Texas Hill Country map
Region · eastern Edwards Plateau · 29.4°–31.2° N · Central Time
The Hill Country is the dissected eastern rim of the Edwards Plateau: limestone hills, clear spring-fed rivers and cedar. Its southern and eastern edge is a real geological feature — the Balcones Escarpment, which you can see from I-35 — but there is no agreed line on the north and west, where the hills simply flatten into plateau and the argument turns into a matter of opinion.
Austin sits on the top right corner and San Antonio just off the bottom right; Fredericksburg and Kerrville are near the middle.
Where the Hill Country starts
The hard edge runs along the Balcones fault zone from Austin southwest through San Marcos, New Braunfels and the north side of San Antonio, then west toward Uvalde and Brackettville. Cross it westbound on US-290, I-10 or SH-16 and the ground rises several hundred feet within a few miles; the springs that break out along the fault — Barton, San Marcos, Comal — are the reason towns are where they are.
North and west there is no such marker. Some maps stop at Llano and Mason; others keep going to San Saba, Menard and Junction; the widest versions run to Edwards County and the Concho Valley. Counts of "how many counties" in the Hill Country range from about 15 to 25 for exactly that reason. The region also overlaps its neighbours on purpose: the eastern counties are equally Central Texas, the far western ones start behaving like West Texas, and Medina and Uvalde counties get pulled into South Texas as often as not.
Counties
| County | Seat | Population (2020) | Area (sq mi) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hays | San Marcos | 241,067 | 679 |
| Comal | New Braunfels | 161,501 | 575 |
| Kerr | Kerrville | 52,598 | 1,107 |
| Medina | Hondo | 50,748 | 1,334 |
| Burnet | Burnet | 49,130 | 1,022 |
| Kendall | Boerne | 44,279 | 663 |
| Gillespie | Fredericksburg | 26,725 | 1,061 |
| Uvalde | Uvalde | 24,564 | 1,559 |
| Lampasas | Lampasas | 21,627 | 714 |
| Llano | Llano | 21,243 | 966 |
| Bandera | Bandera | 20,851 | 798 |
| Blanco | Johnson City | 11,374 | 713 |
| San Saba | San Saba | 5,730 | 1,138 |
| Real | Leakey | 2,758 | 700 |
| Edwards | Rocksprings | 1,422 | 2,120 |
Edwards County is larger than Comal, Kendall and Hays put together and holds roughly one person for every 1.5 square miles.
Towns and cities
- New Braunfels
Pop. 90,403 · Founded in 1845 by German settlers; Comal Springs, the largest spring in Texas, rises inside the city
- San Marcos
Pop. 67,553 · Texas State University, and the San Marcos River that starts at the campus springs
- Kerrville
Kerr County seat · Pop. 24,278 · On the Guadalupe River at SH-16 and I-10
- Fredericksburg
Gillespie County seat · Pop. 10,875 · Founded 1846; Main Street, wineries, peach orchards
- Austin
Travis County · Pop. 961,855 · The western half of the city is Hill Country terrain
- San Antonio
Bexar County · Pop. 1,434,625 · The escarpment crosses the northern suburbs
Boerne, Wimberley, Marble Falls, Bandera, Blanco, Johnson City, Dripping Springs, Comfort, Llano and Leakey do not have their own pages here; find them on the Texas map with cities and towns.
Rivers, springs and lakes
Six rivers rise on or cross the plateau and run southeast: the Colorado, Llano, Pedernales, Blanco, Guadalupe and Frio, with the Medina and Sabinal between them. The Colorado is dammed into the Highland Lakes — Buchanan, Inks, LBJ, Marble Falls and Travis — which puts several hundred miles of shoreline in Burnet and Llano counties. The Comal River in New Braunfels runs about two and a half miles from spring to confluence with the Guadalupe, making it the shortest river in Texas. Nearly all of this water comes out of the Edwards Aquifer, which is also what San Antonio drinks.
Highways and back roads
- I-10 – San Antonio northwest through Boerne, Comfort, Kerrville and Junction; Kerrville is about 65 miles from downtown San Antonio.
- US-290 – Austin west through Dripping Springs, Johnson City and Stonewall to Fredericksburg, roughly 78 miles; most of the wineries are on this stretch.
- US-281 – San Antonio north through Blanco, Johnson City, Marble Falls and Burnet.
- US-87 – Fredericksburg southeast through Comfort to San Antonio.
- SH-16 – the long diagonal: Bandera, Kerrville, Fredericksburg, Llano.
- RR 335, RR 336 and RR 337 – the "Twisted Sisters" loop through Leakey, Vanderpool and Medina, the steepest paved roads in the region.
- I-35 – not in the Hill Country, but it runs along its eastern foot and is how most visitors arrive.
Landmarks and records
| Enchanted Rock | Pink granite dome on the Llano–Gillespie line, rising about 425 feet above the surrounding land |
| Largest spring in Texas | Comal Springs, New Braunfels |
| Shortest river in Texas | The Comal, about 2.5 miles long |
| Presidential site | Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, split between Johnson City and the LBJ Ranch at Stonewall |
| Wine | The Texas Hill Country AVA is one of the largest American Viticultural Areas in the country |
| Emptiest county | Edwards, 1,422 people in 2,120 sq mi |
| Granite | Granite Mountain at Marble Falls supplied the stone for the Texas State Capitol |