Blank Texas map
Sheet TX-08 · outline only · no labels, no markers · 4 bordering U.S. states · 4 bordering Mexican states
This map loads with every marker switched off, so the only things on it are the state outline, the coast and the rivers. That is what a blank map is for: you supply the labels. The tables below list the features a Texas geography assignment normally asks for, with enough position information to place each one without a second map open.
Zoom out one step before printing so the whole state, the Panhandle and the tip of the Rio Grande Valley all fit inside the frame. Landscape orientation fits Texas better than portrait; the state is wider east to west than it is tall.
Printing and using it
Print the page from the browser with landscape orientation and background graphics turned on, or take a screenshot of the map box and drop the image into a document at whatever size you need. If you want the map alone with no text around it, open the large Texas map and print that instead. Three things make the printed sheet more useful: keep the zoom at 6 so the whole state fits, leave the marker layer off so students are not copying answers off the map, and print two copies — one to label and one to check against.
A blank map works best as a sequence rather than a single task. Borders first, because they fix the shape. Then the four natural regions, because everything else sits inside one of them. Then rivers, which run across region boundaries and explain where the cities are. Cities last, since almost every large Texas city sits on a river, a bay or a highway junction that is already on the sheet by that point.
Borders and edges
| Feature | Side | Where it runs |
|---|---|---|
| Rio Grande | Southwest | The entire Mexico border, from El Paso around the Big Bend to the Gulf below Brownsville |
| Red River | North | Most of the Oklahoma line, from the eastern Panhandle to the Arkansas corner |
| Sabine River | East | The southern half of the Louisiana line, down to Sabine Lake |
| Gulf of Mexico | Southeast | Roughly 370 miles of coastline as the crow flies, far more if you trace the bays and barrier islands |
| New Mexico | West | Two straight lines: the 103rd meridian down the west side of the Panhandle, and the 32° N parallel west from there to the Rio Grande |
| Oklahoma Panhandle line | North | The 36°30′ parallel across the top of the Texas Panhandle |
| Arkansas | Northeast | A short north–south line at Texarkana |
| Louisiana | East | North of the Sabine's bend it becomes a straight surveyed line |
Texas borders four U.S. states and four Mexican states: Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.
Rivers to draw in
| River | Direction across the map | Where it ends |
|---|---|---|
| Rio Grande | Southeast along the whole border | Gulf of Mexico below Brownsville |
| Pecos | South through West Texas | Joins the Rio Grande above Del Rio |
| Canadian | West to east across the Panhandle | Crosses into Oklahoma |
| Red | West to east along the north edge | Leaves Texas at the Arkansas corner |
| Trinity | Northwest to southeast through Dallas | Trinity Bay, at the head of Galveston Bay |
| Brazos | Northwest to southeast through Waco | Gulf of Mexico at Freeport |
| Colorado | Northwest to southeast through Austin | Matagorda Bay |
| Guadalupe | Hill Country to the coast | San Antonio Bay |
| Nueces | Edwards Plateau to the coast | Nueces Bay at Corpus Christi |
| Sabine and Neches | South through the Piney Woods | Both reach Sabine Lake near Port Arthur |
Cities, landforms and lakes
| Feature | Type | Where to put it |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | State capital | On the Colorado River at the Balcones Escarpment, in the middle of the state |
| Houston | Largest city | Southeast, about 50 miles inland from Galveston Bay |
| San Antonio | City | South-central, at the southwest end of the Balcones Escarpment |
| Dallas and Fort Worth | Cities | North-central on the Trinity River, 30 miles apart |
| El Paso | City | The far western corner, on the Rio Grande |
| Amarillo and Lubbock | Cities | On the High Plains, north and south of each other on I-27 |
| Corpus Christi | City | Middle of the coast on Corpus Christi Bay |
| Brownsville | City | The southern tip, at the mouth of the Rio Grande |
| Balcones Escarpment | Landform | A curve from Del Rio through San Antonio and Austin to Waco |
| Caprock Escarpment | Landform | North–south, just east of Lubbock and Amarillo |
| Llano Estacado | Landform | The flat tableland west of the Caprock |
| Edwards Plateau | Landform | Southwest-central, above the Balcones Escarpment |
| Guadalupe Peak | High point, 8,751 ft | Far West Texas near the New Mexico line |
| Big Bend | Landform | The southward loop of the Rio Grande in the Trans-Pecos |
| Palo Duro Canyon | Landform | Cut into the Caprock southeast of Amarillo |
| Padre Island | Barrier island | Along the south coast, enclosing the Laguna Madre |
| Galveston Island | Barrier island | At the mouth of Galveston Bay |
| Lake Texoma | Reservoir | On the Red River at the Oklahoma line north of Sherman |
| Toledo Bend Reservoir | Reservoir | On the Sabine River at the Louisiana line |
| Amistad and Falcon reservoirs | Reservoirs | On the Rio Grande, near Del Rio and near Zapata |
Where labels usually go wrong
Three errors show up again and again. The first is putting Austin on the coast: it is 165 road miles inland from Houston. The second is running the Colorado River into the Colorado of the Grand Canyon — the Texas Colorado is a separate river that begins in Dawson County and never leaves the state. The third is treating the Panhandle's western line as the Rio Grande; that side of the Panhandle is a surveyed meridian, and the Rio Grande does not come near it.
One more worth checking: the Red River forms the Oklahoma border, not the Arkansas one. Texas meets Arkansas along a short straight line at Texarkana, and the Red River crosses out of Texas at that corner rather than turning to follow it.