- Arlington, approximately 30 miles west of Dallas, has a population of more than 365,000 and is home to two of the state's professional sports teams, the Dallas Cowboys (football) and Texas Rangers (baseball). Arlington also is home to the University of Texas at Arlington, the second-largest institution in the University of Texas system with approximately 32,000 students, behind only the main campus in Austin.
- Austin was made the capital city when Texas became the 28th state in 1845, in part because of its central location in the state. It is the fourth-largest city in Texas, trailing only Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. With approximately 300 days of sun per year, Austin is consistently listed by various organizations as one of the country's most-livable cities. The Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau describes Austin as the "Live Music Capital of the World."
- Corpus Christi is a coastal city located south of Houston on the Gulf of Mexico, with a population of more than 305,000. Places of interest in Corpus Christi include Padre Island National Seashore, the Texas State Aquarium, the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, the South Texas Institute for the Arts and the Asian Cultures Museum and Educational Center.
- Dallas, a northeast Texas city with a population of about 1.2 million, was at one time a center for the cotton and oil industries. While its diversified economy still includes energy production, industries such as banking, technology and telecommunications now are a major part of the economic landscape. Attractions to visit include the Dallas Zoo, the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Dallas Aquarium and Arboretum. The city also is host to the State Fair of Texas held each fall.
- El Paso is located in southwest Texas, right on the state's borders with Mexico and New Mexico. This predominantly Hispanic community has a population of approximately 649,000. El Paso was declared to be the safest city in the United States in 2010 by CQ Press in its annual city crime rankings.
- Fort Worth, with a population of 741,000, is the 16th-largest city in the U.S. and, with nearby Dallas and Arlington, forms the largest economic hub in Texas. "The City of Cowboys and Culture" is noted for its cowboy-and-western motif, as well as the artistic offerings at such places as the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and Bass Performance Hall.
- Houston, with a diverse population of approximately 2.1 million, is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest city in the U.S. Attractions in the southeast Texas city include Space Center Houston, the official visitors center of NASA's Johnson Space Center, where guests can see actual spacecraft used in space exploration.
- San Antonio, located 200 miles west of Houston, has a population of more than 1.3 million and is an active tourist center, partly because of its rich historical heritage and famed River Walk. It annually commemorates the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. It the seventh-largest city in the U.S.
previous post