Brownsville ( ) is a city 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 so ...
of
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
and the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of
Cameron County, located on the western
Gulf Coast
The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South or the South Coast, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Tex ...
in
South Texas, adjacent to the
border
Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...
with
Matamoros, Tamaulipas
Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, and the municipal seat of the homonymous municipality. It is on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Bro ...
,
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. The city covers , and had a population of 186,738 at the
2020 census. As of the
2020 U.S. Census, it is the
136th-most populous city in the United States and
18th-most populous in Texas. It is part of the
Matamoros–Brownsville metropolitan area. The city is known for its year-round
subtropical
The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...
climate, deep-water
seaport
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...
, and Hispanic culture.
The city was founded in 1848 by American entrepreneur
Charles Stillman after he developed a successful river-boat company nearby. It was named for
Fort Brown, itself named after Major
Jacob Brown, who fought and died while serving as a
U.S. Army soldier during the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
(1846–1848). As a
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
, the city and county governments are major employers. Other primary employers fall within the service, trade, and manufacturing industries, including a growing
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...
and
space transportation sector. It operates international trading through the
Port of Brownsville. The city experienced a population increase in the early 1900s, when steel production flourished.
Due to significant historical events, the city has multiple houses and battle sites listed under the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. The city played a primary role in the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
with the
siege of Fort Texas and the first engagements of the war: The
Battle of Palo Alto
The Battle of Palo Alto () was the first major battle of the Mexican–American War and was fought on May 8, 1846, on disputed ground five miles (8 km) from the modern-day city of Brownsville, Texas. A force of some 3,700 Mexico, Mexican t ...
and the
Battle of Resaca de la Palma. Several key events of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
took place in the city, such as the
Battle of Brownsville and the
Battle of Palmito Ranch. The city was also involved in the
Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution (October 2, 1835 – April 21, 1836) was a rebellion of colonists from the United States and Tejanos (Hispanic Texans) against the Centralist Republic of Mexico, centralist government of Mexico in the Mexican state of ...
. Brownsville's idiosyncratic geographic location has made it a wildlife refuge center. Several state parks and historical sites are protected by the
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) is a Texas state agency that oversees and protects wildlife and their habitat (ecology), habitats. In addition, the agency is responsible for managing the state park, state's parks and historical ar ...
.
Brownsville has a predominantly
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
population, which at 93.9% is
the fourth-highest proportion of Hispanic Americans of any city in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
outside of
Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
.
History
Founding

In 1781, Spanish government officials granted José Salvador de la Garza 59 leagues of land (408 sq mi). He used the land to construct a ranch several miles northwest of the area. During the early 1800s, Brownsville was known to residents as ''los tejidos'' (English: "
pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing.
Types of pasture
Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...
lands").
The area was inhabited by a few settlers around 1836 when Texas
declared its independence from Mexico. On February 4, 1846, President
James K. Polk instructed American General
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military officer and politician who was the 12th president of the United States, serving from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States ...
and his troops, including 2nd LT. Ulysses S. Grant, to begin moving south towards Brownsville. Once Taylor arrived, he built
Fort Texas. It was later renamed
Fort Brown in honor of Major Jacob Brown, one of two soldiers who died during the
siege of Fort Texas.
Charles Stillman arrived in Matamoros in 1828 from
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
to help his father in the mercantile business.
Brownsville became part of Texas after the signing of the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Villa de Guadalupe, Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo.
After the defeat of its army and the fall of the cap ...
in 1848. During that year, Stillman formed a partnership with Samuel Belden and Simon Mussina to form the Brownsville Town Company.
They reportedly sold lots valued at $1,500. The city of Brownsville was originally established in late 1848 by Stillman, and was made the county seat of Cameron County on January 13, 1849. The state originally incorporated the city on January 24, 1850. This was repealed on April 1, 1852, because of a land-ownership dispute between Stillman and its former owners (including
Juan Cortina, a Mexican rancher). The state reincorporated the city on February 7, 1853; this remains in effect. The issue of ownership was not decided until 1879, when the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
ruled in favor of Stillman.
Mexican–American War

On April 25, 1846, Captain
Seth B. Thornton received reports of Mexican troops crossing the Rio Grande. Thornton and 63
U.S. dragoons moved to Rancho de Carricitos and discovered several houses in the area. Mexican General Anastasio Torrejón crossed the Rio Grande the previous day. He commanded 1,600 cavalry and infantry troops to surround Thornton's troops in fractions. Due to heavy force from Torrejón's troops, Thornton's troops surrendered. Eleven American casualties were reported; 45 troops and Thornton were held as prisoners. Reports of the incident were sent to President James K. Polk, who announced, "American blood has been spilled upon the American territory." On May 13, the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
declared war against Mexico.
American General
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military officer and politician who was the 12th president of the United States, serving from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States ...
retreated from Fort Texas on May 1, 1846; Mexican General
Mariano Arista began preparing artillery and troops from across the Rio Grande. On May 3, Arista and the Mexican Army began the siege of Fort Texas, during the first active campaign in the Mexican–American War. This was counteracted by the
United States 7th Infantry Regiment.
Despite heavy strikes, Mexican General
Pedro de Ampudia outlined a traditional siege to move forward. Taylor was notified of the incident and began moving towards Fort Texas. Mexican troops intercepted them near
Palo Alto
Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
Th ...
, about north of present-day Brownsville, resulting in the first battle of the war.
The following day, Mexican troops had retreated. Taylor's troops charged up to them, resulting in the
Battle of Resaca de la Palma, which took place within the present limits. When Taylor arrived at the besieged Fort Texas, he found that two soldiers, including the fort's commander, Major Jacob Brown, had died. Brown, who suffered an injury when a cannonball hit his leg, died three days after his injury on May 9. In his honor, General Taylor renamed the facility as Fort Brown. An old cannon at the
University of Texas at Brownsville and
Texas Southmost College marks the spot where Major Brown received his fatal wound.
On July 13, 1859, Juan Cortina saw Brownsville city Marshal Robert Sheers arrest and beat an elderly man who had been a ranch hand at his mother's ranch. Cortina approached the marshal, questioning his motives, before shooting him twice after he refused to release the man. The first shot reportedly missed Sheers, but the second struck his shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground. Cortina and the elderly man rode off on a horse. The following year, Cortina returned with troops, executing four Anglo men and simultaneously releasing several Mexican prisoners. He then issued a proclamation explaining his reasons for the attack.
Civil War

During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, Brownsville served as a smuggling point for Confederate goods into Mexico. Most significantly, cotton was smuggled to European ships through the Mexican port of
Bagdad to avoid Union
blockade
A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force.
A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are ...
s. The city was located at the end of the "Cotton Road",
southwest of the
Cotton Belt.
In November 1863, Union troops landed at
Port Isabel and marched towards Brownsville to take control of Fort Brown. In the ensuing
Battle of Brownsville, Confederate forces abandoned the fort, blowing it up with of explosives. In 1864, Confederate forces commanded by Colonel
John Salmon Ford reoccupied the town, and he became mayor of Brownsville.
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...
and his Confederate army surrendered to Union commander
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...
on April 9, 1865, signing a hand-written document at the
Appomattox Court House, officially ending the American Civil War. Theodore Barrett was ordered to move 500
62nd Regiment troops of colors towards Brazos Island. On May 11, Barrett's troops moved inland towards Brownsville and spotted Confederate soldiers.
John Salmon Ford received news of this and prepared to attack. On May 15, 1865, 34 days after the
signing of the surrender, the
Battle of Palmito Ranch took place. Confederates killed or wounded around 30 opponents and captured more than 100 other troops.
This is accepted by some historians as the last battle of the American Civil War. President Grant sent Union General
Frederick Steele to Brownsville to patrol the United States–Mexico border after the Civil War to aid the ''
Juaristas'' with military supplies.
20th century
Texas, like other Southern states, passed a new constitution and
Jim Crow
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...
laws that established racial segregation and disenfranchised African Americans at the turn of the 20th century, generally by raising barriers to voter registration. While Hispanic residents were considered white under the terms of the United States annexation of Texas, legislatures found ways to suppress their participation in politics.
1906 Brownsville affair and Black soldiers
On August 13 and 14, 1906, Brownsville was the site of the
Brownsville affair. Racial tensions were increasing between white townsfolk and black infantrymen who were stationed at Fort Brown. On the night of August 13, one white bartender was killed, and a white police officer was wounded by rifle shots in the street.
Townsfolk, including the mayor, accused the infantrymen of the murders. Without affording them a chance to defend themselves in a hearing, President
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
dishonorably discharged the entire 167-member regiment due to their alleged "
conspiracy of silence".
Investigations in the 1970s revealed that the soldiers were not responsible for the attacks, and the
Nixon Administration reversed all dishonorable discharges.
Fort Brown was decommissioned after the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in 1945. In 1948, the city and college acquired the land.
Public Health
In the spring of 1991, a cluster of
anencephaly cases in the area made national headlines, prompting a public health investigation. A high anencephaly rate, of 19.7 per 10,000 live births, was found. Additionally, it was discovered that other
neural tube defects, including
spina bifida
Spina bifida (SB; ; Latin for 'split spine') is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the vertebral column, spine and the meninges, membranes around the spinal cord during embryonic development, early development in pregnancy. T ...
and
encephalocele
Encephalocele is a neural tube defect characterized by sac-like protrusions of the brain and the Biological membrane, membranes that cover it through openings in the human skull, skull. These defects are caused by failure of the neural tube to cl ...
, had been an ongoing, undetected issue in pregnant Mexican-American women for years in the area.
Subsequently, multiple
risk factor
In epidemiology, a risk factor or determinant is a variable associated with an increased risk of disease or infection.
Due to a lack of harmonization across disciplines, determinant, in its more widely accepted scientific meaning, is often use ...
s were found, such as
folate deficiency, and that increasing dietary folate intake had a protective effect.
21st century
Brownsville has received significant media attention surrounding immigration policies and border-wall funding costs. In 2006, President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
signed into law the
Secure Fence Act of 2006. The act administered the construction of a tall border "fence" extending from the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
(at
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
and
Tijuana
Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...
's border crossing), through the entry of the
Port of Brownsville. In 2008, the
United States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the Interior minister, interior, Home Secretary ...
issued a proposal to add of border fence, an action which would potentially reallocate portions of the
University of Texas at Brownsville campus. The proposal would have transferred of university land, including several historical monuments and the university's golf course, to Mexico.
The proposal was altered after
Andrew Hanen, a federal district judge, rejected the department's idea.
Border wall issue
In 2016, Republican presidential candidate
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
proposed building a border wall along the United States-Mexico border. Trump's proposed wall, if completed, would consist of "of hardened
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...
, and ...
rebar
Rebar (short for reinforcement bar or reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or steel reinforcement, is a tension device added to concrete to form ''reinforced concrete'' and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid ...
, and
steel
Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
" across the southern border, including Brownsville. On January 25, 2017, days after assuming office, Trump issued
Executive Order 13767, directing construction for the border wall. Brownsville was also the center of controversy surrounding the new administration's continuation of an Obama-era policy of housing immigrant children separate from adults (except for mothers) who entered the country unlawfully. The issue surrounded
Casa Padre, the largest
juvenile immigration detention center in America, which is located within Brownsville's city limits.
Revitalization
Downtown Brownsville has received several revitalization projects from the city government to increase tourism and safety. The
Texas Historical Commission named Brownsville as part of its Main Street Program in 2016. Several historic buildings were restored, including the Stegman Building, a historic building named after Baldwin G. Stegman, one of the city's first
streetcar
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...
line developers. The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) selected Brownsville as one of six cities for their "Greening America's Communities" program. The agency worked on a revitalization project for Market Square, a building constructed in 1850. The city also received a $3.4 million grant from the Façade Improvement Program for this project.
Geography and climate
Brownsville is one of the southernmost cities in the
contiguous United States
The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The te ...
; only a handful of municipalities in
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
's
Miami-Dade and
Monroe Counties (plus
Everglades City,
Collier County) are located farther south than Brownsville. The city has a total area of , of which are land and are water, according to the United States Census Bureau of 2017.
Brownsville is situated at the intersection of several different
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...
s zones, such as the
subtropics
The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones immediately to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately ...
, the
Chihuahuan Desert, the
Gulf Coastal Plain
The Gulf Coastal Plain extends around the Gulf of Mexico in the Southern United States and eastern Mexico.
This coastal plain reaches from the Florida Panhandle, southwest Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, the southern two-thirds of Alabama, over m ...
, and the southern reach of the American
Great Plains
The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...
, thus attracting high numbers of migratory birds, and creating a unique
biome
A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the ...
for many species of plants and animals. Its idiosyncratic network of ''resacas'' (English:
oxbow lake
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or stream pool, pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is meander cutoff, cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether ...
s),
distributaries of the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
, provide habitat for numerous nesting and breeding birds, typically during the spring and fall migrations. Brownsville's vegetation is classified as
grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...
.
Metropolitan area
Brownsville is in one metropolitan statistical area as defined by the United States Census Bureau. The
Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville combined statistical area consists of Cameron County and
Willacy County. It includes the Brownsville metropolitan area and the micropolitan area of Raymondville. The city of Raymondville is the county seat of Willacy County. The Brownsville-Harlingen-Raymondville combined statistical area is home to 445,309 people (2017 estimated), making it the
106th-largest combined statistical area in the United States.
Based on the
Uniform Crime Report conducted by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
in 2013, the Brownsville metropolitan area ranked last on its list of the "Most Dangerous Cities" in Texas, with "240 incidents of violent crime per 100,000 people" and a murder rate of 1.4. Robbery crimes make up 25% of overall crime in the city, with a rate of 58.1 per 100,000 residents.
In 2011, Brownsville became one of the first cities in the United States to require stores to charge a fee for single-use plastic shopping bags. The ordinance was enacted to reduce pollution and litter around the city. The city repealed the ordinance in 2018 after it was ruled illegal by the
Supreme Court of Texas
The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court ...
. ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'' identified Brownsville as one of 12 metropolitan areas in the United States with the cleanest air. In 2018, the Brownsville–Harlingen area was among the "Cleanest U.S. Cities for Ozone Air Pollution" in the
American Lung Association's "State of the Air" in 2018.
Flora and soil

Broadleaf evergreen plants, including
palms, dominate Brownsville neighborhoods to a greater degree than other locations in Texas, including nearby cities such as
Harlingen and
McAllen. Brownsville is home to the ''
Sabal mexicana'',
the only species of
palmetto palm native to Texas with a significant trunk (''
Sabal minor
''Sabal minor'', commonly known as the dwarf palmetto, is a small species of Arecaceae, palm. It is native to the deep southeastern and south-central United States and northeastern Mexico. It is naturally found in a diversity of habitats, includi ...
'', also native to Texas, is nearly trunkless). Though it used to cover a large portion of the land next to the Rio Grande, the city contains one of the last native stands of ''S. mexicana''. ''
Citharexylum berlandieri'' (Tamaulipan fiddlewood),
''
Rivina humilis'' (pigeonberry), and ''
Leucophyllum frutescens
''Leucophyllum frutescens'' is an evergreen shrub in the Scrophularia, figwort family, Scrophulariaceae, native to the U.S. state of Texas, where it is the official "State Native Shrub of Texas", and to the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Ta ...
'' (Texas sage) are also native flora.
Soils are mostly of clay to silty clay loam texture, moderately alkaline (
pH 8.2) to strongly alkaline (pH 8.5) and with a significant degree of
salinity
Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...
in many places; other types of soils present around the city include Cameron clay and sporadic amounts of Laredo silt loam. Due to Brownsville's proximity to the coast, Lomalta clay is common around the swamp areas of the vicinity. Several parts of the city have a high risk of localized flooding because of flat topography, ubiquitous low-
permeability clay soils, and inadequate infrastructure funding.
According to the
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...
, Brownsville's soils are primarily
alluvium
Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...
and windblown deposits.
The majority of the city's soil is made of floodplain deposits from the Rio Grande; it consists of clay, sand, silt, gravel, and organic matter. Windblown deposits are made up of "active dunes and dune complexes" that contain mostly clay and silt near the coastal region and combination of clay, sand, and silt inland.
Climate
Brownsville has a
humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
''Cfa''). Winters are warm, and summers are hot and humid.
[Peel, M. C., Finlayson, B. L., and McMahon, T. A.: /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Americas_K%C3%B6ppen_Map_original_colors.png Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification ''Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.'', 11, 1633–1644, 2007.] Due to its location on the
Gulf Coast
The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South or the South Coast, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Tex ...
about 2.49° north of the
Tropic of Cancer
The Tropic of Cancer, also known as the Northern Tropic, is the Earth's northernmost circle of latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun ...
, the climate closely borders a
tropical savanna climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...
. Due to its proximity to the deserts of Chihuahua and
Gulf Coastal Plain
The Gulf Coastal Plain extends around the Gulf of Mexico in the Southern United States and eastern Mexico.
This coastal plain reaches from the Florida Panhandle, southwest Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, the southern two-thirds of Alabama, over m ...
s, Brownsville's geographic location lies near the boundary of a hot
semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...
.
Snow is a very rare event in Brownsville. Its
wet season
The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...
is concentrated during the late summer and early fall, peaking in September, when the threat from
tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...
s is greatest. In most years, November through April is the
dry season
The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...
. As such, Brownsville receives modest annual rainfall, averaging about annually based on records between 1991 and 2020.
[
The monthly daily average temperature ranges from in January to in August. Heat waves during the summer have caused 141 days of high temperatures over and fewer than five days of temperatures above . The city is located along the boundary of USDA hardiness zones 9b and 10a. The hottest temperature on record in Brownsville occurred on March 27, 1984, and August 28, 2023, when the city reached . On the other extreme, freezing temperatures occur once or twice a year typically.] On December 25, 2004, Brownsville recorded its first instance of measurable snow in 109 years with , and the first recorded White Christmas. Brownsville's lowest temperature on record occurred on February 13, 1899, when the city reached . Based on 30-year averages obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...
's National Climatic Data Center
The United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), previously known as the National Weather Records Center (NWRC), in Asheville, North Carolina, was the world's largest active archive of weather data.
In 2015, the NCDC merged with two other ...
weather records, ''24/7 Wall St.'' ranked Brownsville the fifth-hottest city in America in 2016.
Demographics
Brownsville is the 18th-most populous city in Texas. It ranks as one of the top U.S. cities in terms of the percentage of Hispanic residents. According to the Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center (also simply known as Pew) is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. It ...
, its metropolitan area holds the 26th-largest Hispanic population with roughly 373,000 (88.7%) sharing this distinction. Of that percentage, 96.7% are Mexican and 0.8% are Puerto Rican.
2020 census
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 186,738 people, 53,506 households, and 42,240 families residing in the city.
The ancestry of Brownsville was 0.9% German, 0.6% English, 0.5 Irish, 0.4% French, 0.4% Italian, and 0.2% Dutch.
The median age was 29.9 years old. A total of 12.0% of the population was 65 or older, with 7.1% between the ages of 65 and 74, 3.3% between the ages of 75 and 84, and 1.6% 85 or older. A total of 25.9% of the population were foreign born, with 35.7% of those being US citizens, and 64.3% of those were not US citizens.
The median household income was $47,435, with families having $50,127, married couples having $59,604, and non-families had $18,322. A total of 22.0% of the population were in poverty, with 36.4% of people under 18, 21.2% of people between the ages of 18 and 64, and 28.2% of people 65 or older were in poverty.
2010 census
As of the census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2010, 175,023 people, 49,871 households, and 41,047 families were residing in the city. The population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing 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 geog ...
was 1,207.1 people/sq mi (466.0/km2). The 53,936 housing units averaged 372.0/sq mi (143.6/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 88% White, 0.4% African American, 0.4% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 9.1% from other races, and 1.5% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 93.2% of the population.
Of the 38,174 households, 50.1% had children under 18 living with them, 59.3% were married couples living together, 20.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 15.7% were not families. About 13.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 3.62, and the average family size was 3.99.
In the city, the age distribution was 34.6% under 18, 11.2% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 17.2% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.5 males.
Income and employment
Despite a fast-growing economy, Brownsville has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation. The median income for a household in the city was $24,468, and the median income for a family was $26,186. Males had a median income of $21,739 versus $17,116 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the city is $9,762. It is frequently cited as having the highest percentage of residents in the nation below the federal poverty level. About 31.6% of families and 35.7% of the population were below the federal 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 48.4% of those under 18 and 31.5% of those 65 or over.
Based on data collected from the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
's American Community Survey, the Brownsville metropolitan area ranked as the second-poorest urban area in the country, behind the McAllen metropolitan area. In 2017, the city's unemployment rate was 6.2% with 18.1% adults holding a bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
. It reported a 5.8% jobless rate the following year. Despite high unemployment rates, the urban area is also one of the fastest growing in the United States.
Economy
Brownsville's economic activity is derived from the service and manufacturing industries. Government and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley are both large contributors to the local economy. Other prominent industries in Brownsville include education and aerospace and space transportation. During the first decade of the 1900s, the city's population increased after a boom in the agriculture industry. Brownsville's subtropical climate has made it a commercial hub for the citrus industry.
The Port of Brownsville produces significant revenue for the city of Brownsville. The port, located from the city, provides a link between the road networks of nearby Mexico and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway of Texas. The port has become an important economic hub for South Texas, where shipments arrive from other parts of the United States, Mexico, and other foreign countries. The port also participates in ship recycling; it has five of the country's eight ship-recycling companies. It received a $1.8 million grant from the United States Department of Commerce
The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing econ ...
to support business and infrastructure development. The grant is expected to create 700 jobs and generate $3 million in private investments.
International trade
Brownsville's economy is based mainly on its international trade
International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (See: World economy.)
In most countries, such trade represents a significan ...
with Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement (, TLCAN; , ALÉNA), referred to colloquially in the Anglosphere as NAFTA, ( ) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The ...
(NAFTA). Due to Matamoros' ''maquiladora
A (), or (), is a factory that is largely duty (economics), duty free and tariff free. These factories take raw materials and assemble, manufacture, or process them and export the finished product. These factories and systems are present thro ...
'' (English: textile
Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...
factory) boom, Brownsville experienced growth in the air cargo
Air cargo is any property carried or to be carried in an aircraft. Air cargo comprises air freight, air express and airmail.
Aircraft types
Different cargo can be transported by passenger, cargo or combi aircraft:
* Passenger aircraft use the ...
industry during the late 1980s. It is home to one of the fastest-growing manufacturing
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the
secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...
sectors in the United States. Brownsville has been recognized as having one of the best pro-business climates in the United States, and the city has been ranked among the least-expensive places to live in the country. President Barack Obama signed a bill in 2016 allowing for the deepening of the Brownsville Ship Channel from to .
Sports
The Sams Memorial Stadium is located in Brownsville. It has a capacity of 10,000 and opened in 1957. The stadium is used mostly for American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
and soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
.
FC Brownsville is a soccer team that formed in 2015 and joined the National Premier Soccer League
The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The league is officially affiliated to the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and has automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. ...
in 2018. The club currently uses the Brownsville Sports Park for home matches. In 2023, FC Brownsville won the NPSL Lone Star Conference, defeating the Lubbock Matadors 1-0 in the conferences' championship.
Technology
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.
An entreprene ...
and innovator Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...
announced the construction of the SpaceX South Texas launch site (now Starbase), a spaceport
A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport''—and even more so ''cosmodrome''—has traditionally referred to sites capable of ...
for private spaceflight
Private spaceflight is any spaceflight development that is not conducted by a government agency, such as NASA or ESA.
During the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pionee ...
east of Brownsville, on the Gulf Coast, in 2014. The launch facility is estimated to produce for the city of Brownsville and generate approximately in annual salaries from the roughly 500 jobs to be created (by 2024). The facility, itself, was projected to employ 75–100 full-time workers in its first years of operation, with up to 150 full-time employees/contractors by 2019.[
] Musk further helped to fund a revitalization of downtown Brownsville, with new restaurants and bars.
, the University of Texas at Brownsville and the Brownsville Economic Development Council (BEDC), in collaboration with SpaceX, are building radio-frequency
Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation rate of an alternating electric current or voltage or of a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or mechanical system in the frequency range from around to around . This is roughly between the ...
(RF) technology facilities for STARGATE
''Stargate'' is a military science fiction media franchise owned by Amazon MGM Studios. It is based on Stargate (film), the film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin; production company StudioCanal owns the ...
(Spacecraft Tracking and Astronomical Research into Gigahertz Astrophysical Transient Emission). The facility is intended to provide students and faculty access to radio frequency technologies used in spaceflight
Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such ...
operations, and will include satellite
A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...
and spacecraft
A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...
tracking
Tracking may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Tracking, in computer graphics, in match moving (insertion of graphics into footage)
* Tracking, composing music with music tracker software
* Eye tracking, measuring the position of ...
.
SpaceX's presence caused the median price for a home in the area to spike, increasing to $239,000 in April 2022, almost $100,000 higher than three years prior. BEDC purchased five lots in Starbase
The concepts of Space station, space stations and space habitats feature in science fiction. The difference between the two is that habitats are larger and more complex structures intended as permanent homes for substantial populations (though ge ...
, totaling near the SpaceX launch site, and renamed it as the "Stargate" subdivision. The beach location will include a tracking center. Stargate received several startup grants including from the United States Economic Development Administration.
Principal employers
According to the BEDC,[Brownsville Economic Development Council](_blank)
the top employers in the city as of May 2015 were:
Parks and recreation
Brownsville has 37 parks connected by a system of parkland and of bike lanes. The city also has three gymnasiums, two public pools, and 55 athletic fields.
Brownsville's proximity to the coast has allowed the city to register several locations under the list of protected areas of the United States. Resaca de la Palma State Park is one of six nature preserves (and three state parks) that are part of the World Birding Center. It is also the largest nature preserve of the park system, with approximately of native semitropical brushland. The area was part of the Battle of Resaca de la Palma. The National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
lists the site of the Battle of Palo Alto
The Battle of Palo Alto () was the first major battle of the Mexican–American War and was fought on May 8, 1846, on disputed ground five miles (8 km) from the modern-day city of Brownsville, Texas. A force of some 3,700 Mexico, Mexican t ...
as a National Historic Park. The agency purchased of the site's land, with two-thirds belonging to private landowners. It is native to the '' Prosopis glandulosa'' (honey mesquite) bush, '' Opuntia engelmannii'' (prickly pear), and '' Yucca treculeana'' (yucca).
The city encompasses two national wildlife refuges. Located in northeast Cameron County, Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge protects several endangered species, including the Texas ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis albescens''), a rare wild cat, and the Aplomado falcon (''Falco femoralis''). The refuge measures . The Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge is located in northwest Cameron County and measures . The refuge contains trails that are connected to the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail. The Boca Chica State Park and Brazos Island State Park are state parks that were transferred by separate lease agreements to the Lower Rio Grande Valley refuge center in 2007. They measure and , respectively. Laguna Madre
The Laguna Madre is a long, shallow, hypersaline lagoon along the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Nueces County, Texas, Nueces, Kenedy County, Texas, Kenedy, Kleberg County, Texas, Kleberg, Willacy County, Texas, Willacy and Cameron Coun ...
is located on the eastern side of the county. It is a long, shallow, hypersaline lagoon
A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...
, and is one of the most protected lagoon ecosystems in the United States.
Government
Brownsville has a council–manager government
The council–manager government is a form of local government commonly used for municipalities and counties in the United States and Ireland, in New Zealand regional councils, and in Canadian municipalities. In the council-manager government, ...
. The mayor and a six-member city commission are selected in nonpartisan elections. Four members are elected from geographic districts; the remaining two members are elected at-large. Since Brownsville is the county seat of Cameron County, many county offices are in Brownsville. The city's public library system has two branches. The primary law enforcement agency for the city is the Brownsville Police Department. The Brownsville Fire Department has nine stations around the city; its central office is located on the eastern side of the city.
Most of Brownsville is represented by two county commissioners of the five-member Commissioners' Court
Commissioners' court, or in Arkansas a quorum court, is the governing body of county government in three US states: Arkansas, Texas and Missouri. It is similar in function to a board of county commissioners. A similar system was in place in the ...
(one member, the County Judge, represents all of Cameron County). County offices are partisan; the Democratic and Republican Parties hold primaries in March of the year that their office term expires.
The City of Brownsville falls under two 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. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...
districts. Each representative has a two-year term and is elected in the same manner as other partisan elected officials. The elected representatives include, District 37: Alex Dominguez (D) (since 2019), and District 38: Erin Gámez (D) (since 2021). Brownsville is represented by Texas Senatorial District 27, the incumbent senator is Morgan LaMantia (D) (since 2023). This city is represented by Texas's 34th congressional district. The incumbent Representative is Vicente Gonzalez (D) (since 2023).
The city holds several federal office buildings. The United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...
operates post offices in Brownsville. Downtown Brownsville is served by the Old Federal Courthouse; it is now used as a City Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...
. The National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
operates an office
An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a po ...
and a Nexrad
NEXRAD or Nexrad (Next-Generation Radar) is a network of 159 high-resolution S-band pulse-Doppler radar, Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service (NWS), an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ...
weather radar
A weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern w ...
site in east Brownsville. They provide forecasts and radar coverage for Deep South Texas and the adjacent coastal waters. Other federal building located within the city limits of Brownsville include: Social Security Administration and the Reynaldo G. Garza – Filemon B. Vela United States Courthouse. Military buildings and battle sites include the Brownsville Armed Forces Reserve Center (AFRC) host units from the United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed ...
and the Texas Army National Guard, and the Reserve Officers' Training Corps
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...
(ROTC).
Education
Primary and secondary education
Brownsville Independent School District (BISD) serves most of the city. Enrollment in the 2018–2019 school year was 44,402 students, 95% of whom are economically disadvantaged. Enrollment at BISD reached a high of 49,991 students in 2010–2011, and has declined an average of 1,000 students per year since 2014–2015. It is the 17th largest school district in Texas. There are seven high schools within the district: Homer Hanna, Gladys Porter, James Pace, Simon Rivera, Lopez, BECHS, and Veterans Memorial.
A portion of northern Brownsville is served by the Los Fresnos Consolidated Independent School District. South Texas Independent School District
South Texas Independent School District (STISD) is a magnet school district headquartered in Mercedes, Texas ( USA). STISD operates magnet schools that draw students from three counties: Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy. STISD covers an area o ...
, a magnet school district, operates a medical academy in northern Brownsville. There are several private parochial elementary and middle schools located throughout the community. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville operates Catholic schools in the Rio Grande Valley, including Brownsville.
Colleges and universities
Six colleges and universities are located within the Brownsville boundaries. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, part of the University of Texas system
The University of Texas System (UT System) is a public university system in the U.S. state of Texas. It includes nine universities and five independent health institutions. The UT System is headquartered in Downtown Austin. It is the large ...
, was founded in 2014 after the merger of the University of Texas at Brownsville and University of Texas–Pan American. It is the 10th-largest university in Texas, having 25,137 undergraduates, 3,068 graduate students, and 439 professionals enrolled in 2018. In 2017, '' The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education'' ranked the university third in the country in awarding bachelor's degrees to Hispanic students.
Texas Southmost College is a community college
A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...
located near the southern border of Brownsville. As of 2018, it had a total enrollment of 7,132. Students usually transfer to the neighboring University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The city operates three vocational schools. These include the South Texas Vocational Technical Institute, Brightwood College campus (formerly known as Kaplan College), and Southern Careers Institute.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health (UTSPH), is one of five regional campuses established by the Regional Academic Health Center program in 2001; it is located on the Brownsville campus of the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley. The campus offers a PhD program in epidemiology and a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) in health promotion, the only program of its kind available in South Texas. The campus directs its attention to health concerns in the Rio Grande Valley, including diabetes
Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...
, obesity
Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, in which excess Adipose tissue, body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classifi ...
, and cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumati ...
. It also centers its concerns on genetics and its relationship to infectious and chronic disease.
Infrastructure
Transportation
Major highways
Brownsville is served by Interstate 69E, sharing its alignment with U.S. Route 77. The highway connects to the cities of Kingsville and Corpus Christi. U.S. Route 77 was a proposed part of the North American Free Trade Agreement's completed Interstate 69 corridor. Other highways that serve the Brownsville area are U.S. Route 83, U.S. Route 281, SH 4 and SH 48. Interstate 169/ SH 550 is a toll road that connects North Brownsville to the Port of Brownsville; it forms a loop around the outer city limits of Brownsville. An interchange in nearby Olmito carries traffic from Interstate 69E onto the highway.
Mass transit
Established in mid-Brownsville in 1978, the Brownsville Urban System (BUS), currently known as the Brownsville Metro, consists of three hubs that run 13 routes covering a large portion of Brownsville. The system provides 11 paratransit
Paratransit (also community transport in the United Kingdom, or intermediate public transport) is a type of public transport service that supplements fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. P ...
vans to disabled passengers, complying with the standards for the Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...
. It is the only mass transit system in its county and one of the largest in the Rio Grande Valley. Annual ridership for 2015 was 1,384,474.
Intercity transit
The Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport (BRO) provides passengers with daily nonstop service to American Eagle hubs Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, United Express to George Bush Intercontinental Airport
George Bush Intercontinental Airport is an international airport in Houston, Texas, United States, serving the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Initially named Houston Intercontinental Airport upon its opening in 1969, it was renamed in ho ...
in Houston, and World Atlantic Airlines, which operates charter and on-demand flights to Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary international airport serving Miami and its Miami metropolitan area, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of Florida. It hosts over 1, ...
. The airport received a $12.7 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...
for the construction of a new terminal facility. The project is expected to commence construction by late 2018.
Bike share and trails
The City of Brownsville currently has of hike and bike trails and on-street bike lanes. In 2016, a bike-share program was established in Brownsville in collaboration with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Six bike stations were installed. The contract was renewed with another company to provide a "dockless ride-share program" in late 2018.
Railroad
Several attempts were made to attract a railroad, but the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway did not reach Brownsville until 1904. In 1910, a railroad bridge was constructed between Brownsville and Matamoros (Mexico), and regular service between the two towns began. The introduction of the rail link to Brownsville opened the area for settlement by northern farmers, who subsequently arrived in the lower Rio Grande Valley in large numbers.
The new settlers cleared the land of brush, built extensive irrigation systems and roads, and introduced large-scale truck farming. In 1904, H. G. Stillwell Sr. planted the first commercial citrus orchard in the area, thus opening the way for citrus fruit culture, one of the valley's leading industries. The expansion of farming in the area, and the railroad link to the north, brought new prosperity to Brownsville and spurred a host of civic improvements.
Brownsville was served by the Missouri Pacific Railroad
The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...
night train from Houston, the ''Pioneer'' (#315/316) until 1964, and a daily train from Houston, the '' Valley Eagle'' (#321/322), until 1962. Today, the Brownsville and Rio Grande International Railroad (reporting mark BRG) is a terminal switching railroad headquartered in Brownsville. It operates of line at the Port of Brownsville, and interchanges with Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...
and TFM. BRG traffic includes steel, agricultural products, food products, and general commodities.
International bridges
Brownsville has three international bridges that connect to Mexico. These include the Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge (B&M), Gateway International Bridge and the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates.
Utilities
Electricity, water, and wastewater services in Brownsville are provided by the Brownsville Public Utilities Board. Since it is a public utility
A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and ...
, the city commission appoints six members of the utilities board with the mayor serving as the seventh member (ex-officio). As of 2016, it is the 68th-largest public power utility in the country by number of customers served (48,232). Its power generation was ranked 51st in the US with 1,638,579 megawatt-hours. Renewable resource
A renewable resource (also known as a flow resource) is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of t ...
s were projected to increase with partial help from the proposed addition of a 400-megawatt Tenaska combined-cycle electric generating plant in 2015.
A series of wind turbines was also built in the northeast part of Cameron County. The board operates three treatment plants in Brownsville; it also owns 92.91% of the Southmost Regional Water Authority groundwater treatment facility. Several liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...
companies are currently in the process of establishing pipelines in the city. Two were denied a review of their applications after missing several deadlines.
Arts and culture
Brownsville is known for its strong Mexican culture. Charro Days is a two-nation fiesta celebration held in Brownsville in cooperation with Matamoros, Mexico. It is accompanied with ''El Grito'', a joyous shout originating in Mexican culture. Musicians and actors of Mexican heritage make appearances. Sombrero Festival is a continuation of Charro Days. It is a three-day event consisting of performances from tejano
Tejanos ( , ) are descendants of Texas Creoles and Mestizos who settled in Texas before its admission as an American state. The term is also sometimes applied to Texans of Mexican descent.
Etymology
The word ''Tejano'', with a ''J'' instead ...
, corrido
The corrido (Spanish pronunciation: Help:IPA/Spanish, oˈriðo is a famous narrative metrical tale and poetry that forms a Ballad (music), ballad. The songs often feature topics such as oppression, history, daily life for criminals, the vaqu ...
and other traditional Mexican artists as well as a variety of contests. In 2016, a Mexican art gallery donated a statue called ''Mr. Charro'' that was unveiled at a park.
The city hosts the Latin Jazz Festival every year around early October in Downtown Brownsville. It is a three-day celebration of local Latin jazz
Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave (rhythm), clave, and Afro-Brazil ...
performers, art and dance. The festival began in 1997, founded by American musician Tito Puente
Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, and record producer. He composed dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz music. He was also k ...
. Brownsville has a growing number of arts galleries, including the Puente Art Studio,, the Flower Shop Art Studio & Residency, the first live-in art residency in the region, the B&E Art Studio, and the Rusteberg Art Gallery. The Brownsville Museum of Fine Arts features exhibitions of Egyptian and Astronomical art. It was formerly known as the Brownsville Art League, formed by a group of eight women. The museum underwent a renovation in 1960, featuring a studio. In 2002, it changed its name to its current name and underwent another renovation. According to the Association of Art Museum Directors, women account for 38% of leadership positions.
Brownsville also has several museums dedicated to historic artifacts and military equipment. The Historic Brownsville Museum opened to the public in 1986. The building was used as a Spanish Colonial Revival passenger depot and was later abandoned. It features Spanish architecture and education programs. Several renovations were made over time, including the addition of a Spanish-style fountain, a courtyard and an engine building. The Commemorative Air Force Museum houses World War II aircraft
An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...
and holds tours on the early events of wars in Asia and Europe. It also documents the stories of pilots who were part of the 201st Mexican Fighter Squadron.
Built in 1850 by Henry Miller, the Stillman House Museum was owned by Charles Stillman and Mexican consul Manuel Pérez Treviño. It was the site of meetings with Mexican general and president Porfirio Diaz. The Stillman's great-grandson purchased the house after the previous homeowners sold it and donated it to the city after several renovations. It opened to the public in 1960. The home sustained damage from Hurricane Dolly in 2008 and reopened to the public the following year after it was restored. Costumes of the Americas Museum is an indigenous clothing museum. Inspired by Bessie Kirkland Johnson, the museum was opened in 1997 featuring clothing from indigenous people in several Mexican states and other Latin American countries.
Filming location
Media
Print
'' The Brownsville Herald'' is the city's major daily newspaper. It has a circulation of 15,880 with 16,409 on Sundays. Other newspapers that share content within Brownsville include '' The Monitor'' (headquartered in McAllen), the '' Valley Morning Star'' (headquartered in Harlingen) and ''The Rider'', the official weekly campus paper of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Radio
FM stations include:
* KBNR (88.3) – Spanish-language Christian
* KJJF/ KHID (88.9) – Relevant Radio
Relevant Radio (corporate name Relevant Radio, Inc.) is a radio network in the United States, mainly broadcasting talk radio and religious programming involving the Catholic Church. Relevant Radio broadcasts "talk radio for Catholic life" over a ...
* XHMLS (91.3) – Latin pop
Latin pop () is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. It originates with List of countries where Spanish is an official language, Spanish-speaking ...
*KESO (92.7) – Classic Hits (70s/80s Hits)
* XHAAA (93.1) – Regional Mexican
Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...
* XHO-FM
XHO-FM (93.5 Hertz, MHz) is a Adult Contemporary radio station that serves the Brownsville, Texas (United States) / Matamoros, Tamaulipas (Mexico) border area.
History
XEO received its concession on August 24, 1946. The station was initially own ...
(93.5) – News/talk
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews ...
* KFRQ (94.5) – Classic Rock
Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...
* KVMV (96.9) – Contemporary Christian
Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...
* XEEW-FM (97.7) – Latin pop
* KKPS
KKPS (99.5 FM broadcasting, FM) "Fuego 99.5" is a radio station broadcasting a Contemporary hit radio, Bilingual Rhythmic CHR format. Licensed to Brownsville, Texas, United States, the station serves the McAllen-Brownsville-Harlingen area. The s ...
(99.5) – Hot AC
* KTEX (100.3) – Country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
* KNVO (101.1) – Spanish Adult Hits
* KBUC (102.1) – Tejano
* KBFM (104.1) – Rhythmic Top 40
* KJAV (104.9) – Adult Contemporary/Spanish AC Hits
* KXIQ-LP (105.1)
*KRIX (105.5) – Classic Rock
* XHNA (105.9) – Regional Mexican
Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...
* KHKZ (106.3) – Hot AC
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, ...
* KVLY (107.9) – AC
AM stations include:
* KURV (710) – News/Talk
* KVNS (1700) – Sports Talk
Television
Brownsville has three licensed broadcast full power television stations:
* KVEO-TV
KVEO-TV (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Brownsville, Texas, United States, serving the Lower Rio Grande Valley as an affiliate of NBC and CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Harlingen-licensed KGBT-TV (channel ...
(Channel 23; DT 24) – NBC affiliate
** 23.2 CBS affiliate
* KNWS-LD (Channel 64; DT 27) – Azteca America affiliate
** 67.2 CW affiliate
* KXFX-CD (Channel 67; DT 20) – Fox affiliate
Notable people
* James Carlos Blake, novelist, received his elementary education at Saint Joseph Academy
* Shelbie Bruce, actress
* José Tomás Canales, lawyer, writer, politician
* Oscar Casares, author and professor the University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
; published two books about Brownsville, including ''Amigoland'' (2009)
* Osvaldo de León, actor and model
* Buddy Garcia, 2012 member of the Texas Railroad Commission
* Reynaldo G. Garza (1915–2004), Judge appointed to the United States District Court
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district. Each district cov ...
in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, and to the United States Court of Appeals by President Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
in 1978
* Tony Garza, former United States Ambassador to Mexico
* Gilberto Hinojosa
Gilberto Hinojosa is an American politician. He was the chair of the Texas Democratic Party anresigned in 2024 after a 12-year run He was the county judge of Cameron County, Texas from 1995 to 2006.
Early career
While living in Washington ...
, county judge of Cameron County from 1995 to 2007; Texas Democratic Party chairman since 2012
* Mifflin Kenedy (1818–1895), South Texas rancher and steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...
businessman
* Pierre Yves Kéralum (1817–1872), priest and architect who designed the Immaculate Conception Cathedral
* Bernard L. Kowalski (1929–2007), film and television director
* Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a m ...
, country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
singer, songwriter and actor, 2004 Country Music Hall of Fame
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...
Inductee
* Eddie Lucio III, member of 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. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...
* Eddie Lucio Jr., member of the Texas State Senate
* Bianca Marroquín, theater and television actress
* Dolissa Medina, Chicana filmmaker, writer, and multimedia artist
* Grace Napolitano, United States Representative
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
for California's 32nd congressional district
* Jose Rolando Olvera Jr., United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
in 2015
* Américo Paredes (1915–1999), author of ''George Washington Gómez''
* Rudy Ruiz, author, entrepreneur and advocate; attended Saint Joseph Academy
* Efren Saldivar, nurse and convicted serial killer
* Ramón Saldívar, scholar of Chicano literature and culture, awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama in 2011; professor at Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
* Julian Schnabel, neo-expressionism
Neo-expressionism is a style of Late modernism, late modernist or early-Postmodern art, postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called ''Transavantgarde'', ''Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wild ...
painter and Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
-nominated, Golden Globe
The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...
winner and director of '' The Diving Bell and the Butterfly''
* Bruce Sterling
Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author known for his novels and short fiction and editorship of the ''Mirrorshades'' anthology. In particular, he is linked to the cyberpunk subgenre.
Sterling's first ...
, author of the '' Mirrorshades'' anthology and one of the pioneers of the cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting said to focus on a combination of "low-life and high tech". It features futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyberwa ...
genre
* Emeraude Toubia, actress ('' Shadowhunters'')
* Benjamin D. Wood (1894–1986), one of the pioneers of learning technologies and automated testing methods
* Jaime Zapata (1979–2011), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the Un ...
agent who was ambushed, shot, and killed by Los Zetas in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. He was returning from a meeting in Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
; Victor Avila, another agent who accompanied him, was wounded in the same incident
Sister city
* Heroica Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
See also
* José de Escandón y Helguera, 1st Count of Sierra Gorda
* List of museums in the Texas Gulf Coast
* Nuevo Santander
* Timeline of Brownsville, Texas#Bibliography
* Virreinato de Nueva España
References
Notes
Citations
External links
*
Brownsville Convention and Visitors Bureau
Brownsville Chamber of Commerce
Brownsville Public Library System
''Brownsville, Texas'' in The Handbook of Texas Online
National Weather Service - Brownsville
{{Authority control
1845 establishments in the Republic of Texas
Cities in Cameron County, Texas
Cities in Texas
County seats in Texas
Mexico–United States border crossings
Populated coastal places in Texas
Populated places established in 1845
Lower Rio Grande Valley
Texas populated places on the Rio Grande
Hispanic and Latino American culture in Texas