 companies involved in aircraft or space vehicle manufacturing, space research and technology, or other air transportation support activities. There are 10 establishments in aerospace products and parts manufacturing.

Economic ImpactThe Johnson Space Center manages an annual budget of approximately $4.5 billion in contracts, grants, civil service payroll and procurements. Of that amount, about $2.1 billion is spent in the Houston region.

TourismSpace Center Houston is the official visitor’s center for Johnson Space Center. Approximately 800,000 visitors each year come to learn about the past, present, and future story of America’s space program.

B AN KI N G

EmploymentIn 2015, the Houston MSA employed an average of 95,900 workers in the finance and insurance sector.

Top EmployersJPMorgan Chase (5,000 employees), VALIC (3,100), Bank of America (3,000), Wells Fargo (2,471) and Amegy Bank of Texas (2,215).

Institutions and DepositsAs of June 30, 2013 the Houston MSA’s 103 FDIC-insured institutions had 1,493 local offices and local deposits of

$214.73 billion. The Houston MSA in 2015 ranked 11th among U.S. MSAs in total deposits.• Fourteen of the nation’s 30 largest FDIC-insured banks,

as measured by domestic deposits, operate full-service branches or commercial loan offices in the Houston region. These 14 include the four largest banks inthe nation.

• According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2012 County Business Patterns, the Houston MSA had 8,976 finance and insurance establishments with a total annual payroll of $8.129 billion.


W H O LE S A LE A N D RE TA I L T R A D EEmploymentWholesale trade employment in the Houston MSA averaged 173,000 in 2015. Retail trade employment in the Houston MSA averaged 299,700 in 2015.

Top EmployersKroger (12,000 employees), Macy’s (7,000), H.E.B. (6,000), Fiesta Mart (5,500) and Home Depot (4,710).

EstablishmentsThe Houston MSA in the fourth quarter of 2015 had 11,075 wholesale trade establishments and 17,603 retail tradeestablishments.

RetailAt the end of 2015, CBRE reported a retail base of 214.8 million-square-feet (msf) for 3,456 Houston area regional malls, multi-tenant centers and single-tenant buildings over 20,000 square-feet. The vacancy rate was 6.1 percent, total net absorption for 2015 was 2.5 million square-feet and the average annual lease rate was $17.97 per square foot.

C O N S T R U C T I O N A N D R E A L E S TAT EEmploymentConstruction employment in the Houston MSA averaged 218,250 in 2015, increasing 6.8 percent from the 204,433employed in 2014.

Building PermitsIn 2015, the City of Houston issued building permits valued at $8.2 billion, down 5.2 percent from $8.7 billion in 2014. Nonresidential permits fell 4.7 percent, from $5.6 billion in 2014 to $5.4 billion in 2015. Permits for residential construction totaled $2.8 billion in 2015, down 6.0 percent from $3.0 billion in 2014.

OfficeAt the close of 2015, CBRE reports that the Houston area— the nation’s fifth largest office market — counted 1,280 general-purpose office buildings containing 210.9 million- square-feet (msf) of completed net rentable space (42.2 msf in the Central Business District, or CBD).

Net absorption (net change in leased space in completed buildings) for all general purpose office space was 4.8 msf in 2015. The vacancy rate for the entire Houston market was14.2 percent by the end of 2015.

Average rent for the entire Class A office market was $37.73 per square foot ($45.95 for CBD Class A and $35.99 for suburban Class A). Both CBD and Suburban Class A average rent increased compared to year-end 2014 numbers.

IndustrialHouston’s 494.7 msf of industrial space in buildings of 10,000 sf or more rank it as the sixth largest U.S. market. CBRE reported year-end 2015 occupancy remained tight at 95.1 percent. During 2015, construction of 9.1 msf was completed and 6.3 msf was absorbed. Across the market, average asking rates increased from $0.67 per sf per month in 2014 to $0.69 per sf per month in 2015.

Single-FamilyAccording to the Houston Association of Realtors®, MLS single family closings (largely resale homes) in the Houston area totaled 73,724 in 2015, down 2.4 percent from 75,535 in 2014. Median sales price for resale single-family detached homes was $212,000 in 2015, up 6.5 percent from $199,000 in 2014. The inventory of unsold homes at year-end increased from 2.5 months in December 2014 to 3.2 months in December 2015. (Months of inventory is the number of months it will take to deplete current active inventory based on the prior 12 months of sales activity.)

2015 GROSS RETAIL SALES

County Gross Retail Sales % Change from 2013Houston MSA 112,142,527,110 -11.0%

Austin 269,550,359 -85.4%

Brazoria 3,959,136,524 2.4%

Chambers 331,783,432 -80.3%

Fort Bend 8,231,492,915 -6.7%

Galveston 3,882,707,100 1.1%

Harris 86,251,680,043 -8.8%

Liberty 876,197,611 -6.7%

Montgomery 7,829,709,733 -12.3%

Waller 510,269,393 -13.8%

Source: Texas Comptroller’s Office


Multi-familyAs of February 2016, Apartment Data Services reported that Houston area multi-family occupancy stood at 90.3 percent, with an inventory of 610,131 units in 2,618 complexes. Rental rates averaged $1.10 per square foot per month. Class A

apartments recorded 81.3 percent occupancy at $1.53/sf/ mo; Class B: 93.0 percent occupancy at $0.94/sf/mo; Class C: 93.6 percent occupancy at $0.88/sf/mo; and Class D: 90.4 percent occupancy at $0.60/sf/mo. Apartment construction in the Houston area for 2016 is proposed to add 30,000 units in 102 buildings.

EN ERG YHouston is the leading domestic and international center for virtually every segment of the energy industry – exploration, production, transmission, marketing, service, supply, offshore drilling and technology.

EmploymentAs of February 2016, the Houston MSA held 28.6 percent of the nation’s jobs in oil and gas extraction (51,100 of 178,700),12.8 percent of jobs in support activities for mining (39,100 of 306,600) and 15.1 percent of agriculture, construction and mining machinery manufacturing jobs (33,300 of 220,900).

Top EmployersExxon Mobil Corp., Shell Oil Co., National Oilwell Varco Inc., Schlumberger Ltd., Chevron Corp., Halliburton Co., Baker Hughes Inc., BP America, GE Oil & Gas, CenterPoint Energy Inc.

Source: Metrostudy and Apartment Data Services

HOUSTON AREA HOUSING STARTS AND MULTI-FAMILY UNITS DELIVERED

Single-family starts Multi-family units added Total

45,590

27,337

18,253

47,587

29,959

17,62840,336

28,233

12,103

29,490

23,616

5,87423,736

18,353

5,38322,637

18,8533,784

33,327

18,687

14,640

48,003

26,141

21,862

52,297

37,568

14,729

59,669

49,543

10,126

60,682

47,968

12,71453,040

40,712

12,328

52,565

38,160

14,40542,321

33,963

8,358

20152014201320122011201020092008200720062005200420032002


EstablishmentsThe Houston MSA has approximately 4,808 energy-related establishments. In the third quarter of 2015, establishments specifically in oil and gas extraction totaled 983, where 1,112 establishments conducted support activities for oil and gas operations.

Houston is home to 40 of the nation’s 135 publicly traded oil and gas exploration and production firms, including nine of the top 25; nine more among the top 25 have subsidiaries, major divisions or other significant operations in Houston.

The logistics for moving much of the nation’s petroleum and natural gas across the country are controlled from Houston. Thirteen of the nation’s 20 largest U.S. interstate oil pipeline companies have a presence in the Houston region that includes corporate or divisional headquarters or ownership interests. These 13 control 61,296 miles or 38.2 percent of all U.S. oil pipeline capacity. Fourteen of the nation’s top 20 natural gas transmission companies have corporate or divisional headquarters in Houston, controlling 106,849 miles of U.S. pipeline, which is 54.7 percent of total U.S. gas pipeline capacity.

EN G I N EER I N G

EmploymentHouston has more than 91,800 engineers, architects, drafters and technicians of all disciplines, the most numerous being: petroleum, civil, mechanical, industrial, chemical, and electrical.

For every 100,000 workers in the Houston MSA, there are 3,133 engineers and architects. In comparison, for every 100,000 workers in the U.S., there are 1,795 engineers and architects.

According to the Houston Business Journal, Houston’s10 largest civil and structural engineering firms (ranked by local gross billings) include Burns & McDonnell, LJA Engineering, Brown & Gay Engineers Inc., Jones and Carter, Furgo Consultants, PGAL. Tolunay-Wong Engineers, BEI Engineers, Walter P Moore, and Cobb, Fendley & Associates.

According to the Houston Business Journal, Houston’s 10 largest energy engineering firms (ranked by local licensed engineers) include Jacobs Engineering, Flour Corp., KBR., Wood Group Mustang, Technip USA Inc., CB&I, Gulf Interstate Engineering Company, S&B Engineers and Constructors, Stress Engineering Services, and Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company. These 10 companies alone employed 2,254 licensed engineers and more than 28,000 local full-time employees.

EstablishmentsThe Houston MSA has more than 3,200 engineering and architectural service establishments. In the third quarter of 2015, there were 1,961 engineering service establishments, 384 architecture service establishments, 44 drafting service establishments, and 889 other related establishments.

ENGINEERING CONCENTRATIONSHouston MSA vs. U.S. Average

Engineers in Houston

Per 100,000Workers (Houston)

Per 100,000Workers (U.S.)

Aerospace Engineers 2,360 80.40 1.70

Biomedical Engineers 270 9.10 15.20

Chemical Engineers 4,360 148.80 23.40

Civil Engineers 11,030 376.40 199.60

Electrical Engineers 4,450 152.00 129.50

Computer

ElectronicsEngineers, Except 3,100 106.00 98.20

Environmental

Engineers 900 30.90 38.10

Health and Safety Engineers,Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors

1,550 53.00 18.10

Industrial Engineers 5,100 174.00 179.50

Marine Engineers and Naval Architects 1,360 46.30 5.50

Materials Engineers 680 23.10 19.60

Mechanical Engineers 8,760 298.80 201.80

Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers

700 23.80 5.80

Petroleum Engineers 10,810 368.80 25.10

91.00Engineers, All Other 2,740 93.50

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2015


H E A LT H C AR E

EmploymentThe Houston MSA employs over 345,000 employees in the health care industry.• The region has 16,544 physicians and 134 hospitals (115

general and special, 13 psychiatric) with 20,373 beds.• Harris County, with 13,552 physicians, has 94 hospitals

(82 general and special, 10 psychiatric) with 17,026 beds.• Clinics, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities are

plentiful.• Virtually every medical specialty is represented in

the region.

Largest HospitalsHouston Methodist Hospital (1,109 beds); Memorial Hermann Hospital (1,034 beds); CHI St. Luke’s Health-Baylor St Luke’s Medical Center (881 beds); St. Joseph Medical Center (744 beds) and Texas Children’s Hospital (605 beds).

EstablishmentsThe Houston region is home to over 13,100 health care establishments. This includes 219 licensed emergency medical services firms (ambulance services), each required by law to have a physician medical director. The Houston MSA also has 55 registered first responder organizations. (Source: Texas Workforce Commission)

T E X A S M ED I C A L C EN T ER The Texas Medical Center is the world’s largest medical complex by any measure – number of hospitals, number of physicians, square footage, patient volume. The Texas Medical Center member institutions have been consistently recognized as some of the best hospitals and universities in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.

Texas Medical Center institutions include:• Six general hospitals: Ben Taub General Hospital;

Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital; Memorial Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center; Houston Methodist Hospital; CHI St. Luke’s Health; and The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

• Eleven specialized hospitals: Harris County Psychiatric Center; Quentin Mease Community Hospital; Shriners Hospitals for Children– Houston and Galveston; Texas Children’s Hospital; DePelchin Children’s Center;

The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR); The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital; The Menninger Clinic; and the Michael E. DeBakey Veteran Affairs Medical Center Houston.

• Two specialized patient facilities: Texas Heart Institute; and Houston Hospice.

• Four medical schools: Baylor College of Medicine; Texas A&M University Health Science Center; The University of Texas Medical School; and The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

• Five schools of nursing: Prairie View A&M University College of Nursing; Texas Woman’s University Institute of Health Sciences; The University of Texas Schoolof Nursing; Houston Community College; and the University of Houston-Victoria School of Nursing.


• Two schools of pharmacy: Texas Southern University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; and University of Houston College of Pharmacy.

• One dental school: The University of Texas Health Science Center Dental School.

• Houston Community College offers 19 health science fields.

• In 2016, HISD’s Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions was ranked 11th in the country among STEM-focused High Schools by U.S. News and World Report.

MA NU FA C T UR I N G

EmploymentManufacturing employment in the Houston MSA stood at 234,300 jobs in February 2016 – 64.1 percent in durable goods and 35.9 percent in nondurables. Chemicals accounted for 16.0 percent of total manufacturing employment; fabricated metals and machinery, 42.9 percent.

Top EmployersNational Oilwell Varco, The Dow Chemical Co., GE Oil & Gas, Cameron International, Goodman Manufacturing Company, LyondellBasell Industries, Oceaneering International, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, FMC Technologies, Emerson Process Management.

EstablishmentsThe Houston MSA has more than 6,300 manufacturing establishments. In the third quarter of 2015, there were 1,783 fabricated metal manufacturers, 788 machinerymanufacturers, 535 chemical manufactures, 330 computer & electronic manufactures, 223 plastic manufacturers, and 2,664 other manufacturers.

Petroleum RefiningThe Spaghetti Bowl is a complex of several thousand miles of product pipeline connecting hundreds of chemical plants, refineries, salt domes and fractionation plants along the Texas Gulf Coast. It gives the Houston area a unique economic advantage through convenient and low-cost transfer of feedstocks, fuel and chemical products among plants, storage terminals and transportation facilities.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Refinery Capacity Report issued January 2015, the Texas Gulf Coast had a crude operating capacity of 4.5 million barrels of refined petroleum products per calendar day — 87 percent of the Texas total and 25 percent of the U.S. total.

Chemicals/PetrochemicalsWith more than 530 chemical manufacturing establishments and employment exceeding 37,200, the Houston MSA has 41.9 percent of the nation’s base petrochemicals manufacturing capacity. According to IHS, the Houston MSA annualbasepetrochemicalsproductioncapacityin 2016 was:Million Metric Tons

per Year % of U.S. Total

Benzene 3.7 39.0%

Butadiene 1.3 55.6%

Ethylene 11.5 40.3%

Propylene 12.1 41.5%

Toluene 2.4 39.8%

Xylenes 5.4 40.0%

Source: IHS

• Base petrochemicals are the raw materials for producing some of the more important plastics and resins. The Houston MSA dominates U.S. production of three major resins — polyethylene, with 48.3 percent of U.S. capacity; polypropylene, with 48.9 percent; and polyvinyl chloride, with 33.9 percent.


GO V ER N M EN T

C I T Y O F H OU S TO N• The City of Houston is a home rule municipality, which

provides the city with inherent powers to manage its own affairs with minimal interference from the state.

• The city’s elected officials, serving concurrent two-year terms, are: the Mayor, the City Controller and the 16 members of City Council. No elected city official may

serve in one position for more than three terms. Eleven council members are elected from single-member districts and five are elected citywide or “at-large”.

• The city’s adopted General Fund budget for fiscal year 2016 is $2,545,098,770.

C O U N T I E S• Each county in Texas is run by a five-member

Commissioners’ Court consisting of four commissioners elected from single-member districts, called commissioner precincts, and a county judge elected“at-large” or countywide. The county commissioners and county judge serve staggered four-year terms and are not term-limited.

• Texas has 254 counties with Harris County being the most populous county in the state and the third most populous in the U.S.


S TAT E G OV E R N M E N T• The chief executive of the State of Texas is the

governor. Other elected officials with executive responsibilities include the lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller of public accounts, commissioner of the General Land Office and commissioner of agriculture. All of these elected offices have a term of four years.

• The Texas Legislature has 181 members: 31 in the Senate, who are elected to four-year overlapping terms, and 150 in the House of Representatives, who are

elected to two-year terms. Regular sessions of the state legislature convene on the second Tuesday of January in odd-numbered years. The Texas Constitution limits the regular session to 140 calendar days; however, the governor may call special sessions.

• Legislative districts partly or entirely within the Houston MSA:

State Senate: 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18

State House of Representatives: 3,15, 26-28,

126-135, 137-150

U N I T E D S TAT E S C O N GR E S S• There are 10 Texas Congressional Districts containing

areas partly or entirely within the Houston MSA.– District 2, (Harris County), District 7 (Harris County), District 8 (Harris and Montgomery counties), District 9 (Harris, Brazoria and Fort Bend counties), District

10 (Harris, Waller and Austin counties), District 14 (Galveston and Brazoria counties), District 18 (Harris County), District 22 (Fort Bend, Brazoria and Harris counties), District 29 (Harris County), and District 36 (Harris, Chambers and Liberty counties).

C OU N C I L O F G OV E R N M E N T SThe Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) is a voluntary association of local governments in the 13-county Gulf Coast Planning Region. Organized in 1966, H-GAC is comprised of 35 elected officials that represent all 13 counties (Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Walker, Waller and Wharton), 107 cities and 11 school districts.

• H-GAC is not an additional level of government, a regulatory agency or a taxing authority. Its activities are financed by local government dues; state appropriations; and through grants and contracts with local, state and federal entities.

• The Council’s mission is to serve as the instrument of local government cooperation, promoting the region’s orderly development and the safety and welfare ofits citizens.


TA X AT I O N• The maximum sales and use tax rate in the state of

Texas is 8.25 percent (6.25 percent for the state and up to 2 percent for local jurisdictions); certain food and drug items are exempt.

• Ad valorem property tax is the primary source of local government revenue in the Houston region.

The table below shows typical tax rates for property located within the city limits of Houston. The tax rates are expressed as dollars per $100 taxable value.

P UBL I C S A F E T Y

Houston Police Department (HPD)• HPD’s budget for FY 2016 is $807.0 million.• The budget calls for 5,181 full-time-equivalent (FTE)

police personnel, 1,164 FTE civilian personnel and 136 FTE police cadets in training.

• HPD’s 2015 estimated average response time was5.00 minutes for priority one calls and 9.59 minutes for priority two calls.

• For 2016, HPD has budgeted to respond to 1,170,000 dispatched calls.

Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO)• HCSO is the largest sheriff’s office in Texas and the third

largest in the United States.• HCSO’s FY2016-2017 operating budget is

$462.0 million.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office provides law enforcement protection in the unincorporated parts of the county, which constitutes some 1,700 square miles with 1.5 million residents and growing.• HCSO employs more than 4,500 salaried personnel –

of those more than 2,200 are certified peace officers and nearly 1,230 are detention officers that work in the jails. Additionally, it has more than 200 volunteer reserve deputies.

Houston Fire Department• HFD is the third largest fire department in the U.S., with

103 fire stations equipped with 87 engine companies; 92 ambulances and advanced life support units; 11 boosters; 4 cascade units; 32 aerial ladder trucks; and 13 evacuation and rescue boats.

• In 2015, HFD performed 246,998 fire responses with an average response time of 7.26 minutes and 342,131 emergency medical service responses with an average response time of 7.24 minutes.

• HFD’s FY 2016 budget is $509.6 million and calls for 4,243 FTE employees, of whom 114 are civilians.

Harris County Fire Protection• In all, 54 fire departments operate in Harris County; 42

provide fire protection in unincorporated parts of the county, coordinated by the Harris County Fire Marshal.In addition, 31 emergency service districts provide fire protection, emergency medical service or both to specific areas within the county.

TYPICAL PROPERTY TAXES

Source: Harris County Appraisal District

Total Tax Rate $2.32 /per $100 taxable value

City of Houston

Houston Independent School District

Harris County

Houston Community College

$0.60

$1.20

$0.42

$0.10

Source: Harris County Appraisal

District

FULL MARKET VALUE OF TAX ROLL2015

City of Houston$278,607,400,143

Harris County$524,287,009,275

Houston ISD$207,090,110,684


E D UC AT IO NSCH O O L S• Houston Independent School District (HISD), with 2015

enrollment of 215,157 students, is the seventh-largest public school system in the nation and the largest in Texas. Encompassing 301 square miles within greater Houston, HISD has 283 campuses: 10 early childhood centers; 153 elementary schools; 37 middle schools; 40 high schools; and 43 combined/other campuses.

• The Houston MSA contains 65 school districts and 50 state-approved charter schools that reported 2015 enrollment of (1,252,660 (2013)) students, of whom(868,475 (2013)) were in the 19 districts and 45 charter schools largely or entirely in Harris County.

SELECTED HOUSTON-AREA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICTS2014-2015

Enrollment Teacher Ratio per student1

School District Campuses Fall ‘14 Students per Expenditures

County

Aldine 76 67,204 16.7 $8,044 Harris

Alief 46 46,207 14.7 $8,725 Harris

Alvin 23 19,667 16.3 $7,875 Brazoria

Barbers Hill 7 4,676 14.8 $10,268 Chambers

Brazosport 20 12,364 16.3 $7,873 Brazoria

Clear Creek 45 39,808 15.9 $7,369 Galveston

Conroe 54 54,808 16.6 $6,862 Montgomery

Cypress-Fairbanks 82 111,173 16.7 $6,795 Harris

Dayton 9 5,069 15.9 $7,451 Liberty

Deer Park 14 12,968 15.7 $13,633 Harris

Fort Bend 73 70,512 17.1 $7,435 Fort Bend

Galena Park 23 22,515 15.3 $8,488 Harris

Goose Creek 27 22,228 15.3 $8,646 Harris

Houston 283 215,157 18.5 $8,211 Harris

Humble 42 38,056 15.5 $7,650 Harris

Katy 59 67,015 15.6 $7,665 Harris

Klein 47 48,003 15.3 $7,862 Harris

Lamar 37 27,024 17.5 $7,544 Fort Bend

Magnolia 16 12,176 15.7 $7,503 Montgomery

New Caney 18 12,282 15.2 $8,215 Montgomery

Pasadena 61 54,382 15.4 $8,519 Harris

Pearland 24 19,964 16.5 $7,538 Brazoria

Sealy 4 2,766 13.7 $8,592 Austin

Spring 37 36,358 15.4 $7,741 Harris

Spring Branch 46 35,218 16.6 $8,317 Harris

Tomball 15 12,444 16.4 $7,921 Harris

Waller 8 5,895 16.8 $8,392 Waller1Class of 2014 *The list includes all ISDs with enrollment greater than 10,000, plus the largest ISD in each Houston MSA county with no ISD as large as 10,000.

Source: Texas Education Agency


L I B R A RI ES • The Houston Public Library is comprised of 44 units

with a 2015 total circulation of 4,264,125.• Harris County Public Library is a system of 26 branch

libraries with a 2015 total circulation of 8,856,269.

C O LLEG E S A N D U N I V E R S I T I E SThe Houston region has approximately 421,000 students in more than 60 degree-granting colleges, universities and technical schools.

• Specialized schools exist for acupuncture, art, law, health care, funeral, religious, and various other disciples.

• In addition, the region has some 100 trade, vocational and business schools.

HIGHER EDUCATION ENROLLMENTFall 2015

UNIVERSITIES Total Enrollment 178,678

Texas A&M University 58,515 Prairie View A&M University 8,268

University of Houston 42,704 Rice University 6,719

Sam Houston State University 20,120 University of St. Thomas 3,411

University of Houston-Downtown 14,262 Houston Baptist University 3,160

Texas Southern University 8,965 Texas A&M University at Galveston 2,324

University of Houston-Clear Lake 8,903 Texas Woman’s University-Houston 1,327

COMMUNITY COLLEGES Total Enrollment 230,012

Lone Star College System 83,932 Lee College 6,202

Houston Community College System 69,293 Alvin Community College 5,116

San Jacinto College District 28,326 Brazosport College 4,221

Blinn College 19,422 College of Mainland 4,013

Wharton County Junior College 7,416 Galveston College 2,071

MEDICAL SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES Total Enrollment 12,454

University of Texas Health Science Center 4,811 Baylor College of Medicine 1,564

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston 3,169 University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center 320

Texas A&M University Health Science Center 2,590

Sources: College and University Websites; Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board


I N FR A ST R U C T U R E

P U B L I C U T I L I T I E S

Electricity and Natural GasHeadquartered in Houston, CenterPoint Energy (CNP) is a domestic energy delivery company that includes electric transmission and distribution; natural gas distribution; competitive natural gas sales and services; interstate pipelines; and field services operations.• CNP’s assets total more than $23.2 billion and the

company employs 7,400, of which 4,930 are employed in Houston.

• In 2015, CNP delivered 85.8 million megawatt hours of electricity to 2,378,517 residential, 283,807 commercial, 758 municipal and 1,969 industrial customers in its 5,000 square mile service area in the Houston region.

• In 2015, CNP delivered 433 billion cubic feet of natural gas to 3,149,845 residential and 253,921 commercial/ industrial customers.

TelecommunicationsFour overlaid area codes serve the Houston area: 281, 713, 832 and 346. Phone calls placed within or between these area codes are local calls, but must be placed with the full 10-digit phone number.• The Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUC) has

certified 278 active Competitive Local Exchange Carriers to provide local phone service in the state.

• The Texas PUC has registered 264 active long distance Interexchange Carriers.

• More than a dozen cellular service providers offer mobile voice and data communications in the Houston MSA.

WaterThe water supply now available or under development will meet Houston’s needs beyond 2050.• The San Jacinto River Basin of Lakes Houston

and Conroe provides the City an estimated 258 million gallons per day (mgd); wells add approximately 253 mgd.

• The City owns water rights to 914 mgd.• The City of Houston has, on average, used

approximately 220 mgd of industrial water and 450 mgd of treated water.

• Groundwater accounted for approximately 16 percent of treated water. Lake Livingston accounted for 72 percent of the surface water used by the City; Lake Houston supplies 15 percent; and the remaining 13 percent comes from different permitted sources.

• The City has three purification plants: East Water Plant, 350 mgd; Southeast Water Plant, 200 mgd; Northeast Water Plant 80 mgd.

Wastewater• The City of Houston operates 40 wastewater treatment

plants; 13 biosolid processing units; three wet weather facilities; and 383 sanitary lift stations. It maintains 6,950 miles of sanitary sewer lines with more than 440,000 connections.


L A N D T R A N S P O R TAT I O N

Motor Freight Lines• 1,004 long-distance trucking establishments operate in

the Houston MSA.

Railroads• The Houston area is served by BNSF Railway Company,

Kansas City Southern Railway Company, and Union Pacific Railroad Company. Businesses along the Houston ship channel are served by the Port Terminal Railroad Association. Fourteen mainline tracks radiate from Houston.

• Amtrak provides passenger service to the New Orleans-San Antonio-Los Angeles route.

Intracoastal Waterway• 406 miles of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The main

channel is 12 feet deep and 125 feet wide. The entire Gulf Intracoastal Waterway spans 1,300 miles from Brownsville, TX. to St. Mark’s, FL.

• In 2013, Texas’ portion of the Gulf Coast Intracoastal Waterway facilitated the transportation of 79,173,658 short tons of cargo.

Freeways, Highways and Toll RoadsIn the Houston MSA, 4,206.41 lane miles of freeways and expressways are in operation.

• High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lanes: Houston has more miles of HOV lanes than any other U.S. city. There are currently 118.42 miles of HOV lanes on Houston freeways.

• Highway Spending: In FY 2015, the Texas Department of Transportation – Houston District has $1.0 billion in planned projects to let, versus $818.2 million in planned projects during FY 2014.

• Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT): According to TxDOT, in FY 2015, a total of 81,006,099 vehicle miles were traveled per day in the Houston region. The average daily VMT per vehicle was 15.42 miles – based on the 5,254,399 vehicles registered in the region during FY 2015.

Metropolitan Transit Authority (METRO)Created and funded with a one-cent sales tax in a 1978 voter referendum, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County began operations in January 1979.• METRO serves an area of 1,303 square miles – with

2,663 route miles; 20 transit centers; 9,816 bus stops; and 28 Park & Ride lots that offer 32,802 parking spaces.

• In FY 2015, METRO’s fleet included 1,219 buses, 154 paratransit vans and 75 light-rail train cars. At weekday peak, 963 buses operated on 126 routes.

• FY 2015 total system ridership, including fixed route buses and METRORail, METROLift, STAR Vanpool, HOV vanpools/carpools, was 112 million, up 2.0 percent from FY 2014.

• Passenger boardings in FY 2015 averaged 9.3 million per month.

• Daily fixed-route weekday ridership in FY 2015 averaged 292,479 boardings.

• All buses on 126 bus routes and all METRORail vehicles are fully accessible to disabled patrons. METROLift offers prescheduled curb-to-curb service for disabled patrons who cannot use METRO’s fixed-route service.


P O RT S

Sea Ports in Houston MSAThe Houston Region contains four seaports.

Port of Houston• In 2015, the Port of Houston ranked first in foreign

tonnage among U.S. ports for the 19th consecutive year and first in import tonnage for the 24th consecutive year.

• The Port of Houston ranked second in total tonnage for

SEAPORTS R ANKED BY TOTAL TR ADE2015

27 Freeport 14,897,064

41

Galveston 6,421,890

PORT OF HOUSTON - FOREIGN TRADE2015

Leading Export Commodities

By Value

Petroleum/petroleum products $24,565,501,786

Machinery $12,399,954,072U.S. Rank PortTotal

Trade in Metric Tons Organic Chemicals $10,265,477,828

1 Houston 150,876,547 Plastics $6,408,060,605

15 Texas City 23,969,110 Electric Machinery $3,198,103,360By Weight (Short Tons)

Petroleum/petroleum products 66,219,326

Organic Chemicals 10,610,033

Cereals 5,326,583

Plastics 4,829,794

Inorganic Chemicals 1,099,892

Leading Import Commodities

By Value

the 23rd consecutive year in 2014, the most recent data Petroleum/petroleum products $14,571,684,242available. Machinery $7,171,057,789

Articles of Iron or Steel $6,293,376,324

Vehicles/vehicle parts $3,800,592,490

Organic Chemicals $3,431,456,305

By Weight (Short Tons)

Petroleum/petroleum products 41,519,201

Natural Stone 5,334,002

Organic Chemicals 4,725,435

Articles of Iron or Steel 4,681,233

Iron and Steel 3,450,904

Leading Trading Partners (Combined Imports and Exports)

By Value

Mexico $12,462,904,012

China $12,095,342,191

Brazil $8,199,722,805

Germany $8,178,036,786

Netherlands $5,925,338,253

By Weight (Short Tons)Mexico 32,709,720

China 11,412,311

Brazil 11,226,281

Colombia 8,159,589

Netherlands 6,361,762

Source: Adapted from WISERTrade: International Trade Database, WISER LLC.


• Total foreign shipments in 2015 were 165.5 million short tons that were valued at $136.0 billion. Foreign imports were 70.4 million short tons, valued at $59.5 billion and foreign exports were 95.2 million short tons, valued at$76.5 billion.

• The Port’s Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ-84) ranked fourth in the U.S. in the value of merchandise received, while the portion of the trade zone assigned to Exxon-Mobil (FTZ-84O) ranked first in the value of manufacturing operations-related merchandise received. In 2013, FTZ-84 exports were valued at over $5.3 billion, shipments to the U.S. market topped $1.4 billion,and domestic and foreign shipments were valued at$18.2 billion.

• Container service was initiated in Houston in 1956, and today, the Port of Houston is the largest Gulf Coast container port, handling 64 percent of U.S. Gulf Coast container traffic and 95 percent of Texas container traffic.

• In 2015, the Port of Houston handled 21.6 million tons of containerized cargo hauled in 2.1 million TEUs (twenty- foot equivalent units), setting new port records for both tonnage and containers handled in a year.

• The Port of Houston ranked as the 10th busiest U.S. container port in 2014, based on total TEUs.

Houston Ship ChannelThe Houston Ship Channel, a 52-mile inland waterway, connects Houston with the sea lanes of the world. Its turning basin is eight miles east of Houston’s central business district.• A majority of the channel has a minimum width of 530

feet and a depth at mean low tide of 45 feet.• Houston has more than 100 wharves in operation,

including private terminals for the industrial complexes that line both sides of the channel.

• The Houston region contains one of the world’s largest petrochemical complexes, with the majority being in close proximity to the ship channel and the region’s sea ports.

• Each year, more than 200 million tons of cargo move through the Houston Ship Channel, carried by more than 8,000 vessels and 200,000 barge calls.


PASSENGER NON-STOP SERVICE DESTINATIONS

IAH HOU HAS Total

121 Domestic 52 Domestic 124 Domestic

74 International 9 International 74 International

195 Total 61 Total 198 Total

A I R T R A N S P O R TAT I O NHouston is the international air gateway to the south central United States and all of Latin America. With the addition of international air service at Hobby Airport in 2015, Houston became the only city in Texas that is home to two airports offering international service and one of only eight such cities nationwide. Scheduled passenger airplanes fly to 124 domestic and 74 international destinations from Houston airports; 32 airlines provide scheduled passenger service for the Houston Airport System (HAS).

Houston Airport System (HAS) Aviation Statistics• In 2015, HAS served 55,118,706 passengers, up 3.6

percent from 2014.• International traffic increased 9.6 percent to a record

10,756,796 passengers in 2015. Domestic passenger totals also set an airport system record, increasing 2.4 percent to 44,429,772 in 2015.

• At IAH, domestic passengers numbered 32.4 million, up3.1 percent from 2014. At HOU, domestic traffic rose 0.5 percent to 12.0 million passengers in 2015.

• The Houston Airport System handled a total of 441,565 metric tons of air freight in 2015, excluding airmail.Domestic cargo accounted for 49.8 percent of total air freight, while international cargo accounted for50.2 percent.

General Aviation• Houston offers excellent general aviation facilities for

corporate aircraft. In addition to IAH, HOU and EFD, the FAA lists 33 Houston MSA public-use airports and heliports: Austin County (1), Brazoria (8), Chambers (3), Fort Bend (6), Galveston (3), Harris (7), Liberty (2), Montgomery (2), and Waller (1).

AIR CARRIERS SERVING THE HOUSTON AIRPORT SYSTEM

George Bush Intercontinental (IAH)

7 U.S. CarriersAlaska Airlines, American Airlines (also serves HOU),

Delta Air Lines (also serves HOU), Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines, Wings of Alaska

22 International CarriersAeroMexico, Air Canada, Air China, Air France, Air

New Zealand, Atlas Air (scheduled charter to Luanda, Angola, Africa), ANA (All Nippon Airways), AVIANCA, British Airways, Emirates, EVA Air, Interjet, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, SAS (Scandinavian Airlines), Singapore Airlines, Turkish

Airlines, VivaAerobus, Volaris, Westjet

11 Dedicated Cargo FreightersAir France Cargo (France), Cargolux (Luxemburg), Cathay Pacific Cargo (Hong Kong), China Airlines Cargo (Taiwan),

DHL (Germany), Emirates Sky Cargo (United Arab Emirates), Etihad Cargo (United Arab Emirates), Federal

Express (U.S.), Lufthansa (Germany), Qatar Cargo (Qatar), United Parcel Service (U.S.)

William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)

5 Domestic Passenger AirlinesAmerican Airlines (also serves IAH), Branson Air Express,

Delta Air Lines (also serves IAH), JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines

1 International AirlineSouthwest Airlines

Ellington Airport (EFD)Added to the Houston Airport System in 1984, Ellington serves commercial, general and military aviation. EFD received FAA approval to be a licensed commercial

spaceport in 2015.

Source: Houston Airport System, January 2016

*The HAS totals represent the number of unique destinations served by the airport system and is not cumulative.

Source: Houston Airport System, January 2016


C O MM U N I C AT I ON SM E D IA D I G I TA LOnline-only news outlets covering greater Houston.• Culture Map• Bisnow• Swamplot• Houston Style Magazine• Local Houston• Houston Business Weekly• Intown Magazine• The Buzz Magazines

B R OAD C A S T• 17 Digital TV Stations• 29 AM Radio Stations• 36 FM Radio Stations• Comcast Xfinity provides cable service for most of the

Houston area.

PR I N T• Houston’s major daily newspaper is the Houston

Chronicle.• According to Alliance for Audited Media, it is the second

largest newspaper in Texas and 13th largest in theU.S., with 370,961 in combined print and online daily circulation as of 2014.

• More than 60 local and community newspapers, including• Bellaire Examiner• Community Impact Newspaper• Fort Bend Southwest Star• Katy Sun• Free Press Houston• Friendswood Journal• Galveston County Daily News• River Oaks Examiner• The Villager

• 10 college newspapers


WAT E RThe City of Houston’s drinking water system maintains a “superior” rating, the highest rating for water quality issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).• The City of Houston owns a 70 percent share of Lake

Livingston, 70 percent of Lake Conroe, 100 percent of Lake Houston and 70 percent of the future Allens Creek Reservoir.

• 80 percent of our supply flows from the Trinity River into Lake Livingston, and from the San Jacinto River into Lake Conroe and Lake Houston.

• Deep underground wells drilled into the Evangeline and Chicot underground aquifers currently provide the other 20 percent of the City’s water supply.

C L E AN AI RUnder the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established National Ambient Air Quality Standards for six major air pollutants: particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead, and ground-level ozone. Houston is currently in attainment for all criteria pollutants, except for ozone.• The Houston population, transportation, and

manufacturing is growing; however, the air quality is improving year-over-year.

• According to Houston Regional Monitoring (HRM), there were seven one-hour ozone exceedance days in 2015, an increase from the single exceedance day recorded in 2014. For comparison, in 1987 there were 66 days when the standard was exceeded.

E NVI R O N M E N T


C I T Y O F H O U S TO N ’ S GR E E N T R A N S P O R TAT I O N I N I T I AT I V E• The City of Houston has the third largest municipal

hybrid fleet in the nation, and the second largest electric vehicle municipal fleet.

• Greenlink buses provide free transportation downtown through a partnership among the Downtown District, BG Group, and Houston First Corporation. The buses run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG); a cleaner transportation alternative. The route spans 2.5 miles with 18 stops; destinations along the route include the George R. Brown Convention Center, Discovery Green, City Hall and the Central Library.

• B-cycle, a program of Houston Bike Share allows members to pick up a bike at any B-station and return it to that same station or any other B-station. A total of 32 stations and over 200 bikes are available for use.

• Zipcar is a car sharing program where its members can drive cars by the hour or day, choosing from a variety of vehicles from eight locations in downtown Houston and more across the city.

• Bike Boardings on METRO buses have more than doubled since 2011.

R EN E WA B L E EN ERG YThe City of Houston has signed an agreement with Reliant Energy to increase its purchase of renewable power through at least June 2016, with negotiations for an additional 12 months.• From January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016, the

City’s purchase of green power will account for 75 percent of its annual electricity demand. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Houston is the largest municipal purchaser of renewable power in the nation.

• The City will be using more than 950 million kilowatt- hours (kWh) of green power per year, which is equivalent to the amount of kWh needed to power more than 87,000 homes each year.

• When measured by square footage of Energy Star certified buildings, the Houston metro area ranks eighth in the U.S. with 86.5 million square feet.

• The City of Houston reached an agreement in March 2016 with Waste Management (WM) allowing the City to continue offering recycling services. The only change in service is the elimination of glass from the list of acceptable items. The exclusion is expected to lower processing costs and save the city $2 million over two years. Residents may continue to drop off glass at the City neighborhood recycling depositories.


L I FE I N H O U ST O N

C O S T O F L I V I N GThe C2ER Cost of Living Index for 2015 shows that Houston’s overall after-taxes living costs were 1.8 percent below the nationwide average.

In the context of the 20 most populous metropolitan areas, Houston’s cost-of-living advantage is even more pronounced.

Houston’s housing costs are 58.8 percent below the average for large metro areas, and its overall costs are 25.9 percent below the average for this group.

COST OF LIVING INDEX: 20 MOST POPULOUS METROPOLITAN AREAS*2015 Annual Data - (Average for 273 Urban Areas = 100)

Area Items CareMetropolitan Statistical All Items Grocery Housing Utilities Transportation Health

Misc.

New York (Manhattan), NY 227.4 128.2 457.7 130.5 131.3 116.2 148.7

San Francisco, CA 176.4 127.9 319.4 108.2 132 118.1 118.3

Washington, DC 146.8 111.9 245.8 96.2 114.2 94.2 110.4

San Diego, CA 144.8 108.8 230.6 123.1 129.1 110.6 102.8

Boston, MA 144.3 105 193.7 151.7 110 130.4 129.2

Seattle, WA 140.3 124.6 183.9 107.7 121.1 120.5 128.9

Los Angeles, CA 140.3 106.3 213.3 115.6 132.7 109.3 106.1

Philadelphia, PA 119.5 115.8 135 122.5 110 99.8 112.8

Chicago, IL 116.2 116.7 135.7 104.2 114.5 99.1 106

Baltimore, MD 112.8 119 144 93.9 104.2 89 95.6

Miami, FL 112.3 108.6 129.6 96.7 112.7 105 104.9

Minneapolis, MN 108.2 108 111.8 93 112.1 105.5 108.9

Atlanta, GA 99.9 103.7 97.4 93.5 105 101.4 100.5

Houston, TX 98.2 85.6 105.2 97.1 91 91.4 100.9

Dallas, TX 96.1 100.9 76.1 99.4 99.2 101.9 108.4

Phoenix, AZ 95.9 98.5 94.8 96.6 100 97.2 94

Detroit, MI 95.3 88.8 90.8 104.4 105 96.4 95.6

St. Louis, MO 92.5 104.6 72 116.5 98.7 99.8 94.4

Tampa, FL 91.6 97.8 78.7 99.1 100 90.8 95

*Riverside, California is among the 20 most populous MSAs, but did not submit COLI data. Source: Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER), Cost of Living Index, 2015 Annual Average (data based on a survey of 273 urban areas, published January 2016).


WEATHER DATA - 2015*

Average High Average Low

TemperatureTotal

Precipitation

*As recorded at George Bush Intercontinental Airport’s weather station. Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

W E AT H E R

Temperature

• Record extremes: 109˚F on August 27, 2011 and

• Normal daily maximum temperatures: January 62.9° F; Temperature (̊ F)(inches)

April 79.6° F; July 93.7° F; October 82.0° F (̊ F)• Normal daily minimum temperatures: January 43.2° F; January 59.3 40.4 3.17

April 59.4° F; July 75.1° F; October 60.9° FFebruary 63.4 41.7 0.66

September 4. 2000; 5˚F on January 18, 1930. March 72 52.9 6.34

• The Houston MSA lies in a zone with 260-275 frost-free April 80.6 64.3 6.1days per year. May 84.9 69 14.17

Precipitation June 90.8 73.6 11.39

• Annual average precipitation: 49.77 inches. July 95.6 76.5 0.61

• Thunderstorms occur, on average, 65.1 days per year. August 95.7 74.4 2.94

• Record monthly rainfall: 19.21 inches in June 2001. September 89.4 70.5 2.59• Highest daily total: 10.34 inches fell on June 26, 1989. October 84.7 61.9 13.05• Houston has had 15 measurable snowfalls since 1939. November 72.5 53.8 3.8• Record monthly snowfall: 2.8 inches in February 1973. December 69.1 49.6 5.21• Record daily snowfall: 2.0 inches in January 1973. Year 79.8 60.7 70.03• Annual average relative humidity: 86 percent at

midnight; 90 percent at 6:00 a.m.; 60 percent at noon; 65 percent at 6:00 p.m.

Sunshine• Houston averages 59 percent of possible sunshine

annually, ranging from 45 percent in January to 70 percent in July.

• Related annual averages:• “Clear” on 90.3 days, concentrated in October and

November.• “Partly cloudy” on 114.5 days, typical of June through

September.• “Cloudy” on 160.3 days, common in December

through May.• Fog limiting visibility to a quarter of a mile or less

occurs on average 26.3 days per year.

Wind• Prevailing wind in Houston is south-southeasterly at a

mean speed of 7.5 miles per hour.


RECURRING EVENTS AND FESTIVALS

January February MarchBlack Heritage Society’s Annual “Original” MLK Birthday ParadeChevron Houston Marathon

Martin Luther King Jr. Grande Parade

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™

Mardi Gras! GalvestonAzalea Trail

Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Buffalo Bayou Regatta

Houston’s Children’s Festival PGA’s Houston Open

South West International Boat Show

April May JuneBP MS 150

Houston Barbecue Festival

Japan Festival

Art Car Parade

WorldFest: Houston International Film Festival

Cinco de Mayo Parade and Celebration Dragon Boat Festival

Pasadena Strawberry Festival Polish Heritage Festival

Caribbean-American Heritage Month Festival Houston

Free Press Summer Fest

Juneteenth Freedom Festival

Pride HoustonCarnival Houston Show and Parade

July August SeptemberFreedom Over Texas Festival

Star-Spangled Salute

Houston International Jazz Festival

Houston Black Heritage Music and Arts Festival

Houston Shakespeare Festival

White Linen Nights in the Heights

Fiestas Patrias Houston Fine Arts Fair

October November DecemberBayou City Art Festival Downtown

Festa ItalianaInternational Quilt Festival

Texas Renaissance Festival The Original Greek

Festival Turkish Festival

Wings Over Houston Airshow

Day of the Dead

Interfaith Thanksgiving Service at Rothko Chapel

Texas Championship Native American Pow Wow

The Nutcracker Market Uptown Houston

Houston Zoo Lights

Candlelight Tour in the Park Dickens on the Strand

Fiesta Guadalupana

The Mayor’s Official Downtown Houston Holiday Celebration

LO D G I N GThe Houston MSA in Spring 2016, according to PKF Consulting, had:• 810 major hotels and motels, totaling 78,064 rooms.• Room occupancy averaged 72.0 percent with an

average room rate of $106.94.

• In the third quarter of 2015, 7,129 rooms were under construction.

• Eight hotels are scheduled to open in Houston’s Central Business District before the Super Bowl in 2017.

D ININ GHouston restaurants feature outstanding regional and traditional American dishes, as well as diverse international cuisine.• In the third quarter of 2015, the Houston MSA was home

to 10,286 food services and drinking establishments and employed more than 245,000. These establishments included: 4,099 full-service restaurants; 3,883 limited-service eating places; and 629 drinking establishments.

• In 2012 (the most recent economic census data available), the Houston MSA food services and drinking establishments had sales totaling $11,179,647,000.

• In 2016, Yelp.com listed Houston restaurants as having more than 70 national categories: 600 vegan-friendly restaurants, more than 150 farm-to-table restaurants and more than 700 food trucks in Houston.

Source: O’Connor & Associates, June 2014


C O N V E N T I O N A N D S P O R T S FA C I L I T I E SGeorge R. Brown (GRB) Convention Center, opened in 1987 and expanded in 2003, offers 1.2 million square feet of exhibition, registration and meeting space; seven exhibit halls; retractable seating for 6,500; a 31,500 square foot grand ballroom; and a 3,600-seat tiered amphitheater.

Adjacent to the GRB is the 12-acre Discovery Green park and the 1,200-room Hilton Americas hotel.

In April 2013, the City of Houston finalized an agreement to construct a second convention hotel that will be a 1,000-room Marriott Marquis with completion targeted for fall 2016.

Avenida de las Americas, which runs across the front of the GRB, will be narrowed to allow outdoor plaza space that connects people in the GRB to Discovery Green park across the street. Also, a grand entryway will be added to the center of the GRB, completion targeted for fall 2016.

NRG Park, which occupies 350 acres and offers 26,000 parking spaces, is among the most versatile meeting complexes in the United States. NRG Park includes the following venues:

NRG Stadium, a $453 million, 72,220-seat football stadium with a retractable roof, opened in 2002. It is home to the NFL’s Houston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™.

NRG Center, a $150 million convention center, opened in 2002. It has 1.4 million square feet, which includes 706,213 square feet of contiguous exposition space and 59 meeting rooms.

NRG Arena has 350,000 square feet of exhibit space, an 8,000-seat arena and a 2,000-seat pavilion.

Toyota Center, a $235 million sports arena/ entertainment center located downtown, seats 18,300 for basketball and as many as 19,000 for concerts. Opened in 2003, it has covered parking for 2,500 vehicles.

Minute Maid Park, the Houston Astros’ retractable-roof downtown baseball stadium with seating for 40,963, opened in 2000.

BBVA Compass Stadium, the state-of-the-art, open-air stadium designed to host Houston Dynamo matches, as well as additional sporting and concert events, opened in May 2012. The 22,000-seat stadium is the first soccer-specific stadium in Major League Soccer located in a city’s downtown district.

Constellation Field, opened in 2012, is located in Sugar Land, Texas. The stadium hosts sporting events as well as concerts. It has a capacity of 7,500 spectators for baseball games and 10,000 for concerts.

TEDCU Stadium, opened in August 2014, is located on the campus of the University of Houston in the Third Ward. It cost $120 million to build. The stadium features 40,000 seats, including 5,000 in club and suite areas. Sun and shade studies were also conducted to improve the best level of comfort for Houston fans and minimize the impact to student-athletes.

Rice Stadium, opened in 1950, is located in the historic museum district. Home to the Rice University football team, the stadium seats up to 70,000 fans. It is the location where President John F. Kennedy made his famous challenge to America to place a man on the moon.

Houston Dash National Women’s Soccer League BBVA Compass Stadium

Houston Energy Independent Women’s Football League Pearland High South

Houston Roller Derby Women’s Flat Track Derby Association Revention Music Center

Sugar Land Skeeters Atlantic League of Professional Baseball Constellation Field

Texas City Rangers American Basketball Association La Marque High School

Scrap Yard Dawgs National Pro Fastpitch Scrap Yard Sports Complex

Woodlands Wildcats Independent Women’s Football League Woodforest Bank Stadium

Houston AstrosMajor League Baseball’s

American LeagueMinute Maid Park

Houston RocketsWestern Conference in the

National Basketball AssociationToyota Center

Houston TexansAmerican Football Conference in

the National Football LeagueNRG Stadium

Houston DynamoMajor League Soccer’s

Eastern ConferenceBBVA Compass

Stadium

PROFESSIONAL TEAMS IN THE HOUSTON MSA


M A JOR E VE N T S A N D C ONVE N T I ON S• With more than 4.44 million square feet of convention

space, metropolitan Houston ranks at the top of American cities when comparing convention venues.

• According to the Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau, in 2015, Houston hosted 313 conventions, events and shows that drew 599,930 attendees to Houston, translating into an economic impact of $250 million, based on attendance.

• Houston has served as host to the following major conventions and events: 2002 World Space Congress; 2008 Latin Grammy Awards ceremony; 2013 American Association for Clinical Chemistry; the 2013 National Rifle Association; and the 2016 NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament. In 2017, Houston will hostits second Super Bowl (Super Bowl LI). Houston first hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004.

GO L F• In 2016, PGA.com lists 104 golf courses within a 50-mile

radius of downtown Houston.• The City of Houston Parks and Recreation Department

maintains seven municipal golf courses (18-hole) and one junior golf course (9-hole).

• The Houston area has three Top Golf locations.• There are 44 disc golf courses in the Houston Metro,

according to the Professional Disc Golf Association.

R AC I N G• Alkek Velodrome – concrete bicycle racing track, one

of 29 velodromes in the United States.

• Galveston Bay Cruising Association – an all volunteer non-profit sailboat racing club.

• Houston Motorsports Park – NASCAR speedway and National Hot Rod Association drag strip.

• Royal Purple Raceway – drag strip complex.

• Sam Houston Race Park – Thoroughbred and American Quarter horse racing.


BIK IN G A ND H IK IN GBiking options are found throughout the region and includepaved and unpaved paths, mountain bike trails, and shared-road lanes.• The City of Houston offers a more than 300-mile

interconnected bikeway network spread over 500 square miles. The network includes bike lanes, bike routes, signed-shared lanes and shared-use paths.

• The City of Houston also offers more than 128 miles of hike and bike trails that loop within its parks or are linear and run along bayous and outside park boundaries.

• Harris County offers 45 hike and bike trails totaling228.8 miles.

AR T S AN D C U LTU R E

Performance ArtsHouston is one of the few U.S. cities with resident companies in drama, ballet, opera and orchestra. More than 500 institutions are devoted to the performing and visual arts, science and history in the Houston area. Houston’s nonprofit arts and culture industry is on the rise, with annual expenditures of $579 million, according to a 2014 report by the Center for Houston’s Future. Arts and culture industry expenditures in Houston grew twice as fast as the area’s population from 2000 to 2010. The sector employs more than 16,000, according to a study by the Houston Arts Alliance and Americans for the Arts. Of Houston’s 16.2 million arts and culture patrons in 2011, 2.2 million came from outside the Houston region.

VenuesTheater District

Houston’s Theater District, located in downtown Houston, features nine renowned performing arts organizations, and many smaller ones, in four venues – Jones Hall, Wortham Theater Center, Alley Theatre and Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Houston Ballet’s Center of Dance is also

located in the heart of the Theater District.

Alley Theatre, home to Houston’s leading repertory company, offers two stages – the 774-seat Hubbard Stage and the 310-seat Neuhaus Stage. A wide-ranging repertoire of 11 productions is presented each season.

Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, opened in 2002, is home to Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS), Broadway Across America, the Humphreys School of Musical Theatre and Uniquely Houston. Its two stages have seating for 2,650 and 500.

Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, opened in 1966, is home to the Houston Symphony and the Society for the Performing Arts. It seats 2,912.

Wortham Theater Center, built entirely with private funds and opened in 1987, is home to the opera and ballet companies. Its two halls seat 2,405 and 1,100.

Houston Ballet’s Center for Dance, opened in April 2011, is a 115,000-square-foot, $47 million, six-story structure. The structure is the largest professional dance company facility of its kind constructed in the U.S.


Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park offers free performances by Houston’s performing arts organizations. The city-owned theatre is located on approximately 7.5 acres of land in Hermann Park, site of the Houston Zoo and the Garden Center. Seating is provided for 1,700 patrons under the covered pavilion. A sloping lawn accommodates approximately 4,500 more on blankets or lawn chairs.

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, located in The Woodlands, offers outdoor performance space and accommodates 16,267. Established in 1990, it presents an eclectic range of programs featuring nationally and internationally recognized artists.

The Grand 1894 Opera House, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, presents more than 25 productions annually. The Romanesque Revival style theater is located in Galveston and has seating for 1,000.

Stafford Centre, located in Stafford, Texas, includes a performing arts theater with seating for 1,154 and more than 24 acres of outdoor festival green space.

Berry Center, located in Cypress, Texas, is five facilities in one. It includes an 11,000-seat athletic stadium, a conference center, an 8,300-seat arena and a 456- seat theater.

Revention Music Center, formerly known as the Bayou Music Center, seats 2,800 inside the 130,000-square-foot Bayou Place entertainment complex in downtown Houston.

MusicHouston Symphony, founded in 1913, has an annual budget of more than $30.7 million and maintains an internationally acclaimed orchestra of nearly 90 full-time musicians. Some 300,000 attend its season of more than 280 classical, pops, educational and family concerts.The symphony’s free summer concerts at Miller Outdoor Theatre have been a tradition since 1940. The symphony’s long tradition of touring in recent years has included Europe, Japan, Singapore and many U.S. cities. The symphony devotes approximately $1 million per year to educational outreach programs, most of which are offered for free or at a nominal cost.

Houston Grand Opera performs October through May each year at the Wortham Theater Center downtown. Founded in 1955, the company is known worldwide and enjoys a reputation for commissioning and presenting new works by important contemporary composers, including 50 world premieres. Its tours have included the U.S., Japan,Italy, Egypt, Scotland and France. Houston Grand Opera is the only opera company to have won a Tony Award, two Grammy Awards and two Emmy Awards. In 2014, the Houston Grand Opera fund raised $12.9 million to help support the company’s operations and endowment.


DanceHouston Ballet, founded in 1955 and established as a professional company in 1969, is the nation’s fifth largest ballet company, with annual operating expenses of more than $27 million and 55 dancers, many of whom have won medals at major international competitions. Houston Ballet has toured to critical praise in Europe, Canada, Asia and cities throughout the U.S. The company presents more than 75 performances during its eight-month season.

TheaterAlley Acting Company was founded in 1947 and is one of the few American theater companies that support a company of actors, designers, artisans and craftspeople throughout the year. The company has toured U.S.cities and abroad. The Alley is also home to educational programs for students and teachers, including the Young Performers Studio, From Stage to Page, HYPE (Houston Young Playwrights Exchange) and Playwright 360°.

Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) offers lavish musical theater productions, both new works and revivals, in a winter subscription season and in popular free summer productions at Hermann Park’s Miller Outdoor Theatre. It also operates the Humphreys School of Musical Theatre.

Main Street Theater (MST) enjoys growing critical acclaim for dramatic and musical productions. Throughout its 35- year history, its MainStage program has presented over 30 world premieres. MST’s Youth Theater produces plays directed to young audiences. Its Kids On Stage classes emphasize theatrical traditions from cultures worldwide.

Ensemble Theatre, located in midtown Houston and established in 1976, is the only professional theater in the Southwest devoted to the African-American experience. This theatre offers two stages and a full season of productions.

Stages Repertory Theatre offers southwestern and world premieres, experimental productions of classic works and revivals of American masterpieces.

Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston (MATCH), with its first performances taking place in October 2015, was designed to fill a void in the Houston arts community. By developing an accessible, centralized hub of creativity, MATCH brings together an array of artists and art lovers from across the region’s diverse cultural, economicand geographic communities. The center contains an art gallery and four theaters varying in size from 70 to 350 seats.

MuseumsHouston Museum District

The Houston Museum District is one of the country’s most visited and diverse cultural centers with 19 member organizationswithincloseproximity. Thesemuseumsprovide rich experiences in art, history, culture, nature and science.

Asia Society Texas Center – opened in 2012, this facility houses an art gallery along with a theater.1370 Southmore Blvd.

Buffalo Soldiers National Museum – founded in 2000, the museum is dedicated primarily to preserving the legacy and honor of the African-American soldiers that served on behalf of the United States of America.3816 Caroline St.

Children’s Museum of Houston – founded in 1980, the museum, which receives more than 850,000 visitsannually, has hands-on galleries and offers a multitude of exhibits and programs for children through age 12.1500 Binz

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston – founded in 1948, is a non-collecting museum presenting regional, national and international art of the past 40 years through exhibitions accompanied by publications and educational programming.5216 Montrose

Czech Center Museum Houston – established in 1995, created to celebrate, share and promote the rich culture of a major Slavic ethnic group and their history.4920 San Jacinto


Holocaust Museum Houston – opened in 1996, educates the public about the dangers of prejudice and hatred in society and exhibits information about the Holocaust.5401 Caroline

Houston Center for Contemporary Craft – a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to advancing education about the process, product and history of craft.4848 Main

Houston Center for Photography – founded in 1981, brings together a community of people interested in photography and lens-based work. The center is home to an on-site library housing more than 3,000 books on photography.1441 W. Alabama

Houston Museum of Natural Science – established in 1909, the museum includes four floors of permanent exhibit halls; the Wortham IMAX® 3D Theatre; Cockrell Butterfly Center; Burke Baker Planetarium; the George Observatory in Fort Bend County; a satellite facility in Sugar Land; and world-class touring exhibitions.5555 Hermann Park Dr.

Houston Zoo, Inc. – seeks to provide a fun and inspirational experience fostering appreciation, knowledge and care for the natural world. Currently there are over 6,000 animals attracting over 2 million guests each year. 6200 Hermann Park Dr.

Health Museum – founded in 1996, this museum is a member institution of the world-renowned Texas Medical Center. The museum currently serves more than 180,000 visitors annually.1515 Hermann Dr.

Jung Center of Houston – founded in 1958 in honor of Carl Gustav Jung, the revolutionary psychologist. The

center displays new exhibits each month. Much of the featured artwork is generated by local and regional artists. 5200 Montrose Blvd.

Lawndale Art Center – founded in 1979, the center is one of the only institutions in Houston that is dedicated to the presentation of contemporary art with an emphasis on work by regional artists.4912 Main

Menil Collection – opened in 1987, features a highly acclaimed collection of some 17,000 works of art concentrated in four areas: antiquities; Byzantine and medieval treasures; worldwide tribal art; and paintings and sculpture. The museum includes the Cy Twombly Gallery (1501 Branard) and Richmond Hall (1500 Richmond).1515 Sul Ross

Museum of African American Culture – exhibits the material and intellectual culture of Africans and African- Americans in Houston, the state of Texas, the Southwest and the African Diaspora.4807 Caroline

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) – the first art museum in Texas, opened in 1924. Today, it houses nearly 65,000 works from antiquity to the present and ranks as the largest art museum in the Southwest. MFAH includes: The Caroline Wiess Law Building; Cullinan Hall; Brown Pavilion; and the Audrey Jones Beck Building. Other MFAH facilities include: Glassell School of Art; the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden; Blaffer Memorial Wing; Rienzi; Central Administration; Junior School Building; and Bayou Bend. The museum began construction of a new master planned campus transformation in summer 2015.1001 Bissonnet


Rice University Art Gallery – the only university art museum in the nation dedicated to site-specific installation art, presents temporary, large-scale environments that visitors can enter and explore.6100 Main Street

Rothko Chapel – founded in 1971, it is an intimate sanctuary welcoming over 80,000 visitors each year. 3900 Yupon

Alliance Gallery – managed by the Houston Arts Alliance, showcases recent work by contemporary Houston artists. 3201 Allen Parkway

Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston – furthers the understanding of contemporary art.4800 Calhoun Rd.

Bryan Museum –opened in 2013, this facility is home to the world’s largest collection of historical artifacts,documents and artwork relating to the Southwestern U.S. 1315 21st St. Galveston, TX

Harris County Heritage Society – restored and furnished 10 early Houston homes and a church that are on display in Sam Houston Park. Its Museum of Houston Heritage chronicles Texas history since 1519.1100 Bagby

O’Kane Gallery, University of Houston–Downtown – is a conduit for the visual arts and contemporary culture.One Main St.

Orange Show Center for Visionary Art – a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1980 to promote the legacy of folk art and traditional visual artists.2402 Munger

San Jacinto Monument and Museum of History – located at San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site, features a wealth of artifacts and documents covering four centuries of Texas history. This 1,200-acre site is also a National Historic Landmark and consists of the San Jacinto battleground, monument with observation floor, museum of history and Battleship Texas.

Space Center Houston – the $75 million, Disney- designed visitors’ center for Johnson Space Center, opened in 1992 and attracts more than 800,000 visitors per year. It features an IMAX theater, Kids Space Place, live demonstrations, Apollo, Mercury and Gemini capsules, a space suit collection, and the world’s largest collection of moon rocks.

University Museum at Texas Southern University– presents art created by African and African- American artists.3100 Cleburne Ave.

PA R K S

Parks within the city limits of HoustonHouston contains 52,912 acres of parkland, managed by five different entities, according to The Trust for Public Land’s 2016 City Park Facts.• Parks represent 14.3 percent of the city’s adjusted land

area, which subtracts airport and railyard acreage from the total city land area.

• There are 23.6 acres of total parkland per 1,000 residents — well above the median of 13.7 acres per 1,000 residents for cities of similar density monitored by The Trust for Public Land.

• Of the 40 largest parks located within U.S. cities, the city of Houston contains three: #7 – Cullen Park with 9,270 acres; #10 – George Bush Park with 8,043 acres; and #34 – Bear Creek Pioneers Park with 3,067 acres inside the city limits.

• Houston ranks first in total park acreage among U.S. cities with more than 1 million residents.

• George Bush Park is the largest county-maintained park in the U.S.


City of Houston parksHouston Parks and Recreation Department (HPARD)

municipal parkswhich together

and more encompass

oversees 370 developed than 220 green spaces, approximately 37,851 acres.• HPARD owns and operates 60 community centers

across the city, along with the Metropolitan Multi- Service Center.

• Amenities in City of Houston parks include:• 158 Baseball & Softball Fields• 75 Baseball Practice Backstops• 4 Disc Golf Courses• 8 Dog Parks• 5 Fitness Centers• 15 Football/Rugby/Cricket/Lacrosse Fields• 7 Golf Courses (18-hole)• 1 Golf Course Junior (nine–hole)• 23 Gyms• 143 Miles of Trails• 4 Nature Centers• 38 Pools

• 225 Playgrounds• 6 Skate parks• 90 Soccer Fields• 3 Tennis Centers• 206 Tennis Courts• 28 Tennis Backstops• 10 Urban Garden Sites• 17 Volleyball Courts• 23 Water Spraygrounds• 13 Weight Rooms

Major City of Houston parks:• Buffalo Bayou Park (156 acres)

• Cullen Park (9,270 acres)

• Cullinan/Oyster Creek Park (44 acres)

• Eisenhower Park (682 acres)

• Herman Brown Park (717 acres)

• Hermann Park (445 acres)

• Keith-Wiess Park (499 acres)

• Lake Houston Wilderness Park (4,786 acres)

• Law Park (313 acres)

• MacGregor Park (82 acres)

• Memorial Park (1,458 acres)

• Metropolitan Multi-Service Center provides access to year-round activities for children and adults with disabilities.

Major downtown parks:• Allen’s Landing Memorial Park, located on the banks of

Buffalo Bayou.

• Discovery Green, a 12-acre park adjoining the GeorgeR. Brown Convention Center, opened in 2008.

• Eleanor Tinsley Park, a 124-acre linear park along Buffalo Bayou immediately west of downtown.

• Market Square, bounded by Preston, Milam, Travis, and Congress streets, donated to the city in 1854 by Augustus Allen.

• Martha Hermann Square Park, located at the front steps of City Hall.

• Sam Houston Park, the city’s first park, acquired in 1899. The park’s 19.7 acres contain nine restored historic buildings.

• Sesquicentennial Park, a 22.5-acre urban oasis in the heart of Houston’s downtown theater district.

• Tranquility Park, between Walker and Rusk Streets, officially dedicated on the 10th anniversary of the first lunar landing.


Harris County parksThe Harris County Park System consists of four separate parks departments that maintain a total of 179 parks, totaling 25,126 acres.

Major Harris County parks:• Alexander Deussen Park (309 acres)

• Gene Green Beltway 8 Park (230 acres)

• Armand Bayou Nature Center (2,500 acres)

• George Bush Park (7,800 acres)

• Arthur Storey Park (175 acres)

• Jesse H. Jones Park & Nature Center (300 acres)

• Bear Creek Pioneers Park (2,153 acres)

• Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens (300 acres)

• Challenger Seven Memorial Park (326 acres)

• Roy Campbell Burroughs Park (320 acres)

• Congressman Bill Archer Park (926 acres)

• Terry Hershey Park (500 acres)

• Cypress Creek Park (2,700 acres)

• Tom Bass Regional Park (more than 300 acres)

State parks• Brazos Bend State Park (5,000 acres) – located

approximately 28 miles southwest of Houston in Fort Bend County.

• Galveston Island State Park (2,013 acres) – located southeast of Houston in Galveston County.

• San Jacinto Battleground State Historical Park (1,200 acres) – located 20 miles east of downtown Houston.

• Sheldon Lake State Park & Environmental Learning Center (2,800 acres) – located 17 miles northeast of downtown Houston.

• Stephen F. Austin State Park (663.3 acres) – located in Austin County.

Forests• Sam Houston National Forest, located 50 miles

north of Houston, is the largest of the four national forests in Texas. The forest contains 163,037 acres in Montgomery, San Jacinto and Walker counties.

• W. G. Jones State Forest, a largely native loblolly pine forest covering 1,725 acres, is located 40 miles north of Houston near Conroe in Montgomery County. The forest is named after W. Goodrich Jones, the founder of the Texas Forestry Association. It is owned and administered by the Texas A&M Forest Service.

Wildlife Refuges• Houston Audubon, one of the largest chapters of the

National Audubon Society, is headquartered at the Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary in West Houston. Bolivar Flats and High Island are prominent among its several other sanctuary locations.

• Texas National Wildlife Refuges in the Houston MSA include the Anahuac and Moody National Wildlife Refuges in Chambers County; the Brazoria, San Bernard and Big Boggy National Wildlife Refuges in Brazoria County; and the 23,000-acre Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge in Liberty County.

• Houston, situated on two of the four major North American bird and butterfly flyways, offers a bounty of avian species. The Houston Audubon Society has counted more than 400 species of birds in the Houston region.

Houston Zoo• In 2015, the Houston Zoo received a record 2.46 million

visitors, ranking among the most-visited zoos in the U.S.• Occupying 55 acres in Hermann Park, the zoo is home

to more than 6,000 exotic animals, representing more than 900 species.

• The Houston Zoo was founded in 1922 and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

• Since 2002, the nonprofit corporation, Houston Zoo, Inc., has operated the zoo and invested more than $100 million in an extensive renewal and upgrading of its facilities.


H I S TO R Y

1830s

1836 —

1836 —

1836 —

1837 —

1837 —1838 —

On April 21, General Sam Houston’s army wins Texas’ independence from Mexico in the Battle of San Jacinto.

Houston is founded on Aug. 30 by brothers Augustus C. and John K. Allen, who pay just over $1.40 per acre for 6,642 acres near the headwaters of Buffalo Bayou.

Allen Brothers call on Gail Borden (publisher, surveyor, originator of condensed milk) and Thomas H. Borden to survey the site. Gail Borden lays out the town’s streets 80’ wide, with the principal east-west street (Texas Ave.) 100’ wide.

General Sam Houston, first president of the Republic of Texas, signs an act authorizing Houston to incorporate. Houston is capital of the Republic from 1837-1839.

The Laura is the first steamship to visit Houston.

A bucket brigade, Protection Fire Company No. 1, is formed to fight fires.

1840s

1840 —

1841 —1842 —

1846 —

On April 4, seven Houston businessmen form the Houston Chamber of Commerce.

Houston Police Department is formed.

Texas’ oldest newspaper, The Galveston County Daily News, is first published.

Texas becomes the 28th state.

1850s

1850 —

1853 —

1853 —1859 —

First census after Texas joins the U.S. counts 2,396 Houstonians. Galveston, with 4,117 residents, is the state’s largest city.

Houston’s first railroad — the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railroad — begins operations.

Texas Legislature appropriates $4,000 for Buffalo Bayou improvements.

Three competing firefighting companies combine into the Houston Volunteer Fire Department.

1860s

1861 —

City provides “land and good buildings” for a smallpox/yellow fever hospital.

1861 —

1866 —

1867 —

1868 —

1868 —

Houston and Harris County vote to secede from the Union. During the Civil War, the closest fighting is at Galveston.

Houston’s first bank, First National Bank, is founded.

Houston Stonewalls defeat Galveston Robert E. Lees 35-2 in first recorded baseball game in Houston.

Houston’s first trolley cars (mule-drawn) appear.

Houston’s first gaslights are installed.

1870s

1870 —1870 —1870 —

1872 —

1874 —

1875 —1877 —

Texas readmitted to the Union.

Census shows Houston’s population up to 9,332. Harris County’s has reached 17,375, ranking it second in the state.

Congress designates Houston a port; first survey of Houston’s proposed ship channel is conducted.

Congress makes its first appropriation— $10,000 — for ship channel improvements.

Houston Board of Trade and Cotton Exchange are organized.

First grain elevator is built on the Houston Ship Channel.

Houston’s first free public schools are established.

1880s

1880 —1882 —

1882 —1887 —

Houston’s first telephone exchange is created.

Houston Electric Light Co. is organized. Houston and New York are the first cities to build electric power plants.

Houston gets its first arc light.

Sisters of Charity open Houston’s first general hospital.

1890s

1891 —1895 —

1895 —1897 —

1897 —

Houston is first Texas city with electric streetcars.

Houston Business League is founded (became Houston Chamber of Commerce in 1910).

Houston Fire Department replaces Houston Volunteer Fire Department.

Automobile first appears in Houston as an advertising gimmick.

Houston’s first asphalt street paving is laid on Franklin St.

1898 —

Galveston Country Club opens with Texas’ first recorded professionally- designed golf course.

1899 —

First Houston city park opens. (This site, now Sam Houston Park, contains several of Houston’s earliest buildings.)

1900s

1900 —

1901 —

1901 —

1902 —1905 —1908 —1909 —

1909 —1909 —

A Category 4 hurricane strikes Galveston, claiming more than 6,000 lives and causing property damage exceeding $30 million ($861 million in 2015 dollars).

Houston Left Hand Fishing Club purchases the city’s first automobile from Olds Motor Works of Detroit.

Oil discovered at Spindletop. Spindletop, and later discoveries at Humble in 1905 and Goose Creek in 1906, put Houston in the center of new oil and oilfield equipment development.

Congress appropriates $1 million for work on the Houston Ship Channel.

Houston has 80 automobiles.

Houston City Council sets speed limit of 8 mph.

Houston Museum and Scientific Society, Inc., predecessor of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, is organized.

Houston police begin using motorcycles to enforce speed limits.

Houston Country Club opens with Houston’s first professionally-designed 18-hole golf course.

1910s

1910 —

1912 —

1913 —1914 —1914 —

1915 —

Congress accepts, from a group of Houston businessmen headed by the Houston Chamber of Commerce, a novel plan to split ship channeldevelopment costs between Houston and the federal government.

Rice Institute (now Rice University) begins classes.

Houston Symphony is established.

George Hermann donates 285 acres to the city for a public park near Rice Institute.

The 25 foot-deep Houston Ship Channel is completed and formally dedicated.

First deepwater vessel, the S.S. Satilla, calls at Houston.


1920s

1920s-1930s — Oil refineries proliferate along the Ship Channel, taking advantage of inexpensive waterborne shipping.

1921 —1923 —

1924 —1926 —1927 —

1927 —

1928 —1928 —

1929 —

Houston adopts ordinance dedicating tax monies to its library system.

Second National Bank becomes Houston’s first air-conditioned building.

Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the first fine arts museum in Texas, opens.

Natural gas first piped into Houston.

Houston Colored Junior College, the forerunner of Texas Southern University, is established.

Houston Junior College (now the University of Houston) is established.

National Democratic Convention is held in Houston.

Municipal airport opened; air mail service to Houston begins.

City Planning Commission recommends that Houston adopt a zoning ordinance but finds scant support.

1930s

1930 —

1932 —1934 —

1935 —

Census ranks Houston as state’s most populous city at 292,352.

First Houston Fat Stock Show & Rodeo (now Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™) held.

Intracoastal Canal links Houston to Mississippi River navigation system.

Braniff International inaugurates first scheduled air passenger service to Houston.

1940s

1940s —

1941 —

1943 —1946 —1947 —

1947 —1947 —

1948 —1948 —

Petrochemical complex develops, taking feedstocks from nearby refineries.

New master plan for Houston thoroughfares emphasizes a loop system.

Texas Medical Center is founded.

Houston Golf Assn. hosts its first PGA Tour event — now the Shell Houston Open, 10th oldest event on the PGA schedule.

Houston College for Negroes acquired by Texas Legislature; established as Texas State University for Negroes (now Texas Southern University).

Alley Theatre established.

Engineering begins on the Gulf Freeway, Texas’ first freeway.

Houston voters reject proposed zoning ordinance.

Dec. 31 annexation expands Houston’s area from 74.4 to 216 square-miles.

1948 —

1949 —

Port of Houston ranks second nationally in total tonnage.

KLEE-TV broadcasts first Houston commercial TV program.

1950s

1953 —

1955 —1955 —

KUHT-TV, the nation’s first public broadcast TV station, goes on the air.

Houston Grand Opera Association and Houston Ballet founded.

Houston metro area population reaches 1,000,000.

1960s

1962 —1962 —

1965 —1969 —

1969 —

NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center moves to Houston.

Houston voters reject proposed zoning ordinance.

First event held in the Astrodome.

Houston Intercontinental Airport begins operations.

Houstonian Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to step foot on the moon.

1970s

1970 —1971 —

1973 —

1978 —

The Galleria opens.

Shell Oil Co. relocates corporate headquarters to Houston. More than 200 major firms move headquarters, subsidiaries and divisions here in the 1970s.

Arab oil embargo quadruples oil prices in 90 days, fueling Houston’s 1973-1981 economic boom.

Voters approve and fund Metropolitan Transit Authority.

1980s

1982 —

1983 —1983 —

1987 —1987 —

1989 —

Employment peaks at 1,583,400 in March before onset of recession.

155 office buildings completed in 12 months.

Voters approve creation of Harris County Toll Road Authority.

Trough of recession in January; net recession loss of 221,900 jobs.

Wortham Center, home to Houston Ballet and Houston Grand Opera, and the George R. Brown Convention Center opens.

Houston Chamber of Commerce, Houston Economic Development Council and Houston World Trade Association combine to form Greater Houston Partnership.

1990s

1990 —

1990 —1991 —

1992 —1994 —

1997 —

Houston economic recovery complete; April job count above March 1982 level.

Houston hosts 16th annual Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations.

Houston City Council mandates first zoning regulations.

Republican National Convention held in Houston.

The Houston Rockets win the NBA Championship, bringing Houston its first national sports title.

Former Police Chief Lee Brown elected as Houston’s first black mayor.

2000s

2000 —

2000 —2001 —

2002 —

2002 —

2003 —2004 —

2004 —2005 —2008 —

Census finds Houston MSA has no racial or ethnic majority.

Minute Maid Park replaces the Astrodome as new home of Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros.

Tropical Storm Allison inundates Houston June 5-9, claiming 22 lives and inflicting $4.9 billion in property damage, with storm precipitation as high as 35.67 inches.

NRG Stadium, home of the National Football League’s Houston Texans, opens.

Hobby Center for the Performing Arts opens.

Toyota Center, home of the National Basketball Association’s Houston Rockets, opens

Houston’s first modern light rail line — 7.5-miles long — begins operations.

Houston hosts NFL Super Bowl XXXVIII

More than 100,000 evacuees flee to Houston from southern Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Ike makes landfall Sept. 13 at Galveston as a Category 2 storm, claiming at least 70 lives and causing some $27 billion in property damage along the Texas Gulf Coast,ranking it third most costly among U.S. hurricanes.

2010s

2011 —

2012 —

2015 —

By November, Houston returns to 2008 pre-recession employment levels; first major metro to do so.

BBVA Compass Stadium, home of Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo, opens.

Ellington Airport receives a commercial spaceport license from the Federal Aviation Administration.
