County Facts

Location: South Texas Rio Grande Valley. Bounded by: Zapata County to the west, Jim Hogg and Brooks counties to the north, Hidalgo County to the east,and the Rio Grande River to the south. The county seat is Rio Grande City;other principal communities include Roma, Escobares, and La Grulla. Starr County is one of the nation's poorest counties with over a third of the population living in poverty.

QuickStats	Starr	Texas
Land area, 2000 (square miles)	1,223	261,797
Persons per square mile, 2000	43.8	79.6
Population, 2000	53,597	20,851,820
Net Population change, 1990 to 2000	13,079	3,865,485
Population Percent change, 1990 to 2000	32.3%	22.8%
Female population, 2000	27,604	10,498,910
Female persons, percent, 2000	51.5%	50.4%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, 2000	52,278	6,669,666
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, percent, 2000	97.5%	32.0%
Population under 5 years old, 2000	5,569	1,624,628
Persons under 5 years old, percent, 2000	10.4%	7.8%
Population 65 years old and over, 2000	4,399	2,072,532
Persons 65 years old and over, percent, 2000	8.2%	9.9%
Persons under 18 years old, 2000	20,042	5,886,759
Persons under 18 years old, percent, 2000	37.4%	28.2%
Births, 2000	1,459	363,325
Deaths, 1998	198	142,389
Infant deaths, 1997	6	2,150
High school graduates, persons 25 years and over, 1990	6,191	7,438,046
College graduates, persons 25 years and over, 1990	1,319	2,094,905
Housing units, 2000	17,589	8,157,575
Homeownership rate, 2000	79.5%	63.8%
Households, 2000	14,410	7,393,354
Persons per household, 2000	3.69	2.74
Households with persons under 18 years, 2000	9,040	3,027,570
Households with persons under 18, percent, 2000	62.7%	40.9%
Per capita income,1999	$8,588	$26,834
Average earnings per job, 1997	$14,260	$31,178
Median household money income, 1998 model-based estimate	$16,363	$35,449
Persons below poverty, number, 1998 model-based estimate	25,023	3,102,571
Persons below poverty, percent, 1998 model-based estimate	43.8%	15.6%
Children below poverty, number, 1998 model-based estimate	10,516	1,298,486
Children below poverty, percent, 1998 model-based estimate	47.3%	22.4%
Retail sales, 2000 ($1000)	276,306	298,719,237
Unemployment rate, 2001	20	4.9
Federal funds and grants, 2000 ($1000)	195,832	106,492,801

Sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Texas Department of Health, Texas Workforce Commission, U.S. Census Bureau.

Demographic and Socio-economic Profile: 2000 publications

Click on a file below to download Four page Demographic and Socio-economic Profiles for the cities or CDP(Census Designated Place) within the county.

Alto Bonito	El Refugio	Escobares	Falcon Heights	Falcon Village
Fronton	Garceno	La Casita-Garciasville	La Grulla	La Puerta
La Rosita	Las Lomas	La Victoria	Los Alvarez	Los Villareales
North Escobares	Rio Grande City	Roma	Roma Creek	Salineno
San Isidro	Santa Cruz	Starr County