HoustonThe city on the bayou
Measured from 1,000+ plays across 16 walked routes: in Houston, you pass a place with a story every 340 metres.
Ranked #16 of 16 United States big cities
2026 edition · scores vs all indexed cities · measured 2026-08-21 · scored on 7 of 8 measures · how we measure
Depth18/100
31 places with a story
1 historical figures
Density40/100
a story every 340 m
median along a route
Character
arts & culture
Contemporary
Pulse68/100
Instagrammability 43/100
Houston, measured
The scores
Ranked against
| What we measure | Houston | Score out of 100 | Rank | Global leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Depth | ||||
| Places with a storyspots where a route tells you what happened there | 31 | 28 | #70 of 71 | London (United Kingdom) · 594 |
| Historical figuresreal people you meet in its stories | 1 | 0 | #66 of 68 | London (United Kingdom) · 184 |
| Hours of storieshow long its stories take to read, end to end | 0.3h | 25 | #68 of 71 | London (United Kingdom) · 7h |
| Density | ||||
| How often you pass a storymetres from one story to the next | 340 m | 40 | #64 of 71 | Williamsburg · 100 m |
| Character | ||||
| Years its stories coverfrom its oldest story to its newest | — | 0 | — | London (United Kingdom) · 1025 yrs |
| Pulse | ||||
| Instagrammabilityhow often players photograph this city | 43/100 | 43 | #19 of 54 | Sydney (Australia) |
| Group outingsof every 100 plays, how many bring a group of 3 or more | 32 in 100 | 92 | #1 of 69 | leads all indexed cities |
| International visitorsshare of player reviews written in a foreign language | — | not scored here: most visitors write English too, so the measure cannot tell them apart | — | Venice (Italy) · 97% |
How to read this table›
How to read it: each score is out of 100, measured against a fixed scale that is the same for every city and every edition. Houston's 31 on places with a story scores 28, and it scores 28 on any page you find it. The switch above changes who it is ranked against, not the scores: right now that is all 80 indexed cities (19 countries so far). Houston is scored on 7 of the 8 measures: its overall score averages those 7, and the greyed measures stay out of the average rather than counting against it. Ranks compare cities of a similar size. What a city's stories are about has no better or worse, so themes and eras aren't scored. Instagrammability is shown as a score only; how it's calculated is on the methodology page.
The medal table
What Houston wins
- Most parks & leisure among the United States' big cities· 26% of its stories (shared)
Won against the other big cities of United States in the 2026 edition. See the full table on the country page.
Character
What its stories are about
- arts & culture29%
- parks & leisure26%
- legends & myths10%
Out of Houston's 31 places with a story, the share whose story touches each theme. One story can touch several.
Character
Which centuries you walk through
- Contemporary44%
- 19th century22%
- Early 20th century22%
- Post-war11%
When Houston's stories happen (29% of them mention a year).
Depth
31 stories wait on its streets. Here are three
A chance to describe the basics of Texas's history. It was permanently colonized in the 1700s by the Spanish (Presidio San Antonio…
As a city that is very proud of being the home of some of the country’s tallest buildings and not faring too…
The Kickerillo-Mischer Preserve put together a free trout derby a few times a year for families with young kids wanting to learn…
Depth
Figures you meet on Houston's streets
See all United States figures →Depth
Every Houston place with a story, on one map
Each pin is a place whose story a Questo route tells. Tap one for the quest that tells it. See an empty street that deserves a pin? The form at the bottom of this page adds your story to the editors' queue.
Walk Houston's stories yourself
Three of 16 routes here. See everything in Houston
Where next after Houston?
New OrleansThe creole port521 km away · a story every 208 m
New York CityThe island of arrivals2281 km away · a story every 291 m
AustinThe capitol and the music235 km away · a story every 272 m
ChicagoThe city rebuilt after the fire1516 km away · a story every 293 m
San AntonioThe mission city310 km away · a story every 218 m
OrlandoThe city the parks built1365 km away · a story every 184 mHow does Houston compare?
Put Houston head-to-head with any city in the index, measure by measure, from real walking data.
- Houston vs New York City
- Houston vs New Orleans
- Houston vs Chicago
- Houston vs Washington D.C.
- Houston vs San Francisco
- Houston vs Philadelphia
- Houston vs Boston
- Houston vs Orlando
- Houston vs Portland, OR
- Houston vs Jersey City
- Houston vs Los Angeles
- Houston vs San Diego
- Houston vs Seattle
- Houston vs Atlanta
- Houston vs Austin
Quick answers
- What is Houston like to explore on foot?
- Houston has 31 places with a story across 16 self-guided Questo routes, with a story every 340 metres of walking on average. Its stories lean towards arts & culture and parks & leisure.
- Which historical period defines Houston?
- 44% of Houston's dated stories come from the contemporary period; its oldest dated story reaches back to 1821.
- How is this measured?
- From Questo's own walked routes and player activity in Houston: 1,000+ plays and 100+ reviews. Full method on the City Stories Index methodology page, 2026 edition.
Quote any line, attributed
For press and citation
- Walking a Questo route in Houston, you pass a place with a story every 340 metres on average.
- 44% of Houston's dated stories come from the contemporary period.
- Roughly 32 of every 100 plays in Houston is a group outing of three or more people, measured from invited multi-device sessions over the last 12 months.
Copy any line as it stands: for an article, a post, or an argument at dinner. Attribution: Questo City Stories Index (2026 edition), with a link to this page. Method and sample sizes on the methodology page.
Houston ranks #77 of 80. Show it.
For city halls, tourism boards, local press and anyone who lives here: this badge is yours to use, free and without asking. It links back to the measurements behind it, and it updates itself when the next edition is published.
Embed code
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<img src="https://questoapp.com/api/og/city-index-badge?country=united-states&slug=houston" alt="Houston ranks #77 of 80 in the Questo City Stories Index" width="320" height="100">
</a>Know a story these streets are missing?
Every place, story and figure on this page comes from routes built by people who know Houston. Add what's missing: as a Questo creator, or with a quick suggestion.