Zapata 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 ...

located in the U.S. state 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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, its population was 13,889. 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 Zapata. The county is east of the Mexico–United States border and is named for Colonel José Antonio de Zapata, a rancher in the area who rebelled against

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 ...

. Zapata County comprises the Zapata, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area. The South Texas Oil Boom included wells drilled in Zapata County in the early 1920s through the work of Laredo industrialist Oliver Winfield Killam, a

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

native who once served as an

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

state legislator.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (5.6%) is water. It is located in the Rio Grande Valley, on the shore of Falcon International Reservoir. It was previously linked to

by an international bridge, but this was flooded when the Falcon Dam and reservoir was built. It is now linked to Mexico by the Falcon Dam Port of Entry.

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 83 * State Highway 16

Adjacent counties and municipalities

* Webb County (north) * Jim Hogg County (east) * Starr County (southeast) * Guerrero, Tamaulipas, Mexico (west)

National protected area

* Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 13,889 people, 4,689 households, and 3,254 families residing in the county. 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, there were 12,182 people, 3,921 households, and 3,164 families residing in the county. Zapata County is estimated to be the eleventh fastest growing county (+15.8%) in the state of Texas since the year 2000 (based on % of population change). 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 . There were 6,167 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 84.07%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.41%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.32% Native American, 0.19% Asian, 0.04%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 12.64% from other races, and 2.33% from two or more races. 84.78% of the population were

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 ...

or Latino of any race. There were 3,921 households, out of which 43.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.20% were married couples living together, 13.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.30% were non-families. 17.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.10 and the average family size was 3.52. In the county, the population was spread out, with 33.00% under the age of 18, 10.00% from 18 to 24, 24.10% from 25 to 44, 18.60% from 45 to 64, and 14.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 96.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $24,635, and the median income for a family was $26,722. Males had a median income of $26,294 versus $14,579 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 $10,486. About 29.30% of families and 35.80% 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 46.10% of those under age 18 and 21.30% of those age 65 or over. According to the 2020 US Census Zapata County is 55% Catholic, 5.8% Evangelical Protestant, 2.4% Mormon, 1.5% Jehovah's Witnesses, 0.4% Mainline Protestant, and 35% other or None.

Government and politics

In the majority of U.S. presidential elections, Zapata County supported Democratic Party candidates. However, on three occasions, it gave record-setting margins to Republican presidential nominees, when it delivered the highest percentage of the vote of any county in the nation to them. The first time was in 1896, when it gave 96.3% of the vote to

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

, though he lost Texas as a whole with 30.8% of the statewide popular vote but won the national election with 51.0% of the nationwide popular vote. The second time was in 1908, when

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

won 99.1% of the vote in the county, despite losing the state to Democrat

William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator, and politician. He was a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running three times as the party' ...

and receiving just 22.4% of the statewide vote but winning the national election with 51.6% of the nationwide popular vote. The third and final time was in 1912, when it again gave then-incumbent President Taft 80.9% of the vote, with it being his best county in the nation, but against the state and nation's preference for the Democratic victor

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

; in the popular vote, Taft only received 9.5% statewide and 23.2% nationwide. It voted Republican for President in 1920 and then consistently voted Democratic until 2020, when Republican

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 ...

defeated Democrat

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

52% to 47%, about the same as the statewide margin. Zapata was the most Hispanic county to vote for Trump in 2020, as well as the county with the lowest non-Hispanic white population to do so. In 2024, this trend continued, with Trump receiving nearly 61% of the vote in the county. Zapata shifted to the right from 2012 to 2024 by 66 percentage points, representing the third-furthest such rightward shift for any county in the country, surpassed only by Starr County and Maverick County's respective shifts of 89 and 77 percentage points.

Education

All of Zapata County is a part of the Zapata County Independent School District. Residents are zoned to Laredo Community College.Texas Education Code Sec. 130.185. LAREDO COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.
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Communities

There are no incorporated areas in Zapata County, hence there are no municipal governments.

Census-designated places

* Falcon Lake Estates * Falcon Mesa * Las Palmas * Lopeño * Los Lobos *

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

* Morales-Sanchez * New Falcon * Ramireno * San Ygnacio * Siesta Shores * Zapata (county seat)

Gallery

Image:Los Corralitos Building at National Ranching Heritage Center IMG 0062.JPG, 19th century Los Corralitos Building relocated from Zapata County to the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock in West Texas Image:Trevino Ranch Historic Landmark in San Ygnacio, TX IMG 3127.JPG, The western side of the Jesus Trevino Rancho building in the San Ygnacio Historic District; note the structural similarity to Los Corralitos Building Image:Historic District of San Ygnacio, TX along U.S. Hwy. 83 IMG 3124.JPG, A two-story historic residence in San Ygnacio on U.S. Highway 83 business route Image:Zapata County, TX, Cemetery IMG 2055.JPG, Entrance to Zapata County

Cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

from Farm-to-Market Road 496

References

External links

*
Current Hang Gliding Records
{{Authority control 1858 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1858 Majority-minority counties in Texas Hispanic and Latino American culture in Texas