Randall County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

located in the U.S. state of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. As of the 2020 census, its population was 140,753. Its

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 ...

Canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to ...

. The county was created in 1876 and later organized in 1889. It is named for Horace Randal, a Confederate brigadier general killed at the Battle of Jenkins Ferry. The reason the county name differs from his is because the bill creating the county misspelled Randal's name. Randall County, alongside adjacent Potter County is part of the Amarillo Metropolitan Statistical Area. At one time, the large JA Ranch, founded by Charles Goodnight and John George Adair, which reached into six counties, held acreage in Randall County.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.2%) is covered by water.

Palo Duro Canyon Palo Duro Canyon is a canyon system of the Caprock Escarpment located in the Texas Panhandle near the cities of Amarillo and Canyon. As the second-largest canyon in the United States, it is roughly long and has an average width of , but reaches ...

, the second-largest canyon in the United States, is located in Randall County.

Major highways

* Interstate 27 * U.S. Highway 60 * U.S. Highway 87 * State Highway 217 * Loop 335

Adjacent counties

* Potter County (north) * Oldham County (northwest) * Armstrong County (east) * Carson County (northeast) * Swisher County (south) * Briscoe County (southeast) * Castro County (southwest) * Deaf Smith County (west)

National protected area

* Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge

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, 104,312 people, 41,240 households, and 28,785 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 RosenberP ...

was 114 people per square mile (44/km²). The 43,261 housing units averaged 47 per square mile (18/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 90.44% White, 1.50% Black or African American, 0.65% Native American, 1.03% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 4.71% from other races, and 1.64% from two or more races. About 10.3% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 41,240 households, 33.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.50% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 9.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.20% were not families; 25.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49, and the average family size was 3.00. In the county, the population was distributed as 26.10% under the age of 18, 11.20% from 18 to 24, 28.40% from 25 to 44, 22.40% from 45 to 64, and 11.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.20 males. The median income for a household in the county was $42,712, and for a family was $52,420. Males had a median income of $36,333 versus $25,358 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 $21,840. About 5.70% of families and 8.10% 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 8.50% of those under age 18 and 6.60% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Although once more Democratic-leaning, the county has become solidly Republican. The Republican candidate has carried the county in every presidential election since 1952, usually by overwhelming margins. In the last thirteen elections, no Republican candidate has received less than 61% of the county's vote, and since 2000, Randall has been the nation's most Republican "metropolitan" county outside of predominantly

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

counties in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. Randall County was one of the more than 200 counties in Texas to cast the majority of its votes for Republican John McCain. McCain received 41,895 votes, which was 81% of the total, while Democrat Barack Obama received 9,461 votes, or 18% of the total, far below his national percentage.

Communities

Cities

Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

(partly in Potter County) *

(county seat)

Towns

* Happy (mostly in Swisher County)

Villages

* Lake Tanglewood * Palisades * Timbercreek Canyon

Unincorporated communities

Ogg Ogg is a free, open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The authors of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high-quality di ...

* Umbarger * Zita

Ghost towns

* Cita

Education

School districts include: * Amarillo Independent School District * Bushland Independent School District * Canyon Independent School District * Happy Independent School District * Wildorado Independent School District All of the county is in the service area of

Amarillo College Amarillo College (AC) is a public community college in Amarillo, Texas. It enrolls over 10,000 students and was established in 1929 as Amarillo Junior College. Amarillo College has a total of six campuses as of October 2005. As defined by the T ...

.Texas Education Code, Sec. 130.164. AMARILLO COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.

References

External links

Randall County government’s website

Randall County TX Genealogy

Randall 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 Randall County materials
hosted by th
Portal to Texas History.
* http://www.city-data.com/county/Randall_County-TX.html
Randall County Profile from the Texas Association of Counties
*

List of museums in the Texas Panhandle This article was split from List of museums in Texas The list of museums in the Texas Panhandle encompasses museums defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that c ...

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Randall County, Texas
Texas State Historical Association , Randall County (tshaonline.org)
{{authority control 1889 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1889 Texas Panhandle