South Texas map
Region · Rio Grande to the Nueces · 25.8°–29.6° N · Central Time
South Texas is thorn brush, ranch country and the Mexican border: the Rio Grande on one side, the Gulf on the other, and mesquite and huisache across most of what lies between. Where it begins is genuinely disputed — the old answer is the Nueces River, the practical answer is somewhere around San Antonio, and San Antonio itself gets counted in or out depending on who you ask.
Del Rio at the top left, Brownsville at the bottom right. The Rio Grande runs along the whole southwestern edge.
Where South Texas starts and ends
The historical line is the Nueces River. Between 1836 and 1848 Mexico held the border at the Nueces and the Republic of Texas claimed the Rio Grande; the land between the two was the Nueces Strip, and the dispute over it started the Mexican–American War. That strip — Duval, Jim Hogg, Brooks, Kenedy and their neighbours — is still the emptiest part of the region and is what most Texans picture when they say South Texas.
Modern usage runs further north. San Antonio is the region's largest city and the place its economy points to, but it is equally often filed under Central Texas or the edge of the Hill Country, since the Balcones Escarpment cuts through the city's north side. Going east, the region blends into the Coastal Bend around Corpus Christi and then the Gulf Coast. The four counties at the bottom are usually treated on their own as the Rio Grande Valley. Going west, Del Rio and Val Verde County are the hinge where South Texas hands off to West Texas and the Trans-Pecos.
Sub-regions
| Sub-region | Cities | What defines it |
|---|---|---|
| Rio Grande Valley | McAllen, Brownsville, Edinburg, Harlingen | Irrigated citrus and vegetable delta; four counties, over 1.3 million people |
| Laredo border | Laredo, Zapata, Rio Grande City | Trucking and rail freight; Webb County alone covers 3,375 sq mi |
| Winter Garden | Crystal City, Carrizo Springs, Pearsall, Cotulla | Winter vegetable farming on the Nueces and Frio; the Eagle Ford Shale runs beneath it |
| Brush Country / Nueces Strip | Cotulla, Tilden, Falfurrias, Hebbronville | Mesquite and prickly pear on huge ranches; some of the least populated counties in Texas |
| Middle Rio Grande | Eagle Pass, Del Rio, Brackettville | Amistad and the canyon country where the river turns north |
| Coastal Bend | Corpus Christi, Kingsville, Alice, Beeville | Bays, barrier islands and the King Ranch; overlaps both South Texas and the Gulf Coast |
Counties
| County | Seat | Population (2020) | Area (sq mi) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bexar | San Antonio | 2,009,324 | 1,256 |
| Webb | Laredo | 267,114 | 3,375 |
| Maverick | Eagle Pass | 57,887 | 1,291 |
| Wilson | Floresville | 49,753 | 809 |
| Atascosa | Jourdanton | 48,981 | 1,222 |
| Val Verde | Del Rio | 47,586 | 3,233 |
| DeWitt | Cuero | 19,824 | 911 |
| Frio | Pearsall | 18,385 | 1,135 |
| Karnes | Karnes City | 14,710 | 754 |
| Zapata | Zapata | 13,889 | 1,058 |
| Zavala | Crystal City | 9,670 | 1,301 |
| Dimmit | Carrizo Springs | 8,615 | 1,335 |
| Brooks | Falfurrias | 7,076 | 943 |
| La Salle | Cotulla | 6,664 | 1,495 |
| Jim Hogg | Hebbronville | 4,838 | 1,136 |
| Kinney | Brackettville | 3,129 | 1,366 |
| McMullen | Tilden | 600 | 1,157 |
The four Rio Grande Valley counties — Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy — and the eleven Coastal Bend counties including Nueces and Kleberg are counted on their own region pages, but almost every South Texas map includes them.
Cities
- San Antonio
Bexar County · Pop. 1,434,625 · The Alamo, the River Walk, five Spanish missions
- Corpus Christi
Nueces County · Pop. 317,863 · Deepwater port on Corpus Christi Bay
- Laredo
Webb County · Pop. 255,205 · Southern end of I-35 and the busiest land freight port in the U.S.
- Brownsville
Cameron County · Pop. 186,738 · The southernmost city in Texas, across from Matamoros
- McAllen
Hidalgo County · Pop. 142,210 · Retail centre of the Valley, opposite Reynosa
- Edinburg
Hidalgo County seat · Pop. 100,243 · UTRGV campus
- Harlingen
Cameron County · Pop. 71,829 · Where I-2 and US-77/I-69E meet
- Victoria
Victoria County · Pop. 65,534 · On the Guadalupe River, the northeastern doorway to the region
- Del Rio
Val Verde County · Pop. 34,673 · Lake Amistad and the crossing to Ciudad Acuña
- Eagle Pass
Maverick County · Pop. 28,130 · Opposite Piedras Negras on US-57 and US-277
Highways and crossings
- I-35 – begins at the Rio Grande in Laredo and runs north through Cotulla, Pearsall and San Antonio; the World Trade Bridge feeds it.
- I-37 – the only direct route between Corpus Christi and San Antonio, about 140 miles through Three Rivers.
- I-69E, I-69C and I-2 – the Valley's interstate network, built over US-77, US-281 and the old US-83 expressway between Brownsville, Harlingen, McAllen and Mission.
- US-83 – hugs the river from Brownsville through Rio Grande City, Zapata and Laredo, then north to Uvalde.
- US-90 – San Antonio west through Uvalde and Brackettville to Del Rio and on toward Marathon.
- US-281 – the inland north–south route: Edinburg, Falfurrias, George West and San Antonio.
- US-277 – Del Rio to Eagle Pass and Carrizo Springs along the border.
- Border crossings – the main road bridges are at Brownsville, Hidalgo, Rio Grande City, Laredo (four bridges), Eagle Pass and Del Rio.
Distinctive facts
| Southernmost point in Texas | The mouth of the Rio Grande at Boca Chica, Cameron County |
| Largest ranch | The King Ranch, about 825,000 acres headquartered at Kingsville in Kleberg County |
| Least populous county on this list | McMullen, 600 people across 1,157 sq mi |
| Largest county by area | Webb, 3,375 sq mi — bigger than Delaware and Rhode Island together |
| Longest undeveloped barrier island in the world | Padre Island, protected as Padre Island National Seashore |
| Reservoirs on the Rio Grande | Amistad above Del Rio and Falcon above Zapata, both jointly operated with Mexico |
| Oil and gas | The Eagle Ford Shale arcs from Maverick County northeast through La Salle, McMullen and Karnes counties |