Nueces County is located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 353,178, making it the 16th-most populous county in the state. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

is Corpus Christi. The county was formed in 1846 from portions of San Patricio County and organized the following year. It is named for the

Nueces River The Nueces River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas, about long. It drains a region in central and southern Texas southeastward into the Gulf of Mexico. It is the southernmost major river in Texas northeast of the Rio Grande. ''Nueces' ...

, which marks the county's northwestern boundary with San Patricio County before emptying into its mouth at Nueces Bay north of the port of Corpus Christi. Nueces County is part of the Corpus Christi

metropolitan statistical area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally incorporated as a city or tow ...

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the county has an area of , of which are land and (28%) are covered by water. It borders the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

Major highways

Interstate 37 Interstate 37 (I-37) is a Interstate Highway located within the southern portion of the US state of Texas. The highway was first designated in 1959 as a route between Corpus Christi and San Antonio. Construction in the urban areas of Co ...

Interstate 69E Interstate 69E (I-69E) is a north–south freeway running through South Texas. Once complete, the freeway will begin in Brownsville and head northward before terminating near Victoria as both I-69W and I-69E merge into I-69 toward Houst ...

(Under Construction) * U.S. Highway 77 * U.S. Highway 181 * State Highway 35 * State Highway 44 * State Highway 286 * State Highway 357 *

Farm to Market Road 43 A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

Farm to Market Road 70 A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

* Farm to Market Road 624 * Farm to Market Road 665 * Farm to Market Road 666

Adjacent counties

* San Patricio County (north) * Kleberg County (south) *

Jim Wells County Jim Wells County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 38,891. The county was founded in 1911 and is named for James B. Wells, Jr. (1850-1923), for three decades a judge and Democratic Party poli ...

(west) * Aransas County (northeast)

Demographics

''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.'' As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of 2000, 313,645 people, 110,365 households, and 79,683 families resided in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was 375 people per square mile (145/km²). The 123,041 housing units averaged 147 per square mile (57/km²). The

racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

of the county was 72.03% White, 4.24% African American, 0.64% Native American, 1.16% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 18.74% from other races, and 3.13% from two or more races. About 55.78% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 110,365 households, 36.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.80% were married couples living together, 15.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.80% were not families. About 22.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.30. In the county, the age distribution was 28.40% under the age of 18, 10.50% from 18 to 24, 28.90% from 25 to 44, 21.10% from 45 to 64, and 11.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.50 males. The median income for a household in the county was $35,959, and for a family was $41,066. Males had a median income of $31,571 versus $22,324 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $17,036. About 14.70% of families and 18.20% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 24.00% of those under age 18 and 15.80% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities (multiple counties)

* Aransas Pass (partly in San Patricio and Aransas Counties) * Corpus Christi (county seat) ( San Patricio and Aransas Counties) * Ingleside (mostly in San Patricio County) * Portland (mostly in San Patricio County) * San Patricio (mostly in San Patricio County)

Cities

* Agua Dulce *

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

* Driscoll * Petronila *

Port Aransas Port Aransas ( ) is a city in Nueces County, Texas, United States. This city is 180 miles southeast of San Antonio. The population was 2,904 at the 2020 census. Port Aransas is the only established town on Mustang Island. It is located north of ...

* Robstown

Census-designated places

* Banquete * La Paloma-Lost Creek * North San Pedro * Rancho Banquete * Sandy Hollow-Escondidas * Spring Gardens * Tierra Grande * Tierra Verde

Unincorporated communities

* Chapman Ranch * Rabb * Violet

Education

School districts: * Agua Dulce Independent School District * Aransas Pass Independent School District * Banquete Independent School District *

Bishop Consolidated Independent School District Bishop Consolidated Independent School District is a public school district based in the town of Bishop, in Nueces County, Texas (USA). In addition to Bishop, the district also serves the city of Petronila, a small section of Tierra Grande, a ...

* Calallen Independent School District * Driscoll Independent School District *

Flour Bluff Independent School District Flour Bluff Independent School District is a public school district based in Corpus Christi, Texas (USA). The district serves the Flour Bluff area of Corpus Christi as well as high school students from the London Independent School District. I ...

* London Independent School District * Port Aransas Independent School District *

Robstown Independent School District Robstown Independent School District is a public school district based in Robstown, Texas, USA. In addition to Robstown, the district also serves the community of Spring Garden-Terra Verde and part of La Paloma-Lost Creek. In 2009, the school ...

* Tuloso-Midway Independent School District * West Oso Independent School District Del Mar College is the designated community college for all of Nueces County.

Politics

Historically, Nueces County leaned Democratic in presidential elections, though in recent years has narrowly voted Republican. Dwight D. Eisenhower in

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

became the first Republican candidate to carry the county. Prior to that year, the only times Nueces County did not vote for the ''national'' Democratic candidate was in its first presidential election in 1848 for Whig

Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...

, and in 1860, supporting Southern Democratic John C. Breckinridge. Since Eisenhower's election, the only other Republicans to carry the county in the 20th century were

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

in 1972 and

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. So far,

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

remains the last Democratic candidate to win Nueces County, having done so in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

. Since 2000, Nueces County has voted for every Republican presidential candidate, with only George W. Bush in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

having carried it by a double digit margin, and his 56.8% of the vote is also the highest for any Republican in the county's history. In

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

defeated

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

in the county with a plurality of 48.6% to 47.1%, or 1,568 votes, the closest race since 1956. In 2020, Trump won the county again, albeit this time with a slight majority and 2.9% margin, or 3,692 votes, over Joe Biden. Democratic strength is concentrated within the inland portion of the county, with particular strengths in downtown Corpus Christi plus the city's heavily Hispanic neighborhoods, Robstown, and communities in the western part of the county. Republicans generally do well with areas closer to the coast, particularly in the southeast suburbs of Corpus Christi, Flour Bluff, and Port Aransas.

References

External links

Nueces County government's website

Nueces County in ''Handbook of Texas Online''
at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Historic Nueces County materials
hosted by th
Portal to Texas History.
{{coord, 27.74, -97.52, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-TX_source:UScensus1990 1847 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1847 Corpus Christi, Texas Majority-minority counties in Texas