Houston is the largest city in the state of Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States. Houston is world renowned for its energy (particularly oil) and aeronautics industries and for its ship channel. Second only to New York City in Fortune 500 headquarters, Houston is the seat of the internationally-renowned Texas Medical Center, which contains the world's largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions.
Known for the vibrancy of its visual and performing arts, Houston's Theater District is ranked second in the country in the number of theatre seats in a concentrated downtown area per capita and has world-class visual and performing arts organizations. The city is also close to sunny beaches as well as one of the United States' largest concentrations of pleasure boats and tourist attractions.