Concho Valley map
Region · 12 counties · ~15,300 sq mi · Pop. about 165,000 (2020) · Central Time
The Concho Valley is the sheep-and-goat country on the northern shoulder of the Edwards Plateau, where three spring-fed forks of the Concho River meet at San Angelo. Twelve counties spread over about 15,300 square miles hold fewer people between them than Amarillo does.
San Angelo sits at the hub. I-10 crosses the southern counties; US-87, US-67 and US-277 radiate from San Angelo like spokes.
Where it starts and ends
The North, Middle and South Concho rivers rise on the plateau in Irion, Schleicher and Sterling counties and converge in San Angelo, which is why the region carries their name. From there the Concho runs east into the Colorado River at O.H. Ivie Reservoir.
To the north the country flattens into the rolling plains around Big Spring and Abilene; that edge is where the Concho Valley shades into West Texas proper and, further northwest, the Permian Basin. To the south and east the limestone rises and the region becomes the Hill Country — Mason and Kimble counties are claimed by both. West of Crockett County the plateau runs on toward the Pecos. The 12 counties below are the ones served by the San Angelo television market and the Concho Valley Council of Governments, which is as close to an official boundary as the region has.
The twelve counties
| County | Seat | Pop. 2020 | Sq mi | Named for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Green | San Angelo | 120,003 | 1,540 | Gen. Thomas Green |
| Runnels | Ballinger | 9,900 | 1,057 | Hiram Runnels |
| McCulloch | Brady | 7,630 | 1,074 | Ben McCulloch |
| Kimble | Junction | 4,286 | 1,251 | George C. Kimbell, killed at the Alamo |
| Mason | Mason | 3,953 | 932 | Fort Mason |
| Sutton | Sonora | 3,372 | 1,454 | John S. Sutton |
| Concho | Paint Rock | 3,303 | 994 | The Concho River |
| Coke | Robert Lee | 3,285 | 928 | Gov. Richard Coke |
| Crockett | Ozona | 3,098 | 2,807 | David Crockett |
| Schleicher | Eldorado | 2,451 | 1,311 | Gustav Schleicher |
| Menard | Menard | 1,962 | 902 | Michel Menard, founder of Galveston |
| Irion | Mertzon | 1,513 | 1,052 | Robert A. Irion |
Crockett County alone is 2,807 sq mi — larger than Delaware — with about 3,100 residents, nearly all of them in Ozona.
San Angelo and the county towns
- San Angelo
99,893 people (2020) and the only city of size for 90 miles in any direction. Fort Concho, Angelo State University and Goodfellow Air Force Base are all inside the city.
- Sutton County
Sonora sits on I-10 at the US-277 junction; the Caverns of Sonora, a working cave with unusually dense crystal formations, are seven miles west of town.
- Crockett County
Ozona is the county seat, the only town in the county, and unincorporated — an I-10 stop with a courthouse square and no city government.
- Kimble County
Junction stands where the North and South Llano rivers meet, at the crossing of I-10 and US-83; South Llano River State Park is just upstream.
- McCulloch County
Brady calls itself the heart of Texas and sits close to the state's geographic center, where US-87, US-190, US-283 and US-377 all meet.
- Runnels County
Ballinger and Winters, on US-67 and US-83 northeast of San Angelo, at the wheat-and-cotton edge of the region.
- Mason County
Mason is the collecting ground for blue topaz, the Texas state gem, which weathers out of the granite of the Llano Uplift.
- Menard County
The ruins of Presidio San Sabá, a Spanish fort of 1757, stand on the San Saba River just west of Menard.
Highways
- I-10 – crosses the southern counties through Junction, Sonora and Ozona; the Sonora–Ozona stretch runs 65 miles with almost no services.
- US-87 – the diagonal through San Angelo: northwest to Big Spring and Lubbock, southeast to Brady and Fredericksburg.
- US-67 – San Angelo east through Ballinger toward Brownwood, and west to Mertzon and Big Lake.
- US-277 – the north–south route from Abilene through San Angelo, Eldorado and Sonora to Del Rio.
- US-83 – Ballinger, Paint Rock, Menard and Junction, the old road down the eastern side.
- US-190 – Brady west through Menard and Eldorado to Iraan.
- SH-158 and SH-208 – the local roads to Robert Lee, Bronte and the Colorado River lakes north of San Angelo.
Wool, water and stone
The Edwards Plateau carries more sheep and goats than any other part of the United States, and San Angelo grew as the market for their wool and mohair. Angora goats do well on the thin limestone soils and browse the ashe juniper that cattle will not touch. Hunting leases for white-tailed deer, turkey and exotic game now bring in as much money per acre as livestock in some counties.
Water is the constraint. The three Concho forks depend on springs that fail in drought, so San Angelo built a chain of reservoirs — O.C. Fisher on the North Concho, Twin Buttes on the Middle and South forks, and Lake Nasworthy in between. Downstream, O.H. Ivie Reservoir on the Colorado supplies water back to the city by pipeline.
Along the Concho River below Paint Rock, limestone bluffs carry hundreds of Native American pictographs. The river also produces Concho pearls, purple and pink pearls formed in freshwater mussels and found almost nowhere else.
Distinctive facts
| Largest city | San Angelo, 99,893 (2020) — 73% of the region's people |
| Largest county | Crockett, 2,807 sq mi |
| Smallest population | Irion, 1,513 |
| Military post | Fort Concho, established at the river junction in 1867; Goodfellow AFB trains intelligence and firefighting personnel today |
| Cave | Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County |
| Gemstone | Blue topaz from Mason County, the Texas state gem |