Texas City is a city in Galveston County in the U.S. state of Texas. Located on the southwest shoreline of Galveston Bay, Texas City is a busy deepwater port on Texas' Gulf Coast, as well as a petroleum refining and petrochemical manufacturing center. The population was 45,099 at the 2010 census, making it the third-largest city in Galveston County, behind League City and Galveston. It is a part of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. The city is notable as the site of a major explosion in 1947 that demolished the port and nearly destroyed the city.