Chambers County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

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 ...

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, its population was 46,571. 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 ...

is Anahuac. Chambers County is one of the nine counties that comprise

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the Office of Management and Budget, United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–Pasadena–The Woodlands, is the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical ...

, the

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

– The Woodlands–

Sugar Land Sugar Land (sometimes incorrectly spelled as Sugarland) is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a po ...

metropolitan statistical area.

History

Mission Nuestra Señora de la Luz, a Spanish mission in Texas, was established in 1756 near what is now Wallisville. Chambers County was founded in 1858. It is named for Thomas Jefferson Chambers, a major general in the Texas Revolution. In 2019, Atlas Air Flight 3591, a cargo flight operating for Amazon Air, crashed in the Trinity Bay, in Chambers County and near Anahuac, while flying from Miami to Houston. All three people on board were killed.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, 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 U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (31%) are covered by water. The south and southwestern parts of the county lie in the Galveston Bay Area on the shores of Trinity Bay and East Bay. A small portion of the southeastern area lies on the coast of the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

Adjacent counties

* Liberty County (north) * Jefferson County (east) * Galveston County (southwest) * Harris County (west)

National protected areas

* Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge (formerly Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge) * Moody National Wildlife Refuge

State and local protected areas

* Candy Cain Abshier Wildlife Management Area * Turtle Bayou Nature Preserve

Communities

Cities

* Anahuac (county seat) * Baytown (mostly in Harris County) * Beach City *

Cove A cove is a small bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...

* Mont Belvieu (small part in Liberty County) * Old River-Winfree (small part in Liberty County)

Census-designated places

* Oak Island * Stowell * Winnie

Unincorporated communities

* Double Bayou * Hankamer * Monroe City * Seabreeze * Smith Point * Turtle Bayou * Wallisville

Demographics

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 2000, 26,031 people, 9,139 households, and 7,219 families were residing in the county. 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 . The 10,336 housing units averaged . The racial makeup of the county was 81.88% White, 9.77% African American, 0.48% Native American, 0.67% Asian, 6.02% from other races, and 1.18% from two or more races. About 10.79% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. Of the 9,139 households, 40.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.70% were married couples living together, 9.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.00% were not families. About 17.80% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82, and the average family size was 3.20. In the county, the age distribution was 28.90% under 18, 8.20% from 18 to 24, 29.90% from 25 to 44, 24.00% from 45 to 64, and 9.00% who were 65 or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.80 males. The median income for a household in the county was $47,964, and for a family was $52,986. Males had a median income of $43,351 versus $25,478 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 county was $19,863. About 8.30% of families and 11.00% of the population were below the

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

, including 13.30% of those under age 18 and 12.60% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Chambers County is governed by a five-member commissioners' court, consisting of the county judge and four county commissioners. The county judge is elected to four-year terms in a countywide election. Commissioners are elected to four-year terms from single-member districts.

Chambers County Commissioners' Court

Elected Officials

Constables

United States Congress

Texas Legislature

Texas Senate

Texas House of Representatives

State Board of Education

Courts

Justices of the Peace

District Courts

1st Court of Appeals

14th Court of Appeals

Politics

As with much of the Southern United States, Democrats won locally up into the 21st century, with many local politicians switching party allegiances in the mid-2000s

Education

; Public School Districts Local Primary and Secondary School Jurisdictions. Each are governed by their own respective school board. * Goose Creek CISD * Barbers Hill ISD * Anahuac ISD * East Chambers ISD * La Porte ISD (parts of uninhabited Galveston Bay) ; Higher Education Community Colleges *

Lee College Lee College is a public community college in Baytown, Texas. Lee College's main campus occupies near downtown Baytown and extension campuses throughout its service area. The school has an enrollment of over 7,773 total students as of Fall 2018 ...

(Anahuac, Barbers Hill, East Chambers, and Goose Creek ISDs: in other words, for all land areas of Chambers County) * San Jacinto College (La Porte ISD, which here means parts of uninhabited Galveston Bay) ; Public libraries The Chambers County Library System operates three libraries in the county. * Chambers County Library (main branch) in Anahuac * Juanita Hargraves Memorial Branch in Winnie * Sam and Carmena Goss Memorial Branch in Mont Belvieu

Transportation

Major highways

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...

* State Highway 61 * State Highway 65 * State Highway 73 * State Highway 99 (Grand Parkway) * State Highway 124 * State Highway 146

Airports

The county operates two airports in unincorporated areas: * Chambers County Airport is east of Anahuac. ** It was developed in the 1940s, and the county collaborated with the federal government to have it built. In August 1947, the federal government was to pay $23,322. * Chambers County-Winnie Stowell Airport serves Stowell and Winnie. In addition, RWJ Airpark, a privately owned airport for public use, is located in Beach City. In the 1970s there had been a proposal to establish another airport in the county, but the Baytown city council objected to the proposal, arguing it was too close to another airport under private ownership. The

Houston Airport System Houston Airport System (HAS) is a department of the Houston, City of Houston, Texas, United States that manages city airports. Its administrative offices are on the property of George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

stated that Chambers County is within the primary service area of

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 ...

, an international airport in Houston in Harris County.Master Plan Executive Summary
." ''George Bush Intercontinental Airport Master Plan''.

. December 2006. 2-1 (23/130). Retrieved on December 14, 2010.

References

External links

Chambers County government's website

Chambers County in ''Handbook of Texas Online''
from

The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a 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 students as of fall 2 ...

Chambers County, TXGenWeb
Focuses on genealogical research in Chambers County. {{Coord, 29.70, -94.68, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-TX_source:UScensus1990 1858 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1858 Greater Houston