THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Psst! Listen to this to find Houston's hidden charms

Downtown skyline at night, with the George Bush statue in the foreground
Photo by Peter Barnes
State Bar & Lounge
Photo by Peter Barnes
Chase Tower
Photo by Peter Barnes
Chapel Cloister
Photo by Peter Barnes

Houston is one of those towns whose charms are not immediately obvious. There’s no duck tour rumbling through downtown, no crowded cluster of national monuments, no checklist of must-see buildings featured in grade school textbooks nationwide.

The Bayou City makes you look a little closer and think a little harder before she gives up her secrets.

For those willing to take the time, though, free audio tours available online can point out Houston’s quirky history and hidden gems to anyone with an mp3 player. Whether you’re part of the constant stream of newcomers drawn here for work, or a lifelong resident who’s never thought to play tourist in your own town, a guided stroll through downtown, the Museum District or Hermann Park is bound to expose you to corners of city you never knew were there.

I no doubt looked suspicious as I clutched a crudely printed map and frantically snapped photos just inside the gate of Christ Church Cathedral earlier this week while the sun threatened to set behind me.

Nonetheless, a minister gave me a friendly wave, and when I explained what I was doing he showed me around the sanctuary. Dwarfed by the office towers that surround it, the church’s size is easy to underestimate from the outside. But within, the cathedral offers an impressive display of old-world artistry in towering stained glass and ornately carved wood — not the image that springs to the minds of most newcomers when they think of Houston. The courtyard next door holds a Treebeard’s restaurant open for lunch inside a former cloister.

It’s one of those places I imagine all Houstonians hear about eventually, but it was a charming surprise as part of the audio guide to downtown narrated by Dan Workman, owner of the famous SugarHill Studios.

His sassy narrative starts at Discovery Green and wends past some of the city’s oldest houses, biggest skyscrapers and funkiest public art — with a few interesting bars along the way. Likewise, retired Channel 13 news anchor Shara Fryer intersperses her tour of the Museum District with the voices of museum curators and a Holocaust survivor.

For a shorter walk, there’s an audio guide to Discovery Green. You also can use your cell phone as a guide to each piece of sculptor Bernar Venet’s new installation at Hermann Park or download any number of podcasts produced by the Houston Zoo.

I admit that wandering around town and looking at stuff with headphones won’t appeal to everyone. But for the curious, it’s an interesting, easy and free way to enjoy a sunny afternoon.

unspecified

income analysis

Texas families need to make this much money for one parent to stay home

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

As the cost of raising a child balloons in major cities like Houston, many families are weighing the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas — not just Houston — that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support a stay-at-home partner and a child, the report found. If two parents worked in the household, necessitating some additional costs like childcare and transportation, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in Houston, however, is somewhat more affordable. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $21,868 to raise a child in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts, where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report acknowledges ways families are working to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Psst! Listen to this to find Houston's hidden charms

income analysis

Texas families need to make this much money for one parent to stay home

2 Houston suburbs named top-10 best Texas cities to move to

Houston chef's hip new Italian restaurant now open in Heights hotel

Airbnb pledges over $1 million to improve Houston before World Cup