page_title: Greater Houston
section_title: Metropolitan counties
hierarchical_section_title: Greater Houston / Metropolitan counties
caption_attribution_description: English: US Counties with the greater Houston area highlighted.
context_page_description: Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Coast in Southeast Texas. With a population of 6,997,384 people as of 2018 census estimates and over 7 million in 2019, Greater Houston is the second-most populous in Texas after the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The approximately 10,000-square-mile region centers on Harris County, the third-most populous county in the U.S., which contains the city of Houston—the largest economic and cultural center of the South—with a population of more than 2.3 million. Greater Houston is part of the Texas Triangle megaregion along with the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Greater Austin, and Greater San Antonio. Greater Houston also serves as a major anchor and economic hub for the Gulf Coast. Its Port of Houston is the second largest port in the United States, sixteenth largest in the world, and leads the nation in international trade.
context_section_description: As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, the metropolitan area of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land encompasses nine counties in Southeast Texas. They are listed below.
  Harris County
  Fort Bend County
  Montgomery County
  Brazoria County
  Galveston County
  Liberty County
  Waller County
  Chambers County
  Austin County
caption: Location in the U.S. (red)
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