Houstonians eat out more than residents of any other city and has more than 500 cultural, visual, and performing arts organizations.
City: Houston
State: Texas
Best Cities Overall Rank: 47
About Houston: Houston has more than 500 cultural, visual, and performing arts organizations.
Located downtown, the 17-block Theater District is second only to New York City with its concentration of seats in one geographic area.
Houstonians eat out more than residents of any other city.
Houston has more than 40 colleges, universities and institutions. It is also home to 23 Blue Ribbon Schools and 34 NAEYC Accredited Preschools. With five quality children’s hospitals and 17 quality pediatricians we rank it 41 amongst our healthy cities to live in.
County: Harris
Population: 224,2193
Official website for city visitors’ bureau/city: Visitor’s bureau website
Newspaper with the largest circulation: Houston Chronicle
Houston blogs:
Houston Chronicle BabySteps, Cattywampus Life, Boricua in Texas
Houston‘s Facebook page: Follow Houston on Facebook
Houston‘s Twitter page: Follow Houston on Twitter
Education rank: 11
High School graduation rate 2008: 68.2%
Blue Ribbon Schools, 2003-2009: 23
Blue Ribbon Schools per 100,000 people: 1.03
NEAYC-accredited preschools: 34
NAEYC schools per 100,000 people: 1.52
NAEP State proficiency reading, grade 8: 260
Pupil/Teacher Ratio: 16.7
Total Expenditures Per Student: $9,802
Health rank: 71
Quality children’s hospitals: 5
Hospitals per 100,000 people: 0.22
Quality Pediatricians: 17
Quality Pediatricians per 100,000: 0.76
Average number of Unhealthy Air Quality days between 2006-2008, by county: 6.33
Safety rank: 42
Violent Crimes, 2008: 24779
Violent Crime Rate per 100,000: 1105.12
Sex Offenders: 1357
Sex Offenders per 100,000: 60.52
Economy rank: 62
Travel time to work, 2006-2008, in minutes: 26.3
Percent of labor force unemployed, January 2010: 8.8
Best Performing Cities Job Index: 362.57
Median Home List Price: $169,900
Recreation Rank: 40
Parkland acreage, 2008 (includes pools and playgrounds): 34,742
Parkland per 100,000: 1549.46
