<Tr> <Th> Summer (DST) </Th> <Td> CDT (UTC - 5) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Interstates </Th> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <P> Houston--The Woodlands--Sugar Land is the fifth most populous metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Coast of the state of Texas . Colloquially referred to as Greater Houston, the 10,000 - square - mile (26,000 km) region is centered around Harris County, the third-most populous county in the nation, which contains the city of Houston--the largest economic and cultural center of the South--with a population of 2.3 million . </P> <P> Greater Houston is part of the Texas Triangle megaregion alongside the Dallas--Fort Worth metroplex, Greater Austin, and Greater San Antonio . The metropolitan area is the second - largest in Texas (after Dallas--Fort Worth) with a population of 6,490,180 as of the 2010 United States Census . </P>

What is the population of houston and surrounding areas