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Starr County
Starr County
County
	The Starr County Courthouse in Rio Grande City
	Seal
	Location within the U.S. state of Texas
	Texas's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 26°34′N 98°44′W / 26.57°N 98.73°W
Country	United States
State	Texas
Founded	1848
Named for	James Harper Starr
Seat	Rio Grande City
Largest city	Rio Grande City
Government
• Sheriff	Rene "Orta" Fuentes
Area
• Total	1,229 sq mi (3,180 km2)
• Land	1,223 sq mi (3,170 km2)
• Water	88.5 sq mi (229 km2) 0.5%
Population (2020)
• Total	65,920
• Density	54/sq mi (21/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	28th
Website	www.co.starr.tx.us

Starr County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 65,920.^[1] Its county seat is Rio Grande City.^[2] The county was created in 1848.^[3] It is named for James Harper Starr, who served as secretary of the treasury of the Republic of Texas.

Starr County comprises the Rio Grande City micropolitan statistical area, which also includes other small cities, which itself is part of the larger Rio Grande Valley region. It is directly northeast of the Mexican border.

The county population is almost entirely Hispanic or Latino, with 97.7% of its population identifying as such. It is the county with the highest proportion of Hispanics^[4] in the contiguous United States.

History

From 2000 to 2010, the population of Starr County increased from 53,597 to 60,968.^[5]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,229 square miles (3,180 km²), of which 5.9 square miles (15 km²) (0.5%) are covered by water.^[6]

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1860	2,406	—
1870	4,154	72.7%
1880	8,304	99.9%
1890	10,749	29.4%
1900	11,469	6.7%
1910	13,151	14.7%
1920	11,089	−15.7%
1930	11,409	2.9%
1940	13,312	16.7%
1950	13,948	4.8%
1960	17,137	22.9%
1970	17,707	3.3%
1980	27,266	54.0%
1990	40,518	48.6%
2000	53,597	32.3%
2010	60,968	13.8%
2020	65,920	8.1%
U.S. Decennial Census^[7] 1850–2010^[8] 2010–2014^[9]

2020 census

**Starr County, Texas – Racial and ethnic composition**
*Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.*
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)	Pop 2000^[10]	Pop 2010^[11]	Pop 2020^[12]	% 2000	% 2010	% 2020
White alone (NH)	1,082	2,449	1,171	2.02%	4.02%	1.78%
Black or African American alone (NH)	6	15	31	0.01%	0.02%	0.05%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	27	17	8	0.05%	0.03%	0.01%
Asian alone (NH)	141	119	100	0.26%	0.20%	0.15%
Pacific Islander alone (NH)	15	0	0	0.03%	0.00%	0.00%
Other Race alone (NH)	11	5	98	0.02%	0.01%	0.15%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)	37	26	119	0.07%	0.04%	0.18%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	52,278	58,337	64,393	97.54%	95.68%	97.68%
Total	53,597	60,968	65,920	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

As of the 2020 United States census, 65,920 people, 16,281 households, and 12,836 families were residing in the county. As of the 2010 United States Census, 60,968 people living in the county. About 0.4% were Non-Hispanic White, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% Native American, 0.1% Black or African American, 3.0% of some other race, and 0.5% of two or more races; 95.7% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race). According to the Census Bureau, Starr County had the highest percentage of Hispanic residents of any county in the United States,^[13] and the lowest percentage of non-Hispanic White residents.^[14]

As of the census^[15] of 2000, 53,597 people, 14,410 households, and 12,666 families were living in the county. The population density was 44 people per square mile (17 people/km²). The 17,589 housing units had an average density of 14 units per square mile (5.4 units/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 87.92% White, 0.15% African American, 0.25% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 9.95% from other races, and 1.46% from two or more races.

Of the 14,410 households, 54.7% had children under 18 living with them, 66.5% were married couples living together, 17.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 12.1% were not families. About 11.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.9% had someone living alone who was 65or older. The average household size was 3.69, and the average family size was 4.01.

In the county, the age distribution was 37.4% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 16.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.2% who were 65 or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.20 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 88.10 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $16,504, and for a family was $17,556. Males had a median income of $17,398 versus $13,533 for females. The per capita income for the county was $7,069, which is the third-lowest in the United States. About 47.40% of families and 50.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 59.40% of those under age 18 and 43.30% of those age 65 or over.

As of 2009 the median household income was $22,418.^[5]

A key group of Hispanics and Latinos in the county, Tejanos, are, compared to other groups of Hispanics and Latinos, are more likely to describe their race as white. If Hispanic/Latino is not counted as a race, the county is majority white, as 99% of the residents, circa 2021, counted themselves as white. Jack Herrera of Texas Monthly stated that "That means the county isn’t just one of the most Hispanic in the country. It’s also one of the whitest."^[16]

Economy

Starr County is especially known for oilseeds and dry beans, one of the highest-producing counties in the state.^[17]^: 431

Education

Residents of eastern Starr County are zoned to schools in the Rio Grande City Consolidated Independent School District. Residents of western Starr County are zoned to schools in the Roma Independent School District. Residents of northeastern Starr County are zoned to schools in the San Isidro Independent School District.^[18]

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville operates area Catholic schools. Immaculate Conception School, located in Rio Grande City and founded in 1884, is the only Catholic school in Starr County and provides a faith-based pre-K through eighth-grade education to approximately 250 students each year.

All of the county is in the service area of South Texas College.^[19]

Government and politics

Law enforcement

In the 1970s and into the 1980s, federal law-enforcement officials concentrated their efforts against drug smuggling on Starr County.^[20]

On May 1, 2009, the former sheriff of Starr County, Reymundo Guerra, a Democrat, pleaded guilty in federal court to a narcotics conspiracy charge.^[21]

In April 2016, Starr County Justice of the Peace Salvador Zarate Jr., faced up to 20 years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine on two counts of bribery for accepting a $500 bribe in exchange for reducing bond on two persons arrested on narcotics charges in an incident on Christmas Eve 2014. He was found not guilty of possession of a controlled substance. Zarate was expected to appeal any sentence rendered.^[22]

Presidential elections

Starr County had long been a strongly Democratic county, but has suffered from low voter turnout with only about 20% of its 53,000 residents voting.^[when?]^{[citation needed]} In 2024, Donald Trump became the first Republican since 1892 to carry the county, ending over 130 years of Democratic dominance.^[23] Starr had the longest streak of voting for Democrats in the entire country.^[24]^[25] Its streak was triple the length of Minnesota's Democratic streak, which began in 1976.^[26] In 1988, the county gave Michael Dukakis his highest vote share in the nation, as well as Bill Clinton in his 1996 re-election bid.^[27] In 2008, Barack Obama won Starr County with 8,274 votes (84 percent). In 2020, Donald Trump came within five points of winning the county, receiving 8,247 votes (47 percent) to Joe Biden's 9,123 (52 percent).^[28]^[29] This was a major shift from Hillary Clinton's 60-point margin of victory four years earlier, and represented the strongest pro-Trump swing of any county in the nation.^[16] In the 2024 United States presidential election, Trump received a majority of the votes in Starr County.^[30]

United States presidential election results for Starr County, Texas^[31]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	9,487	57.74%	6,862	41.76%	82	0.50%
2020	8,247	47.06%	9,123	52.06%	155	0.88%
2016	2,224	18.94%	9,289	79.12%	227	1.93%
2012	1,547	13.02%	10,260	86.34%	76	0.64%
2008	1,492	15.24%	8,274	84.50%	26	0.27%
2004	2,552	26.09%	7,199	73.60%	30	0.31%
2000	1,911	22.58%	6,505	76.85%	48	0.57%
1996	756	10.41%	6,312	86.94%	192	2.64%
1992	1,209	13.05%	7,668	82.80%	384	4.15%
1988	1,218	14.83%	6,958	84.74%	35	0.43%
1984	1,658	24.70%	5,047	75.18%	8	0.12%
1980	1,389	22.21%	4,782	76.48%	82	1.31%
1976	664	12.47%	4,646	87.25%	15	0.28%
1972	2,389	41.82%	3,320	58.11%	4	0.07%
1968	1,374	25.60%	3,922	73.08%	71	1.32%
1964	678	14.30%	4,056	85.53%	8	0.17%
1960	280	6.46%	4,051	93.49%	2	0.05%
1956	547	16.71%	2,727	83.29%	0	0.00%
1952	620	16.87%	3,055	83.13%	0	0.00%
1948	179	8.18%	1,996	91.22%	13	0.59%
1944	68	4.87%	1,312	94.05%	15	1.08%
1940	68	5.36%	1,200	94.64%	0	0.00%
1936	320	12.22%	2,289	87.43%	9	0.34%
1932	32	4.07%	754	95.93%	0	0.00%
1928	79	9.69%	736	90.31%	0	0.00%
1924	23	2.95%	756	97.05%	0	0.00%
1920	89	17.55%	418	82.45%	0	0.00%
1916	115	18.23%	516	81.77%	0	0.00%
1912	252	27.16%	674	72.63%	2	0.22%

Communities

As of 2011, Starr County had approximately 55 colonias. By that year, many families were moving to the colonias.^[5]

Between the 2000 and 2010 censuses, Starr County went through many changes. Four CDPs were deleted, one gained area, 12 lost area, and 92 new CDPs were created. Only 11 remained unchanged.^[32]