About Houston

HOUSTON

The fourth largest city in the United States is located on a coastal plain fifty miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Its climate has normal daily minimum and maximum temperatures of 45-62° F in the winter and 73-92° F in the summer. Houston is a young dynamic city — a mecca for people from all over the world. According to a study of the 2000 U.S. Census, Houston is the nation's fifth most ethnically diverse city, more so than cities such as Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, and Miami.

As the cultural center of the Southwest, Houston is the home to the world-renowned Houston Ballet, Houston Grand Opera, and the Houston Symphony. The Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre is the third oldest resident theater company in the country. Theater Under the Stars presents a full season of Broadway-quality musicals in the fabulous Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. About one mile north of the Texas Medical Center, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Contemporary Arts Museum, the Menil Collection, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and the Holocaust Museum all offer outstanding exhibitions thoughout the year.

Sports enthusiasts can enjoy professional sports action year round. Houston is home to major league sports teams, such as the 1994 and 1995 NBA Champion Rockets (basketball), the four-time WNBA Champion Comets (women's basketball), the MLB Astros (baseball), the NFL Texans (football), the 2006 MLS Champion Dynamo, and the AHL Aeros (hockey). Houston is less than a one hour drive from the Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Bay, providing access to a full range of water sports and activities.

Houston has the most affordable housing of the 10 largest U. S. metropolitan areas and the second lowest cost of living among major American cities. In addition, the diversity and breadth of the city's economy provides a wide array of job opportunities for spouses and family members. Connected to the Gulf of Mexico by a man-made ship channel, the Port of Houston is the second busiest port in the country and the ninth busiest in the world. Computer science, banking, agribusiness, marine technology, space science, biotechnology, and medicine all contribute significantly to the local economy.

Houston is also home to the NASA Johnson Space Center, the headquarters for all U. S. manned space flight. Low cost of living, no state income tax, a warm climate, and friendly people combine to make Houston, America's fastest growing city in the 20th century, a special place in which to live.

More Houston links: