Houston is like Colorado in the reality version of _Atlas Shrugged_.

It has no zoning. That's right, no real-estate zoning, anywhere, ever. It's the sort of thing that, if it didn't actually exist, city planners and lefties would carefully explain to us would lead to chaos and economic collapse.

There is no state or local income tax. Like Alaska, Texas makes enough money from oil pumping that it can forego the economic wet-blanket of an income tax.

Houston has hardly any mass-transit system, save for a very basic bus network. That means that Houston only has about a one percent local sales tax to fund it. Yet Houston is geographically massive, one of the largest cities in the world. Here, having someone say "Oh yeah, I live in the same city as you!" does NOT automatically mean that they live within 20 minutes' drive.

Housing and living costs are dirt cheap. A two-bedroom apartment in a typical upper-lower-class complex runs $600-$800. 2,200 square foot 4-2-2 houses on quarter-acre lots in average exurbs are everywhere for $80,000-$150,000, depending on age.

I've lived and worked here for 20 years, and it's a great place. Very hot and humid in the summer though.

The absence of zoning means that everything is mixed up together. That means you don't have to drive fifteen minutes to find a grocery store or oil-change shop, as you do in the "master-planned" exurbs. It also means you can find an apartment or condo just 1000 feet from your office -- a fact I have personally exploited.

Control freaks find it distressing ("ugly"), but it is more efficient than the "houses over here, business way over there" layout that helps calm their brains down.