Houston Map
About 50 miles inland from the Gulf, on flat coastal prairie threaded by bayous, Houston counted roughly 2.39 million residents in 2024 — the largest city in Texas.
Where is Houston?
Houston lies in southeastern Texas, on the coastal plain between the Brazos and Trinity rivers, with Galveston Bay opening to the southeast. The terrain is close to level, and the city has annexed outward across it for decades. It is about 165 miles east of Austin, roughly 200 miles east of San Antonio, and some 240 miles southeast of Dallas.
Houston at a glance
| State | Texas |
| Counties | Fort Bend, Harris, Montgomery, and Waller counties |
| Population | 2,390,125 (2024 Census estimate) |
| Rank among US cities | No. 4 of the 100 largest |
| Time zone | Central Time |
| Region | South (West South Central division) |
Another 331,183 residents would lift Houston past Chicago into No. 3; 716,961 fewer would put it behind Phoenix at No. 5. No other Texas city on the list comes near it: next are San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth. Against Texas's 31.29 million residents, though, that is only about 8%. It reaches into four counties, of which Harris County is much the largest: the city holds about 48% of that county's 5,009,302 people.
Houston in Texas
Houston is the biggest of the three Texas cities in the national top ten and the seat of Harris County, though its limits also reach into Fort Bend, Montgomery and Waller counties — the Texas county map shows how 254 counties are packed into the state. The capital, Austin, is a couple of hours west, and San Antonio closes the triangle. The Texas state page sets out the rest.
Bayous, the ship channel and the Gulf
The city grew up on Buffalo Bayou, a slow tidal stream that was dredged and widened into the Houston Ship Channel so ocean-going vessels could reach a port well inland of the Gulf coast. That protected inland port is the whole reason Houston outgrew Galveston. The flip side is drainage: the land falls only a few feet per mile, the soil is heavy clay, and the same bayou network that made the city floods it when tropical systems stall overhead.
Cities near Houston
The other Texas heavyweights are San Antonio, Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth; Corpus Christi sits further down the same coast. For the national picture, open the US map with cities.