2016 Houston Facts

2016

HOUSTONFACTS GREATER HOUSTON PARTNERSHIP

MEMBERS: $10 | NONMEMBERS: $20

AUSTIN | BRAZORIA | CHAMBERS | FORT BEND | GALVESTON | HARRIS | LIBERTY | MONTGOMERY | SAN JACINTO | WALKER | WALLER

HOUSTONFACTS About the Greater Houston Partnership The 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 N T E N T S INTRODUCTION................................... 2

EDUCATION....................................... 24

The Houston Region: The Facts Speak for Themselves . . . 2

Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

REGION IN PERSPECTIVE . . ..................... 3 Area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Colleges and Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

People. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

INFR ASTRUCTURE.............................. 26

Economy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Public Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

GEOGR APHY........................................ 4

Land Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

DEMOGR APHICS.................................. 5

Air Transportation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Population. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA.................. 31

Income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Weekly Wage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Digital. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Broadcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

HOUSTON ECONOMY.......................... 11

Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Corporate Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

ENVIRONMENT . . ................................. 32

Employment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 International Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

INDUSTRIES . . ..................................... 15 Aerospace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Banking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Wholesale and Retail Trade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Construction and Real Estate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Energy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Health Care. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Texas Medical Center. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

GOVERNMENT . . .................................. 21 City of Houston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Counties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 State Government. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 United States Congress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Council of Governments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Taxation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Public Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Water. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Clean Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 City of Houston’s Green Transportation Initiative. . . . . . . . 33 Renewable Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

LIFE IN HOUSTON. . ............................. 34 Cost of Living. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Weather. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Lodging. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Dining. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Convention and Sports Facilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Major Events and Conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Golf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Racing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Biking and Hiking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Arts and Culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Parks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

HISTORY........................................... 46

INTRODUCTION T H E H O U S T O N R E G I 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

H O U S TO N FAC T S .

TH E TITLE SAYS M U C H A B O UT T H I S P U B L I C AT I O N . N O S P I N .

NO FRILLS. NO HYPERBOLE .

J U S T PAG E A F T E R PAG E OF S T R A I G H T F O R WA R D I N F O R M AT I O N F R O M M O R E T H A N 3 0 0 S O U R C E S TO ANSWER QUESTIONS MOST F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D A B O U T T H E H O U S TO N R E G I O N .

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.

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Houston Facts | 2016

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 are 25.9 percent below the average for major metropolitan areas.

•

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

R EG I O N I N PE RS PEC T I V E AREA • 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.

P EO P L 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 the U.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.

ECO 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 every 1.4 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

G EO G R A PH Y

H O U STON MSA 9,444 square miles Montgomery

H AR R I S COU NT Y

50-430 feet

1,778 square miles

Waller

H O U STON 655 square miles

Liberty

100350 feet

Austin

70-463 feet

3-243 feet

Harris

0-310 feet

HOUSTON

Chambers 0-82 feet

Fort Bend 46-158 feet

Galveston 0-40 feet

Brazoria 0-146 feet

• 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.

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Houston Facts | 2016

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.

DEMOGRAPHICS DECENNIAL CENSUS POPUL ATION TOTAL S 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

P O P U L AT I O N • 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 all U.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).

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

Greater Houston Partnership

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HISTORIC POPULATION

AGE DISTRIBUTION

Houston MSA by Decade

Houston MSA

1850

27,984

1860

55,317

1870

80,866

1880

112,053

22.2% 7.4%

1890

137,800

1900

202,438

1910

252,066

1920 1930 1940 1950

8.8% 15.1%

348,661 545,547

11.1%

752,937 1,083,100

13.1%

14.3%

1,594,894

1960

2,195,146

1970

3,135,806

1980

3,750,411

1990

4,693,161

2000

Under 5 years

5 to 19 years

20 to 24 years

25 to 34 years

35 to 44 years

45 to 54 years

55 to 64 years

65 to 84 years

85 years & over

5,920,416

2010 Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census; Texas Almanac

6

7%

1%

Houston Facts | 2016

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

POPUL ATION, 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%

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%

4,538,028

32.9

1,462,002

3.07

1,078,262

23.8%

79,654

36.7

168,279

2.87

5,834

7.3%

537,559

36.6

168,279

2.96

63,219

11.8%

48,656

30.5

13,655

2.94

6,141

12.6%

Brazoria County

Harris County Liberty County Montgomery County Waller County

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 POPUL ATION

RACE AND ETHNICITY

HOUSTON MSA

Houston MSA

Race/Ethnicity

Non-hispanic

White

2,452,709

37.79%

Black/African American

1,092,194

16.83%

11,938

0.18%

471,037

7.26%

3,654

0.06%

Some Other Race

11,801

0.18%

Two or More Races

90,602

1.40%

American Indian/ Alaska Native Asian Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander

TOTAL

2% 7%

4,133,935 63.70% Race/Ethnicity

White

Hispanic 28.05%

Black/African American

26,627

0.41%

American Indian/ Alaska Native

12,935

0.20%

2,545

0.04%

304

0.01%

442,927

6.82%

50,220

0.77%

Asian Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander Some Other Race Two or More Races

36% 17%

1,820,687

TOTAL

38%

Anglo

Hispanic

Asian

Other

Black/African American

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

2,356,245 36.30%

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

Greater Houston Partnership

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COMPONENTS OF POPUL ATION CHANGE (’10 -’15)

By County and Houston MSA

Geography

Population 1-Jul-15

Net Domestic Migration

Net International Migration

Births

Total Population Change (’10-’15)

Deaths

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

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

4,538,028

81,490

134,746

357,198

124,765

444,952

79,654

1,882

270

5,577

3,792

4,008

537,559

53,755

8,317

34,609

16,798

81,795

48,656

3,524

177

3,099

1,478

5,419

Brazoria County

Harris County Liberty County Montgomery County Waller County

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census Note: 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 ATTAINMENT Houston MSA Total Population Over Age 25

3,984,848

11.2%

19.8%

6.2%

Graduate or Professional Degree

Bachelor’s Degree

Associate Degree

21.9%

22.9%

8.5%

Some College, No Degree

High School Graduate or GED

9th to 12th Grade, No Diploma

9.5%

82%

31%

Less than 9th grade

High School Graduate or Higher

Bachelor’s Degree or Higher

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

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Houston Facts | 2016

INCOME

TOTAL WAGES AND SAL ARIES Four quarters total ending Q4/15 ($, millions)

Houston MSA

$188,423.7

Austin County

$448.0 $5,612.5

Brazoria County Chambers County

$723.3

Fort Bend County

$8,722.9

Galveston County

$4,736.5 $158,135.6

Harris County

$662.9

Liberty County

$8,672.5

Montgomery County

$709.2

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

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 the U.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 percent from 2013.

W E E K LY W A G E • Average weekly wage in the Houston MSA in the third quarter of 2015 was $1,177 – 20.8 percent above the U.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

3,058,605 29.2 minutes

Total Workers – Age 16 and Over Mean travel time to work

80.3%

3.4% 2.4%

1.6% 0.3% 1.3%

10.7%

Drove Alone in Car, Truck or Van Walked

Bicycle

Carpooled in Car, Truck or Van Other Means

Public Transportation Worked at Home

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

Greater Houston Partnership

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OCCUPATIONS Houston MSA - Employed Persons Age 16 and Over Total Civilian Employed Population

3,112,384

Business and Financial Operations

Computer and Mathematical

Architecture and Engineering

164,429

75,134

95,448

Life, Physical, and Social Science

Community and Social Services

Legal

Education, Training, and Library

36,060

38,967

Arts, Entertainment, Sports, and Media

Health Diagnosing and Treating

Health Technologists and Technicians

43,982

111,083

55,788

Protective Service

Food Preparation and Service

Building and Grounds Maintenance

Personal Care and Service

166,300

137,773

96,206

Office and Administrative Support

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry

Construction and Extraction

6,096

234,490

Production

Transportation

Material Moving

185,490

113,878

73,661

Management

314,792

68,817 Sales

346,564

370,521 Installation, Maintenance, and Repair

105,790

37,768

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

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Houston Facts | 2016

174,580 Health Care Support

58,767

H O U S TO N ECO N O M Y POPULATION AND EMPLOYMENT FORECAST Metro Houston, Millions Employment

3.1

2015

3.5

2020

3.8

2025

9.6

8.9

8.2

7.6

7.0

6.5

Population

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.

4.1

2030

4.4

2035

4.7

2040

Source: The Perryman Group

As the energy capital of the world, Houston’s economic fortunes have long been exposed to the cyclical, boomand-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 advancements in drilling technology led to an unprecedented surge in U.S. shale production, a thriving oil and gas

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 and 9.4 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 10year historical average is 3.8 million square feet, according to Transwestern.

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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.

HOUSTON-BASED COMPANIES Ranked nationally and globally

Fortune 500 Fortune Global 500 Forbes Global 2000

24 8 26

Source: Fortune, Forbes

TOTAL NONFARM PAYROLL EMPLOYMENT Metro Houston, Millions 3.2

3.0

2.8

2.6

2.4

2.2 Jan ’05

Jan ’06

Jan ’07

Jan ’08

Jan ’09

Jan ’10

Jan ’11

Jan ’12

*Not Seasonally Adjusted Source: Texas Workforce Commission

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Houston Facts | 2016

Jan ’13

Jan ’14

Jan ’15

Jan ’16

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.

EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY

NOMINAL GROSS ARE A PRODUC T

Houston MSA 2015 Annual Average

Houston MSA, 2014

Industry

Jobs (000)

% of total

GOODS PRODUCING

565.6

18.92%

Mining and Logging

100.4

3.36%

Agriculture

Oil and Gas Extraction

52.9

1.77%

Mining

Support Activities for Mining

46.4

1.55%

Construction

218.3

7.30%

Manufacturing

246.9

8.26%

165.5

5.54%

81.5

1.52%

2,423.4

81.08%

173

5.79%

299.7

10.03%

Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities

139

4.65%

Information

32.2

1.08%

Finance and Insurance

95.9

3.21%

Real Estate and Rental and Leasing

55.4

1.85%

Professional and Business Services

471

15.76%

Educational Services

55.8

1.87%

312.2

10.44%

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%

Durable Goods Nondurable Goods SERVICE PRODUCING Wholesale Trade Retail Trade

Health Care and Social Assistance Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation

Sum of Individual Sectors may not equal the total due to rounding.

Source: Texas Workforce Commission, Employment Estimates

Industry ALL INDUSTRY TOTAL

$Billions

% of total

525.4

100.0%

0.5

0.1%

101.1

19.2%

Construction

27.9

5.3%

Manufacturing

80.5

15.3%

Durable good

28.8

5.5%

Nondurable goods

51.7

9.8%

Wholesale and retail trade*

61.6

11.7%

Transportation, warehousing and utilities*

38.1

7.3%

Information*

10.7

2.0%

Finance, insurance, real estate

62.7

11.9%

Professional and business services

64.4

12.3%

Health care and education

23.4

4.5%

Leisure and hospitality

12.9

2.5%

9.8

1.9%

31.8

6.1%

Other services Government

Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

C O R P O R AT E E C O N O M Y Houston, a major corporate center, ranks third among U.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.

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Employment Size

Number of Establishments

Percent of Establishments

L ARGEST HOUSTON-ARE A EMPLOYERS 2016 - Number of Local Employees

1,000+

155

.12%

500-999

273

0.20%

250-499

825

0.64%

100-249

2,957

2.17%

20,000

50-99

4,881

3.58%

United Airlines

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

Memorial Hermann Health System

9,000

The University of Texas MD Anderson

Baylor College of Medicine

15,000

Houston Methodist

14,985

Exxon Mobil Corporation

• 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 was 4.8 percent, versus a national unemployment rate of 4.5 percent. The rates are not seasonally adjusted.

8,924

ARAMARK Corp.

8,500

Halliburton

8,000 HCA

13,000

7,855

UTMB Health

Hewlett-Packard

Kroger Company

Macy's

12,448

E M PLOY M E N T

Chevron

24,000

7,500

12,000

7,000

Shell Oil Company

The Dow Chemical Company

11,892

National Oilwell Varco

7,000 AT&T

11,563

6,900

Schlumberger Limited

St. Luke's Health System

10,000

6,800

Source: Greater Houston Partnership Database

I N T E R N AT I O N A L B U S I N E S S Houston, 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, Italian and Vietnamese. The association’s more than 5,600 multilingual realtors speak 99 languages.

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Houston Facts | 2016

• 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.

INDUSTRIES A E R O S PA C E Home 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.

Establishments Houston 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 Impact The 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.

Tourism Space 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.

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

Top Employers JPMorgan 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 Deposits

$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 in the 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.

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

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

2015 GROSS RETAIL SALES County

Top Employers

Houston MSA

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

Austin

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

Retail At 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.

Gross Retail Sales

% Change from 2013

112,142,527,110

-11.0%

269,550,359

-85.4%

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%

86,251,680,043

-8.8%

876,197,611

-6.7%

7,829,709,733

-12.3%

510,269,393

-13.8%

Brazoria

Harris Liberty Montgomery Waller

Source: Texas Comptroller’s Office

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

Building Permits

Industrial

In 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.

Houston’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.

Office

Single-Family

At 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 millionsquare-feet (msf) of completed net rentable space (42.2 msf in the Central Business District, or CBD).

According 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.)

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 was 14.2 percent by the end of 2015.

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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.

Houston Facts | 2016

Multi-family As 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.

HOUSTON AREA HOUSING STARTS AND MULTI-FAMILY UNITS DELIVERED Single-family starts

52,565

53,040

14,405

12,328

60,682

59,669

12,714

10,126

8,358 38,160

49,543

40,712

48,003

47,587

21,862

17,628

40,336

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

18,253

29,490

14,640 22,637

23,736

5,874

3,784

5,383

23,616

18,687

18,853

18,353

2009

2010

2011

26,141

45,590

12,103

33,327

37,568

33,963

2002

Total

52,297 14,729

47,968

42,321

Multi-family units added

2012

28,233

2013

29,959

2014

27,337

2015

Source: Metrostudy and Apartment Data Services

ENERGY Houston 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.

Employment As 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 Employers Exxon 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.

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Establishments The 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.

ENGINEERING Employment

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.

ENGINEERING CONCENTR ATIONS Houston MSA vs. U.S. Average Engineers in Houston

Per 100,000 Workers (Houston)

Per 100,000 Workers (U.S.)

Aerospace Engineers

2,360

80.40

1.70

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.

Biomedical Engineers

270

9.10

15.20

4,360

148.80

23.40

11,030

376.40

199.60

According to the Houston Business Journal, Houston’s 10 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.

Electrical Engineers

4,450

152.00

129.50

Electronics Engineers, Except Computer

3,100

106.00

98.20

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

680

23.10

19.60

8,760

298.80

201.80

700

23.80

5.80

Petroleum Engineers

10,810

368.80

25.10

Engineers, All Other

2,740

93.50

91.00

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

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.

Chemical Engineers Civil Engineers

Environmental Engineers

Establishments

Materials Engineers

The 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.

Mechanical Engineers Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers

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

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Houston Facts | 2016

H E A LT H C A R E Employment

Largest Hospitals

The Houston MSA employs over 345,000 employees in the health care industry.

Houston 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).

• 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.

Establishments The 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)

TEX AS MEDICAL CENTER 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 School of Nursing; Houston Community College; and the University of Houston-Victoria School of Nursing.

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• 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.

• 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.

• Houston Community College offers 19 health science fields.

M A N U FA C T U R I N G Employment

Petroleum Refining

Manufacturing 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 Employers

The 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.

National 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.

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.

Establishments

Chemicals/Petrochemicals

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

With 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 annual base petrochemicals production capacity in 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.

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Houston Facts | 2016

GOVERNMENT C I T Y O F H O U 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.

COUNTIES • 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.

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S TAT E G O V 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 126-135, 137-150

Representatives:

3,

15,

26-28,

U N I T E D S TAT E S C O N G R 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).

COU NCI L OF GOVERNMENTS The 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.

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Houston Facts | 2016

• 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 of its 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.

TYPICAL PROPERTY TAXES Total Tax Rate

$2.32 /per $100 taxable value

• 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.

FULL MARKET VALUE OF TAX ROLL 2015

City of Houston

$0.60 $0.42 $0.10

$1.20

Harris County

Houston ISD

$207,090,110,684

Houston Independent School District

City of Houston

Houston Community College

Harris County

$278,607,400,143

$524,287,009,275 Source: Harris County Appraisal District Source: Harris County Appraisal District

PUBLIC SAFET Y Houston Police Department (HPD)

Houston Fire Department

• HPD’s budget for FY 2016 is $807.0 million.

• 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.

• 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 was 5.00 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.

• 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.

• 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.

Greater Houston Partnership

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E D U C AT I O N SCHOOLS • 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.

SELEC TED HOUSTON-ARE A INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRIC TS 2014-2015 School District

Students per Teacher Ratio

Expenditures per student1

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

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

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

8

5,895

16.8

$8,392

Waller

Barbers Hill

Dayton

Waller 1

24

Fall ‘14 Enrollment

Campuses

Class 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

Houston Facts | 2016

HIGHER EDUCATION ENROLLMENT Fall 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

COMMUNIT Y 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

7,416 Galveston College

2,071

Wharton County Junior College

MEDICAL SCHOOL S 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

Texas A&M University Health Science Center

2,590

320

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

LIBRARIES • 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.

CO L L EG E S A N D UNIVERSITIES The 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.

Greater Houston Partnership

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INFRASTRUCTURE PUBLIC UTILITIES Electricity and Natural Gas

Water

Headquartered 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.

The water supply now available or under development will meet Houston’s needs beyond 2050.

• 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.

Telecommunications Four 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.

26

Houston Facts | 2016

• 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.

• 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.

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

• 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.

Freeways, Highways and Toll Roads

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

In the Houston MSA, 4,206.41 lane miles of freeways and expressways are in operation.

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

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

Greater Houston Partnership

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PORTS

PORT OF HOUSTON - FOREIGN TR ADE 2015

Sea Ports in Houston MSA

Leading Export Commodities

The Houston Region contains four seaports.

By Value

SE APORTS R ANKED BY TOTAL TR ADE 2015 U.S. Rank 1

Port

Total Trade in Metric Tons

Houston

150,876,547

15

Texas City

23,969,110

27

Freeport

14,897,064

41

Galveston

6,421,890

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 the 23rd consecutive year in 2014, the most recent data available.

Petroleum/petroleum products

$24,565,501,786

Machinery

$12,399,954,072

Organic Chemicals

$10,265,477,828

Plastics

$6,408,060,605

Electric Machinery

$3,198,103,360

By 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 Petroleum/petroleum products

$14,571,684,242

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. 28

Houston Facts | 2016

• 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 (twentyfoot 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 Channel The 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.

Greater Houston Partnership

29

A I R T R A N S P O R TAT I O N Houston 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, up 3.1 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 for 50.2 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. Carriers Alaska Airlines, American Airlines (also serves HOU), Delta Air Lines (also serves HOU), Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines, Wings of Alaska

22 International Carriers AeroMexico, 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 Freighters Air 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 Airlines American Airlines (also serves IAH), Branson Air Express, Delta Air Lines (also serves IAH), JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines

1 International Airline Southwest 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

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

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

Source: Houston Airport System, January 2016 30

Houston Facts | 2016

C O M M U N I C AT I O N S M E D I A D I G I TA L

PRINT

Online-only news outlets covering greater Houston.

• Houston’s major daily newspaper is the Houston Chronicle.

• Culture Map • Bisnow • Swamplot • Houston Style Magazine • Local Houston

• According to Alliance for Audited Media, it is the second largest newspaper in Texas and 13th largest in the U.S., with 370,961 in combined print and online daily circulation as of 2014.

• More than 60 local and community newspapers, including

• Houston Business Weekly

• Bellaire Examiner

• Intown Magazine

• Community Impact Newspaper

• The Buzz Magazines

• Fort Bend Southwest Star

B ROADCA ST

• Katy Sun • Free Press Houston

• 17 Digital TV Stations

• Friendswood Journal

• 29 AM Radio Stations

• Galveston County Daily News

• 36 FM Radio Stations

• River Oaks Examiner

• Comcast Xfinity provides cable service for most of the Houston area.

• The Villager • 10 college newspapers

Greater Houston Partnership

31

ENVIRONMENT W AT E R The 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).

• 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.

• 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.

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

CLEAN AIR Under 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.

32

Houston Facts | 2016

• 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.

C I T Y O F H O U S T O N ’ S G R 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 E N E WA B L E E N E R GY The 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 kilowatthours (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.

Greater Houston Partnership

33

L I F E I N H O US TO N COST OF LIVING The C2ER Cost of Living Index for 2015 shows that Houston’s overall after-taxes living costs were 1.8 percent below the nationwide average.

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.

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

COST OF LIVING INDE X: 20 MOST POPULOUS METROPOLITAN ARE AS* 2015 Annual Data - (Average for 273 Urban Areas = 100) Metropolitan Statistical Area

All Items

Grocery Items

Housing

Utilities

Transportation

Health Care

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).

34

Houston Facts | 2016

W E AT H E R

WE ATHER DATA - 2015*

Temperature • Normal daily maximum temperatures: January 62.9° F; April 79.6° F; July 93.7° F; October 82.0° F

Average High Temperature (˚F)

Average Low Temperature (˚F)

Total Precipitation (inches)

• Normal daily minimum temperatures: January 43.2° F; April 59.4° F; July 75.1° F; October 60.9° F

January

59.3

40.4

3.17

• Record extremes: 109˚F on August 27, 2011 and September 4. 2000; 5˚F on January 18, 1930.

February

63.4

41.7

0.66

March

72

52.9

6.34

• The Houston MSA lies in a zone with 260-275 frost-free days per year.

April

80.6

64.3

6.1

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

December

69.1

49.6

5.21

Year

79.8

60.7

70.03

• Record monthly snowfall: 2.8 inches in February 1973.

• Record daily snowfall: 2.0 inches in January 1973.

• 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.

*As recorded at George Bush Intercontinental Airport’s weather station.

Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

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.

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LO D G I N G The Houston MSA in Spring 2016, according to PKF Consulting, had:

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

• 810 major hotels and motels, totaling 78,064 rooms.

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

• Room occupancy averaged 72.0 percent with an average room rate of $106.94.

DINING Houston restaurants feature outstanding regional and traditional American dishes, as well as diverse international cuisine.

• 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 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 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.

RECURRING EVENTS AND FESTIVAL S

January

February

March

Black Heritage Society’s Annual “Original” MLK Birthday Parade

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™

Azalea Trail

Mardi Gras! Galveston

Bayou City Art Festival Memorial

Chevron Houston Marathon

Buffalo Bayou Regatta

Martin Luther King Jr. Grande Parade

Houston’s Children’s Festival PGA’s Houston Open South West International Boat Show

April

May

June

BP MS 150

Cinco de Mayo Parade and Celebration

Houston Barbecue Festival

Dragon Boat Festival

Caribbean-American Heritage Month Festival Houston

Japan Festival

Pasadena Strawberry Festival

Art Car Parade

Polish Heritage Festival

WorldFest: Houston International Film Festival

Juneteenth Freedom Festival Pride Houston Carnival Houston Show and Parade

July

August

September

Freedom Over Texas Festival

Houston Black Heritage Music and Arts Festival

Fiestas Patrias Houston

Star-Spangled Salute

Fine Arts Fair

Houston International Jazz Festival

Houston Shakespeare Festival

October

November

December

Bayou City Art Festival Downtown

Day of the Dead

Candlelight Tour in the Park

Festa Italiana

Interfaith Thanksgiving Service at Rothko Chapel

Dickens on the Strand

Texas Championship Native American Pow Wow

The Mayor’s Official Downtown Houston Holiday Celebration

International Quilt Festival Texas Renaissance Festival The Original Greek Festival Turkish Festival Wings Over Houston Airshow

White Linen Nights in the Heights

The Nutcracker Market Uptown Houston Houston Zoo Lights Source: O’Connor & Associates, June 2014

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Free Press Summer Fest

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Fiesta Guadalupana

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 S George 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 soccerspecific 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.

PROFESSIONAL TEAMS IN THE HOUSTON MSA Houston Dash National Women’s Soccer League BBVA Compass Stadium

Houston Energy Independent Women’s Football League Houston Astros

Houston Texans

Major League Baseball’s American League Minute Maid Park

American Football Conference in the National Football League NRG Stadium

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

Houston Rockets

Houston Dynamo

Western Conference in the National Basketball Association Toyota Center

Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference BBVA Compass Stadium

Scrap Yard Dawgs National Pro Fastpitch Scrap Yard Sports Complex Woodlands Wildcats Independent Women’s Football League Woodforest Bank Stadium

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MA JOR EVENTS AND CONVENTIONS • 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 host its second Super Bowl (Super Bowl LI). Houston first hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004.

GOLF • 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 ACING

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• Alkek Velodrome – concrete bicycle racing track, one of 29 velodromes in the United States.

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

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

• Royal Purple Raceway – drag strip complex.

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

BIKING AND HIKING Biking options are found throughout the region and include paved and unpaved paths, mountain bike trails, and shared-road lanes.

• 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.

• 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.

• Harris County offers 45 hike and bike trails totaling 228.8 miles.

A R T S A N D C U LT U R E Performance Arts Houston 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.

Venues Theater 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.

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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 456seat theater.

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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.

Music Houston 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.

Dance Houston 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.

Main Street Theater (MST) enjoys growing critical acclaim for dramatic and musical productions. Throughout its 35year 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, economic and geographic communities. The center contains an art gallery and four theaters varying in size from 70 to 350 seats.

Museums Houston Museum District The Houston Museum District is one of the country’s most visited and diverse cultural centers with 19 member organizations within close proximity. These museums provide 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.

Theater Alley 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.

Children’s Museum of Houston – founded in 1980, the museum, which receives more than 850,000 visits annually, 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

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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

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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 AfricanAmericans 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, Disneydesigned 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 AfricanAmerican artists.

3100 Cleburne Ave.

PA R K S Parks within the city limits of Houston Houston 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.

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City of Houston parks Houston Parks and Recreation Department (HPARD) oversees 370 developed municipal parks and more than 220 green spaces, which together encompass approximately 37,851 acres.

• HPARD owns and operates 60 community centers across the city, along with the Metropolitan MultiService Center.

• Amenities in City of Houston parks include:

• 225 Playgrounds • 6 Skate parks • 90 Soccer Fields • 3 Tennis Centers • 206 Tennis Courts • 28 Tennis Backstops • 10 Urban Garden Sites • 17 Volleyball Courts

• 158 Baseball & Softball Fields

• 23 Water Spraygrounds

• 75 Baseball Practice Backstops

• 13 Weight Rooms

• 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

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 George R. 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.

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Harris County parks The 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.

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H I S TO RY 1830s 1836 —

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

1836 —

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.

1836 —

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.

1837 —

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.

1837 —

The Laura is the first steamship to visit Houston.

1838 —

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.

Texas becomes the 28th state.

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

1898 —

Galveston Country Club opens with Texas’ first recorded professionallydesigned golf course.

1866 —

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

1899 —

1867 —

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

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

1868 —

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

1868 —

Houston’s first gaslights are installed.

1870 — 1870 —

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.

1901 —

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

1901 —

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.

1872 —

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

1902 —

1874 —

Houston Board of Trade and Cotton Exchange are organized.

1905 — 1908 —

1875 —

First grain elevator is built on the Houston Ship Channel.

1877 —

Houston’s first free public schools are established.

1880s 1880 —

Houston’s first telephone exchange is created.

1882 —

Houston Electric Light Co. is organized.

Houston and New York are the first cities to build electric power plants.

1882 — 1887 —

Houston gets its first arc light.

Sisters of Charity open Houston’s first general hospital.

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

1891 —

1859 —

Houston is first Texas city with electric streetcars.

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

1895 —

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

1895 —

Houston Fire Department replaces Houston Volunteer Fire Department.

1897 —

Automobile first appears in Houston as an advertising gimmick.

1897 —

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

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

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

1853 —

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

1900 —

1870 —

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

1861 —

1900s

1870s

1853 —

1860s

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

Houston Police Department is formed.

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

1850s 1850 —

1861 —

Houston has 80 automobiles.

Houston City Council sets speed limit of 8 mph.

1909 —

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

1909 —

Houston police begin using motorcycles to enforce speed limits.

1909 —

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

1910s 1910 —

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

1912 —

Rice Institute (now Rice University) begins classes.

1913 — 1914 —

Houston Symphony is established.

1914 —

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

1915 —

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

1890s

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

1920s 1920s-1930s — Oil refineries proliferate along

1948 —

Port of Houston ranks second nationally in total tonnage.

1949 —

KLEE-TV broadcasts first Houston commercial TV program.

the Ship Channel, taking advantage of inexpensive waterborne shipping.

1990s 1990 —

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

1990 —

Houston hosts 16th annual Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations.

1921 —

Houston adopts ordinance dedicating tax monies to its library system.

1923 —

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

1953 —

1991 —

Houston City Council mandates first zoning regulations.

1924 —

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

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

1955 —

1992 —

Republican National Convention held in Houston.

1926 — 1927 —

Houston Grand Opera Association and Houston Ballet founded.

Natural gas first piped into Houston.

1955 —

1994 —

Houston metro area population reaches 1,000,000.

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

1997 —

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

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

1927 —

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

1928 —

National Democratic Convention is held in Houston.

1928 —

Municipal airport opened; air mail service to Houston begins.

1929 —

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

1930s

1950s

1960s 1962 —

NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center moves to Houston.

1962 —

Houston voters reject proposed zoning ordinance.

1965 — 1969 —

First event held in the Astrodome.

2000 —

Census finds Houston MSA has no racial or ethnic majority.

2000 —

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

2001 —

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.

2002 —

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

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

2002 —

Hobby Center for the Performing Arts opens.

2003 —

1973 —

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

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

2004 —

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

1978 —

Voters approve and fund Metropolitan Transit Authority.

2004 — 2005 —

Houston hosts NFL Super Bowl XXXVIII

2008 —

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.

1969 —

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

1932 —

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

1934 —

Intracoastal Canal links Houston to Mississippi River navigation system.

1935 —

Braniff International inaugurates first scheduled air passenger service to Houston.

1970 — 1971 —

1940s 1940s — Petrochemical complex develops, taking feedstocks from nearby refineries.

1941 — 1943 — 1946 —

1947 —

Houston Intercontinental Airport begins operations.

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

1970s

1930 —

The Galleria opens.

1980s 1982 —

New master plan for Houston thoroughfares emphasizes a loop system.

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

1983 —

155 office buildings completed in 12 months.

Texas Medical Center is founded.

1983 —

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

Voters approve creation of Harris County Toll Road Authority.

1987 —

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

1987 —

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

1989 —

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

Houston College for Negroes acquired

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

1947 — 1947 —

Alley Theatre established.

1948 —

Houston voters reject proposed zoning ordinance.

1948 —

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

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

2000s

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

2010s 2011 —

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

2012 —

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

2015 —

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

Greater Houston Partnership

47

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