City of Houston

Houston is the fourth most populous city in the nation (trailing only New York, Los Angeles and Chicago), and is the largest in the southern U.S. and Texas. The Houston-Galveston-Brazoria Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (Houston CMSA) consists of eight counties Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller. Founded in 1836, the City of Houston has a 2006 estimated population of 2.14 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — www.census.gov.   The metro area’s population of 5.54 million in 2006 is 6th largest among U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, according to www.census.gov .