Cooke 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 ...

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 ...

. At the 2020 census, its population was 41,668. 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 st ...

is Gainesville. The county was founded in 1848 and organized the next year. It is named for

William Gordon Cooke William Gordon Cooke (March 26, 1803 – December 24, 1847) was a New Orleans druggist from Virginia, who volunteered for service in the Texas Revolution; fighting at Béxar and San Jacinto, he rose to the rank of major in the Texian Army. In th ...

, a soldier during the Texas Revolution. It is a part of the

Texoma Texoma is an interstate region in the United States, split between Oklahoma and Texas. The name is a portmanteau of Texas and Oklahoma. Businesses use the term in their names to describe their intended service area. This includes 8 counties with ...

region. Cooke County comprises the Gainesville, TX micropolitan statistical area, which is also included in the

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

– Fort Worth, TX- OK

combined statistical area Combined statistical area (CSA) is a United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) term for a combination of adjacent metropolitan (MSA) and micropolitan statistical areas (µSA) across the 50 US states and the territory of Puerto Ric ...

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 (2.6%) are covered by water.

Major highways

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican border ...

/ U.S. Highway 77 *

U.S. Highway 82 U.S. Route 82 (US 82) is an east–west United States highway in the Southern United States. Created on July 1, 1931 across central Mississippi and southern Arkansas, US 82 eventually became a 1,625-mile (2,615 km) route extending from ...

* Farm to Market Road 51

Adjacent counties

Love County, Oklahoma Love County is a county on the southern border of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 9,423. Its county seat is Marietta. The county was created at statehood in 1907 and named for Overton Love, a prominent Chi ...

(north) * Grayson County (east) *

Denton County Denton County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 906,422, making it the 7th-most populous county in Texas. The county seat is Denton. The county, which was named for John B. Denton, was establis ...

(south) * Wise County (southwest) * Montague County (west)

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.'' According to statistical data from 2016, Cooke County has a population of 39,141 people (41% urban, 59% rural), nearly 14,000 households, and over 10,000 families. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), 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 ...

was 42 per square mile (16/km²). The 15,061 housing units averaged 17 per square mile (7/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 88.84% White, 3.06% Black or African American, 1.00% Native American, 0.34% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 5.16% from other races, and 1.61% from two or more races. About 10% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the more than 14,000 households in Cooke County, 33.90% had children under the age of 18 living in the home, 59.60% were married couples living together, 9.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.70% were not families; 23.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.07. The population was distributed as 27.30% under the age of 18, 8.70% from 18 to 24, 26.10% from 25 to 44, 23.00% from 45 to 64, and 14.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.80 males. While 2015 estimates place the

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways o ...

for Cooke County at $53,552, past estimates showed the median household income to be $37,649, with the median family income being $44,869. Males had a median income of $32,429 and females $22,065. 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 ...

was $17,889. About 10.90% of families and 14.10% 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 t ...

, including 19.80% of those under age 18 and 10.70% of those age 65 or over. Median house values in 2015 were $118,254.

Government and infrastructure

The

Texas Juvenile Justice Department The Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) is a state agency in Texas, headquartered in the Braker H Complex in Austin. It was created on December 1, 2011, replacing the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission. Histor ...

operates the

Gainesville State School The Gainesville State School is a juvenile correctional facility of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department in unincorporated Cooke County, Texas, near Gainesville. The fenced, maximum security state school is located on a tract east of Gainesvill ...

in an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Cooke County, east of Gainesville.Gainesville State School
."

Texas Youth Commission The Texas Youth Commission (TYC) was a Texas state agency which operated juvenile corrections facilities in the state. The commission was headquartered in the Brown-Heatly Building in Austin. As of 2007, it was the second largest juvenile corre ...

. Retrieved August 8, 2010.

Politics

Cooke County is heavily Republican. The last Democrat to win Cooke County was Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Cooke County is included in the heavily Republican 13th Congressional District. Republicans have won over 75% of the vote in each of the past six presidential elections, starting in 2000.

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Drew Springer, Jr. Drew Alan Springer Jr. (born October 27, 1966) is an American businessman and politician serving as a Republican member of the Texas Senate who represents District 30. Education Springer graduated from Weatherford High School in 1985. He then ...

, a businessman from

Muenster Muenster may refer to: * Münster, Germany * Muenster, Saskatchewan * Muenster, Texas * Muenster cheese Muenster ( or ) or munster is a semi-soft cheese from the United States. It is thought to be an imitation of the Alsatian washed-rind Muns ...

, has represented Cooke County in the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

since January 2013.

Communities

Cities

* Callisburg * Gainesville * Lindsay *

* Valley View

Towns

* Oak Ridge * Road Runner

Census-designated place

* Lake Kiowa

Unincorporated communities

* Bulcher * Burns City * Dexter *

Era An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

Hood Hood may refer to: Covering Apparel * Hood (headgear), type of head covering ** Article of academic dress ** Bondage hood, sex toy * Hoodie, hooded sweatshirt Anatomy * Clitoral hood, a hood of skin surrounding the clitoris * Hood, a flap of ...

* Leo * Lois * Marysville * Moss Lake * Mountain Springs * Myra * Prairie Point * Rosston * Sivells Bend * Walnut Bend * Woodbine

References

External links

Cooke County government's website
* {{authority control 1849 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1849