Hill 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 35,874. Its

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 Hillsboro. The county is named for George Washington Hill, secretary of war and secretary of the navy under the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas (), or simply Texas, was a country in North America that existed for close to 10 years, from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. Texas shared borders with Centralist Republic of Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande, an ...

. Hill County is part of

Central Texas Central Texas is a region in the U.S. state of Texas roughly bordered on the west by San Saba, to the southeast by Bryan- College Station, the south by San Marcos and to the north by Hillsboro. Central Texas overlaps with and includes part ...

, though not included in the

Texas Hill Country The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ame ...

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 (2.7%) are covered by water.

Major highways

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

** Interstate 35E ** Interstate 35W * U.S. Highway 77 * State Highway 22 * State Highway 31 * State Highway 81 * State Highway 171 * State Highway 174

Adjacent counties

* Johnson County (north) * Ellis County (northeast) * Navarro County (east) * Limestone County (southeast) *

McLennan County McLennan County is a County (United States), county located on the Edwards Plateau in Central Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 260,579. Its county seat and largest city is Waco, Texas, Waco. The U.S. c ...

(south) * Bosque County (west)

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, 32,321 people, 12,204 households, and 8,725 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 14,624 housing units averaged . The racial makeup of the county was 84.16% White, 7.40% African American, 0.44% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 6.04% from other races, and 1.71% from two or more races. About 13.49% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. Of the 12,204 households, 30.7% had children under 18 living with them, 57.5% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.5% were not families. About 24.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.58, and the average family size was 3.07. A Williams Institute analysis of 2010 census data found about 3.2

same-sex couples A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries ...

per 1,000 households were in the county. In the county, the age distribution was 25.9% under 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.3% who were 65 or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 96.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.7 males. The median income for a household in the county was $31,600, and for a family was $37,791. Males had a median income of $29,438 versus $20,765 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 $15,514. About 11.90% of families and 15.70% 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 19.70% of those under age 18 and 14.60% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The Hill County Sheriff's Office' is the

law enforcement agency A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

that oversees Hill County and operates the Hill County Jail in Hillsboro. The current

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

is Rodney B. Watson..The first sheriff of Hill County was Charley Davis.

Media

Serving Hill County exclusively are media outlets KHBR Radio - 1560 AM and ''The Reporter'' newspaper. Hill County is currently listed as part of the

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

DMA. Local media outlets include: KDFW-TV,

KXAS-TV KXAS-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alon ...

WFAA-TV WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur-licensed independent station KFAA-TV (channel ...

, KTVT-TV,

KERA-TV KERA-TV (channel 13) is a PBS member television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Owned by North Texas Public Broadcasting, Inc., it is sister to NPR member station KERA (90.1 FM), adul ...

, KTXA-TV, KDFI-TV, KDAF-TV, and KFWD-TV, although it is located in Central Texas and a neighboring county of the Waco metropolitan area. All of the Waco/

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

/ Killeen market stations also provide coverage for Hill County. They include: KCEN-TV, KWTX-TV, KXXV-TV, KDYW, and KWKT-TV. Northland Cable Television continues to offer all of the above stations in Hillsboro.

Communities

Cities

* Abbott * Aquilla * Covington * Hillsboro (county seat) * Hubbard * Itasca * Mount Calm * Whitney

Towns

* Blum * Bynum * Carl's Corner * Malone *

Mertens __NOTOC__ Mertens () is a surname of Flanders, Flemish origin, meaning "son of Merten" (Martin (name), Martin). It is the fifth most common name in Belgium with 18,518 people in 2008. Geographical distribution As of 2014, 43.4% of all known bearer ...

Penelope Penelope ( ; Ancient Greek: Πηνελόπεια, ''Pēnelópeia'', or , ''Pēnelópē'') is a character in Homer's ''Odyssey.'' She was the queen of Homer's Ithaca, Ithaca and was the daughter of Spartan king Icarius (Spartan), Icarius and ...

Unincorporated communities

* Birome * Brandon * Huron *

Irene Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), Greek for "peace". Irene, and related names, may refer to: * Irene (given name) Places * Irene, Gauteng, South Africa * Irene, South Dakota, United States * Irene, Texas, United States ...

* Lovelace * Mayfield * Menlow *

Osceola Osceola (1804 – January 30, 1838, Vsse Yvholv in Muscogee language, Creek, also spelled Asi-yahola), named Billy Powell at birth, was an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfa ...

* Peoria *

Vaughan Vaughan ( ) (2022 population 344,412) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increa ...

* Woodbury

Ghost towns

Kirby Kirby may refer to: Buildings * Kirby Building, a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas, United States * Kirby Lofts, a building in Houston, Texas, United States * Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan country house near Corby, Northamptonshire, England * Kirby Ho ...

* Prairiedale * Towash

Politics

Hill County, like most of the rural South, is currently overwhelmingly Republican. The last Democrat to carry Hill County was

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

in 1992. Before this, like most of Texas, Hill County was solidly Democratic: up to 1979, the county had voted Republican only against Catholic

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was the 42nd governor of New York, serving from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's presidential nominee in the 1 ...

in 1928 and against

George McGovern George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American politician, diplomat, and historian who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator from South Dakota, and the Democratic Party (United States), Democ ...

in 1972.

Education

School districts include: * Abbott Independent School District * Aquilla Independent School District * Axtell Independent School District * Blum Independent School District * Bynum Independent School District * Covington Independent School District * Dawson Independent School District * Frost Independent School District * Grandview Independent School District *

Hillsboro Independent School District Hillsboro Independent School District is a public school district based in Hillsboro, Texas ( USA). In addition to Hillsboro, the district also serves a portion of Carl's Corner. In 2011, the school district was rated " Recognized" by the ...

* Hubbard Independent School District * Itasca Independent School District *

Malone Independent School District The Malone Independent School District is a public school district located in Malone, Texas ( USA). The district has one campus, Malone Elementary, which serves students in grades pre-kindergarten through eight. In 2009, the school district w ...

* Milford Independent School District * Mount Calm Independent School District * Penelope Independent School District * Rio Vista Independent School District * West Independent School District * Whitney Independent School District The entire county is in the service area of

Hill College Hill College is a public community college in Hillsboro, Texas. It opened in 1923. History The authorization to establish Hill College was issued in 1921 by the Attorney General of the State of Texas under the name of Hillsboro Junior Colle ...

, according to the Texas Education Code.Texas Education Code,
Sec. 130.181. HILL COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.
/ref>

References

External links

Hill County government's website
* {{coord, 31.99, -97.13, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-TX_source:UScensus1990 1853 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1853