Review of Houston, Texas


Can't recommend a single thing to see for visitors
Star Rating - 9/26/2021
I've lived in Houston's Galleria neighborhood for the last two years and I lived in Galveston for eight years before that. I enjoy the international community here in Houston and I used to appreciate the fact that it usually doesn't freeze in winter. I'm also happy to say that I don't have to hear many people's political opinions here in Galleria, but I can't say that I like living in Houston. Let me illustrate why coming here for a nice new job may not be worth it...

Floods. This is paved over marsh land. People commonly have their homes and cars destroyed by water here. It's also mosquitoe infested even in Galleria.

Pollution. It impacts our fertility and our cancer rate in Houston. Once I was woken up by a "small" chemical plant explosion that happened 8 miles away from my home. They call the respiratory issues caused by pollution "allergies" here and blame them on the humidity. It's a mixture of humidity, bacteria, and probably every airborne chemical the EPA will allow.

Freezing to death so that the skysc****rs don't lose power. The grid went out for most people here and they slept in 30 something degree homes for three days and nights while every empty office building downtown was lit twice as brightly as usual. So, it isn't just the street criminals who will kill you for money here. Other cities had rolling blackouts, but Houston was lights out for people, lights on for empty office buildings.

The street criminals. Statistically not quite as bad as Chicago.

The drivers. Remove the muffler and alter the car suspension to make it more dangerous. Drive that nightmare as a vendetta against all of humanity. They often shoot each other if they don't crash first. It's like there's some sort of PTSD culture going on here just from all of the traumas I've described and then add all of the national problems on to that.

And, yes, when people come here from out of town to visit it's very embarrassing to say that you live in a city with nothing to see except for restaurants and stores.

Galveston has problems too, but I like Galveston and wish it the best. It's come a long way. I don't even like to think about Houston though.
C | Houston, TX
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I lived in Houston for three years and very much enjoyed my time in it. Houston has more to see and do than 90% of US - Space Center? Nice museums (best collection of dinosaur skeletons I ever saw). Rice University? Galveston? A good choice of fun clubs? Some of the best restaurants I tried? To me, this beats/ties just about any place excepting New York, LA and Bay area, with a tie for Chicago perhaps. May be also DC, but I know it less. I lived in West U neighborhood, and somehow mosquitos were never a problem. Humidity sure, did not care much about it. Do not live in the neighborhoods that are known to flood, and you will be fine. Ditto for crime. You can find neighborhoods with excellent public schools if this is your priority (expensive if near the center but very reasonable in suburbs - Katy, Sugar Land). Wonderful winters but use summer vacation to get a break for heat. Bottom line - I still like coming to Houston when I can! Would easily move back for a right job opportunity.
Alexander | Chapel Hill, NC | Report Abuse

I have lived in nearly half a dozen cities over the years, and Hpustpn certainly isn't the worst. It's also lacking in some ways... mostly crime and transit. Houston is essentially built for cars only, some communities don't even have side walks which blew my mind when I first came here. But the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Amazing museums and theater district, best food scene I've ever experienced, huge parks everywhere. The city is surprisingly green which I wasn't expect, I always viewed texas how west texas looks , that just shows how ignorant I was. When people say there is nothing to do this just shows they don't get out much. Best food scene, dozens of museums, theater districts, beautiful parks larger then Central Park in NYC, Houston is a 45 min drive to the gulf coast, and multiple beautiful lakes are close by. The music scene here is huge, same with sports, the rodeo here was super impressive also. When my friends and family come to visit we always have things to do. So I never understand these comments. And judging a city by a once in a life time event seems a little disingenuous. It would be like judging san Francisco by the earth quake it had in the 80s. And the pollution in houston is not that bad compared to other large US cities. The air quality is actually pretty good compared to the mid west or western cities. The city has its problems, but some of these complaints I don't understand.
Ayron | Katy, TX | Report Abuse

Sadly it’s so true living in Houston Texas is hard pollution is awful. Traffic is extremely bad. Floods and black outs so the city can stay lit! Absolutely evil. For such a prideful state this place should be better taken care of!
Rico &Becca | Houston, TX | Report Abuse
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