Native American tribes in Texas are the Native American tribes who are currently based in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and the

Indigenous peoples of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

who historically lived in Texas. Many individual Native Americans, whose tribes are headquartered in other states, reside in Texas. The state formed the Texas Commission for Indian Affairs in 1965 to oversee state-tribal relations; however, the commission was dissolved in 1989.

Federally recognized tribes

Texas has three

federally recognized tribes This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

. They have met the seven criteria of an American Indian tribe: # being an American Indian entity since at least 1900 # a predominant part of the group forms a distinct community and has done so throughout history into the present # holding political influence over its members # having governing documents including membership criteria # members having ancestral descent from historic American Indian tribes # not being members of other existing federally recognized tribes # not being previously terminated by the U.S. Congress. The three federally recognized tribes in Texas are: * Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas, originally from Tennessee and Alabama *

Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas The Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, based in Eagle Pass, is a federally recognized tribe that uses revenue from its gaming and business operations to provide housing, education, and social services to its members. The tribe has been held a ...

, originally from the Great Lakes * Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of Texas originally from New Mexico.

American Indian reservations

These are three

Indian Reservations An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

in Texas: * Alabama-Coushatta Reservation, in

Polk County, Texas Polk County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 50,123. Its county seat is Livingston. The county is named after James K. Polk. The Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation of the federally ...

* Kickapoo Reservation, in Maverick County, Texas *

Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (also Tigua Pueblo) is a Puebloan Native American tribal entity in the Ysleta section of El Paso, Texas. Its members are Southern Tiwa people who had been displaced from Spanish New Mexico from 1680 to 1681 during the Pueblo ...

, in El Paso County, Texas. Tigua Cultural Center 2

State-recognized tribes

Texas has "no legal mechanism to recognize tribes," as journalists Graham Lee Brewer and Tristan Ahtone wrote.

State-recognized tribes State-recognized tribes in the United States are organizations that identify as Native American tribes or heritage groups that do not meet the criteria for federally recognized Indian tribes but have been recognized by a process established under ...

do not have the government-to-government relationship with the

United States federal government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fe ...

that federally recognized tribes do. Texas has no state-recognized tribes. Texas Senate Bill 274 to formally recognize the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas, introduced in January 2021, died in committee.

Historical tribes of Texas

These are some of the tribes that have existed in what is now Texas. Many were forcibly removed to

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...

, now Oklahoma, in the 19th century. Others no longer exist as tribes but may have living descendants. *

Adai people The Adai (also Adaizan, Adaizi, Adaise, Adahi, Adaes, Adees, Atayos) were a Native American people of northwestern Louisiana and northeastern Texas with a Southeastern culture. The name ''Adai'' is derived from the Caddo word ''hadai'' meaning ' ...

, formerly eastern Texas *

Apache people The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

, western Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma :*

Lipan Apache Lipan Apache are a band of Apache, a Southern Athabaskan Indigenous people, who have lived in the Southwest and Southern Plains for centuries. At the time of European and African contact, they lived in New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and ...

, southwest :*

Salinero IPS Salinero (formerly ''Keltec'' Salinero and ''Gestion'' Salinero; 6 May 1994 – December 2022) was a horse ridden by the Dutch equestrian Anky van Grunsven in the sport of dressage. When Sjef Janssen noticed the potential the hors ...

, formerly west :* Teya, formerly Panhandle :* Vaquero, also

Querecho The Querechos were a Native American people. In 1541 the Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his army journeyed east from the Rio Grande Valley in search of a rich land called Quivira. Passing through what would later be the ...

, formerly northwestern Texas, possible ancestral Apache people * Aranama, formerly southeast * Atakapa, formerly Gulf Coast :*

Akokisa The Akokisa were the indigenous tribe that lived on Galveston Bay and the lower Trinity and San Jacinto rivers in Texas, primarily in the present-day Greater Houston area.Campbell, Thomas N. "Akokisa Indians.''The Handbook of Texas Online.''(ret ...

, formerly Galveston Bay, Gulf Coast :*

Bidai The Bidai were a tribe of Atakapa Native Americans in the United States, Indians from eastern Texas.Sturtevant, 659 History Their oral history says that the Bidai were the original people in their region.Deadose The Deadose were a Native American Tribe in present-day Texas closely associated with the Jumano, Yojuane, Bidai and other groups living in the Rancheria Grande of the Brazos River in eastern Texas in the early 18th century. Like other groups ...

, formerly southeast :*

Patiri The Atakapa Sturtevant, 659 or Atacapa were an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, who spoke the Atakapa language and historically lived along the Gulf of Mexico in what is now Texas and Louisiana. They included several distinct band ...

, formerly San Jacinto River *

Biloxi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated popu ...

, formerly Neches River in the 19th century, now Louisiana * Caddo, formerly eastern Texas, now Oklahoma :* Cacachau, formerly eastern, now Oklahoma :* Eyeish, formerly eastern, now Oklahoma :*

Hainai The Hainai (Caddo: Háynay) were a Native American tribe that lived in what is now east Texas. The Hainai (also sometimes called Aynais, Aynay, Ainai, Ioni, Huawni and Ayonai) were the leading group in the Hasinai confederacy. They were a part of ...