Houston (Houston, MFA: [ˈhjuːstēn]) is the fourth largest city in the United States of America and the largest city in the state of Texas with a population of 2,343,365 on 1.07.2019. Houston is the administrative center of Harris district, as well as the main economic center of the Big Houston agglomeration with a total population of 6,997,384 people on 1.07.2018 (5th place in the USA). The city is 50 kilometers from the Gulf of Mexico on the coastal plain.

City
Houston
Houston
Top clockwise: Sam Huston Monument, business center, shipping channel, shopping center "The Galleria", University of Houston and Kraft Jr. PCO at the Johnson Space Center.
Flag Print
29°45'46″ pp. 95°22'59″ h.d.
Country	USA
State	Texas
District	Harris
Mayor	Sylvester Turner
History and geography
Founded	30 August 1836
City with	5 June 1837
Area	1,653.87 km²
Center Height	32 m
Climate Type	cubtropical monsoon
Time zone	UTC-6:00, summer UTC-5:00
Population
Population	↗ 2,320,268 people (2018)
Density	1413.28 persons/km²
Population of agglomeration	▲ 6,997,384 people (2018)
Katoikonim	Houstonian
Digital IDs
Phone code	281, 346, 713, 832
Postal Indexes	770XX, 772XX
GNIS	1380948
houstontx.gov  (English)
Houston Houston
Media files on Wikimedia Commons

Houston was founded on August 30, 1836, and was incorporated into the Republic of Texas on June 5, 1837, after being named after Samuel Houston, the Commander-in-Chief of the Texas Army during the Texas Revolution and President of the Republic of Texas. The rapid development of the port and railways in the nineteenth century, as well as the beginning of oil production and the subsequent development of the oil industry in the twentieth century, led to rapid population growth. In the 1960s, the number of inhabitants exceeded one million, and in the 2000s - two million.

The city is the world's leading center of energy industry, and the city's economy is also represented by enterprises in the fields of aeronautics, transport and health. The major objects for the city's economy and infrastructure are the Lyndon Johnson Space Center, America's largest international freight port, the Houston Shipping Canal, the world's largest Texas Medical Center.

History

Ethmology, nicknames

Samuel Houston

The city is named after Samuel Houston, the commander-in-chief of the Texas Army during the Texas Revolution (1835-1836) and the president of the Republic of Texas (1836-1838, 1841-1) 844).

Houston's official nickname is "Space city," which can be translated as "Space City," "Space City," or "Space City." The name is given because the Lyndon Johnson Space Center is located here. The city has 12 nicknames.

There is a popular phrase in American conversation: "Houston, we have a problem," a post-Apollo-13 mission that has not worked. In Houston, the film "Apollo 13" was filmed, based on the real events of the mission.

Reason

Allen’s Landing is the place where the city was founded

After the end of the war for the independence of Texas, in August 1836 businessmen brothers August and John Allen bought 26.9 km² of land along the river Buffalo Bayu, planning to create a settlement on it. They wanted the future city to be the capital of Texas and a major shopping center.

The date of the city's foundation is considered to be August 30, 1836, when the Alena brothers placed an announcement about the city's appearance. The city was named after General Sam Houston, who led the Texas Army in the Battle of San Jacinto during the war against Mexico, later elected President of Texas. As of January 1837, only 12 people were living in the village, but four months later the population increased to 1,500. On June 5, 1837, the city was included in the district of Harrisberg (now Harris) and became the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas, which remained until 1839. The first mayor of Houston was James Holman.

XIX century

Houston, 1873

In 1840, Houston residents set up a Chamber of Commerce, which was aimed at developing a shipping business and a recently built port on Buffalo Bayu, and during the first four years the Chamber developed rapidly. The economic significance of the Chamber of Commerce grew, and in 1853 the Texas Legislative Assembly allocated money to improve Buffalo Bayu canals. In 1846, the city joined the United States with the Republic of Texas.

By 1860, the railways connecting Houston, Galveston and Beaumont had been built. The same year Houston became a railway hub for cotton exports. During the civil war, the city served as the headquarters of General John Maguber, who used it as the organizing point for the battle at Galveston. In the 1860s, an important object for the city's economy, the canal on Buffalo Bayu, continued to develop. Since the mid-nineteenth century, there has been an active trade between Houston and nearby cities; by 1890, the city had become the Texas railroad hub.

By the end of the century, the city already had electric lighting, streets made of blocks and cobblestones. Urban public transport represented a horse.

XX century

Main Street Center, 1908

In 1900, Houston was hit by a Galveston hurricane that lasted from 27 August to 12 September. According to the current rate, the damage would amount to $526 million, 8 thousand people died. A large deposit was found next year oil near Beaumont, which was the start of the Texas oil industry. In 1902, US President Theodore Roosevelt approved a $1 million project to reconstruct the Houston Shipping Canal. By 1910, the city's population had reached 78,800, almost twice the number of people living in Houston in 1900. In 1914, US President Woodrow Wilson took part in the opening of a new deep-sea port in Houston, and a year later the Houston shipping channel was opened.

Panorama of the center, 1927

By 1930, Houston had become the largest city in Texas, outnumbering cities like Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin.

World War II became a powerful stimulus for the economic development of the city. Several petrochemical plants and production facilities were built along the shipping city channel because of sharply increased U.S. demand for oil products and synthetic rubber. Houston became a major petrochemical manufacturing center in those years, but during the same period the tonnage of ships in the port decreased. Built during World War I and reconstructed from 1940 to 1941, Ellington Field Airport served as a training center for air force personnel.

Houston Center in 1971

In 1945, the Texas Medical Center was established. In the late 1940s, a few suburbs were included in the city's boundaries, which more than doubled Houston's area. In the 1950s, the management of many major (mainly oil) companies in the United States moved to Houston, which had a positive impact on the city's economy, one of the reasons for the move was the mass installation of air conditioners in all offices.

It's air conditioning! It was the basis for Houston's rapid growth in 1950, when it became the world's most air-conditioned city. This has spurred many corporations to move their headquarters to Houston.

Original text

It was the air-conditioning! That was the foundation for the big boom growth of Houston in 1950 when it became the most air-conditioned city in the world. It was the stimulus for many corporations to move their headquarters to Houston.

—

In 1962-1964, twenty-five miles south of the center of Houston, a Space Ship Control Center named after Lyndon Johnson was built on lands transferred to the Federal Government by Rice University, since 1973. In the 1960s, Houston's population reached a million.

Population growth in the mid-1980’s collapsed as the oil price started to plummet due to the over-production crisis and the urban economy deteriorated. In 1986 the space shuttle Challenger exploded, a tragic incident that also affected the aerospace industry. The city's population grew by only 2.3% over this decade. Since the late 1980s, Houston has been making efforts to diversify its economy as a result of the recession, focusing on the development of the aerospace industry, health care, biotechnology, and the reduction of dependence on the oil industry.

Modern

In the 2000s, the population reached two million people, with a growth of 7.5% and continued to grow steadily, reaching 10.4% in 2010-2017.

In August 2005, 240,000 New Orleans, hit by Hurricane Katrina, were evacuated to Houston. Later, up to 40,000 people remained in the city. However, Houston itself has experienced periodic hurricanes in recent decades, including Hurricane Allison" and "Ike," which occurred in 2001 and 2008, respectively, resulted in damage of $16.67 billion to the Houston region. A month later, in September 2005, the threat of the collapse of Hurricane Rita triggered a mass evacuation of residents, which caused the biggest traffic jams in the city's history, but the city was not particularly affected by the storm, avoiding a major storm strike.

In May 2015 and April 2016 The city was flooded by record heavy rains throughout the city's history.

2017: Hurricane Harvey.

Physical and geographical characteristics

Geographic Location

Houston satellite, 2018

Houston after Hurricane Harvey, 2017

Houston is located 50 kilometers from the Gulf of Mexico on the coastal plain. Much of the city was built on woodlands, wetlands and prairies, which still exist in nearby areas near Houston. The city is located in an area where rain and rain are common, so for Houston floods are a constant problem. The height of the city above sea level is on average 15 meters, the highest point is the northwest of Houston (38 meters). The area of the city is 1,739.3 km², of which 1,658.1 km² is land-based and 81.2 km² is water-based.

Climate

The city is located in the subtropical monsoon climate by the classification of Köppen (Cfa). The prevailing southeastern winds from the Gulf of Mexico blow all year round. The humidity in the city is due to the close presence of the Gulf of Mexico. Air humidity reaches 90% in the morning and decreases to 70% by noon. On average, 90 days a year are solar, most of which in October and November. 160 days a year — cloudy, most of it — from December to May.

In spring and summer the city is hot and humid: the average temperature is 21°C in the spring and 28.8°C in the summer. Due to the high temperature, almost all vehicles and buildings are equipped with air conditioners. The absolute maximum temperature was recorded in 2000 and 2011, when it was 42.8°C. Houston is often hit by hurricanes, the largest of which in decades is "Allison" and "Ike." Autumn is a rather warm season, especially September. The temperature this month is higher than in May. The average autumn temperature is 21.8°C and the average rainfall is the highest in the year (359.7mm). Winter is warm. The lowest temperature was recorded in 1930 -15°C. The average winter temperature is 12.6 °C, and the maximum temperature was recorded in 1986 - 32.8 °C. 18 days a year the temperature drops below 0 °C. In winter, rainfall usually occurs in the form of rain, but it is rarely snow. Since 1895, snow has fallen 35 times, including 21 temporary snow cover.

Bevel, inland waters

Houston soils are characterized by sedimentary rocks and sand. On the surface of the frequency of erosion, the city has about 300 fractures, their total length is about 500 km. One is Long Point-Eureka Heights fault system. There are also unique deposits made from a mixture of sand and clay, which, after a certain time, produce oil and natural gas from decaying organic matter. On the outskirts of Houston, there is a black fertile soil where rice, soy, cereals, vegetables and cattle, horses, pigs and poultry are raised. The city and its surroundings have very little chance of a strong earthquake, and the strongest earthquake with a magnitude of 3.8 was in 1910.

There are four rivers in Houston. Main, Buffalo Bayu, runs through the city center and the Houston shipping channel, and has three tributaries. Bres Bayu runs along the Texas Medical Center district, Sims Bayu goes through the southern part of the city, White Ok Bayu — through the northern part of the city. The shipping channel goes further to Galveston, right up to the Gulf of Mexico. There are two lakes in the suburb: Conro and Houston, which are reservoirs and serve as urban water sources. There are many groundwater streams throughout the city, which used to be actively used for water but have been stopped due to the slow movement of the earth's surface.

Flora and fauna

Discovery green park in downtown Houston

The flora and fauna of the district of Harris are dominated by the species of animals and plants in the marshlands, as a large part of the city is built on the marshes and prairies.

Among amphibians and reptiles the most famous are the Houston toad and the Texas horn lizard. Among mammals are red wolf, ocelotta and Canadian oat. Among the birds there is an American cranberry and a white-headed eagle. Most of the animals in the past century have declined significantly in the district and are in danger of extinction due to their extinction and degradation of the environment. The city also hosts mosquitoes that threaten people.

Pine trees, palm trees and other trees growing in the subtropical climate are growing in the city and its suburbs. Orchids and magnolia are among the plants growing in the city.

Environmental situation

Smog over the city

Houston's main sources of air pollution are car exhaust and emissions from more than 400 chemical plants, including two large refineries and a petrochemical complex along the shipping canal and port. The situation is complicated by meteorological conditions: From April to October, the city has a large number of sunny, windless days with high temperatures and humidity, causing the emissions to settle above the city. Respiratory and oncological diseases are the most common of all diseases due to the current environmental situation. According to the American lung association, in 2016, Houston ranked 16th in the U.S.'s most polluted cities in terms of pollution and 15th in ozone pollution. In the early 2000s, the air quality situation was even worse: Houston was the only polluter in Los Angeles.

The water situation is no better: Houston is 95th out of the 100 largest cities in the United States in terms of water quality.

Administrative Device

Government, administrative division

Houston City Hall

Houston's head is the mayor. The Mayor is the chief official, he is responsible for the overall management of the city, signs all resolutions and laws adopted by the Municipal Council and makes sure that they are implemented. In addition, the Mayor submits the City's annual budget to the Council for approval and then provides the Council with information on its implementation. The head of the city is elected by the citizens of the city by voting for a maximum of two terms, each for 4 years. Sylvester Turner, a member of the Democratic Party, has been mayor since 2 January 2016. Houston City (Municipal) Council consists of eleven persons elected from eleven electoral districts and five persons elected from the city as a whole. The members of the Council are elected for the same term as the Mayor. The Council's powers include appointing an elected mayor, changing and confirming the city's budget, managing urban real estate, allocating and issuing bonds, contracting and approving city spending worth more than $50,000. The city supervisor, who is responsible for allocating funds and financing the city budget, is elected independently of the mayor and the council. Since January 2, 2016, this post has been held by Chris Brown.

Houston is the largest city in the United States without administrative division. The city is the administrative center of the district of Harris and the main economic center of the Grand Houston.

External relations

G-7 leaders with Rice University

Houston City Hall has an international trade and development department that works with the city's administration to the international business community. In 2018, Houston was visited by 165 foreign delegations from 40 countries. Houston hosts consulates of 82 countries. In terms of number of consulates, the city ranks third in the USA after New York and Los Angeles. Houston currently has 18 sister cities.

The 16th G7 Summit was held in the city from 9 to 11 July 1990. International conferences such as Offshore Technology Conference are held in Houston every year and CERAWeekwhere energy issues are discussed.

More than 430 Houston-based companies have offices abroad, and the city has offices of 800 foreign companies.

Official symbols

The city flag was adopted in 1915. It depicts a five-pointed star on a blue background. Inside the star — a steam engine of type 2-2-0 (according to the American classification) — 4-4-0 "American". This is due to the fact that in the late XIX - early XX centuries, steam locomotives of this type were widespread on the American continent, in particular they were the ones who took trains to the city. The new flag was a slightly modified previous version of the city flag, adopted in 1840. The reason was a locomotive change: Type 2-1-0 steam engine, which was distributed in 1830-1850, was replaced with a type 2-2-0 steam engine, which is still on the flag.

The Houston seal was approved by the Houston City Council on February 24, 1840. The print was developed by former Houston mayor Francis Moore Jr.. A single star, one of Texas's symbols, and its presence in the press, means that the city belongs to the Republic of Texas. The locomotive identifies the progress that railroad traffic represented at the time the press was adopted. Houston served as a railway center for many years. The plow symbolizes Texas agriculture.

Economics

Houston Shipping Canal

General Status

Houston is one of the world's leading cities in oil and natural gas production and processing, which is often referred to as the "energy capital of the world", as well as biomedical research and aeronautics. Houston also has a reputation as a "green city," as half of the electricity is produced by solar and wind power plants. The port plays a big role in the transport sphere of the city. Houston hosts 19 Fortune 500 companies.

The gross domestic product of the Big Houston agglomeration in 2017 was $490.1 billion, and is the seventh largest among other agglomerations. The extractive industry accounts for 25.2% of the GDP structure, industrial production - 16.9%, insurance, real estate and financial transactions - 13%. Big Houston is the second largest U.S. export agglomer, with $84.1 billion in 2016, of which $68.2 billion is in Harris County. The main items of export, which amount to 67.1% of the total amount — oil and gas, oil products, chemical products, and 16.4% — machine and computer products. The main export partners are Mexico - 17.6% of the total, Canada - 10.9%, China - 6.35%, Brazil - 6%, the Netherlands - 4.1%.

In 2019, the international Mercer research company ranked Huston 66th in the world's most livable cities, on a par with the American cities of Los Angeles and Miami, and 86th in the world in terms of cost of living, between American Dallas and Australian Adel Yes. Houston ranks 38th in the U.S. in Forbes magazine's 2018 Best Places for Business and Career category. Research company A.T. Kearney Houston ranked 41st on the list of global cities in the world.

By the 1980’s, the city had a predominantly oil industry, accounting for 87% of the city's economy, leading to a heavy reliance on oil prices. In the mid-1980’s, the city's economy suffered a recession, owing to the oil crisis of that decade, which resulted in the loss of 220,000 jobs. Since the late 1980s, Houston has diversified its economy to focus on aerospace, healthcare, and information technology, with large organizations such as the Texas Medical Center and the city's port a prime example. The oil industry's share of the economy has halved, from 87% to 44% by 2016. The low price of oil since 2015 has had a negative impact on the city's economy at the moment. The city is experiencing a decrease in property prices and construction of facilities.

Houston has a minimum wage of $7.25 or $1,257 per month. Unemployment as of December 2018 amounted to 3.9%. The poverty line is 9.2%. The average household income for 2018, according to Forbes, is $62,900, and the average house price is $238,000.

Energy and Petrochemistry

Houston has more than 5,000 energy companies involved in business in the region. The city has the headquarters of many energy and oil companies on the Fortune 500 list. Houston is a member of the World Energy Cities Partnership.

Chevron office in Houston

CenterPoint Energy is one of the largest power companies in the city, which supplies electricity not only to Texas, but also to Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma. More than 5 million people use the services of the company. Another major energy company, Calpine ranks 34th in Texas and 330th in the U.S. in the Fortune 500 rankings. The corporation has a fleet of 79 different types of power plants scattered throughout the United States. One of them, Channel Energy Center, is located in Houston itself, on the shore of the shipping channel, and another, the Baytown Energy Center, in the suburbs of Beitown. The maximum capacity of the Houston power plant is 808 megawatts (basic - 723 MW), while the Baitown power plant in peak mode is capable of producing 842 megawatts (basic electric capacity - 782 MW). There are seven Calpine power stations in the Grand Houston metropolis.

Houston is one of the world's largest production centers for the petrochemical industry. The city has more than 3,700 organizations working in the field of petrochemical industry. There are also 9 oil refineries in the Houston region, which process 2.3 million barrels per day, representing 13.2% of the total processing in the US. Houston also has 719 chemical and plastics manufacturing facilities. The city has 17.5% of the jobs in the field of petrochemicals from all places in the USA (112.6 thousand out of 643.3 thousand). The city is the leader in the production of goods from polyethylene (38.7% of the total production in the USA), polyvinyl chloride (35.9%) and polypropylene (48.4%).

Aerospace Industry

Space Center named after. Johnson

Houston is home to the Lyndon Johnson Space Center, a research and development enterprise with 15,000 employees (3,000 engineers and scientists, 12,000 other workers). In total, the city has more than 150 organizations dealing with the space industry.

In the area of Houston there are production facilities of Lockheed Martin and also the office of the program of construction of the spacecraft "Orion" for NASA. Boeing's production facilities are located in the city, as is the headquarters of the space exploration unit Boeing Space Exploration. Beechcraft's capacity at Beechcraft Airport. Hobbies are engaged in maintenance and repair of aircraft. Barrios Technology executes contracts for NASA related to the Orion ship, and develops software for Boeing aircraft. Other major NASA order holders in Houston are: Computer Sciences Corporation — Aircraft maintenance and modification, Jacobs Engineering Group — engineering, L-3 Communications — robotics, MEI Technologies — electrical engineering systems, Oceaneering International — Scaffanders and accompanying hardware, Raytheon — Neutral Floating Laboratory and Space Ship Layout, SAIC — Mission Security and Support, United Space Alliance — Information Coordination Center, United Technologies — Non-Ship Activity, Wyle Laboratories — space biology.

Trade, finance, tourism

Galleria Shopping Center

A significant part of the city's foreign trade goes through its port, which is the second largest in the U.S. by freight turnover (265.9 thousand tons). In the autumn of 2000, city coffee companies formed the Great Houston coffee company association. The association is trying to make the city a major port for the delivery and export of coffee. After Hurricane Katrina, most of the coffee traffic was switched to Houston. Houston has 22 foreign banks and 790 foreign companies. In the city are stores of large retail chains Wal-Mart, Kroger, H-E-B, Target, Randall's Food Markets and others. Galleria also draws attention — the largest trading center in Texas and 8th in the USA.

One of the tourist attractions is the Lyndon Johnson Space Center. There are many interesting exhibits, spacecraft, lunar rocks, and a presentation on the history of NASA's space flight program. Houston Zoo attracts tourists' attention, aqua park, oceanarium and other places of rest.

Information Technology

Houston hosts more than 400 software companies. Transstar Center, a partnership of four government agencies responsible for operational information on emergencies, plays an important role in Houston's information technology. Since its establishment in 1999, the Houston Technology Center became a city center of technology and entrepreneurship, helping more than 300 developing companies, raising the total revenues from this industry by more than $2.5 billion and creating about 5 thousand new jobs.

Transport

Road transport

Intersection of I-45 and I-10

The dominant mode of transport is the car, which employs approximately 75% of the city's population. The total length of the road network is 6,768.9 km. Two important state highways pass through the city: Interstate 45 and Interstate 10, linking the south to the north and the west to the east, respectively. Houston has two large transport rings. First - Interstate 610, and the second - Sam Houston Tollway, which was completed in 2011. In addition, the construction of a third transport ring 286 km long — Texas State Highway 99which will end in 2023 and will become the largest ring road in the USA.

The main problem with Houston's transport is traffic jams. The busiest routes are Interstate 45 and 10, as well as the first transport ring. In 2014, Houston residents spent 61 hours standing in traffic jams, eighth after Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Seattle, and Chicago.

Public transport, bicycles

Tram

The main public transport operator in Houston, represented by buses and fast trams, is METRO. Daily passenger traffic in public transport of the city in the third quarter of 2018 amounted to 219.3 thousand people, 62.6 thousand of them - on the speed tram.

Bus traffic was opened in 1979. Currently there are 74 city routes and 12 suburban routes, as well as Quickline speed route (No. 402). The city has a modern tram called METRORail, launched on January 1, 2004. The tram system consists of 3 lines with a total length of 36.5 km and 39 stations.

In 2012 there was a system of bicycle sharing - Houston B-cyclewith 90 stations and 635 bicycles, which in 2017 benefited more than 52,300 residents, performing 142,200 trips.

Air and rail services

Houston Intercontinental

Houston has three airports: Houston George Bush Intercontinental, Ellington Field and William P. Hobby Airport. Houston Intercontinental Airport was opened on 8 June 1969 for commercial flights and later began to service some of the passenger flights from William P. Hobby Airport. Passenger traffic in 2016 amounted to 43.8 million people (47th among the world's airports by this indicator and 14th - among the airports of the USA). On average, the airport sends and receives more than 700 flights daily. William Hobby Airport was built in 1927 as a private airport. By the end of the Second World War, the airport had been reconstructed, and in 1950 the first international flight was accepted. In 1969, all flights were transferred to the new airport of Houston Intercontinental. At present, it is positioned as a regional center of corporate and personal aviation, as well as as a reserve airport for domestic flights. In 2017, it served 13.44 million passengers. Its museum is located on the territory of the airport. Ellington Airport was built in 1917. During the First and Second World Wars, the airport was used as a training base and is still used for military purposes, as well as for NASA aviation, private and civil aviation.

The Amtrak rail passenger system passes through the city. Houston Station is part of Sunset Limited line and in fiscal 2018, it served 19,962 passengers.

Urban beautification

Housing

In 2012, Houston had 902,153 houses, 15 per cent of which had been built since 1999. 12.3% of all houses were offered for sale, rent, rent or there were no permanent residents for other reasons. The city also has a high population mobility, as 51.8% of Houston residents last moved in 2000-2014.

The city housing fund is the responsibility of the Houston Housing Authority (HPA), managed by local authorities. The company was established in 1938, and in the 1970s and 1980s the organization expanded as the population grew. Houston has two types of low-income housing programs for the elderly and the disabled: "voucher program" and "state housing". Voucher program offers preferential payment for the rent of a house, in which case the family pays the rent in the amount of 30-40% of its income. The State Housing Program implements in Houston the 8th paragraph of the Federal Housing Act (1937), which provides for preferential allocation of homes to the vulnerable. More than 60,000 Houston residents used the program.

Greening

According to the Trust for Public Land, a non-profit land conservation organization Houston Forest Park is supervised by five different services. Most of the city's green areas are the responsibility of the Houston Department of Parks and Leisure. The remaining parking area within the city is distributed among other environmental authorities. Thus, in 2016, the entire area of greenery accounted for 13.8% of the total area occupied by the city, and Houston itself was the first of all the cities-millionaires of the United States on the territory of greenery. There are 337 parks in the city.

Water and power

Houston's water system includes a 11,300km Houston water network, three water treatment plants and 92 pumping stations. The city's residents use slightly more than 1.5 billion liters of water daily. Houston, Conro, Livingston reservoirs are the main sources of drinking water. The average depth of the wells from which water is supplied is 228 meters. The water, which flows from the cranes of the city's residents, contains 46 harmful chemicals. Compared to 2004, the number has declined, yet Houston ranks 95th out of the top 100 US cities in water quality. The city is supplied by Drinking Water Operations. The city sewage system consists of a network of 11,200 km long and 124,500 hatches.

CenterPoint Energy is responsible for the power supply to Houston, which is used by about 2.1 million inhabitants of the city and the nearest suburbs. In addition to CenterPoint Energy, Calpine is the other service provider. There are eight power plants operating in the Big Houston agglomeration. One of them, the Channel Energy Center, is located in Houston itself, on the shore of a shipping channel with a maximum capacity of 808 MW (base capacity of 723 MW). Houston has a reputation for being a "green city," because half of the city's electricity consumption is produced by solar and wind power plants. In total, the city spends 1.246 million MW per hour.

Population

Houston ethnic map

Population dynamics and structure

According to the 2010 US census, the city had 2,100,263 inhabitants, 7.5% more than in 2000. The US Census Bureau estimated the population at 2,325,502 on July 1, 2018. The population of the city has been growing ever since its founding: In the 1960s it reached 1 million inhabitants, and in the 2000s it exceeded 2 million. The average population density is 1,409/km².

Age composition of the population: up to 19 years - 28.67%; 20-44 years - 39.83%; 45-64 years - 22.45%; from 65 years - 9.05%. The average age is 32 years. The number of women out of the total population is 49.82%, men - 50.18%.

Ethnic and religious composition, languages

Because of the proximity to Mexico, the proportion of Latin American people is 43.8% of the total population. In absolute terms, the number of Hispanics rose from 731 to 920,000 between 2000 and 2010. The second largest racial group in the city is white people, who make up 25.6% of the urban population, with their population falling by 10% from 602 to 538,000 in a decade. African-Americans (23.1%) and Asians (6.15%) also account for a large population, with slightly more than 1% being from other nationalities. In 2015, Houston had 19,630 immigrants. 28% of Houston residents were born in another country: 72.5% - from Latin America, 18.9% - from Asia, 3.9% and 3.8% - from Africa and Europe, respectively, 0.2% - from Oceania. Before the 1960s, the main immigrants were people from Europe, but with the adoption in 1965 of a new immigration and citizenship lawwhich abolished national quotas, most immigrants came from Latin America, Asia, and Africa. In 2005, 240,000 New Orleans, hit by Hurricane Katrina, evacuated to Houston. Later, up to 40,000 people remained in the city.

50% of the city's residents speak only English. 34% of residents speak Spanish, 1% speak Vietnamese and Chinese, 0.2-0.4% each speak French, Urdu, Arabic, Hindi, Tagalog and Korean. The city has more than 100 languages spoken.

18.44% of the population are Catholic, 16.29% are Baptists, 4.68% are Methodism, 2.86% are Muslim, 0.53% are Jewish. In total, 58.4% of Houston-based believers are religious, 41.6% are non-believers.

Social sphere

Health

The Texas Medical Center, founded in 1945, is the world's largest health center, which plays an important role in Houston's health. The medical center consists of 54 institutions providing the city residents with medical care. Over 8 million people visit the center annually. Another major medical center in Houston is the Texas Hermann Memorial Medical Centerwhere 6,000 operations and 57,300 visits are performed each year. The city has 136 health facilities and 21,057 beds. There are 16,100 doctors in the healthcare sector. Houston's largest medical university — Texas University Medical Research Center and the Oncology Center of M.D. Anderson University of Texas.

Respiratory and oncological diseases are the most common diseases in the city. The main causes of death of residents of Harris district are cancer (22.6%), heart disease (22%), accidents (5.7%), stroke (5.2%). Harris District in 2016 ranked 56th out of 254 Texas districts in terms of health rating. Life expectancy for women in Harris County is 80.7 years; men are 76.1 years old.

Texas Medical Center		One of the hospitals of the Memorial Hermann Center		The M. M. Oncological Center D. Anderson

Education

HISD Administrative Center

Houston has 18 school districts. Houston Independent School District (HISD), with 280 schools and 209,000 students, is the largest school district in Texas and the 7th in the United States. There are also chartered schools that do not belong to school districts, they are attended by 12 to 13 thousand children. The city has more than 300 private schools, including religious schools. For example, 59 schools are Catholic, run by the archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, and have a student population of about 18,000. In 2012, 90.6% of all students were enrolled in public schools, while 9.4% were enrolled in private schools.

Fifteen higher education institutions and more than 100 secondary specialized institutions (colleges, technical and vocational schools) provide education in the city. The total number of students is 315,000. Four Universities — Houston University, Houston University — Clear Lake, University of Houston-Downtown and the University of Houston-Victoria form the University of Houston. Houston University, the largest university and center of the University System of Houston, with 46,324 students in 2018, has the status of public. This university is one of the first 300 universities in the academic rating of the world's universities, and also among the 700 in the ranking of world universities QS. Private universities also operate, the largest of which is Rice University, which ranks 70th in the world's academic rankings and 87th in the world's QS world universitiesand the University of St. Thomas. All colleges are organized into three systems: Houston Public College System, Single Star College System and the San Jacinto College System.

Biotechnology is developing in the city. The University of Texas research park under construction, focused on the development and application of biotechnology, is a joint project of the Texas Oncology Center M.D. Anderson and the Texas University Medical Research Center. The Texas Medical Center and several biological universities play an important role in the development of this industry. More than 19 thousand people work in biotechnology. Houston plays an important role in world space. The Lyndon Johnson Space Center, a research and development enterprise, is located in the city. Houston is the office of the NASA Orion spacecraft program.

Houston in 2016 was ranked 13th in the U.S. cities in terms of education. However, the city is only 99th in terms of education. As of 2016, 31.5% of people have a higher education (20.1% - bachelor's degree, 11.4% - master's degree), while 17.7% did not graduate.

Houston Universities

University of Houston		Rice University		University of Houston - Clear Lake		University of Houston-Downtown

Crime

Number of crimes in Houston between 1985 and 2015

Huston Police Department State as of 2017, there were 6,334 staff (5,221 police officers and 1,113 others).

The crime rate in Houston has been steadily rising since the 1960s. In the 1970’s, the number of extra-serious crimes increased by 85%, and by 17% in 1981 alone, the highest rate in the U.S. cities. In 1970-1973, serial killer Dean Corl and his accomplices raped and killed 28 young men, known as "Houston Mass Murders." Crime continued to increase, reaching the highest number of crimes in 1988-1991 (over 180,000 per year). Mayor Bob Lanierwho took office in 1992 increased the funding of the police, which reduced crime by 31.4 per cent during his administration (1992-1997). Crime continued to decline, with the lowest homicide rate since 1965 in 2011. According to NeighborhoodScout, in 2015 Houston district Sunnyside is the second most crime-rated region in the US.

Houston has become one of the main centers of the U.S. drug trafficking and human trafficking because of its proximity to Mexico and the presence of major airports and highways in the city. Between December 2007 and June 2015, 717 cases of human trafficking were detected in Houston.