Frosting It Forward

CultureMap spreads kindness in Houston with hip pop-up surprise

Active Houstonians who stopped by HIP Fitness in River Oaks and West University for their usual Pilates class were treated to a surprise, courtesy of Frost Bank. After burning serious calories, these workout warriors received a Frost Bank cash card and swag from CultureMap, along with refreshments Earth Craft Juicery.

It was all part of the Frost It Forward program, which encourages Houstonians to build optimism through a spirit of generosity, specifically by surprising strangers with a random act of kindness via the card. Whether you gift a cup of coffee, lunch, or the whole card, the idea is to share your good fortune with others — and ultimately, start a movement.

As an extra perk, the HIP workout participants received a $20 credit to their HIP Fitness accounts to use in the future, courtesy of owner Labna Kamal. Also, the class members who pay it forward — using the hashtag #frostitforward — are instantly entered into drawing for five free classes at HIP Fitness. The winner will be revealed at the end of the month.

All month, generous Houstonians have been sharing the love using the #frostitforward hashtag on Instagram.

In today’s world where negativity and isolationism seem to be ever growing, how cool is this campaign that @frostbank is doing? $10 can go such a long way for so many, I can’t wait to use this card and #frostitforward thanks @energyxfitness for bringing this into my day 😘

A post shared by Mallory Geis (@mallorygeis) on

Jul 17, 2018 at 5:03pm PDT

Want to get into the action? You can help needy children and animals through a great guide to local charities, presented by CultureMap and Frost Bank. So, be on the lookout for the CultureMap team and follow along on Instagram or Twitter — you never know where we'll pop up next to spread the joy.

Megan Eddings, Charlee Wiggs, and Sara Kolar are ready to Frost It Forward.

Photo by Daniel Ortiz

Megan Eddings, Charlee Wiggs, and Sara Kolar are ready to Frost It Forward.

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H-Town rising

Houston leaps back into top 50 'World's Best Cities' list for 2025

Photo by Adrian Newell on Unsplash

Houston made a big leap back into the top 50, ranking No. 40, after previously plummeting into No. 72 last year.

Lively Houston has regained its rightful place among the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious new report by Resonance Consultancy.

The Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing advisors ranked Houston the 40th best city worldwide for 2025 in its annual "World's Best Cities" list.

The report quantifies the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity for the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million or more. New to the 10th anniversary edition, Resonance partnered with global market researchers Ipsos to include perception-based data into the rankings, surveying over 22,000 people in 30 countries worldwide to determine "the most desirable places to visit, live or work."

Houston made a major rebound after plummeting to No. 73 in last year's report. In 2022, Houston ranked No. 42.

Resonance refers to its previous "World's Best Cities" reports and its 2024 "America's Best Cities" list – which ranked Houston in the top 10 – when explaining the Bayou City's successes. The report praised Houston's vast cultural diversity and placed a great focus on its economic prosperity, even going so far as to suggest Houston residents make more money "and can sock more away."

"...[W]here America’s fourth-largest city truly takes off is in its economic heft and wealth, ranking No. 9 globally for GDP per Capita and No. 14 for Fortune 500 companies in town," the report said. "All that rolls up into an overall Prosperity index ranking of No. 36, which is even more impressive given the No. 14-ranked Price-to Income Ratio [of the city]."

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas also earned spots on the World's Best Cities list for 2025, but only one made a similar rebound from the previous year's rankings. Dallas moved up from No. 66 in last year's report to its current rank as No. 55. Meanwhile, Austin took its first tumble out of the 43rd spot (which it had occupied for two years straight) and now ranks No. 53.

London held onto its crown as the No. 1 best city in the world for 2025, followed by New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Singapore (No. 5).