Get to Know Galveston

Galveston is a port town, a beach town, and a resort town all rolled into one, as it is almost entirely contiguous with Galveston Island, a Gulf Coast barrier island that sits about 50 miles southeast of Houston. Galveston is a place that inspires enormous loyalty, with locals self-identifying as BOI, aka “born on the island,” or IBC, aka “islander by choice.” It’s easy to understand why Galveston residents love living here: Galveston is a laid-back city, with a dining scene to rival Houston’s, an amazingly eclectic collection of historic and contemporary architecture, and a pervasive sense of fun that earned it the nickname of “Playground of the South,” way back in the 1800s. There’s a serious economy here beyond the roller coasters though — the Port of Galveston is the nation’s largest cruise and cargo port and downtown serves as the headquarters for American National Insurance Company and Moody National Bank.

Nearby Neighborhoods:

Living in Greater Houston

Like all of Texas, Greater Houston’s history is the story of oil, with suburban towns developed by and for gas and oil executives, with Houston’s Energy Corridor remaining a major employer today. The suburbs of Houston stretch in all directions, from Kingwood, technically inside the city limits, all the way up to and beyond The Woodlands, whose growth and prominence has earned it its own identity, separate from H-Town. These suburbs are young metropolises — towns that grew out of farmland and forest in the past 50 years, with houses, office parks, newly created lakes, and golf courses emerging from rural lands where only cows and feral pigs once roamed. As Houston’s economy has diversified and as the region has created more new jobs, Houston residents have looked farther and farther out for more space to settle. Greater Houston is booming and there’s no better place to call home.