Houston

Houston is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the 4th most populous city in the United States. As of 2020, more than 2 million people lived there. John Whitmire became the mayor of Houston in 2024. Houston is named after Samuel Houston, who fought for Texas to leave Mexico in 1836. The Johnson Space Center of NASA is in Houston.

Houston, Texas
City
Top to bottom, left to right: Downtown Houston, Sam Houston Monument at Hermann Park, Texas Medical Center, Uptown Houston, Johnson Space Center, Museum of Fine Arts, Buffalo Bayou
Flag Seal
Nickname:  Space City (official)
Location within and around Harris County
Houston Location within Texas Show map of Texas Houston Location within the United States Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 29°45′46″N 95°22′59″W
Country	United States
State	Texas
Counties	Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery
Incorporated	June 5, 1837
Named for	Sam Houston
Government
• Type	Strong Mayor-Council
• Body	Houston City Council
• Mayor	John Whitmire (D)
Area [1]
• City	671.67 sq mi (1,739.62 km2)
• Land	640.44 sq mi (1,658.73 km2)
• Water	31.23 sq mi (80.89 km2)
Elevation	80 ft (32 m)
Population  (2020)[2]
• City	2,304,580
• Rank	4th in the United States 1st in Texas
• Density	3,598.43/sq mi (1,389.36/km2)
• Metro [3]	7,149,642 (5th)
Demonym	Houstonian
Time zone	UTC−6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
ZIP Codes	770xx, 772xx (P.O. Boxes)
Area codes	713, 281, 832, 346
FIPS code	48-35000[4]
GNIS feature ID	1380948[5]
Major airports	George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)
Interstates
U.S. routes
State routes
Rapid transit	Houston Metro
Website	www.houstontx.gov

For other uses, see Houston (disambiguation).

Houston has the largest medical center and complex in the world, the Texas Medical Center.

George Bush Intercontinental Airport is the main international airport serving Houston, and William P. Hobby Airport is the other international airport that is close to downtown Houston.

Houston has the second-most Fortune 500 headquarters of any U.S. city within its city limits after New York City.^[6][7]

Sports

Houston has many sports teams, including the Astros, Texans, Rockets, and Houston Dynamo. The Astros play baseball, the Rockets play basketball, the Texans play American Football, and the Houston Dynamo play soccer.

Climate

Houston has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa in the Koeppen climate classification).

History

Many of the confederate monuments and buildings have been removed or renamed.

• Dowling Street. Named for Confederate commander Richard W. Dowling. Renamed Emancipation Avenue in 2017. The street leads to Emancipation Park. The site originally was the only municipal park available to blacks, who pooled their money in 1872 to buy the property to celebrate their freedom.^[8]
• In 2016, Jackson Middle School was renamed for Hispanic community activist Yolanda Black Navarro.^[9]
• Lee High School (1962). Originally known as Robert E. Lee High School, district leaders dropped the "Robert E." from the school's title to distance the school from the Confederate general.^[10] School officials changed the name to Margaret Long Wisdom High School in 2016.^[9]
• Westbury High School changed the nickname of its athletic teams from the "Rebels" to the "Huskies".^[11]