1 With the Texas Medical Center as its heart, the Houston area is home to one of the finest medical care and research facilities in the country. More than $2 billion in research grants have been awarded to Texas Medical Center institutions in the past five years alone.

2 The cost of living in Houston is 17% below that of the national average for metropolitan areas with populations of 1.5 million or more, while the average annual pay in Houston is 7.9% over the national average.

3 Houston is the most international city in the south with international business directly or indirectly supporting 1/3 of all jobs in the metropolitan area. Houston ranks 4th in the U.S. in the number of foreign consulates.

4 Sixty primary languages other than English are spoken in the homes of Houston Independent School District students.

5 Houston has a well-educated workforce. Houstonians are 20% more likely to have completed four years of college than the rest of the adult U.S. population. There are more than 237,000 students currently attending 38 area universities, colleges and institutes.

6 It is comfortable outdoors in Houston 300 days a year; encouraging year-round use of the more than 52,000 acres of parks, public green space and open water, more than 100 golf courses, plus countless tennis courh and swimming pools in the greater Houston metropolitan area.

7 Houston is second only to New York's Broadway theater district for number of theater seats - with nearly 10,000 - in a concentrated downtown area. Not surprising, since we are one of only a handful of cities to boast major resident companies that perform year-round in all four performing arts: ballet, opera, symphony and theater, including the Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre.

8 Supporting 8,100 restaurants, Houstonians dine out more been than the average U.S. resident And, we can train those restaurant, hospitality and tourist leaders right here at The University of Houston's Conrad N. Hilton School of Hotel & Restaurant Management, which offers an internationally recognized premier program.

9 In addition to the traditional Museum of Fine Arts - and it's one of the country's finest - there are also many unexpected museums in Houston, including the Cockrell Butterfly Exhibit at The Museum of Natural Science, The Museum of Health & Medical Science, The Children's Museum of Houston, The Menil Collection, Contemporary Arts Museum and the Holocaust Museum Houston.

10 George Bush Intercontinental Airport Houston and the Houston Airport System ranked 6th in the world in passenger traffic in 1996. The same year, Bush Intercontinental Airport experienced a 16% growth in international passengers over 1995.

11 More than $1.3 billion in construction is currently underway or planned for Houston's downtown business district alone.

12 The Port of Houston is the second largest major port in the U.S. in total and foreign tonnage. It ranks 8th worldwide.

13 Houston is currently ranked the No. 3 most livable city in the country by the Places Rated Almanac.

14 Harris County represents 1.16% of the U.S. population, yet we contribute 11.5% of the county volunteer hours. Worldfest - Houston International Film Festival was at the vanguard of world film festivals in bestowing first- time film awards on today's internationally recognized directors such as Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Jonathan Demme, David Lynch and George Lucas.

15 The Clear Lake area is home to the third largest fleet of pleasure boats in the nation, surpassed only by Los Angeles and the Chesapeake Bay area.