By Brant Mills, Pearland Stories
In an emotional final State of the City address on Feb. 5, Pearland Mayor Kevin Cole posited that Pearland’s rise to national prominence was no accident, but the result of decades of intentional decisions about safety, growth, education, and economic development. He reminded residents that Pearland is now ranked the No. 1 place to live in Texas and No. 3 in the nation in the 2025 to 2026 U.S. News and World Report Best Places to Live rankings, a recognition he said finally gives the city “the hardware” to match its long used tagline as a “community of choice.”
Cole told the audience that the ranking was not something the city sought or bought. Instead, he framed it as an outside confirmation of what residents and businesses have built together over time, noting that the same report also ranks Pearland among the top places to retire and among the best mid-sized cities in the United States.
Quality of life and celebration
Cole began by pointing to quality of life as a defining metric of Pearland’s success, citing both independent rankings and the city’s own culture of gathering to celebrate. He referenced a national ranking that placed Pearland near the top for quality of life among cities of 100,000 to 500,000 residents.
He mentioned the city’s massive Celebration of Freedom event, saying more than 18,000 people filled Independence Park and estimating that as many as 50,000 were within a one-mile radius watching the fireworks. That kind of turnout, he said, reflects a community that still values coming together in person, not just online, especially as the nation prepares to celebrate 250 years of independence this year.
Cole also tied aesthetics and maintenance directly to quality of life and economic value. He described Pearland’s landscaped medians, monument-style entryways, and strict development standards as intentional investments that help protect property values for homeowners and business owners, while also signaling to visitors that Pearland expects excellence in how it presents itself. A single piece of roadside litter, he admitted, “drives me nuts,” because it contradicts the image residents have worked to build.
Safety, innovation, and the “blocker”
Public safety was a central theme, with Cole repeatedly assuring residents that Pearland is “a safe, safe place to live” and reminding them that roughly two-thirds of the city’s general fund goes to police, fire, and EMS services. He said Pearland has consistently ranked as one of the safest cities in the country and credited both tough prosecution for offenders and close collaboration with neighboring jurisdictions on the north end of Brazoria County, which he called the “first line of defense” against crime spilling south from Harris County and Houston.
Cole went into detail about the city’s new “blocker” program in the Fire Department, an initiative that uses a dedicated, less expensive truck to physically shield firefighters, police officers, and crash victims at freeway and high-speed accident scenes. Instead of risking a $1.5 million front-line fire engine as a barrier on a dangerous roadway, the city bought an older truck for about $30,000 and invested another $30,000 to equip it for blocking duty. He presented it as a straightforward value and safety equation for taxpayers, asking whether it made more sense to risk a $1.5 million piece of equipment or a $60,000 blocker that accomplishes the same protective purpose.
He paired that with another lifesaving initiative, the whole blood program launched by Pearland Fire and EMS. Under the program, first responders carry and administer whole blood in the field so that severely injured patients arrive at the hospital with a better chance of survival, mirroring advanced trauma practices used in major medical systems. Within about a month of implementing the program, Cole said, Pearland medics had already used whole blood to save a life; proof that the investment was more than theoretical.
Pearland’s emerging biomedical and business hub
Cole spent a significant portion of his speech on economic development and jobs, calling Pearland “a great place to find work” and pointing directly to job market strength, high-paying jobs, and business climate as reasons the city rose to the top of national rankings.
He highlighted Lonza’s massive cell and gene therapy facility, which opened in Pearland in 2018 and is considered the largest dedicated cell and gene therapy manufacturing site in the world at roughly 300,000 square feet. He joked that the exterior looks ordinary, but that inside, workers in clean suits labor in high-tech cleanrooms that feel straight out of a James Bond film. The presence of Lonza, along with companies such as Abbott Laboratories, American Medical, and United Imaging, has helped Pearland become a “mini medical center” and a growing hub for biomedical manufacturing.
Cole argued that Pearland has both the land and strategic positioning to become the premier biomed and pharmaceutical hub not only in Texas but also nationally. He pointed to at least a million square feet of new or recent industrial and distribution space along the SH 288 corridor and Beltway 8, with another two million square feet in the pipeline, as evidence that major employers see Pearland as a long-term logistics and manufacturing location.
The mayor tied that growth directly to his long-stated goal of reducing commute times for residents. He noted that the average commute out of Pearland is roughly 45 minutes each way and said that if the city can bring that down to about 15 minutes by attracting more employers, it would return roughly 248 hours each year to the average worker’s life. That regained time, he said, would allow people to attend chamber lunches, volunteer, coach youth sports, show up for dance recitals, and generally live more deeply rooted lives in their own community.
Location, access, and intentional planning
Cole returned several times to Pearland’s location as a foundational advantage. He reminded the audience that the completion and expansion of SH 288 in the 1990s turned Pearland into a natural growth corridor and noted that the city today sits almost in the geographic center of the greater Houston region when mapped north to south and east to west. With direct access to SH 288 running north–south and Beltway 8 running east–west, he said, residents and businesses enjoy proximity to the Texas Medical Center, downtown Houston, and major freight and employment centers, while still retaining a distinct suburban identity.
However, Cole stressed that location alone does not explain Pearland’s growth. He said that in the mid-1990s, the city made a conscious shift to operate with a master-planned mindset rather than simply reacting to development. Over the last roughly 25 years, Pearland’s population has more than quadrupled from about 30,000 residents to well over 120,000, but that growth has been channeled through a strong comprehensive plan that covers roads, zoning, parks, public safety, facilities, and utilities.
Cole described Pearland as “intentional” about what it allows to be built and where, saying the city tells developers “no” more often than “yes” when proposals do not meet standards or align with the community’s long-term vision. That approach, he argued, has allowed Pearland to maintain strong development standards, protect neighborhood character, and build out a robust parks and trails system even while accommodating rapid residential and commercial growth.
Education from kindergarten to college
The mayor devoted a full section of his remarks to education, calling it one of the key ingredients behind both Pearland’s quality of life and its national ranking. He praised Pearland ISD and Alvin ISD for regularly landing in the top tier of regional and state rankings and for managing rapid enrollment growth while maintaining high academic performance.
Cole also reminded attendees that six different school districts have territory inside Pearland’s city limits, giving families access to a range of educational options. That depth of K–12 education, combined with higher education partners, is part of what national rankings have cited when naming Pearland a top place to live.
On the higher education side, he pointed to San Jacinto College, Alvin Community College, and the University of Houston–Clear Lake Pearland Campus as anchors that allow residents to pursue workforce training, associate degrees, and four-year degrees without leaving the city. He said it is now possible for a student to start in kindergarten and earn a college diploma entirely within Pearland, a vision long held by former Mayor Tom Reid. Cole became visibly emotional as he said that Reid would be proud to see that dream realized.
Parks, recreation, and inclusion
Cole said that living well in Pearland is not just about work and school, but also about having places to play, gather, and rest. He highlighted the city’s parks and recreation system, including the Recreation Center and Natatorium, sports complexes that host regional tournaments, and a growing trail network along Clear Creek that is nearing 25 miles and will continue to expand in phases over many years.
He also praised private and nonprofit sports organizations such as the Pearland Dad’s Club, Pearland Girls Softball Association, and Little League programs, noting that local high schools regularly make deep playoff runs in multiple sports. Those successes, he said, grow out of a culture in which children have abundant opportunities to play and compete close to home.
One of the projects he called out by name was the Ed Thompson Inclusive Park, which offers an accessible playground designed for children with disabilities. Cole said a truly inclusive city must start by making space for residents who cannot always advocate for themselves, and he described the park as a symbol of Pearland’s commitment to ensure that “everyone deserves a chance to play.”
Trust, strategy, and team leadership
Beyond specific projects, Cole emphasized that Pearland’s success rests on strategic planning and trust in government. Shortly after becoming mayor six years ago, he pushed for regular strategic planning workshops that now bring together council members and senior staff for multi-day sessions focused on long-term priorities, not just immediate budget decisions.
He laid out five strategic priorities that guide the city’s work: building trust in government, maintaining a safe community, ensuring resilient finances, sustaining a strong economy, and investing in infrastructure and sustainability. Those priorities, he said, are supported by core values of innovation, teamwork, respect, ownership, integrity, and a commitment to building trust in every interaction.
Cole repeatedly described city government as a “big business” that must think in five-, ten-, and twenty-year horizons, just as private companies plan for growth. At the same time, he said elected officials and staff must remain grounded in the daily lives of residents, insisting that “we do not live on the dais” but in the same neighborhoods, churches, and businesses as the people they serve.
Governing as a community of people
Throughout the speech, Cole framed governance in terms of people rather than abstract structures. He shared that the city’s “P” logo, often assumed to stand for Pearland, is meant to stand for “people” because every service and project is ultimately about the residents whose faces fill city events, schools, and businesses.
He praised the current city council as a “phenomenal team” that can debate issues vigorously, then move forward together without grudges, describing their ability to “disagree without being disagreeable” as essential to maintaining public trust. He likewise recognized City Manager Trent Epperson and the assistant city managers as leaders of an “enterprise”-level workforce, saying it sometimes feels like it takes eight elected officials to manage one city manager because of the scope and complexity of the work.
Cole thanked the Pearland Chamber of Commerce, the business community, local school districts, community colleges, and countless city staff for helping achieve the city’s No. 1 ranking and broader reputation. Businesses, he said, are the “lifeblood” of the community because they employ residents, reinvest locally, and line the roadways with visible examples of enterprise and service.
A personal goodbye
As he neared the end of his remarks, Cole’s tone shifted from civic to personal. He thanked Pearland citizens for entrusting him with the mayor’s role six years ago and said he has poured his life into the city, not simply “dipping a toe in the water.” He also thanked his family for seeing him “behind the scenes” and supporting him even when the pressures of public life were intense.
Cole closed by returning to the same theme that ran throughout the address. Pearland’s national recognition, infrastructure, schools, business growth, and parks, he said, are impressive, but they matter only because of the people who live, work, play, and pray in the city every day.
“Everything we do is centered around the people that we serve,” he said. “When I look at this city now, I see a place that looks good, feels good, and is good, and that is what it means to be a community of choice.”