Pasadena is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the city's population is 149,043, making it the seventeenth most populous city in the  state of Texas, as well as the second-largest city in Harris County. The area was founded in 1893 by John H. Burnett of Galveston, who named the area after Pasadena, California, because of the perceived lush vegetation.